AN UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT--PUPPETS!

What have you found yourself doing this summer that you never expected to do last summer? Or even last winter? 

Our list includes: 
~working with two student interns through CBF's Student.Go program;
~making instructional videos of DAVAR: Bridging to Literacy games (with said student interns);
~working with a puppet made by one of these interns for use in the instructional videos.

The Student.Go interns couldn't go anywhere this summer. However, we had a couple of media projects that they could do long distance. 

When everyone was on lock down, we started making videos so families could do DAVAR games at home. This evolved into making instructional videos with the added goal of having people from an oral culture background easily learn to lead the games for groups.

Someone suggested using a puppet in the videos. One of the interns responded enthusiastically. 

He wrote: I would like to say i am loving this program and process and i think potentially growing these videos would be a fantastic experience and definitely beautiful for a resume. Thank you for letting me do this.

Here's some photos of the puppet in progress. 

Stay tuned to see what God will do with this next!

Pentecost--All Year Through

The Sinti Romany churches in the Netherlands traditionally get together for a big tent meeting on the weekend of Pentecost. There will be preaching, singing, barbecuing, socializing, and baptizing. Services will be in at least two different languages so as many people as possible will be able to hear that Jesus can transform their lives and the Holy Spirit can dwell within them and among us to work out that transformation.
Of course, such a huge gathering, even in the open air, didn't happen this year. A lot of other things happened instead. For instance, the CBF field personnel in Europe made this video to share with you all. Thank you for making it possible for so many others to hear the Word of God in their own languages, not just on Pentecost, but all year through!

The 1.5 meter Community

We've been living 1.5 meters apart from everyone since mid-March.
There are lines taped on the floor of stores to remind you to stay 1.5 meters away from other shoppers. You are not allowed into a grocery store without a cart (makes you keep your distance). And only one person per family may go into a grocery store at a time. Or each person must have a cart. Grocery stores only put out a limited number of carts. If the store has too many people in it, you wait outside until a cart becomes available.

We started to have coffee with a couple of ladies from church every other month or so. They hated to miss it, so we arranged to meet in the open air (cafe closed, anyway) where we could keep 1.5 meters apart. There were signs posted in the park, just in case we forgot. We didn't drink any coffee, but we enjoyed our time together.

Oddly enough, staying apart has been bringing people together. We help each other, and not just by social distancing to limit the spread of the virus. One woman in our community sewed over 100 face masks for health-care workers. Another has no-questions-asked food bank in her little paved front yard. People bring food. People take food. People trade food they got from the official food bank (often exotic items the grocery store couldn't sell) for food from this neighborhood food bank.
How have you been living together . . . while safely staying apart?

(Teddy) Bear Hunt--Only Together

AllenSamen, ONLY TOGETHER or  solely by working together is a rough translation of the campaign to combat the corona virus. 
For example, shortly after Dutch schools closed, people started putting teddy bears in their windows. Children could still go outside, alone with family members. The whole country, though, worked together to lighten the mood for the children. While they are walking or biking from here to there, they can go on a bear hunt.
How many teddy bears in this block? Any new ones today?
It's fun to look for bears, no matter how old/young you are.
And it's encouraging to see how many households participate, no matter how young/old they are. Some houses have at least 3 bears in as many different windows! It's a small but significant way to be together, even when we need to stay apart.

Is anything blooming around you right now? And do those blooms have any special meaning for you? We have lilies-of-the-valley in our yard. I love them, not only because they look and smell so sweet. They evoke memories.

Memory #1: the friend who gave me these plants. She has a beautiful garden and a beautiful mind.
Memory #2: comes first chronologically, since it dates back to childhood. My sisters and I used to sing this round, probably most often when we couldn't fall asleep at night: 

White coral bells, upon a slender stalk, 

lilies of the valley line my garden walk. 

Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring? 

That will happen only when the fairies sing.   

Memory #3: in the Republic of Moldova I bought a bunch of these flowers from a little old grandmother selling them on the street. The bunch was tied together with a string. I put them in the room where I was staying. And then I noticed for the first time that I had developed a sensitivity to some floral scents. I had to move that little bunch of flowers a good six feet away from me.  

Now I ask you, why do lilies of the valley even have a scent? The friend who gave me my first few plants warned me that they spread. And they do--they propagate mainly from rhizomes (a fancy way of saying they sending out roots as runners). They do bear seeds, but the rhizomes are a lot more productive. So, in a way, the whole flower-and-scent business is unnecessary. 

When it comes to that, why do flowers come in so many different shapes and sizes, colors and scents? I happen to believe that the Creator scatters delight throughout creation on an even grander scale than my friend scatters delight throughout her own garden (which is far more enchanting than mine). What do you believe?

LIBERATION

Photo taken from Facebook Page "De Leimers Herdenkt"

This past Easter weekend we were liberated. Seventy-five years ago the Allies came through this region of the Netherlands and freed the people from Nazi rule. I don’t know about you, but I could use another liberation. We’ve been sheltering at home since returning to our Dutch home on March 24, and we are getting weary. My annual bout of hay-fever nearly brought on a panic attack. I had to keep reminding myself, sometimes rather sternly, that these particular symptoms were the result of pollen and that they happen every year.

Celebration . . . happens every year . . . liberation . . . Oh, yes, Easter!
I have been liberated. From death to life.
Let us keep reminding ourselves that Christ has risen. 

He has risen indeed!

Making Masks . . . Also in Moldova

Our partners in Moldova

are making masks:

Our teammates in Slovakia 

are making masks:

Are you wearing masks?

Wherever you are?

Here's someone who has actually promised not to: 

"I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 39:29