RockTheDesert

Winfield's - A WOW Experience

My new favorite coffee shop is Winfield's. I've decided that it's my new "office away from office." Winfield's is a WOW Experience for several reasons. (1) The staff. Since Winfield's is non-profit, I believe the majority of the staff is volunteer. That's right. People who truly care about this place enough to make it a WOW experience. Friendly, personal, "go-out-of-their-way" helpful. (2) The menu. The coffee is a house blend which is great! I especially like the very fresh-brewed iced tea and the rasberry/vanilla italian soda. My sons love the smoothies. Baked goods are yummy. (3) Every Friday night they have live music playing, mostly jazz. Very fun and always crowded. (4) The vibe. Classy chrome, dark wood, artwork on the walls, comfortable seating. It's immaculately clean without being sterile & cold. Spotless floors. Non-sticky surfaces. Lots of great books on the shelves. Free WIFI. (5) Surprising location. It's located at an established church in south Scottsdale, really close to Old Town. There's a lot of history associated with this church. Winfield Scott was an inspirational founder of the church...he also happens to be the founding father of Scottsdale.

I'm headed there this morning. Thinking iced tea. Extra ice. Bring on the WIFI. Welcome to my office.

Burundi in 140 Characters or Less

This is my husband, aka, @daninreallife. Through an unfortunate positioning of the picture frame, you can't see his other 2 fingers - this is his "gang" signal - it's supposed to be E3. Can you picture it? He has been twittering daily on his epic 25 day trip to Africa. Our sons and I were with the team for the first 1/3 of the trip. Now we're home, relying on his cryptic msgs for progress updates. I decided to compile all 76 tweets here. I recommend you start at Update #76 and work your way up to #1. Will make most sense that way. Go ahead...scroll on down to the bottom of the page now!

1. Almost morning in Burundi, waiting for "drip drip drip" sound & water. Cannot wait for my cold shower!
2. Going to bed tired, filthy & sweating in Burundi. Good day 5-Americans, 11-Burundi & 2-Tanzanians shared Jesus w/ 1201-people, 472 prayed
3. Almost out of "hand wipes" they go fast when water is out at hotel. 12-days to go in Africa. :-)
4. Prosper is my translator this week. Philemon is here too. They both love Mike. Yves is in Rwanda. Who should I give pod to?
5. In Cibitoke hotel lobby watching Michael Jackson Memorial. Did I enter alternate universe? Team torn between donating to starving kids or MJ
6. In Burundi, met old woman on street, she looked & sounded like Yoda. She tapped my bag w/ her cane. She wanted food... she got it.
7. In Burundi, 15-yr old boy (half the size of Steve) accepts Jesus.
8. Shared Jesus w/ woman. She quoted scriptures w/ translator. She was pentacostal. She already shares Jesus w/ others. We gave her e-cube.
9. In Burundi, on hill surrounded by cows & people. 3-gospel presentations going @ same time. Cool!
10. In Burundi, missionaries & hotel workers came to breakfast singing. God is good.
11. In Cibitoke, encountered large, fast spider while walking to bathroom down the hall. Come to Jesus moment w/ me, spider & a can of Raid.
12. In Burundi, our bus driver, who became a Christian last week, went w/ e-cube & led 6-people to Jesus!
13. Finished our day in Cibitoke. 30- Burundi listened to Mark 1-7 on "Proclaimer". They loved the stories of Jesus & the beheading of John.
14. In Burundi, shared Jesus w/ a Christian family. Children sang songs for us (new for me). We prayed together. We left the kids our lunch.
15. Sharing Jesus w/ many Muslims. 1-prayed for Jesus. We prayed that the others would have dreams of Jesus.
16. In Burundi, just shared gospel w/ soldier. Trained him on e-cube & gave him one. He promised to share w/ other soldiers.
17. Sunday, Day 1, 2nd campaign, 5-americans, 2-tanzanians, 17-burundi shared the gospel w/ 510-people & 304 prayed for Jesus.
18. I love Africa. I can pick my nose in public and it is socially okay
19. Sun has set over the Congo, cool breeze blowing, God is good.
20. Eating at pastor's house in Cibotoke. Please pray Luke 10:17-20 over the team.
21. Love my translator. Choir dancing (not singing) in front of me, translator leans in & says, "They dance". Uhh, thanks, I'm not blind.
22. In church in Burundi watching offering collection, mostly cash and 1-chicken.
23. July 5 in Burundi, we are eating water melon for breakfast to celibrate American Independence. Yea, a day late in Burundi is on time.
24. This time in Burundi we remembered our drivers: inviting them to diner, giving them gifts like the gifts for translators. 1-driver prayed.
25. Sunday in Cibotoke: we are beyond internet connection, I can only transmit via phone. We also learned water is not on 24-hrs but whenever.
26. Hotel room in Cibitoke has no bathroom or internet, but it does have bugs & mosquitos...and power... Haven't had power in a while.
27. Comfortable mission trip just got harder. Cibotoke is a little less modern than Bujumbura.
28. In Burundi at the pastor's conference, Tricia spoke about the godly qualities a woman looks for in a man. All prayed she would be married.
29. We have just arrived at Cibitoke. Waiting to check into hotel.
30. Today Burundi pastors got good lessons on how to value spouses & to use ministry to glorify God & not the pastor.
31. African women told David, "now try cooking like this everyday & in the rain..."
32. In Burundi: just finished pastor's conference. David cooked African style - outside, over fire, limited water... He loved it.
33. In Burundi at 1-day pastor & wife's conference. Swahili, English & Kirundi.
34. Hotel in Bujumbura is nice. It has hot & cold water. In our room, hot water in the shower (only) & cold water in the sink (only).
35. Early morning in Burundi. Marina left & ~ got new roommate. Hotel has 1-bed per room. Being the leader, I got the floor. Floor was firm.
36. Mike & I worked in the hills outside Bujumbura. Catholic & JW churches @ each end of river valley. Now a new Bible church in the middle.
37. ... It was hard to drop off 15-yr old son & single 20's woman at old camp, but hundreds prayed to Jesus & new church was started in Burundi.
38. In Burundi, Steve & Tricia worked at the site of the rebal camp that battled government for 12-yrs...
39. In Gatumba, Burundi, Marina & David worked amomg Muslims & witch doctors. Churches were strengthened, hundreds prayed for Jesus.
40. Sun has set over Congo, sky darkening. Sipping tea in thick humid air, reflecting on Burundi church planting campaign.
41. Eating meat sandwiches, buying oranges & peanuts, dodging traffic on the dusty streets of Bujumbura. Join us next time for the adventure.
42. In Bujumbura cental market buying vegtables for pastor's conference tomorrow. Crazy!
43. In Burundi, at pastor's house, watching Christian TV in French about Armagedon. Weird
44. Greater Bujumbura evangelism results: 3014-gospel presentations, 1499-prayed for Jesus, 5-new churches, 1-church stregthened.
45. Long day in field just got longer. Burundi cell service broadcasting wrong time.
46. Mission team ate pizza at lake. As we were leaving, David shines flashlight along the shore to find a hippo. Auto sized hippo 20ft from road
47. Last night, in Burundi, our stick & tarp church fell apart in the wind. Tonight the church is made of sticks & palm leaves.
48. Sharing Jesus w/ Burundi, almost done when interrupted by the cheif. Everyone, even pastor was afraid of him. He listened, argued & prayed.
49. "...from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows..." this describes our walk today.
50. Evangelism continues, Mike & I had to cross the river. I jumped across rocks. Big Mike was carried across by a 110-lb Burundi. Photo soon.
51. people in USA, thank God for your brews. village brew is nasty. Toddlers, men, nursing mothers...all had drinks while we were sharing Jesus
52. ... The brewmaker's name is Desire, he prayed to receive Jesus. He wants us to pray for strength to quit his lively hood...
53. ...we shared Jesus w/ a drunk brewmaker. He did not want to hear, but we asked how to make the "beer" and told him what we were sharing...
54. Our new church is on top of hill. Today we desended down a deep rocky, rutted path that is lined w/ banana trees into the depths...
55. woman w/ baby on her back, load on her head for market just prayed to receive Jesus. load was so heavy that she could not lift it herself.
56. 2nd day wirthout internet in Burundi. Hope phone is posting.
57. Favorite song today in English was Burundi children's choir, "weeee luj Judas" (we love Jesus)
58. What God did in Burundi today w/ 6-Americans: 572 gospel presentations, 114 prayed for Jesus (including 1-Muslim & 1-town thief).
59. Burundi pastor summed our day best: "We did it African style, without a plan & ovecame every obsticle. God worked perfect". Me: "????"
60. I love my church plant children. They thought that my 19-year old son was my dad!
61. Finally beginning to feel human again after slight airsick attack. Bring on the paper work. Day 3 in Burundi over.
62. All those walks up Piestua Peak have paid up. Our new church site is on top a steep hill east of Bujumbura center.
63. Went to "mother" church in Bujumbura this morning. Worship louder than a rock concert. Think I'm deaf.
64. No internet today.
65. Sunday morning in Bujumbura. Sipping coffee over looking lake. A break from the heat. Hope it rains hard & purges smoke out of the air.
66. Restful day in Burundi? Prayed for 20-year old encephalitis victim & visited orphanage in hills (short drive but hrs away). Team exhausted.
67. Mike converted culturally to African. He ordered coffee then filled cup wirth creamer & sugar. Best coffee he ever had.
68. Breakfast on veranda overlooking lake: coffee, tea, croque madame & fruit salad. Life is good. Thank you, Jesus.
69. Spent Thursday night in Addis Ababa. Hotel Rivera had bigger, better bathroom than we do at home. Bummer. Africa 1 - Team Berryman 0.
70. Starting 2nd day in Burundi. Got air sick last 30-minute flight. Still dizzy, but looking forward to dominating the day.
71. 1st for me: 6-team members loaded into small hotel elevator, bells rang, lift was overloaded (Riviera Hotel, Addis Ababa)
72. Arrived at the top of the world in Ethiopia. We will spend the night and continue our journey to Burundi tomorrow.
73. Last news story before leaving USA: Iran & twitter
74. Oops... Forgot vitamins... Need prayer to skip sinus infections this trip. Vitamin B helps me a lot. I think God can beat B.
75. Waiting to board Ethiopian flight to Africa. We leave at 8:30pm & arrive at 8:30pm... Bummer...
76. On mission to Africa. As I was leaving house married daughter & son-in-law moved in for unlimited xbox.

I Need You

Cool song - video I'm thinking of using during worship set on Sunday at Fellowship North Church...

Celebrate July 4th

July 4th is my favorite holiday of the year! I've got such great memories of July 4th - no other holiday quite compares!

My Dad was the first in his family to emigrate to the USA in the early 60's. He is an extremely patriotic person. He instilled that value in his family. He always made sure to fly an American flag outside our home on every single national holiday (except Christmas & Easter). He would always offer up a heart-felt prayer of thanksgiving for our freedom and for America before we tore into our classic, celebratory meal of grilled hot dogs & hamburgers, homemade "best in the world" potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and watermelon.

When I was younger, before fireworks were outlawed in our city, we'd have some sparklers & a few noisy fireworks that we'd fire off in our driveway. When I was older, we made sure to find a huge fireworks celebration somewhere - sometimes at the local high school, sometimes at the beach, sometimes on TV. I still love fireworks to this day.

While we were in Africa, Burundi celebrated their Independence Day on July 1 with a huge parade. It was a pretty big deal!

Mike, Steve and I have already started celebrating - we began the day with an early breakfast at 5 & Diner, our favorite post-Africa tradition. When we returned home Michael hung the American flag outside our home. Dan texted the boys and asked them to watch Independence Day for him. Tonight, in lieu of firing up the BBQ, I plan to pick up Coke floats at Sonic, drive to a great viewing spot, and enjoy several of the City's finest fireworks displays from the comfort of my air-conditioned car.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Rwanda - Land of the Lost - Outro

Before you read any further, please click HERE to view a great video by Rob, one of our team members from this Rwanda trip!

My journey to the "Land of the Lost" had some amazing statistics which don't even begin to tell the true story of redemption for every fact and figure listed. Our team of 31 North Americans, 31 Rwandan Ministry Partners, and 400+ Rwandan Nationals shared the Gospel with nearly 6,000 Rwandans. Sometimes we shared one-on-one. Sometimes in large group settings. Sometimes in homes. Sometimes on the side of the road. Sometimes in the marketplace. Sometimes with the hotel staff. Sometimes in businesses. Sometimes on the hillsides. Sharing the Gospel never gets old. It is a joy and privilege to experience the joy of salvation with people who choose to put their faith in Jesus Christ. And when the "numbers" add up to 3,800+ first-time professions of faith in Christ, it's impossible to take any credit. Just deep satisfaction that we answered the call. We moved forward. We did hard things. We sent out letters and made phone calls to raise support. We packed and re-packed. We were immunized against diseases we thought were extinct. We swallowed malaria medicine faithfully. We traveled in cramped mini-vans over bumpy, rutted, sometimes impossibly muddy roads. We got stuck in the mud. We sang and praised and worshipped the One True Living God. We prayed our guts out. We surrendered our wills and lives daily and served God gratefully. In return, He gave us joy and that joy was our strength.

Our prayer (Team Berryman) is that many more people would join us in this life-impacting adventure. The harvest is plentiful. The laborers are few. The cost is high, both financially and personally. But it's a price well-invested in the Kingdom of God, serving the King of Kings, worshipping Him not just with our voices but with 100% of our lives - fully, totally, completely all-in!!

And so the question is: when will you join us on a short-term mission trip with e3 partners?

Rwanda - Land of the Lost - #4

This trip to Rwanda was an e3 Partners training trip for me. I wasn’t assigned to a team. I went to a different Mission point ever day. I had to discern where and how God could use me most effectively on each team. On our travel days, I was a shepherd and a mom. On the first day I was a coach and encourager to a first-timer. On the second day, I preached about the armor of God and I was a prayer warrior for a woman in need of deliverance from a drug addiction. By the way, I was told that on Friday this same woman came to the final discipleship meeting and said her dependence on the drug was completely gone and she’d been set free from it! On the third day I was an evangelist, sharing the Gospel with each person I met. I met a woman, my exact same age, who had survived the Genocide 15 yrs ago. I asked her if she knew God and she said she knew God because He spared her life during the Genocide. She told me her story of absolute terror. It’s too long to go in to right now. But she ended by saying that she knew God existed because there’s no other reason that she should have survived that time except for God’s divine protection. I told her that I was certain He had allowed her to live so that one day (Tuesday, June 2, 2009) I would arrive at her home and share the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ with her. She listened to my testimony and while I shared the Gospel using the evangecube. Both she and her husband and their neighbor prayed to receive Christ and were so grateful that we came to their home.  On the fourth day, I met a girl who became blind 2 years ago and told us not to feel sorry for her because the joy of the Lord was her strength and He was her protector and her provider. She was the encourager that day!  On the fifth day, we made bricks!  On the sixth day I worked with kids and empowered them to do big things for God. Every day was different. Every day God gave me different opportunities to use my gifts and life experiences to minister to people and make a hopefully make a difference in their lives. God won’t always use us to share the Gospel with words, but our lives should continually share the Gospel without words. Some days I was so tired, I didn’t want to interact with people, I just wanted to go after the tasks and get them done and checked off the list. But God always gave me an extra measure of love and compassion and purpose for every single day so that I could truly walk humbly with Him and pour out my life for others as He would continually refill me.

Rwanda - Land of the Lost #3

If you just arrived at this blog, please scroll back and read "Land of the Lost" intro, #1 & #2 then continue with today's post. I recently returned from a 10 day trip to Rwanda with e3 Partners Ministry - lots of adventure and unexpected blessings and challenges!

One of our team members was named Jonathan Hughes. He’s 21 years and an on-fire preacher and evangelist from South Carolina. He loves God with all his heart. When he prays, it’s like heaven comes down and fills the room with God’s presence. Jonathan’s grandmother spoke a word over him before she died and said that God told her Jonathan would one day preach the Gospel in Africa. Since that day, it’s been his dream to fulfill that calling. You probably should know that Jonathan has cerebral palsy. He’s in a wheelchair.

He was zero use of his legs, limited use of one hand and 75% use of his other hand. He has scoliosis and arthritis in his back. He recently had 2 grand mal seizures. But he felt that God was calling him to preach in Africa and that this trip with e3 Partners was the right opportunity to go. So by faith he raised the funds to go on the trip. He had a few people cautiously cheering him on, but he had even more people calling and telling him he was crazy and that he shouldn’t go. While we were in the airport, he even had a pastor call and offer to fly him home right then. But Jonathan knows that God placed him on this earth for a purpose and that purpose includes sharing the Gospel regardless of comfort zone, health, courage, disability or fear. Jonathan’s faith made a difference in my life. His preaching of the Gospel in Africa made a difference in 100’s of lives for eternity. He made a difference in the life of his ministry partner/translator, Victor, who is also in a wheelchair.

Victor is passionate about sharing the Gospel in Rwanda and just recently joined the Ministry Partner team. This was his first church-planting campaign with e3 and he was overjoyed that God sent Jonathan in his wheelchair to Rwanda to be on his ministry team. Victor was born with polio and as a result his legs are completely withered and useless. He is mostly confined to a wheelchair, although when necessary, he “walks” with flip flops placed on his hands. An amazing and humbling sight to see. These guys haven’t sidelined themselves from ministry because of their physical limitations. Instead, they’ve thrown themselves fully into ministry, knowing that God has allowed them and called them out to be difference-makers in the world. 

Rwanda - Land of the Lost #2

Continuing today with part #2 of my recent e3 Partners Ministry trip to Rwanda!

In Africa, you walk a lot. I mean really a lot. Uphill both ways sometimes. Everyone walks everywhere. On Thursday, our team had a character-building day. I think it was my favorite day of the trip. When we arrived at our Mission Point, no one was there to greet us. Finally someone walked up and told us that it was community work day. Every person in the village was required to spend the morning helping to clear land and build bricks in order to build houses for widows and the very poor. We had a choice to sit and wait for 4 hours or join in the work. We chose to join the work. We found ourselves walking downhill towards a river. Every step we took down that hill made me dread every step we’d have to take to go back up that hill. We walked among banana trees, coffee trees, sunflower fields, corn fields, so much lush greenery. At the work site, there were men and women digging and hoeing the rich red dirt, clearing and smoothing out a plot of land and putting the dirt in a large pile. Our job was to fill 5 gallon jugs of water down at the river and bring them back up. We poured the water in the dirt, then added in armfuls of straw and grass and then that was mixed together with hoes to just the right consistency for brick-making. The women would then gather up just the right amount of mud, stuff it into the brick mold then repeat over and over again until the mud was all used up. We spoke to the foreman of the project about sharing the Gospel with the crowd. She said she’d give us a chance to speak to them after they were done working for the morning. So we pitched in and worked alongside them. Two hours later, the work was done and all the people gathered on a small hillside. The foreman and a local government leader held a progress meeting with them. But then, just as promised, they turned the program over to us. I was asked to share a short message with them. I shared a verse with them out of 2 Corinthians 4:5-6. It says “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said,"Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” And so I thanked them for the privilege of serving alongside them for Jesus’ sake. And I explained that since God shines in our hearts, we wanted to represent Him well by not being served or exalted above them, but by serving them and the community. Another team member shared the Gospel using the Evangecube with them. Out of the 140 or so gathered, 101 made first time professions of faith in Jesus. It was an amazing experience. And humbling to realize that becoming like Christ we really must be willing to get our hands dirty. And sweat a little. Or a lot. And serve people. And climb down steep hills. Then climb back up steeper hills. Jesus never sat on a velvet throne while on this earth. Most likely He lived and worked in a village very similar to the ones we visited in Africa. You sit on hard wooden benches or on woven straw mats placed on the rocky, dirt floor. You hug perfect strangers. You extend God’s love to unlovely people. All because we have been called to focus our lives on what matters most to us. Hopefully, what matters most to us is following Christ. Period. Because in choosing to follow Christ, we are choosing to become like Him.

Father's Day

Let's just say you're a father. What do you want more than anything else from your kids? My dad never asked for a specific, tangible gift, although he did/does love giving and receiving gifts. My dad always asked for "nice, happy, obedient daughters." Well, he might as well have asked for a suitcase full of $100 bills. Highly unlikely that four temperamental, teenage daughters could possibly make either request happen. In fact, we usually cracked under the stress. Father's Day (and Mother's Day and Easter) occurs on a Sunday and everyone knows that it's absolutely impossible for a Sunday to be stress-free, especially on a major holiday and even more especially when one of your daughters has unmanageable curly hair!

I wish you could all meet my dad. Here he is with my mom on his 71st birthday!

He is an amazingly complex man. He's lived a lot of life in his short 71 years! From a childhood in the heart of Mexico in a family of 10 raised by an elderly aunt while his parents were working in the USA, to an adulthood of non-stop work, my dad is a one-of-a-kind individual who is unforgettable and full of grace. His favorite music is classical. Second favorite is easy listening like Edie Gorme, Paul Anka, Tijuana Brass Band. He loves my mom's Mexican food, hold the spiciness. He loves his wife beyond all reason. He loves his daughters with all his heart. He loves his granddaughter and grandsons more than he could ever say. He loves to take his family out to breakfast at a newly discovered "hole in the wall". He is sentimental, always making sure to celebrate birthdays, holidays and special occasions with a houseful of guests and a great home-cooked meal. My dad loves all of God's creation. He has a beautiful patio bursting with blooming flowers, flowering plants, overflowing fruit trees and wonderful waterfalls and trellises. His secret to gardening success: he talks to and prays for the plants every day while he waters them and cares for them. They truly respond to his voice and his prayers for them. My dad has never met a stranger. He spends a lot of time helping out his neighbors. He spends even more time volunteering as part of "Men On A Mission" a ministry at his church that does service projects for various ministries, mostly in California. My dad is also extremely generous with his "little job" money. He's always handing out cash to his grandkids and kids or filling their gas tank at Costco or helping them buy new tires or whatever physical need he can assist with. He hardly sits down because when he does, he falls asleep. He's a morning person. Awake at the crack of dawn, whistling, clapping his hands, getting ready for work quickly like he's got to punch a time clock somewhere. His knees are bad, making it difficult to go downstairs and down ladders. But he goes after life in the fullest sense, never allowing ill health or aching joints to hold him back from living and serving and loving and laughing and leaving a legacy. I'm proud of my dad. I love my dad. And I know he loves me...

Happy Father's Day

P.S. thx for the curls, Dad!

Rwanda - Land of the Lost - #1

This is part #1 of my presentation at church on June 14

I’m always blown away by the child-like abandon with which the Africans enter into worship. I mean, they go after it with every last ounce of strength they have. They wouldn’t dream of just sitting and singing a song while checking email on their phone and shuffling through their purse looking for a stick of gum. It just doesn’t happen. I captured a little 3 yr old girl on video joining in the worship time with the adults. To her it’s just as natural as breathing in and out. It’s something that’s been modeled to her from before birth and then while she was an infant and strapped to her mother’s back and now that she’s walking and talking it’s just part of the rhythm of her life.

I wonder if sometimes the child-like wonder we once had is replaced with a good feeling about God then even that sort of mellows into a “I’ll be a good person and I’ll do good things” sort of life without ever making a personal decision to follow Christ.

We met a gentleman on Tuesday who invited us into his tailor shop. At first I didn’t notice that he was handicapped. His iron crutches were laying on the floor. But then I realized that his legs were sort of withered and useless. I don’t remember his name, but I remember his face.

Such a kind man. He was a devout Catholic. Nothing wrong with that. However, we weren’t interested in his religion but his relationship with Christ. I kept asking him questions about his faith. I wanted to know if he just knew a lot about God or if he knew him personally as his Savior. He kept answering my question with a list of good works. He helps orphans by patching their clothes for free or even giving them clothes if they need them. He has an extra sewing machine next to him so that he can teach orphans the sewing trade who otherwise wouldn’t have a way to make a living. He attends church faithfully. He prays all the time. He is especially grateful that God has blessed him with a business to support himself and to help others with. He constantly prays and thanks God for his blessed life. My ministry partner, Antoinette, cracked the code when she told him “those are prayers of thanksgiving but have you ever prayed and asked Jesus to become your Lord and Savior, forgiving your sins and cleansing you from all unrighteousness?” He paused and then the light bulb went on. It was like we hit him with a ton of bricks. He asked us to please teach him that prayer. So we did and he prayed and now he’s a brand-new follower of Christ, saved by faith not by works. Randy says something to each person that is baptized Fellowship North Church “buried in the likeness of His death, raised to walk in a new kind of life.” And so this new kind of life is a life of love, full devotion and worship from which good works can’t help but flow freely and generously.

 

Rwanda - Land of the Lost - Intro

I returned from Rwanda on June 7. Randy asked me to help him illustrate his message called "Land of the Lost" (inspired by the cartoon series & current summer movie) on June 14. I came up with an intro and 4 stories with pics/videos that Randy wove into his message. I sat and wrote the whole thing (manifesto) out in about 2 hours then I emailed it to Randy. I gave him full editorial license, however, he just inserted every word into his message (could be because he was on vacation in Mexico with his family). On Sunday, we were both on the platform, taking turns with message & stories. According to Randy, I was extremely wordy - 2500 written words plus once I got comfortable, a few extra words & thoughts! Here's my intro -  [note to self - alliteration in writing = good / alliteration in speaking = tongue-twisters!]

INTRO: From the moment we walk up to the Ethiopian Airlines gate at Dulles International Airport, it’s like we’ve entered a foreign, unknown land. When we finally board the plane, strange music plays over the intercom system. Some of the flight attendants are wearing traditional Ethiopian dress. PSA’s are made first in Amharic then in broken English. So interesting and opposite feeling. And so the journey to the land of the lost begins. Once we arrive at our destination, it’s like all the distractions that plague us and keep us from truly experiencing intimacy with God sort of are stripped away. No TV. No internet. No jobs. No school. It is suddenly us and God and the mission He’s called us to. Life fades from brilliant Technicolor fast-paced madness to sudden and utter simplicity. Faith seems the natural byproduct of this lack of clutter and clamor. And prayer flows naturally and fervently in unity with the entire team. We cry out passionately to God together in multi-language unison. Then there’s the songs. The singing and the dancing are surprisingly raw and real. There's joy. There's fellowship. The ebb and the flow of relationship with God and each other spills over into praise, petition, freedom and joy. This is surely a taste of another world far from the one we now call home.

Pray

I've just added our Team Berryman June/July '09 Prayer Calendar to the Team Berryman page - check it out - or you can click HERE to view/print!

Next week we depart the USA for our incredible summer adventure in Africa. I just returned from Rwanda last weekend - it was an amazing trip!! We are looking forward to a wonderful, fruitful time of ministry this summer.

Steven has his first job this summer - camp counselor at a Day Camp - he's in charge of leading a group of 30-40 5th grade boys. He's having a great time.

Michael is done with High School, working at Chick-fil-a, trying to figure out what his life will look like at the end of the summer.

I just finished my final training trip with e3 partners ministry - I'm 1 step closer to being a full-time Church Planting Coordinator with e3. Hopefully get my uniform, name badge and secret handshake pretty soon!

Here's one of my favorite worship times from my last trip to Rwanda - love the dancing, love the passion and energy and great abandon!