HG Women’s Small Group dinner & planning mtg.
Chirilagua Women’s Group Fundraiser
sarahedale (at) gmail.com
Matt’s in Town, Crystal City Sports Pub Tonight at 6pm
I’m here for a couple of days and was hoping to hang out with some folks tonight at the Crystal City Sports Pub. Hope to see you there. Shoot me a text and let me know so I can get a head count.
Matt
Update from Joanna!!!
It’s about 5:00 PM on Sunday as I make my way across the property to my cottage. The weather has cooled to the perfect temperature and soon will get rather cold but now it’s calm and comfortable. I’m followed by one of the dogs but whether it’s Turner or Hootch, I haven’t got a clue. Actually I wonder if any of us residing here at Baan Nam Jai (Home of the Open Heart) really know which is which. I was just at the girls’ house celebrating a short term volunteer’s birthday. It’s hard to believe that I have already been here for over one month. I love sitting outside at this time but it comes with quite a risk as the mosquitoes start swarming at this time. One of the moms is raking leaves and soon will start burning them. I’ve come to love that scent. It’s a good time to reflect as the sun starts it’s decent and I sit here in my kitchen, which is outdoors and doubles as a back porch, and look at the garden I think about my move to Thailand.
Thailand… Chiang Rai… Baan Nam Jai… It’s a place of tremendous beauty. Located outside of the city I’m surrounded by gardens, rice paddies, smells and feels of the country in Asia. The property itself is rather large hosting three large houses, and then an adjoining property with 5 small cottages and the hospice which is still under construction. One of these cottages is what I now call home. Thailand has riches for all of the senses and while it can delight the sense it can weigh you down with challenges. It’s almost hard to explain how you can be totally in love with a place and totally frustrated at once.
The adjustment to Thailand is nothing and everything that I expected. There have been some things that had I really thought about them they probably wouldn’t have taken me by surprise. For instance, Google has gone from being a verb to a noun. I used to use Google maps for helping me get around any new place. I can’t read the street signs so Google is useless. Getting used to riding on a motorbike has also proved to be a challenge. Traffic here is really crazy, I don’t know where I’m going and I’m SOOOO not an experienced rider to be smart and able to react to my situations around me. All this adds up to, quite literally, a deadly equation. The language has also proved challenging but that was one challenge that I was prepared for. I haven’t started learning the language because I’m not ready to get on the death trap highway. However, all that to say that God’s grace is amazing and have found some things easier then expected. The kids speak English and there are several “farang” (foreign) staff. There have been several lovely short term volunteers come that have eased the transition. However, I have left everything that I do know and many times I feel totally helpless and dependant, which is probably good for me.
Although I still feel like a fish out of water I have hit the ground running when it comes to work! I have used my past Executive Assistant skills to assist Paul, the Northern Regional Director. He is new to the position and I’m helping him get organized in his role and help support him as he provides direction to the 11 ministries here in Chiang Rai. He is also over the whole northern region which includes Chiang Mai and Mai Sai which is much bigger then Chiang Rai. I haven’t even gotten into that portion. I am also managing the office here at Baan Nam Jai and working a little bit in the boys’ home.
The kids are incredibly precious and melt your heart the moment you meet them. One of the youngest boys was very timid about me coming into the house to work with them and was very distressed about my first shift. I came over the night before to get introduced and just get to know them just a bit before I spent the night in the boy’s house the next day. The youngest of the boys cried and cried. He didn’t want me to come and work with them! When I got back to my cottage I prayed that God would give us both grace. As I was praying my heart broke for these kids. It struck me that these kids shouldn’t need to have caretakers in their life. If everything were as God intended it to be they would be with a Mom and Dad in a loving home. But we find ourselves in a fallen world and here I am to help care for these kids who have suffered so much. As I’ve started to work with them more they are very unsettled as several of the caretakers they have had for the past couple years have left and I’ve come in. I try to put myself in their shoes as they get used to me. Please pray for God’s grace and that they will start feeling settled, safe and secure with me. Many of the volunteers have told me that they will keep me at arms length because they worry about how long I’ll be here. It breaks my heart.
Financially, I am still in need of support. I need about $600 USD per month to cover my expenses. Please prayerfully consider supporting me. If you’d like to support me please send a check made out to “YWAM,” with a separate piece of paper indicating it is for me, to YWAM Montana, 501 Blacktail Road,
Lakeside, Montana,59922 U.S.A.
Thank you so much for all of your support of my ministry. I truly could not do this without your prayers, encouragement and financial support. I will send pictures soon!
I pray that you are all blessed richly!
Joanna
If you’d like to pray for me please let me know and I’ll put you on my prayer needs list!
New Mailing Address:
Joanna Geiger
P.O. Box 121
Bandu,
A.Muang,
Chiang Rai, 57100
Thialand
My new mobile phone number is +66.0899.513.044
Prayer calendar for Lent
Hi HG,
As you may know, Lent tends to inspire me to start up various activities for spiritual growth. This year I am moved to further developing the prayer life — both individually and collectively. I am creating a prayer calendar for our community — extending to Fairlington’s morning service as well — a calendar containing our worries and fears lifted up to God, one for every (remaining) day of Lent.
I am enlisting you to fill this prayer calendar with me. Please send me by this Saturday two or three prayers you would like to share over this season. Be specific, not just “pray for my friends and family”, but also concise so that I can fit it in a little box in the calendar. I may or may not have room for all your prayers depending on the responses. Hopefully I will get this calendar out by Sunday or early next week.
peace & blessings–
Karen Vroom
kareniw@yahoo.com
Casa Chirilagua needs volunteers
Hi everyone,
Casa Chirilagua (http://www.casachirilagua.org) is looking for a few good men & women! We are looking for volunteers to help us with the Mujeres de Virtud meeting on this Saturday, February 13th from 10:00 AM to Noon at Commonwealth Baptist Church. Read more of Dawnielle’s email below and email me (sarahedale at gmail.com) if you’d like to help.
“…This is our “Dia de Amistad” or “Friendship Day” Celebration. We are having a breakfast for the ladies followed by our regular meeting time. This will be a great way for a small group to do a service project together.
We need:
1) A group of people to buy decorations and decorate the night before (Friday night)
2) A group of people to organize and cook breakfast for 30 ladies on Saturday morning.
3) Childcare for the morning of the meeting.
4) A special gift for the ladies (a calling card for central america or a flower)
I have also listed out our needs for March (below) as well as Mujeres de Virtud dates for the rest of the year. Put it on your calendar now so you can make it a priority. It’s only once a month! Just let me know when you want to help out and how many people you will be bringing.
Blessings, Dawnielle
Upcoming meetings and needs:
March 19-21
2nd Annual Mujeres de Virtud retreat to Lake Champion, NY!
Pray for us! Last year we had 19 ladies attend from Alexandria and Arlington.
The ladies worked very hard to make and sell tamales as well as organize a yard sale; however, we are still in need of some monetary resources.
We will need:
-Donations for the scholarship fund: $100 can send a lady to the retreat for the weekend
-Donations for the Transportation fund: We estimate about $2000
-People to volunteer to watch kiddos for the weekend to allow single moms to go
-Borrow Mini-vans to cut transportation costs (Let us know if you or your church have one available.)
-Volunteers to drive the vans and volunteer with the camp ground for the weekend (kitchen crew).
Mark these dates on your calendar, Mujeres de Virtud dates for the rest of the year:
April 17
May 8 (Annual Mother’s Day Celebration)
June 5
(Lay low for July and August)
September 18
October 16
November 13
December 11 (Year End Christmas Celebration)
Free turkey tonight!
Hey everyone,
Just a reminder… we’re back on our “normal” Holy Grounds schedule tonight with a potluck at the church at 6pm and a discussion lead by Corey, starting our series on Spiritual Practices.
If you’re going to bring food, please bring only a small side dish since we’ll be having a 20 lb. roasted turkey (courtesy of Sarah Dale’s parents). Be prepared for some juicy goodness… John, Matt, Sarah and Rachel (yes–she’s visiting from Iowa!) created the marinade it’s been soaking in for two days. Mmmmm!
PS-No, it doesn’t take 4 people to create a marinade, but everything’s more fun when it’s a communal effort, right? 
Party Pictures
Hi All! As usual, I’m posting the pics from the Halloween/Matt’s Last Hurrah party on Flickr. They’re not all up/edited, but I’ve put up some fun ones as a start. The link directly to the set is http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrnwllms/sets/72157622705408438/ Let me know if you want originals etc… Also… if you know of someone who was there who doesn’t read the HG blog, could you please send this link their way? I got some email addresses, but I know that I’m still missing a few people!
Update on Bridgett
I was able to hop a plane this morning to Cincinnati (with some cloths I picked up from Erin) and have been with Bridgett since then. I’m remaining with her until her parents get here at about 11 and will head back to help with whatever’s needed tomorrow morning. Bridgett is good spirits, but still trying to process and figure out next steps.
Thank you for all your messages and texts. It’s been wonderful to share with her all your love! If you would like to encourage her, I’d suggest not calling her, but rather e-mailing or texting (be sure to include your name as she lost all her contacts when her iPhone burned) and have grace that she may not respond back. Please keep praying for her, her housemate Beth, and their families.
A bunch of my housemates are driving here tomorrow evening for a conference and will have limited space for clothing items for Bridgett. If you have stuff that would be good (she’s a size 6 and a medium in tops), you can drop it off at Fairlington before noon tomorrow. In particular she needs: jeans, comfortable pants, sweaters, socks, and a jacket. If you don’t have clothing and would like to still contribute materially, I know that money would be a real blessing. You can also drop of gift cards (there’s a target and old navy nearby)/checks made out to her at Fairlington (which will give her the most flexibility) or (if you would like your donation to be tax-deductible) you may make it out to Fairlington with Bridgett in the for line.
Keep praying!
Support for Joanna
I just spoke with Joanna this morning. She’s doing really well, but money is tight.
As Joanna’s community, we’ve agreed to share such information and to help her out as the spirit leads. Please consider sending sending some support money to Joanna.
If you are cool with not having a tax deduction (preferred since it is much, much easier for her to get the money this way), send a check made out to her directly to her parents:
Joanna Geiger
529 Freemont St
Lancaster, PA 17603
If you want the tax deduction, you can give it to Fairlington Pres earmarking it for Joanna Geiger.
Celebrating Jan’s 20 Years of Ministry with FPC
You and your family are cordially invited to join us as we celebrate and give thanks for Jan’s 20 years of ministry at Fairlington Presbyterian Church with an Italian dinner in the fellowship hall at 5pm Saturday, October 17.
What to bring: Most importantly, bring yourself! If you would like, you can also bring your favorite pasta dish, salad, bread or dessert. If you aren’t able to bring food, don’t let that stop you from coming! We always have more than enough to share.
Questions? Contact Andi at andi_allen05@yahoo.com.
Buon appetito!
Helping Casa Chirilagua
Friends of Casa Chirilagua, we need you!
WHO: Casa Chiri and 12 of our closest volunteer friends!
WHAT: We need help for our Art on the Avenue booth. We will be helping children make bird feeders out of recycled materials.
WHEN: This Saturday, October 3 from 9:00 AM – 6 PM
WHERE: Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria on Mt. Vernon Avenue
WHY: Not-for-profits in Alexandria host art projects for children at their booths at the festival. It will be a fun way to give back to the community, meet people nearby, find volunteers, and promote Casa Chirilagua.
HOW: If interested please sign up for a 3 hour slot (9-12 AM, 12-3 PM, 3-6 PM) by contacting Rachel Hoppe: rachel_hoppe@hotmail.com
We hope to see you there!
Poll on women’s fellowship nights
OK, some of you may cringe at the “christianese” sounding title of the post, but I wrote “fellowship” on purpose: I think we need to move the format into a more structured shared prayer time. Hopefully I am not alone in this thought.
On the scheduling: How would you all feel about meeting more frequently, say, every 2 weeks? I would like to keep it on a weekday since ppl are busy on weekends.
On where to have it: I would like to have it at someone’s house, which means ppl need to volunteer to host. This means YOU! You wouldn’t have to provide dinner, or even your presence technically (although that would be preferred). Also, anyone who wants to help me with providing dinner to a half dozen ppl would be appreciated!
On the content: As I said, shared prayer time is good, however there may be interest in a women’s study of some sort. I personally am not sure if we are at that point yet, or whether ppl would prefer a coed study. But anyway, I am bringing this to the floor. If you have a particular book to pitch, let’s hear it!
Georgetown InterVarsity seeking baked cookies
Each year, Georgetown’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship seeks to greet interested students with homebaked cookies and an invitation to Bible study and other New Student events.
We’re praying that the Lord will lead us to 200-250 new students this fall–which means we’ll be looking for 400-500 cookies (bagged in 2s) (35-40 dozen).
Are you able to bake cookies? buy cookie dough (or grocery gift cards) that others could bake?
We’re trying to get the cookies in by September 1st, delivered to someone on campus–or my house:
1818 Minnesota Ave SE Washington, DC 20020.
If you’re able to participate, please email me at keperk@gmail.com with how many dozen cookies you’d like to supply–that way I can keep track of where we are in the process.
Thank you for helping prepare the way for new students to encounter Jesus!
Blessings,
Kate Perkins
Georgetown IV
Labor Day Weekend at Joanna’s Cabin
We are looking at spending Labor Day weekend at Joanna’s Cabin in Pennsylvania.
- There is enough bed space for 8 people (3 double beds, 2 single beds) We also have a pull out sofa and two other sofas for people who would prefer those to air mattresses. There is plenty of floor space as well
- Dogs are perfectly fine but they can’t sleep in the beds.
- It’s about 5 and a half hours to get up to the cabin (it’s a little past Scranton PA)
- People would need to bring sheets, drinking water, and food
- Just a heads up it is rustic there is no indoor pluming (or outdoor for that matter): there is an outhouse and a lake we pull water from.
Is it something any of you would be interested in? Let me know ASAP.
Please help Libby!
Hey Everyone!
Please help me win a $100 gift card to CustomInk to help out pay for my team’s field hockey shirts! The picture with the highest rating gets the prize. Below is a link to rate my picture (of my family at the beach in our shirts). Simply go to the right and click the highest rating in order to vote for the picture.
http://inkspot.customink.com/iotw/photo/monkey-is-our-business.html
Thank you all so much, I’ll let you know the outcome!
-Libby Lyon
Canoeing and Inner-Tubing Down the Shenandoah Saturday, August 8th
We’re so excited about our upcoming day on the river, Saturday, August 8th! We’ll carpool from the church parking lot at noon and head out to Bluemont, VA to spend the afternoon floating down the Shenandoah in canoes and inner-tubes. Pack a lunch and bring $5 for the cook-out we’ll have in Bluemont after we’re done on the river.
It’s sure to be a fun day out in the country!
RSVP matt@fpcusa.org so we can make sure we have enough equipment for everyone.
Postcard from Joanna
Bio Ritmo at Summer Solstice Salsa & Swing Dance
I’m so excited about the Summer Salsa & Swing Dance coming up Saturday, June 20th. Nationally acclaimed Bio Ritmo will be playing and it’s sure to be a ton of fun! Even better, it’s free.
Here are the details:
Saturday, June 20
7-10pm (come to learn and teach at 6:30)
3846 King Street, Alexandria
Join us for this FREE, fun and family-friendly evening of dancing in an alcohol-free environment! Proceeds from concessions will support the Computer CORE program (www.computercore.org).
Please invite your friends. Posters are available for download here or can be gotten from Matt.
Fairlington Sabbatical Blog
This summer the community of Fairlington Presbyterian along with Pastor Jan Edmiston will be taking a sabbatical to explore God’s calling on us in the coming seasons. It will be a wonderful time of reflection. Follow along with thoughts from people throughout the congregation and Jan’s travels on the Fairlington Sabbatical blog.