The Hendersons ~ On a Journey 4 Him Weblog...

Growing in the 7 Dimensions

Yesterday, we had our first house church, which was church in our quad, where we had a Bible reading and response, music, and testimonies among our adults and children. We are beginning to model how we will do churches in our future home. Our service was great. Of course it was very different from what we are used to as far has not having all the bells and whistles, but God is good!

We had a nice day of rest. We napped for hours, ate dinner, and then had a mapping ceremony, where all missionaries pinned their pictures on a huge map of the world, saying where they were headed and a prayer request.  The time was very sweet.

Afterwards, we spent time all gathered around on the sofas and chairs in our quad (after the children were asleep) and worked on homework.  It was funny to see us all with our laptops and papers, working quietly, helping each other if needed.

Today, I am SO proud of what God has impressed on me to do. Our bodies are His temples.  I need to get in shape.  I have been trying to eat more fruit, salads, and dairies. This morning, I got up at 5:30, headed out and started with a group training for a 5K run. WOW.  I am so out of shape.  Basically, with warm ups and cool downs, we walked and ran in spurts for 30 min. I must learn how to breathe correctly.  B. also exercised today, but did so this afternoon.

Mondays the kids start school at 7:45. I had class until 4:00. B. was released at 3:00, but returned and finished class from 4 until 5. We were very impressed. Dr. Jerry Rankin, IMB President, taught us about spiritual warfare all day long.  His teaching were Bible-based and were very informative. We even had class today during lunch, but it was with childcare leaders about protection of them. I wish all schools taught this.  Good stuff!  After dinner, the ladies had tea. We were personally prayed for individually over tea and goodies.  How sweet are those who think of us in prayer continuously!!!

I was released at 7:30.  I am tired.  The wi-fi is weak in our quad.  Therefore, our vonage is not hooked up if you try to call us.

Fabulous Weekend!

Yesterday, during the day, we had a 3 hour personal prayer retreat, with 150+ people praying all over the campus. I chose to sit by the lake under a twig of a tree. It was so magnificent to be able to spend 3 hours straight with talking to the Lord, reading my Bible, and journalling to Him. Afterwards in class, people shared testimonies of what the Lord shared with them during this time. The testimonies were so very sweet. Many eyes shed tears. One that REALLY touched me was from a new friend I met here from Peru. She is "going," and it is due to HER grandmother being witnessed to in her homeland from a Baptist missionary.  How sweet were her words of gratitude!!!

During the evening, we hung out with our quad family. We had a fun time of fellowship, getting to know everyone. The kids had a fabulous time playing Life, dominoes, and playing with each other. There are 4 other children in our quad and 8 additional adults besides us. We have 5 apartments going on in our building.

The wind and cold weather have disappeared. Today was very warm and sunny. We all are getting a little color on our faces from the sunny weather. This morning, we did NOT have classes, as we had been expecting. The children only have school during the week. On Saturdays, we have optional courses and after their classes end during the week we sometimes will have optional things to attend. Instead, this morning, B. and I had to run/walk for 12 timed minutes to see how many laps we could make. At the end of our time here, we will also do this again, and see if we have improved our fitness. We both found we are out of shape. Monday morning, I am going to try training for a 5K run. Pray for me. Running has always NOT been my thing. I DO want to get in shape. The Lord has impressed on me that my body is His temple, and I do need to start taking better care of it. I walked 25 additional minutes later in the morning.

We hung out the rest of the day, relaxing. We took a good nap this afternoon. Then, after dinner and playing with friends on the playground, we used a building located beside us for the kids to chat with grandparents and family on the webcam. In our apartment, the wireless signal is weak, but in the building it has a strong one.

After talking to our team strategy coordinator from Peru, she gave us the number of segments that we will be working with in Peru--57!  Of that number, only 30 groups have been adopted by churches. Consider adopting one of the 27 unadopted groups!  Imagine, they do not KNOW Jesus!!!  A church must come 3 or more times a year with an adopted group. Perhaps God is burdening your heart to be one of the churches to TELL one of these groups about Jesus!!  Click here to find out more!

Right now, I have some specific prayer needs of these people groups that I need YOUR help with praying--

** malnutrition and health problems of people living in the jungle areas

**persecution of those peoples that DO believe

**people of peace need to be found in each village

**more translators are needed

We miss you and hope each of you are doing well. We are about to put the kids into bed and continue on with homework.

Your Lottie Moon Dollars at Work

Thank you so much for all the dollars that you have given over the years to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.  Wow--if you could only see the facilities and information presented here that goes into training missionaries and sending them off to teach all nations. 

At this FPO meeting, there are 230 of us being trained!!!  Each family lives in a quad (4-5 apartments)within a building, with one common area. We have 5 families living in our quad. We have 2 bedrooms (Sk. and Sy. share a bunk), a kitchen area, and a bathroom in our apartment. There are playgrounds for our children. The schools are excellent.  I would've jumped with joy to have had such a spacious classroom where I taught. The rooms are huge and full of great resources to teach our children. In addition, the teachers are excellent at teaching and calming the nerves of our kids who are in such transition. They learn academics, about their country, are taught Biblical principals which all correlate around what we are being taught through the Bible, and much more!  We are fed 3 meals a day in the cafeteria, which serves us a variety of foods to represent a variety of cultures, salads, sandwich bar, etc.

I will admit we are a bit overwhelmed by all of the assignments that have been handed to us. There's SO much to do!  So much to get done!!!  We are supposed to exercise for 30 min. for at least 3-4 times a week to stay on a healthy track. We have reading assignments, questionnaires, and papers to type. We will actually get to go on a field trip with the family to Washington DC to witness to different cultures. We are also supposed to keep a daily journal on what the Father is revealing to us and how we can use what He's shown us.  In addition, each of us (B. and me) are on different teams and have additional responsibilities. B. is on the evangelism team, and I am on the Children's Care team. The classes have been very good! All are Bible-based and are teaching us many things, or they are preparing us for the field (lessons on immunizations to come, staying safe, etc.).

Continue to pray for us. The children are still adjusting. They are enjoying their classes and teachers very much, but they are also tired. They are also feeling a little homesick. Thanks for your prayers. They mean the world to us!

We Have Arrived!!

Let's catch up.  On Sat., we washed the car and took it to its rightful new owner. Thanks so much, Ms. Kay, for doing God's work and allowing us to use YOUR car while we were still home!! God bless you!

Sat. evening, we attended a Bay Bear's Game with our church family. We gathered on the hill, ate lots of good food, talked, and had a GRAND time!!

Sun., we started packing inbetween services. Sun. night, we were "interviewed" during the evening service about our upcoming journey to ILC. The building team had given a super presentation about the proposal of a new building at ABC earlier today, and they had Q & A after we spoke. May God work in the hearts of His people for His will and way to grow the church for His kingdom! Then, the church gave us a magnificent reception with allllllll kinds of delicious foods, cake, and encouraging words.  Many classes gave us cards and gifts. We appreciate all of you, for all you do, especially your prayers!

On Mon., we packed on and off all day. We delivered the Gator to his grandpa, ran by the school to pick up a few of our things, and packed some more. My friend, Sherrie C., came by and visited with me. B.'s friends, J.J. & Hank, also came by. We ran (almost literally) over to my folks, then ate a bite (late!) with his folks, visited with Bre. & Cole a few min., and headed to finish packing. 

B. & I didn't get into bed until 1 AM this morning. Then, we were wide awake.  It took a while to go to sleep.  Excitement??  Too tired!!??  We got back up at 4, and left at 5:15 AM headed to the Mobile Airport. Our flight left at 7:30. We arrived in Georgia, and then flew to VA.  After riding by Groome's Transportation, we finally arrived at our destination at 2:30. We were met by a crew of smiling volunteers who signed us in, gave us name tags, took our luggage, and gave us a huge packet of information. We registered the kids for school tomorrow. Sy. met a friend named Emily who will be in her class. Sk. looked at his HUGE classroom and talked to his new teacher, Ms. Kris. Finally, we ate (we didn't have time to do anything but snack on the way here), and we unpacked everything. Sk. lost a coin toss to get the top bunk for the week, and he was not a happy camper for a long while. They were tired, so we put them to bed.

Tomorrow is our first day of classes and assignments have already begun. Pray for adjustments for us all, and pray we will absorb and comprehend the vast array of knowledge that is about to be poured upon us.  God bless all of you for your prayers, emails, FB comments, and texts.  We love you!.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for the following things--

• for us to finish up things that need to be taken care of before leaving, including packing
• peace and understanding that only God can give to friends and family members as we get ready to leave for our training
• for rest and healthy bodies as we get ready to make more adjustments (moving again) and start intensely training/school 7 days a week (kids included!)
• adjustments will come easily to making new friends, moving to new facilities, and to learning
• that our joy in HIM will be so strong that it will overpower any sadness that stands in the way to doing His kingdom work

I'm Sooooo Sleepy, But I am On Here....

Hi, y'all!

Reading back over my last post, I noticed that I left out something pretty important--we have a private play time at Bouncing Wild on Monday right before I went to the Women's Conference.  The kids, Bre., and Nic. had a BLAST bouncing.  I think B. enjoyed himself quite well too.  I don't think I've ever seen him slide, run, and bounce as much as he did with the kids.  LOL.

On Wed., I suprised my former students. I'd been invited to join them on a fishing field trip at Lisa B.'s house.  I hid in the back of the bus. They came running down the aisle to see who could get to the back first, and I jumped up and out, screaming. They screamed louder than I did!!  They were so surprised and scared, too!  HHAHAH.  The trip was good.  It lasted 1 hour and 1/2.

Wed. night Sk. was given a pizza party by the RA's. B. joined him, and they had a great time, while they played games and finished building their RA racer car for next Wed.'s race. Mr. Byron will race Sk.'s for him. 

On Thurs., we took the kids to their pediatrician in Mobile for a checkover. Sk. had to get bloodwork done because of test results from a previous reading.  Pray that all will show up normal!!  Then, we ate at Cracker Barrell, and rushed to Gautier to get our insurance policies changed/amended...car, truck, and camper. I met Mom, handed off the kids, and rushed to meet with friends at CES. We had a ladies' night out. I drove us back to Mobile. We ate at Chile's, shopped/looked a little, got doughnuts, and had our usual coffee at Starbucks.  MMMMMMM....I love the white chocolate mocha.  This time I got an extra expresso.  It was delicious! When I got home, I continued to work on a dvd project that I had been working on for D.J. I had been giving it a few minutes here and there. I stayed up until 1:30 Fri. morning importing all the pictures into the project.

Today, I got up and finished the dvd.  It turned out really cute, but the music kept wanting to hang the slide show up, which really aggravated me. We worked on unloading the last few things from the trailer and sorting things together that we will need to take with us to VA. I grabbed the kids back from mom at 3. It breaks my heart to see her so sad that we are leaving. :(  Then, I took them home, returned back to school, visited with friends, and headed to RC to give my buddy his dvd and some other things he left at school.  (He and his sisters moved on Monday!!!) They have a terrific new house, and I was able to check out their cool new rooms, as well as pet their two dogs.  Saying goodbyes are not easy.  When we get back from VA, they will be visiting with their mom.

Bro. Jimmy and Ms. Clarene gave us a reception at the Baptist Center. The food and the GREAT fellowship were very nice. They also gave us some wonderful presents to travel with--legos, Pez dispensers/refills, books, Barbie/accessories/clothes, puzzle, an anti-theft purse/bag, and a waterproof lightweight jacket. Afterward we visited a few minutes with our friends, Cecilia and Haley.

I've got to shut down and get a little rest. I have definitely had NO extra expresso tonight. We have 3 days to finish up before we fly!

Hang on to Your Wigs--We are Flying Through the Week!

Oh, my!  The clock is ticking LOUDLY.

Easter Sunday was awesome. We had a great, blessed service at ABC. Afterward, we spent the day with B.'s family. His brother, wife, 2 nieces, grandparents, parents, and us were there. Lots of food, fellowship, and hiding eggs.

Monday was immunization day.  UGH!  Sy. had 5 shots!!!!!!  to get ready for school in VA. Sk. had 1 (flu), B. 2, and me 2.  Overally, everyone did fine. Our arms are a little bruised and sore, but we'll live.  hahhaha.  Now, I found out I have 2 more Hep. shots to get. OUCH!

Last night, B. volunteered to help Bro. Jimmy at the Ladies' Banquet. It was very nice.  I attended with sev. other ladies from ABC.  We made history last night. There were around 350 +/- ladies at the 2nd annual meeting. We ate at RC Catfish, and went directly afterward to RC Baptist. Iris Blue was our guest speaker. Awesome speaker...awesome testimony!!  May we all not be ashamed to tell what God has done to change our lives!!

Today, I spent the morning over at mom's. She fixed me coffee and breakfast. Then, I went to Pam for a hair trimming. Growing this STUFF out is a process in itself.  LOL. 

We enjoyed burgers and fries over at M. & T.'s (B.'s brother/wife). I've been ripping cds for Sy.'s mp3 player, which she will receive for her birthday while we are in VA. 

Family Fun!

On Wed., we had a great day of food and fellowship at my mom's. Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw (mom's side), Aunt LaJune, Shonna, Peyton, Christina, and Slate joined us. The food was delicious. Mom cooked sausage, grits, biscuits, and scrambled eggs. Maw-Maw cooked tomato gravy and her mother's passed down yeast biscuits. Shonna brought in peanut butter cookies. MMMMMM.....MMMMMMM.  Good stuff!  It was so funny to watch Slate and Peyton together. They are only days apart in age, and both are way too cute! 

We spoke at 7 Hills Baptist in Mobile Wed. night. They want to adopt us as one of our prayer warriors. They fed us burgers and hotdogs beforehand. Yum!  The GA's, RA's, and Mission Friends were so very sweet. They gave us gifts (scrapbook and stationary), and they are planning on keeping up with us and helping us in any way! They had their picture taken with us for a scrapbook they are going to be keeping about us while we are away. They all seemed so excited.

On Thurs., I had another dentist appointment (2nd this week) to fix another cavity before we go away. Mom took Sk. and Sy. to WalMart to shop for their birthdays and Easter goodies. She was a brave soul. Their birthdays will  be while we are in VA, so she let them do the the shopping beforehand.  B. and I watched Fireproof Thurs. night. If you haven't seen it, you need to!  It is a VERY good movie...clean and emphasizes God's plan of salvation for our lives. Gotta see it!!

Today, Granny (B.'s mom) took Sy., Tasha, Bre., and me to see the new Hannah movie. She had ordered tickets when she first could, which is a good thing. We were at the 1st showing, and it was sold out! It was a very sweet movie. We all enjoyed it. I even got a little teary eyed at a few points during the movie. This evening, Papa planned a weiner/s'more roast at the land. It was fun. The last time I participated in a roast was at the M4 camp last summer.

Tomorrow, we will spend Easter with my family. 

Amongst all the food and fellowship, don't get caught up and forget about the true meaning of Easter.

For God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life!!!!    John 3:16

PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!!

Appointments and Shopping

Yesterday, B, Sk., and l had eye appointments. We had had them previously, but they were cancelled on us at the last minute. Sk. & I are both far-sighted, so we had to have reading glasses. That accounts for the strained feeling when we read too long or look at the computer too much at a time. I met with my Dr. to give him a letter asking for him to approve refills while I am out of the country.  B. picked up Sy.'s immunization records so she can get updated on her innoculations for school before we head to ILC. Everyone was so helpful and nice about it. They all talked about missions with us! While we were getting our eyes checked, we met a gentleman who had almost died in a motorcycle accident. He said he'd been strung out on drugs and alcohol. He gave his life to Christ after the wreck, and he credited Him for his being able to walk again and to be alive. Very humbling story!

We shopped around some. Sk. is outgrowing most of his clothes, so we needed to pick up a few things. We spent ALL day running and ripping around! We left before 9 AM and didn't get home until 10:30 PM.  WOW.  We arrived at the camper, and it was FREEZING inside. It didn't take long for our little electric heater to help out the furnace that Brian bursted off for the first time ever!

Today, we are going to my mom's to have breakfast and to spend the day with family.  This afternoon, we are speaking at Seven Hills Baptist Church in AL.  The RA's are giving Sk. a pizza party this evening at our church, so we are dropping him and Sy. off with sweet friends to take to ABC.

Storing Up Food Like a Camel

Sunday's morning service was sweet. The teaching was on being a servant like Jesus. He washed His disciples' feet. It was a needed task, and although He literally had the world in His hands, He lowered Himself below the others and met their needs.

When Jesus convicts us to meet the needs of others, we must follow. Sometimes it may not be the most appealing or pleasing thing to do. Others might even think it is ridiculous and wonder why you are stepping beyond the line. But, you know what?  When God whispers for you to help someone in need, it feels GREAT when you do it.  It doesn't matter what others think. God knows.  That's ALL that matters! 

Sunday evening's service consisted of the Lord's Supper. It was a very special service! May we always know that He invites us to the table, and may we be ever worshipful as we think of how He died on that cross for us! Thank God for His mercy and forgiveness! 

Tonight, I shared a meal with friends at the Waffle House. I've eaten more in the last couple of days than in a while! It's great fellowshipping over friendship and good food!