Posts by Evelyn

I have had the privilege and blessing of attending Mission Conferences at various churches for years.   They are always an encouragement in multiple ways.  I have the opportunity to get to know the local church people, visit with other missionaries, and be built up by speakers that challenge and encourage us in our work and…

A “trust fall” is an activity in which a person closes their eyes and deliberately falls backwards, trusting someone standing behind to catch them.  It can be a part of a game just for fun or it has also been used as a team-building exercise in relationship or corporate training.  Even knowing and trusting the…

One day after living in Nam Dinh, Vietnam and working at the medical school for a year, we were called into the administrator’s office.  We went with our interpreter, Mi, to find out what was happening. There was obviously a problem with something with our visa for staying and working there in Vietnam and the…

Growing up in New England, I learned to enjoy the changing of the seasons at a young age.  Just as you were becoming accustomed to a daily routine, the season would change offering different clothes, scenery, and activities.   Swimming and gardening switched to color tours and raking leaves. Before long, raking leaves switched to shoveling…

The most amazing example of reconciliation I ever saw took place in North Vietnam back in the early 1990’s.  Vietnam was just opening up to the outside world again and the people were still very emotionally wounded.  My husband, Bob, and I lived in Nam Dinh, a town fifty-six miles southeast of Hanoi in the…

Art, whether it be paintings, music, stories, or pottery, all show us different aspects of life and culture.  It helps us process what we know of history, our personal memories, and life experience in general.  Norman Rockwell a well-known painter and illustrator was known for bringing everyday moments in American Culture to life on canvas…

At any age it is fun to throw a stone in a pond and watch the ripples that are formed, spreading out further and further. A ripple is a small wave or a slight movement on the service of the water. The ripple effect is the idea that our actions reverberate and have consequences that…

Everyone needs to feel that they belong, are accepted, and fit in somewhere. We were created for community with those around us and with God. When I was young, I learned this little poem, “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.” The friends that I have known the…

Time travel is an interesting concept – traveling back in time. Since arriving in the Philippines, I feel like I have done just that. It is wonderful to visit places that are so familiar to me. Things have changed but much is the same – climate, roads, familiar sounds and even smells. All these things…