May Update

We spent half of May in Canada!  It was quite exciting for the kids to be able to spend a few weeks in another country.  There were a lot of unfamiliar things, but we still saw Wal-Mart and McDonalds.  I spent a couple weeks brushing up on my French expecting to be in French-speaking churches...but to my surprise I ran into Spanish-speaking Mexican-Germans.  No joke!!!  It was great  :-)  They were so excited to speak Spanish to me.  I was glad that the missionaries that were in the conference with us spoke French, so I did have an opportunity to practice.
All of our meetings were in Ontario, and we had a great time driving through the countryside. 
We made new friends, and were excited to meet up with missionary friends.  Swiss Chalet and Tim Hortons were great!  We also felt adventurous and had poutine (basically French fries and cheese curds with gravy on top) 
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to translate again. I never expected it to be in Canada though. lol  There were some families from Nicaragua who brought their Spanish-speaking family members out o meet a Spanish missionary.  It was a blessing to be able to minister to these folks and answer their questions about missions.

After 14 days straight of missions conferences, we were able to visit with some friends in Medina and help out at their church for a week.  Chad worked on some vehicles and did some work at the church.  I was able to work on some tracts and other projects.
The kids had a blast climbing trees, collecting snakes and frogs, chasing chickens, building a tree house...just being able to be kids!  It was a magical week for them to just be able to play freely with their friends.  The Lord knew exactly what we needed after such an intense spring schedule.

When we left Upstate NY we headed for the Pittsburgh area.  The highlight of these meetings was when we had the opportunity to teach the bus kids!  The church absolutely LOVED their bus kids.  I was so impressed by how the entire church embraced them and loved them.  The kids had so many questions about missions and we were delighted to be able to teach them.  It was great group of kids.  We just love being around bus kids and the people who love them.  The workers were encouraged and embraced their ministry as a family. 

 

A SPECIAL ANSWER TO PRAYER

This month brought us tremendous joy as we received an answer to one of our biggest prayer requests over the last 15 yrs!  Chad's brother got saved.  I can't put into the words the joy that filled our hearts when he called to tell us that he gave his heart to Jesus.  Over the last week Chad has had several opportunities to visit his brother and their fellowship as been sweet.  Please pray for him as he learns and grows in his faith.  God is good and there is no hurt or breach that He cannot heal.

PRAISES:

*Salvation of Chad's brother

*We've stayed healthy

*We've raised 15% of our set-up fund

 

PRAYER REQUESTS:

*RV and Van to keep running

*Safety as we travel

*Set-up/Visas Fund

*Promised support to keep coming in

*We are hoping to get our visas started this summer

 



 

April Update

I can hardly believe that April is over.  We have been so busy, the year is just flying by.  The Lord has blessed us with a full schedule, and wonderful meetings and conferences.  We have made many new friends this month and connected with several old ones.

Enjoying family:We had the opportunity this year to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC.  It had been years since our family had made the trip downtown to see it.  The beauty of the trees coupled with the water and majestic monuments made for a spectacular day.  I was so blessed to be able to share this experience wih my parents, who had never been to the Cherry Blossom Festival before.  I praise the Lord for these precious moments with our family.

Extreme Makeover:At the beginning of the month we had a few free days, and I was finally able to redecorate our room. I love it.  It feels so much more open and comfortable.  I'm so thankful for my good friend Melissa who helped with the pillows (aren't they great?)

 

 

A month of Serving: I have earnestly prayed and sought opportunities to help and serve the churches that we visit.  This month the Lord has given me many oportunities to help churches with tracts, booklets, missions conference materials, decorating, cleaning, organizing,  etc....It has been so refreshing to be able to help and serve others. 

 

Conference Marathon:We are currently in a marathon of back to back conferences.  We'll have 14 nights straight of conferences, two days to travel and then another grouping of conferences.  Luckily, our family loves missions conferences.   They gives us lots of opportunities to meet new friends and talk to veteran missionaries. Please pray that the Lord will use us to impact others for misions as we share our passion and calling for the people of the Dominican Republic.

 

Junior Rangers: The kids have been able to earn two more Junior Ranger badges this month!  The Junior Ranger program has been soooo exciting for them, and something that they can take advantage of on the road.  They have learned so much and really enjoy earning their badges.  The J. R. program is free and something that you can fid in every state you visit.  The program is perfect for traveling MK's!http://www.nps.gov/learn/juniorranger.cfm

  For more information visit:

Praises:

*We have all stayed healthy

*Safety in travel

*We've raised 10% of our set-up fund

*Chad was able to lead his uncle to the Lord this month

 

Prayer Requests:

*RV is struggling

*Van transmission is growing worse

*Safety as we travel

*Set-up/Visas fund

*Promised support to continue coming in

*We are still hopeful that we will be able to fly down to the DR in June, but it will depend on our support next month

*Cynthia's laptop died

*We are collecting items for our move

 

 

Thank you for carrying our family to the Lord in your prayers.  Without prayer we cannot advance.

 

 

 



 

 

 

Mango Salsa

Nothing marks the end of winter at the Pape house like bringing home the first mango, which at our house means MANGO SALSA!!  We love it with chips, and as a chutney over chicken.  My husband loves it so much he'll just grab a spoon and dig in  :-)  Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

 

MANGO SALSA

 

Dice as finely as possible:

1 Jalepeno      1 Lg. ripe mango     1/2 red onion     1 cucumber     handful of cilantro  

 

squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lime.  Blend 1/2 of the mixture with  a hand blender and refrigerate for 1 hour - if you can wait.

 

Enjoy  

 

 

 

 

 

March Update

March has been a crazy-fun month, filled with many surprises and blessings!  This is a map of our travels for the month of March.  We did quite a bit of driving and even flew to Colorado!  I'm sure you will see how God specifically blessed each member of our family this month by surprising us with things unique to each one of us!  God is so good, and blesses us so richly.

 

Kicking off the month with a conference in Ohio: We began the month with a missions conference in Canton, OH.  We made many friends there and enjoyed our time at the church.  We had the opportunity to speak to the bus kids on Sunday, and enjoyed our time with them!

 

Creation Museum: From Ohio we headed south to Nashville, TN.  We noticed we were going to be driving right through Cinncinati, so we stopped at the Creation Museum.  It was a great experience for our family.  We really enjoyed our time there and were very impressed with the museum.  It would be well worth your time to visit!  Every pass is good for 2 days, and with so much to see and do you'll want to go back!

Making friends in Nashville: Our time in Nashville was very special.  The church was such a blessing and we enjoyed the other missionaries there as well.  During the conference there we had the opportunity to tour the Grand Opry Hotel, see the Bill Rice Ranch, go horseback riding, and I even got to cook enchiladas for everyone!  The highlight of our time there was going bus visiting and seeing the heart of the workers for those kids.  We were able to visit in Nepali and Spanish neighborhoods while there!

 

Colorado: Chad and Jonathan flew to Colorado for a missions conference in Cortez.  They enjoyed seeing the Rockies and were impressed by the vibrant ministry there.  The other kids and I enjoyed just sitting still for a few days, catching up on laundry, cleaning, and correspondence!

 

Experiencing Revival: Our visit to Mesquite, TX was incredible.  The church was in a state of Revival and the Holy Spirit moved freely through all of the services.  Everyone was sharing testimonies of people they'd led to the Lord or were trying to reach for the Lord.  It was exciting to be around such a group.  These girls were a special blessing.  They shared their calling and burden to missions.  I enjoyed talking with them and answering their questions.  I'm looking forward to seeing what God does through the lives of these faithful teens.

God even blesses Cowboys' fans: As most of you know, we have a Cowboys fan in our family.  This Cowboys fan has ALWAYS wanted to see Cowboy Stadium...We had planned to drive by it so he could see it, but a kind family gave us tickets to tour the Stadium.  It was very impressive, but what we enjoyed the most was seeing how God blessed our son.  He was able to see how God blesses us when we serve Him faithfully and that God cares about the little things we want.

 

Our dream come true:

Since we started deputation we've dreamed of the day when the Lord would allow us to visit St. Louis and Cardinals Stadium.  The Lord provided, through other die-hard Cardinal fans, for us to tour the stadium!  It was such an encouragement to see how the Lord answered our kids prayers to someday see it  :-)  We praise and thank the Lord for the opportunity, not only to serve Him as a family, but also to play together and enjoy life together!

 

We toured the Bearing Precious Seed Warehouse and saw how they print and ship Bibles all over the world!  This was particularly exciting for me, as I've always had a passion for printing  :-)

 

 Rebecca met her favorite author Marsha Hubler (Keystone Stables Series), who gave an autographed copy of her newest book!  Becca never dreamed she would have an opportunity to ever meet one of her favorite authors!

 

 

This month we tried out deputation in the van.  It was quite an experience for us.  We got to stay in an adorable Bed & Breakfast, a nice hotel, and with some friends.  We will be trying to travel more out of our van, this will help us to start saving money for our move later this year.

 

We were blessed to be able to spend Easter helping at City Baptist in Hoboken!  It's a new church plant and this ws their first Easter!  Our family had the opportunity to go out canvassing Friday and Saturday.  It was a blessing to get out on the streets and meet the people of Hoboken.  There was a new visitor and a young man recieved Christ!  Serving the Lord with friends is such a blessing!

 

PRAISES

*God's goodness to our family in all He has allowed us to do this month

*3 new supporting churches this month

*God kept us safe through all the driving we did this month

*Thankful for the oportunites to be a help in the churches we've visited

*God has kept us healthy on the road

 

PRAYER REQUESTS

*Van transmission is struggling and needs replaced

*Safety as we travel

*Set-up/Visas fund

*That our promised support would continue to come in

*We would like to go to the DR in June to set up our housing

*Cynthia's laptop died and she is need of another

*That we're able to get together all the items we need to take with us to the DR

*Pray for the Garcia Family, missionaries to Equatorial Guinea (lost their son)

 

 

 

 

PAPE FUNNY:                       As we drove into Hoboken, Jonathan notices the "art" on the buildings and asks, 'Is that Calligraphy?'

 

 

February Update

February has been quite a busy month for us!  We have had so many good conferences and meetings.  We have really been blessed by all that the Lord has done. 

We began the month with a conference in Frederick, MD.  The meetng was amazing and the preaching was great.  God worked throughout the meeting and spirit moved.  During the conference I had the opportunity to speak to the bus teens.  I shared my testimony with them and told them of God's goodness in my life. I told them that God had a wonderful plan for each of them if they would only give their lives to Him. I've never had a more attentive group to speak to.  Afterwards, I gave them all a tour of our RV!  They were all very curious and loved it.  I love having the opportunity to speak to bus kids.

Our next couple  meetings were in North Carolina.  We saw some beautiful scenery driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We even had the opportunity to take a day to go hiking.





One of the churches we visited in North Carolina was a Spanish church!  We were all very excited and looked forward to this meeting.  All the kids practiced their spanish and hoped that the congregationals would be the songs that they knew. We met some wonderful folks there from all over central and south america.  There was one family there from the Dominican Republic.  They were so excited to know that were going to their country and that weekend expressed to us their great burden to see churches planted in the north part of the island, specifically Monte Cristi their hometown.  Our burned as we talked with them and we yearned to begin the work to which God has called us.

From North Carolina we drove south to Alabama, all the way to the coast.  We enjoyed the nice change in temperature!  We had a wonderful conference and made many great friends.  I loved that they had a bus ministry too!  Their bus kids were so good and very interested in our ministry.  We fell in love the kids there, and it impressed us to see how well the bus kids interacted with the rest of the church.  One little boy in particular was a special blessing to us.  He talked to us every night and sat with our family.  At the end of the week we gave him a suit.  He was so proud of his "missionary suit".  My boys eagerly gave him a tie to finish off the suit. 
His Sunday school teacher recently sent us an email letting us know that he memorized all his Bible passages!  It's the first time he'd ever done that!  She also let us know that he said he wants to be a missionary like his friends!
We're so thankful for the priviledge God gives to meet and be a blessing to others.  And most of all for the opportunity, not only to share our burden, but also to impact people to serve God!  Please pray wih us for Kyle.


After the conference in Alabama, we had to have the suspension fixed on the RV again.  It fell and was leaning hard on the right again and rubbing on the tires.  Smyrna Baptist Church was a tremendous help to us and put us up in the Campus House at PCC while the repairs were made.  We never realized how AWESOME PCC is!!  While there we had the opportunity to catch up with friends and make some new ones.

This month also brought us the sadness of losing one of our dearest friends, Brother Bob Kelso.  He was our most faithful prayer warrior and encourager.  We made it back to MD for the funeral.  The funeral was beautiful, and we loved hearing everyones testimonies.  This man was known for his ability to encourage others.  He was one of the most humble people I ever met, and genuinely cared for his friends & family.  He will be missed, but we are looking forward to seeing him again.

PRAISES

* The RV suspension has been fixed and working well  (so far)

* Cynthia had a follow-up scan, and everything looks normal

*4 new supporting churches this month

*we praise God for new friends and faithful prayer partners

 

PRAYER REQUESTS

*Safety as we travel

*For the RV to hold up just a couple more months

*Set up/Visas fund

*That our promised support would continue to come in

*We would like to go to the DR in June to set up our housing



 

January Update

The Lord has really kept us busy this month - and it was most welcome after our two weeks of rest.
 
(missionary vocabulary) Rest: v : working on the vehicles, squeezing in all the doctors/dentists appointments we can, catching up on correspondence, catching up with family & friends, making phone calls to schedule more meetings so we can stop resting...LOL

January was such an exciting month for our family.  We began the year spending time with family and friends - we enjoyed sharing our adventures and crazy moments! We also had an opportunity to see the Sidler Family.  We  loved hearing of what's going on in the DR and had our hearts fired up to get down there quickly.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to take the kids skiing and snowboarding!  It was great.  Chad took the older boys snowboarding, while Becca, Steve and I went skiing.  What a fun experience.  Brian took a bit of a spill down the mountain, but was fine. 

All our kids are earnestly praying for another opportunity to go again before we move away from snow forever!

We drove to California and back with the suspension bad on the RV, by the grace of God we made it home safely.  After spending thousands to have the suspension fixed 4 times, Chad decided to try to do it himself, with the help of his friend, Bro. Kolbe.  They took a day and installed airbags under the RV.  We've been driving around for a month and so far , so good!  We praise the Lord that it seems to be holding up!  The RV is much more stable now.  Thank you for praying for our safety.

As we launch out on the deputation trail we are very hopeful that this is the year God will get us to the Dominican Republic.  This month, the Lord blessed us with 3 fabulous missions conferences and several good meetings.  It really was such an encouragement and an honor to have been invited to these churches.  We heard great preaching, met some new friends, reconnected with old ones, and just had a blast!  Through these conferences the Lord met many of our needs, and we are starting this year encouraged and excited about what God is going to do.



Becca got several accordion lessons

 

We had lots of opportunities to go out on church visitation this month.  It is always exciting for us because its fun to go out with a group and pair up with others.  Chad was able to lead one young man, Allim, to the Lord and witnessed to several others.  Rebecca teamed up with some other teens and talked for the first time!  We are very proud of her! 

 

 

PAPE FUNNY: The kids have been studying Africa in their History and Geography Class for the last month...this morning Brian asks me, "Mom, are we nomads?"

 

 

Praises:

*Chad's surgery went well and his biopsy came back clean

* Suspension is fixed and holding up

*Steering problem on the RV fixed

*7 new supporting churches this month

* 52% support and waiting on another 17%

*Cynthia ruptured a cyst this month - doing well

*Berkey Water Filtration System supplied!!

*School is going very well - vast improvement from last year

 

Prayer Requests:

*Safety as we travel

*That our promised support will continue to come in

*We need more meetings to fill out our schedule for this year

*Set-up Fund/Visas

*We would like to go to the DR in June to set up our housing

 - please pray that a house would be available in the

gated neighborhood we'd like to live in

 

 

 

 

Keeping Deputation Fun

Let me begin by letting you know that I am not an expert deputation-er!  Most of the things I wanted to share have come from the advice of the many wise missionaries that I have come to know.  I have read many missionary books, but nothing compares to actually having the opportunity to sit with a missionary that has already been serving for many years.  I love to hear their experiences and pick their brain with the millions of questions I have.
This is going to be a brief list of the tips that have been shared with me that have really made a difference and helped our family along on this deputation journey. 

1.  Decide to have an Adventure!
      
ad·ven·ture

            /adˈvenCHər/

Noun An unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.

Verb Engage in hazardous and exciting activity, esp. the exploration of unknown territory: "they had adventured into the forest". Deputation is an exciting journey.  You're embarking into the unknown.  You have no idea what lies ahead - but that's what makes it so exciting! Attitude is everything - and we determined early on that we DID NOT want to be miserable for two years!!  We got our children (and ourselves) excited about traveling America and told them of all the adventures we were going to have.  Deputation has really been the most exciting thing that has ever happened to us! 2.  Stay close in your walk with the Lord This is the most important of all.  You have to stay on top of your devotions!  This is the only way to keep your attitude right.  Keep your eyes on the Lord and keep trusting Him. 3.  Have fun whenever you can - especially if you have older children Deputation can become very stressful, very dull, and routine if you don't find things to break up the monotony. Don't drive past the Grand Canyon and Mt. Rushmore and not take an hour to look at it!!!  That's crazy.  And it will be embarrassing for your children when people ask them what they saw when they visited Arizona and all they can say is "The Church Parking lot!"  America is beautiful, take time when you can to see some it.  If you have a day, take a day.  Mostly, we stop for an hour and then have to keep driving!  But that's is plenty for our kids and for our sanity! 4.  Don't compare churches/conferences or yourself to other missionaries. (2 Cor. 10:12) The fastest way to lose your joy is to start comparing yourself to other missionaries and start questioning "Why isn't God blessing us as much as them?"....oh, you don't want to start down that road and give Satan a stronghold in your heart.  It WILL ruin your deputation experience and can make you very bitter. You also don't want to compare churches.  All churches are different!  Enjoy each one, there is something to learn and something to enjoy at each one.  We don't allow our children to compare churches/conferences either. If you allow them too, they will develop a critical spirit and not appreciate what they have.  Make every church an exciting experience! 5. Find opportunities to serve This can be really hard at sometimes.  Some churches want to serve us and be a blessing.  If you come from a church where you were always busy serving others it can be very awkward and humbling to be served.  Use your gifts and talents freely at the churches you visit.  Whatever it is that you are good at - do it.  Singing, playing an instrument, cooking, cleaning, photography, graphic design, etc. It will be a blessing to others and it will encourage you to be serving others. Let your children serve.  Find opportunities for them to serve.  It will help them stay balanced and not think that they are Kings to be served. 6.  We are not Home-Schooling at HOME! I learned this one the hard way.  I wanted to keep the same routine and rhythm or life as we did when we lived in a house.  HAHA   So I was waking my kids up at 7:30am having them go out for their morning walks and starting school at 8:30....as you can imagine I was a VERY frustrated mama and my poor kids were VERY stressed out... Our first school-year on deputation was horrible.  This school-year has been wonderful and we are on pace to be done in April!  What did we do different?  We started the second week of August and we have been  flexible with school start times.  We begin when we begin.  If we take a day off we make it up on Saturday.  WE NEVER DO SCHOOL ON SUNDAY!  Sundays are so long already, the kids need a "day of rest" as much as we do.  If I see we are falling behind we add an extra lesson of two everyday until we are caught up.  We take field trips anytime available.  We have reasonable expectations of the kids and ourselves.  Even with a much more relaxed and flexible approach we will still get done early this year!  7. If can't say something nice, don't say anything at all This is can be hard when you want to rant or complain to your husband, children or others around you.  This is very destructive.  Not only will it discourage your children and husband but it will begin a root of bitterness in you.  Not all of deputation is glorious, but we will have a much harder time keeping deputation fun for our family after we've just let all these negative feelings out.  You might feel better, but your family won't... Complaining is also discouraging to other missionaries wives and pastor's wives.  Complaining just doesn't accomplish anything good - so when the feelings are bubbling inside let's take them to the Lord.  (Phil.4:8) 8.  LAUGH! You are going to have some crazy experiences - and you just have to laugh at them.  Don't take anything too seriously.  (If you'd like to hear some of my crazy stories visit  http://papes2dr.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-exodus-singing-or-sighing.html ) 9. Work and Play Hard When it's time to work, we work hard!  But our kids know when it's time to play they have our undivided attention and we're going to have fun.  Whether it's playing Clue in the dark, or skiing - we are going to have all the fun we can and enjoy our family. 10. Meet up with other missionaries when you can This helps keep me encouraged (as long as we're following tip #7).  It's such a blessing to be around others who understand us!  We love sharing our funny stories and encouraging each other in the Lord.  11. Don't go to pieces over your weight Walk, run, watch your carbs...do what you can but at the end of the day don't let that be what Satan uses to make you hate deputation 12. Keep a journal I love looking back in my journal and reading the funny stories, and also how God delivered out of different trials! 13.  Collect ideas  - you will be running a church one day 14.  Listen to veteran missionaries I love talking to missionaries who have already done what I'm praying the Lord will do through us.  They have sooo much wisdom and advice.  I have befriended several of these ladies and email them.  I think it encourages them as much as it blesses me. 15. Give yourself to others Love the church you're in, and give your heart to the people.  Don't be afraid to make friends.  My children and I cry many times when we leave churches, but we've made real friends along the way. 16.  Do anything you can to stay out of a rut! Get creative and try to stay out of a rut.  We try to "Taste" all the States and places we visit.  We try to visit something interesting where we are, we hike, collect rocks, takes pictures.  We buy new board games...   Constantly be looking for something fun, interesting and new to do. 17.  Have something you're learning Have something you're working on to keep your mind from getting bored.  I'm working at piano, graphics design, and baking/cooking from scratch.  Becca is learning the accordion, how to cook, how to sew.  Brian is learning the guitar, and how to work on cars.  Jonathan is learning the ukulele, mandolin, and mechanical skills.  Steven is learning how to read, put legos together, and clean.  My husband is studying the history of the DR and learning Spanish. 18.  Catalog your journey in pictures On New Years' Eve last year I made a slide show movie of our entire year!  It was 45 min. long and had comments and music in it.  What  a great way to kick of the New Year counting our blessings and getting excited about the new adventues that lie ahead! We were amazed at the incredible journey we made and all the people we met!  We plan on doing this every year. 19.  Read good books, Listen to Sermons, and Collect good music Deputation gives ample opportunity for these, and they will be an encouragement to us. 20. Be sensitive to your kids needs Keep close to your children, sense what their needs are and adjust accordingly.  Maybe the kids are too tired to go out to eat after having been in church for 21 days straight!  We watch our kids and take cues from them.  Sometimes Chad will leave us home (RV) while he goes out to eat  if the kids are needing a break from people.  Happy Children make depuation a whole lot more fun! These are just some things that have been a help to our family.  I hope that you will add some ideas too!  I would love to hear what you're doing to keep deputation fun and exciting!