My 19 year old daughter Julia has been in Bolivia in a mission trip for about two months.  This is what I posted as she was leaving.  She's gone through a lot of hardships, but is experiencing the grace of God.  You can read her own blog at www.JuliaKnowles.blogspot.com.

Friday, January 16, 2009

To Bolivia with Love (as posted on my other blog)

To Bolivia, With Love
(A Bolivia, Con Amor)
by Virginia Knowles

To Bolivia:
Out of my ten, Julia is just one
But a full one she is
One full of life and love and laughter
One for you, from me

With bubbles and balloons for your little ones
And a Bible in her language and yours, side by side
(It speaks love in any language)
How beautiful are the feet that bring Good News:
She will walk in your mountains
(Lord, have mercy! Snakes, be still!)

And even if she leaves a part of her heart in you
Even if she empties herself for you
This is the paradox:
I know you will send her back full
From Bolivia, with love

And she will give hugs in your villages
Speak words of grace, too
And so she will love and listen and learn
Just a short while
Though it seems so long to a mother far away

 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7


I LOVE YOU, JULIA!
Vaya con Dios!

~*~*~

My second daughter, Julia Grace Knowles, left today for three months in Entre Rios, Bolivia. It is her third trip there, but by far her longest. The other two times (in 2005 and 2007) she went for just a couple of weeks with the Mission:X construction and medical teams from our church. Her suitcases are totally stuffed, not just with her clothes and bedding and personal items, but with gifts for the children there: bubbles, balloons for making animal shapes, candy, Spanish language books, and more. There are also some Spanish language Christian books for the adults at the mission, who are mostly native Bolivians.

Many people have asked me if I am frightened about sending my 19 year old daughter to a poverty stricken socialist country where the mountain roads are horrible, there is rampant crime and disease, health care is substandard or non-existent in the rural areas, and rebels occasionally stage coups and take over airports. No, I am not frightened. The safest place to be is in the center of God's will, no matter where that may take you or whatever terrible thing may happen to you. She knows the risks and she's glad for the opportunity to take them (again) for the Gospel's sake. We took a walk this morning, just the two of us, and she thanked me for not freaking out about her going. I told her, as I have many times before, that I am so excited for her. This is what we have raised our children to do. Reaching the nations and generations is where my heartbeat is. So I send her to Bolivia with love and joy and faith.

I started thinking about writing the "To Bolivia, With Love" poem last night as I was drifting off to sleep, and got up a little early this morning to finish it. I read it to the family after lunch. (We fixed a large Latin American buffet with tortillas, black beans, rice, mojo seasoned meat, sauteed onions and green peppers, sour cream, shredded cheese, etc. For dessert, we had our traditional volcano cake made of a brownie "mountain", cherry pie filling "lava" and whipped cream "smoke", though I forgot the chocolate chips "debris" this time.)

Anyway, back to the poem. Originally, one of the lines read "and give hugs in your villages," but I realized it came directly after the one "Snakes, be still!" I changed it to "and she will give hugs in your villages" because I didn't think anyone would welcome the snakes giving hugs in the villages. As I was reading it aloud, I remembered it and started laughing hysterically. We all laughed! By the time I regained my composure from that, I started crying. My baby is leaving me! So my oldest daughter Mary, who came for lunch with her husband Ryan, finished reading it for me. And I reminded Julia, as she left, not to go hugging any snakes, please! She assured me that she won't.

My husband Thad is driving Julia down to Miami as I type this. She will fly from there to La Paz late tonight, then after a brief layover, go on to Santa Cruz in the morning. Andreas, a German missionary, plans to pick her up in the mission's Land Rover (see picture at left) which he drove up to Santa Cruz for repair. So instead of taking a 10 hour bus trip down with Angela (who would have had to take one up to get her), she'll be in a car with just a few other people, including some kids. They should arrive in Entre Rios sometime tomorrow night. On Monday morning, a Vacation Bible School starts (it is summer there) with around 100 children coming to the mission for several days from many of the surrounding mountain villages. Some of the kids are walking a few hours to get there. Much of the rest of her three months there will be spent hiking out to the villages, such as Las Abras, with Angela, the only other American. They will minister to the children and train some of the older children to teach Sunday School. You can read about Angela in a blog post called "A is for Angela."

Julia has been working for a year and a half to be able to go back to Bolivia, but there is something that really spurred her on even more a few months ago. In October, Dave Harvey, a guest speaker at Metro Life Church, spoke on "The Audacious Claim of the Unstoppable Gospel." That message affected Julia so much that she listened to the CD of it at least 10 times. You can listen to it here www.metrolife.org/messages.html if you scroll down to October 19. (Windows users, right click on the CD-shaped icon there to download.) When I asked her a week or so ago what she wanted me to load onto an MP3 player for her trip, she replied that she wanted sermons! I downloaded about 30 of them, mostly by John Piper, at her request. This will give her some English language encouragement in a Spanish speaking world! If you have a heart for the Gospel, I think you'll be blessed by listening to these, too. There is nothing in life that compares to wholeheartedly following Jesus Christ.

Julia is going to attempt to keep up her own brand new blog this summer, since there is Internet access in Entre Rios. You can check it out at http://www.juliaknowles.blogspot.com/ She has already put up two posts, one with pictures, and the other explaining her trip in her own words.

Blessings,
Virginia Knowles

• for God's healing grace to work mightily in the bodies and spirits of those who come to the clinics for help
• for flexibility, patience and unity among the team members and their Bolivian coworkers
• for everyone to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit as they find opportunities to share the love and grace of Christ
• for God to open eyes of each team member to truths about Himself, themselves, and the body of Christ that they might not ever realize in the U.S. 
• for the on-going work of the mission church in Entre Rios
• for physical endurance and safety during the very strenuous work and travel in Bolivia, where it is winter now
• for protection from malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, travelers diarrhea, altitude sickness (in La Paz)  and bites from the "kissing beetle" which carries a nasty disease
• for all the construction, medical supplies, and other luggage to arrive safely 

Dear friends,

     I would like to share with you two ways that your families can make in a difference in Africa.

     First, Headson Makazinga, a village preacher and church planter in southern Malawi, appreciates any help he can get in their ministry to widows, orphans, and AIDS victims, as well as Bible and tract distribution.  We have been corresponding with the Makazingas for several years (since he saw my article in Above Rubies magazine), and just received another letter from him yesterday.  Unfortunately, flooding has caused much damage to buildings and crops, as well as preventing new planting.   On the bright side, he reports that three new churches have been planted, and that plans are underway for the annual Easter conference, which is scheduled for April 6-9 at Nyamula.  Thousands of people from all of their churches in southern Malawi and Mozambique will attend.   Pastor Makazinga is hoping to have me produce new tracts, but I don't think there is time to get them sent, proofed, printed and shipped before the Easter conference.  However, I think I will be able to send a new batch of the ones we have already produced.  (Please pray for the delivery -- last time, the postal service mistakenly sent them to MALAYSIA, then sent them back to me, and they finally arrived in Malawi months after I originally sent them!) If you would like to send donations or letters of encouragement to the Makazingas, their address is: Headson Makazinga, P.O. Box 187, Nsanje, Malawi, Africa.

     Here are two pictures that Pastor Makazinga sent:

The Makazinga family (from left to right): Headson holding Faye, Regina holding Connie, Gloria, Misheck, George, Steph, Ida, Emmanuel and Carlos

Revival meetings under a tree at Mtasa village

      Second, Pastor Johnson Malinda in Kenya can also use your help!   We have also corresponded with him off and on for several years, also since he saw my article in Above Rubies.  Pastor Malinda is also a Christian school principal, and would love to receive clothing (especially for young children), shoes, pens, stationery, textbooks for all ages, Christian books and magazines, and even toys.  (He particularly enjoyed the Lipton herbal peach tea I tucked into his package last summer, and would love to try some other flavors!)  They also appreciate financial donations to sponsor college tuition for their children.  His address is: Johnson Malinda, P.O. Box 965-30106, Turbo, Kenya, East Africa.

      Please let me know if you decide to participate in any of these opportunities!

Blessings,

Virginia

I sit across from a playground that I visited this eve with a small child.
I know of such places where children play.
I know that I am the cause of them not being here today.
These playgrounds for "innocent children" now dead because of sins I helped do.
I hope, Lord, that the wonderful playground is well guarded with angels.
Angels who will protect them keep them happy and safe.
Angels who will make them smile and laugh.
So that when that glorious day comes; the children will not hold "the sin" against me.
For every time I see a playground empty, I will know that yours will be full.
The sun is now setting, and my heart hurts, Lord.
For the numbers who from abortion have been torn apart.
I pray you can put them back together and make them whole.
If you like, Lord, use my body to make your precious children whole again.
I ask you to do this not only for them, Lord, but also for the love I have for each of them.
Lord, God, you gave your only Son, and He died and shed His blood for us.
All I did was give my baby away so that "women could tear theirs apart."
For this I will never be able to look in your face out of shame.

Dear friends, one last note...  If you have taken part in abortion or any other sin, you can be forgiven.  Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross for YOU, no matter what you have done.  There is grace and mercy.  Ask and receive, and turn your heart toward LIFE.

For the precious unborn,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart and Home to Others

Book by Karen Ehman, Review by Virginia Knowles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the February issue, “The Heart of Home Schooling,” I briefly mentioned Karen Ehman and her books Homespun Gifts from the Heart and Homespun Memories from the Heart.  Imagine my delight, when a few weeks ago, I received a review copy from Baker Books of her newest title, A Life That Says Welcome, a beautiful and practical book about Christian hospitality.  Karen is a home school mama of three with a heart for reaching out to others in real life ways.  There are chapters on preparing your hearts and home for hospitality, making the best of the resources you have, taking hospitality on the road, and cooking up plenty of yummy recipes.  I especially appreciate her encouragement to practice hospitality at home with our own husbands and children.  Near the end of the “Family First” chapter, she says: 

When it comes to mealtime, try to make the atmosphere at the table pleasant.  Serving a family meal on a table that is full of junk mail and clutter or plastered with peanut butter and jam residue from days ago is not a way to say “Welcome!” to your family.  Make the table a simple but pretty place.  Clear it off, wipe it down, and take a little care in your table setting.  I’m not talking fine china here – although once in a while pulling out all the stops for no one else but your family is a sure way to make a memory!  Besides the necessary plates, cups, and cutlery, light a candle.  When I first started doing this for my family, of course they wanted to know who was coming for supper.  Now we often light a candle for no reason at all.  It is a simple way to turn an ordinary meal into something a bit more special.  (And it has a way of helping kids behave at the table.) 

A Life That Says Welcome is full of inspiration and hands-on tips.  Speaking of candles, here is an idea we can use for our Thanksgiving tables:

Using an apple corer, cut a hole 1 ½ inches deep into several shapes and colors of apples.  Work a candle into each hole.  Display on your kitchen table on a runner made of fall-colored plaid fabric.  Mini-pumpkins and gourds also can be hollowed out to make candleholders or small vases. 

If you e-mail Karen at karenehman@familyclassroom.net she will send you ordering instructions for her books.  Tell her you heard about them in the Hope Chest!  You can also order A Life That Says Welcome from Christian Book Distributors, as well as read the table of contents and excerpt HERE.

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=731390&netp_id=437418&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW

        In all my years of home schooling, one of my goals has been to inspire my children to see how they can make a difference in this world for God’s glory. “Nations and generations!“ has been the cry of my heart, echoing the cry of God‘s own heart. We’ve studied cultural geography to learn about how people live and what they believe, and we’ve talked about missions, but sometimes reading a biography about a missionary who lived a hundred years ago is too remote. We need to know that is going on the world right now – and how we can participate! Learning about global current events (such as the Pakistan earthquake) via the Internet, newspapers and TV news has also been quite fruitful, though we have to fight the tendency to be armchair spectators. Just knowing about a crisis around the globe does nothing to alleviate it.

        I realize that the most important lesson will be personal example. What do they see me doing, and what can we do together? We’ve always made a point to send both money and tangible items towards missions. Please understand that as I write the following examples, I am not trying to brag. Instead, I write to share a testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness to our family as we are trying to serve him globally, as well as offer some practical ideas for your own families.

        When the kids were young, they had so much fun stuffing shoeboxes with small items for needy children around the world, and then delivering them to a Samaritan’s Purse (www.SamaritansPurse.org) drop-off point. This is a worthy ministry organization that I highly recommend.

        One year, the girls collected blankets from our friends and neighbors to be sent to Sudan for Voice of the Martyrs’ Blankets of Love program (www.persecution.com). VOM has been a terrific resource to us. We’ve read their magazine articles about the persecuted church around the world, watched their excellence children’s video (Stephen’s Test of Faith), and subscribed to their children’s quarterly, LINK magazine. On the topic of persecution, also be sure to check out International Christian Concern web site at www.persecution.org for information on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, which occurs November 13!

        The children have helped pack care boxes for pastors in the Ukraine and children in Mexico, to be personally delivered by friends. In 2001, we assembled gift baskets for Indian and Chinese students at UCF, followed up by a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner for them at our house.

        For Christmas the year I was pregnant with Ben, my daughter Mary (then 16) gave me the gift of prenatal care -- for a woman in Africa! She ordered this gift in my honor through Harvest of Hope, an outreach ministry of Partners International. You can “send” such unusual gifts as goats for milk and breeding, native language Bibles, bicycles for church planters, school supplies, sewing machines for cottage businesses, emergency medical kits, well-building supplies and more! Call 1-888-887-2786 or visit www.harvestofhope.org to see a catalog of gifts in different price ranges.

        One spring, we hosted a whole bunch of missionary kids for a party at our home while their mother’s enjoyed an elegant tea at a friend’s house.

        This past summer, Mary and Julia crammed their suitcases with balloons, candy and other small gifts for the children of Bolivia whom they would meet on their mission trips. They will share their own stories about this later in this issue.

        I want to share one more very recent story of God’s mercy…

        As many of you know, the $200 profits from this summer’s sale of the Learner’s Journal lesson planners were set aside to support the ministry of Pastor Headson Makazinga in Malawi. I knew he needed more Chichewa language tracts, so I had 500 of them printed and shipped in time to distribute to the many village pastors attending an annual conference last month. I also wanted to send money for Bibles, conference expenses, and the orphans in the care of Headson and his wife Regina. I could see that $200, while it could do a lot, would go only so far. I wanted to do more. About this time, we were also preparing for the birth of our tenth child, Melody. We have no regular health insurance. Instead we have limited medical coverage with Samaritan Ministries (www.SamaritanMinistries.org) which would pay for about half of our maternity expenses based on how long we had been members. I looked forward to having an epidural, as I had done last time, but we found this would cost us an extra $1,600! I knew that money could be put to better use than short-term pain relief, so I asked Thad if we could donate a portion of our savings to Pastor Makazinga if I could go without the epidural. He agreed to my unusual incentive plan. Unfortunately, as labor progressed, the pain greatly intensified, and I was only 5 cm dilated. I knew it could be several hours until delivery, so I reluctantly (and desperately) requested the epidural. My midwife, Cathy Rudolph, went out to the nurse’s station to request the anesthesiologist, but just 20 minutes later, before he could even come, I knew it was time to push. Cathy walked back into the room, and Melody was born just a few minutes later! So we were able to send the money to Pastor Makazinga after all! (More on this later in the issue…) God is so merciful.

[Virginia’s note: These are excerpts from the letter that Pastor Headson Makazinga sent me in October. It arrived a few days ago. Please pray that the box of 500 Chichewa language tracts which I sent in September will arrive intact. I have had trouble shipping packages into Malawi before, and would hate for them to go to waste if they don’t get there.]

Dear precious and beloved sister and brother,

        With rich love I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. AMEN. Thank you so much for your letter and some articles of magazines I received recently with much appreciation. It has been blessing to hear from you. Today I am encouraged with the good news you sent to me. And also let me thank you for the check. It has come in the needy time of annual convention and pastors conference. It is a great help in the way of buying Bibles and also food. This year we are in the big problem of hungry. It is my first time since I was born I didn’t see this kind of hungry. It is worse than all the years past. We are in the tough time, everyone had been affected – Malawi as the whole. We are running up and fro looking for food and it is too expensive. Because of this reason, many orphans are in trouble… Of course, it is very hard to find food for them because of the expenses. Some people had already died and still people are dying. It is our duty to pray to God that orphans and widows should survive. We are in need of aid of food and it is our daily prayer. I would like to ask you and the good wishers to join hands with us and pray for the suffering people.

        I thank God for the annual and pastors conference. It was so good and the hand of the Lord was with us. We received new babies in Christ and we baptized 63 men and women. And many were receiving their healing miracle and some wondrous has been happening on this occasion. And the work of God is always growing up in both countries, Malawi and Mozambique. The hungry of Bibles is still going on and it is a great need in every area. Christians are failing to buy Bibles because of too expensive. In Malawi we have a hard time because our money is not up, so it is always in the high amount. This month of October we are in the hotness time up to February. Yes, I have orphans. They are close with me, and we are trying to assist them with some food. Many of them are in the home villages because I can not afford to help them because I am also poor. I am doing this because God has given me a compassion heart. I feel war in my heart if I see a widow or orphans who is suffering….

        Thank you again for thinking to send some of the tracts. It is good and we are looking forward for them. I hope it will be a great help to some of our churches. By now we have plenty of churches planted in so many areas.

        On August 6th, I was in Uganda and Kenya for preaching the gospel. I was invited with my fellow Malawian who is working in Nairobi. I thank God because of his anointing. I was in these two countries for three weeks and four days. God led me with his powerful hand. The glory of God was shown to the ungodly people. I have seen many people receiving our Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

        Wish you all the best while we are waiting Christmas time. Regards from my wife Regina to you, your husband and children. Yours in the love of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ… Headson Makazinga

~~~

There is much more that he said, but this is all I am able to include right now. Shortly after his letter arrived, my daughter Mary sent me a New York Times web link for an article about the famine in Malawi. Apparently, even Hurricane Katrina has affected Malawi. Japan could not get its shipments of corn from the USA when the port of New Orleans was closed, so they bought it from South Africa instead. This, in turn, made the price of corn in Africa skyrocket. Here is the web link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/international/africa/02malawi.html?emc=eta1

 Dear friends, my heart is burdened for the poor of Africa, especially the widows and orphans, and for those who do not know Jesus. As I mentioned earlier, it is very easy to hear about something and go our way without doing something.

        Let us be spurred on by James 1:22 & 27 – “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says… Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

        Or by James 2:15-17 -- “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

        If you would like to send a letter of encouragement or a cashier’s check to Pastor Headson Makazinga, his address is P.O. Box 187, Nsanje, Malawi, Africa.

        This past summer, World Magazine published an excellent series on missions in Africa, highlighting the unique role of individuals and churches, rather than large mission boards. Here are the links to several of the articles, though I may be missing a few. These would make great current events discussion points for your family!

        The Other Venue http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10818

        One Church, One Orphanage http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10846

        Extreme Games http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10868

        Go East, Young Man http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10888

        Livingstone’s Prayer http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10894

        From the Ground Up http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10873