Our church caroled with the 19th Ward last Sunday. Trent and Evan represented the Munden's there. It was well organized and Trent said it went well.
They had a piano and organ accompaniment and Trent said they sung the songs really slow. Ha! Pretty traditional . . . . . our pastor was allowed to get up and give a message of his choosing. The main point he gave was to not have fear because Christ's gift was free and we can do nothing to earn it. Our youth pastor also did a solo song with his guitar. All and all Trent was pretty impressed by it. At the end the bishop of the ward encouraged his flock to attend our Christmas Eve service--he had gone to it last year and loved it and wanted his people to go to it too!!
We continue to enjoy our church and meet new people each time we go. A couple has invited us over to dinner but we have yet to go because of all the Christmas festivities going on.
And the biggest news . . . . I might have met a friend here in Iona. I discovered another new family had moved into the house across the street at Thanksgiving time (not directly across but kitty korner). They are from Germany, he is a doctor who is currently working as a nurse until he passes the board exam here. The mom stays at home with her four little kiddos!! So, I marched over there with a Christmas card as soon as I learned all this and introduced myself and we have plans to get together once life resumes as normal at our house.
We have several family members coming over this week and next but after New Year's all should be pretty quiet around here and Trent is leaving for a work trip. So, I should have time then to get to know my new neighbors!!
In other news, we are pretty exhausted. Jordyn continues to not sleep at night. At all. She is horrible and we have tried nearly everything to get her to sleep through. So, we'll just keep trying until we are successful. Until then, we are extremely sleep deprived. I'm happy I had enough brain power to even write this much!
Merry Christmas!!
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
A visit to the LDS church
This coming Sunday . . . .
I've been kind of on and off about the church we have been attending; mostly because the music is so stinkin' horrible (it makes me want to scratch my eyes out) and music is a love language for me. However, the core of the church is really great so I need to get over myself and suck it up. Case in point: it was announced last Sunday that we are Christmas caroling with a LDS church in town--we are going to their church but our pastor has been given the pulpit to preach whatever Christmas message he would like. Yes!! Trent and I will be there with bells on. I'm so excited they are doing this and are engaging themselves like this. They have built a relationship with the bishop at this particular LDS church and this is the 2nd year in a row they are doing this. I want to invite all my Mormon neighbors to their own church to hear my pastor speak! :)
And on a similar note one of our very nice, lovely neighbors invited us to a LDS Christmas dinner here in town. Specifically she said, "I want to make sure you don't feel left out. Many people complain that the Mormon's in town are very exclusive and don't make others feel welcome if you aren't Mormon." Yep. You pretty much nailed it, lady. She is sweet and very genuine. I need to reciprocate. Trent said if we weren't busy that night (we had his office Christmas dinner that night) we would have gone and then invited every single one of them to our church or some similar church event.
Interestingly, one of Trent's co-workers told him the other week that he has attended the Calvary Chapel in town and loved it (he's a Mormon). He said he would much rather go to Calvary Chapel than his church but his wife is truly the Mormon in his family so he doesn't want to rock the boat and start attending somewhere else. Hmmmmm. It makes us wonder how many of these 'Mormon's exist.
Continuing in the mission field of SE Idaho . . . .
I've been kind of on and off about the church we have been attending; mostly because the music is so stinkin' horrible (it makes me want to scratch my eyes out) and music is a love language for me. However, the core of the church is really great so I need to get over myself and suck it up. Case in point: it was announced last Sunday that we are Christmas caroling with a LDS church in town--we are going to their church but our pastor has been given the pulpit to preach whatever Christmas message he would like. Yes!! Trent and I will be there with bells on. I'm so excited they are doing this and are engaging themselves like this. They have built a relationship with the bishop at this particular LDS church and this is the 2nd year in a row they are doing this. I want to invite all my Mormon neighbors to their own church to hear my pastor speak! :)
And on a similar note one of our very nice, lovely neighbors invited us to a LDS Christmas dinner here in town. Specifically she said, "I want to make sure you don't feel left out. Many people complain that the Mormon's in town are very exclusive and don't make others feel welcome if you aren't Mormon." Yep. You pretty much nailed it, lady. She is sweet and very genuine. I need to reciprocate. Trent said if we weren't busy that night (we had his office Christmas dinner that night) we would have gone and then invited every single one of them to our church or some similar church event.
Interestingly, one of Trent's co-workers told him the other week that he has attended the Calvary Chapel in town and loved it (he's a Mormon). He said he would much rather go to Calvary Chapel than his church but his wife is truly the Mormon in his family so he doesn't want to rock the boat and start attending somewhere else. Hmmmmm. It makes us wonder how many of these 'Mormon's exist.
Continuing in the mission field of SE Idaho . . . .
Monday, December 2, 2013
Thanksgiving week + end
Happy belated Thanksgiving!
We spent the holiday in Jerome with my family and then headed back home on Saturday. On the way we stopped in American Falls to see the Schutte's while they were visiting Jon's parents. Also, that got us home in time to go to church again. We would like to create as much continuity in our lives as possible so the kids feel like this is 'home'. Whatever that is. It was really strange to drive east instead of west to go home, but it was a lot shorter drive!
And as an aside, Jordyn doesn't like to travel. As soon as we got home she passed out and took a 3-hr nap then slept pretty well through the night.
Church: Sunday #4
We have decided that CCC (that's what I'll call it here) is our home for now. We really like the pastor and his messages. He is very 'real' and very ADD. I like it. They had a combined service instead of two morning services and it was jam packed. This church is ready to grow and they need to start making some serious changes to make it happen. They are too big to have one service without adding accommodations in other rooms or doing something different. However, we got a good glimpse into why some changes might not have been happening as quickly as needed. They had a short business meeting after the service and we stayed to see what was happening. Apparently the pastor's wife had been in rehab for several months and just returned home. And, the worship pastor had run off with his partner just a few months ago. So, they are dealing with some serious peripheral issues.
I told Trent afterwards that you can tell the Spirit is using that pastor because he is under serious attack from Satan. This guy is clearly spreading the message of Christ and is suffering the consequences from the world. So, we will make a more pointed effort to be in prayer for him and his family and this church.
More Mormon news
We continue to make interesting discoveries about our Mormon neighbors (nearly everyone here). Needing suggestions in these areas: 1) what book could we give them in return upon receiving a Book of Mormon from them? 2) questions to see if they are seeking to bring up in casual conversation (Krista H. is the master of this; and of course, Dave D)
Foster Care
We are seeking to get our foster care license here. I have no idea what this will look like--the age or when we will begin. However, the process is much easier than what I had anticipated. There is no limit on how long you have to live here to get your license. In Washington state you have to live there a year before you can apply to be a foster family. Then, their training program is the same as Washington's so we have already completed it. Today while cleaning out the office space I found our completion certificate for Pride Pre-Service. Gulp. This is happening too quickly . . . . I don't know if the Lord is opening doors quickly for us or we are being tested to see how much wisdom we have. I'm sure it will take a while to get through the home study, etc so we'll see.
What prompted this was I was on the website where they have WA, ID, OR's waiting children--kids who are able to be adopted immediately. I clicked on the kid who was the oldest (thinking, this one will time out first so they need a home first!) and read his profile. Usually they are very clear on the child's needs but this kid seemed like he didn't have huge issues but had been in foster care for a few years. Then at the bottom it said they would prefer a home in Idaho Falls because this child's grandma lives in IF and he would like to have contact with her. Another Gulp. It cut through my heart and I didn't think it was a coincidence. Whether or not we are to adopt this very child, I don't know but it hit me that we were to do something about kids like this. It's not glamorous or easy but we have to at least try . . . . .
Enough from the Iona home front.
We spent the holiday in Jerome with my family and then headed back home on Saturday. On the way we stopped in American Falls to see the Schutte's while they were visiting Jon's parents. Also, that got us home in time to go to church again. We would like to create as much continuity in our lives as possible so the kids feel like this is 'home'. Whatever that is. It was really strange to drive east instead of west to go home, but it was a lot shorter drive!
And as an aside, Jordyn doesn't like to travel. As soon as we got home she passed out and took a 3-hr nap then slept pretty well through the night.
Church: Sunday #4
We have decided that CCC (that's what I'll call it here) is our home for now. We really like the pastor and his messages. He is very 'real' and very ADD. I like it. They had a combined service instead of two morning services and it was jam packed. This church is ready to grow and they need to start making some serious changes to make it happen. They are too big to have one service without adding accommodations in other rooms or doing something different. However, we got a good glimpse into why some changes might not have been happening as quickly as needed. They had a short business meeting after the service and we stayed to see what was happening. Apparently the pastor's wife had been in rehab for several months and just returned home. And, the worship pastor had run off with his partner just a few months ago. So, they are dealing with some serious peripheral issues.
I told Trent afterwards that you can tell the Spirit is using that pastor because he is under serious attack from Satan. This guy is clearly spreading the message of Christ and is suffering the consequences from the world. So, we will make a more pointed effort to be in prayer for him and his family and this church.
More Mormon news
We continue to make interesting discoveries about our Mormon neighbors (nearly everyone here). Needing suggestions in these areas: 1) what book could we give them in return upon receiving a Book of Mormon from them? 2) questions to see if they are seeking to bring up in casual conversation (Krista H. is the master of this; and of course, Dave D)
Foster Care
We are seeking to get our foster care license here. I have no idea what this will look like--the age or when we will begin. However, the process is much easier than what I had anticipated. There is no limit on how long you have to live here to get your license. In Washington state you have to live there a year before you can apply to be a foster family. Then, their training program is the same as Washington's so we have already completed it. Today while cleaning out the office space I found our completion certificate for Pride Pre-Service. Gulp. This is happening too quickly . . . . I don't know if the Lord is opening doors quickly for us or we are being tested to see how much wisdom we have. I'm sure it will take a while to get through the home study, etc so we'll see.
What prompted this was I was on the website where they have WA, ID, OR's waiting children--kids who are able to be adopted immediately. I clicked on the kid who was the oldest (thinking, this one will time out first so they need a home first!) and read his profile. Usually they are very clear on the child's needs but this kid seemed like he didn't have huge issues but had been in foster care for a few years. Then at the bottom it said they would prefer a home in Idaho Falls because this child's grandma lives in IF and he would like to have contact with her. Another Gulp. It cut through my heart and I didn't think it was a coincidence. Whether or not we are to adopt this very child, I don't know but it hit me that we were to do something about kids like this. It's not glamorous or easy but we have to at least try . . . . .
Enough from the Iona home front.
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