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posted by James on 02/16/08

If you have never been a part of the annual IBLP Valentines Banquet, than you are really missing out! But why should you? I guess that’s why I’m posting this; so you can experience just a taste of what all goes on here at Headquarters for this very special event! Tonight, most of the single staff showed up to help prepare for tomorrow evening’s banquet.

This most elegant event is hosted for select couples who are now playing vital roles in structure of IBLP: from Board Members and Training Center Directors, to supporters of the ministry and parents of dedicated staff members. As a way of showing our appreciation for the tireless work they have poured into the ministry, preparations for the banquet are tedious, intricate, and thoroughly refined.

I’m glad to be on the photography team. Tomorrow I’ll be an assistant to the portrait photographer, but tonight my assignment was to get good shots of the preparations. For the staff, preparing is as much fun as the actual banquet! Here are a few of the pictures from tonight and I can’t wait to post more tomorrow of the real thing!

5 Comments » | posted in Ministry Reports

posted by Mom on 02/12/08

Grandma Brown introduced us to vegetable pizza a few years back but it was not until recently that I began making it myself by “staddonizing” the recipe.

The first thing I changed was the crust — we like “the real thing” rather than Pillsbury cresent rolls.

The second thing that was more to our liking was replacing the Ranch flavor powder style dressing or dip mix with our own spices and some sour cream or plain yogurt. Tastefully Simple has a very good all natural Fiesta Party dip Mix which makes a very good replacement.

We bake 5 loaves of bread once or twice a week so when we need a pizza crust we just make the crust instead of the loaves of bread: One loaf makes two crusts. After baking it about 6 minutes, the 12″ crusts freeze very nicely in a two gallon plastic zip-lock bag.

Also the vegetables can be cut up ahead of time and kept for as long as a week if covered with water which is changed every day.

Bake one pizza crust and cool
Mix: 1 T. Fiesta Party Dip,
          ¼ c. mayonnaise (real mayonnaise only), and
          ¾ c. sour cream or plain yogurt
Spread on cooled crust
Cut into small pieces:
          Cauliflower
          Broccoli
          Carrots
          Olives
          Celery
          Red/green/yellow peppers
          Whatever raw vegetables preferred (yellow squash, etc)
Top crust with vegetables
Chill well and serve

Enjoy!
 
 

2 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Donald on 02/7/08

As in the opening lines of Dickens’ Christmas Carol one point should be made first before the rest of this post will make sense. That point is that I have never really enjoyed being a part of camps for youth or children. While there seemed to be benefits, they generally looked artificial and pointless to me as a child and as a young adult, due in part simply to the fact that our family was already close and strong as a family, a determination that I attribute gratefulness to God for.

One thing that made Winter English Camps here different was of course the English. Learning and conversing in English is a skill that many parents in Taiwan make a priority for their children even during vacation. The classrooms here provided the perfect backdrop for the camps and made English learning naturally more enjoyable and exciting. However there were still many details that our fearless leader Lucas Stewart ironed out for our first camps ever on site. Afterwards, we heard that the feedback to us from the parents was very positive and that there are not only students wanting to come in the future but ones who have already come through who would love to come a second time even if we teach the same exact things again.

We had ten teams that took the names of a country such as Australia for team A and Brazil for Team B. As it turned out I worked with Team Canada for one week and England the next. They were eager to learn anything we told them about those countries. Besides holding elections for a Camp President and cooking our own lunches, one highlight was being able to give a chalk-talk on attentiveness. Afterwards, I got a torrent of mail through our Camp Post Office! One student on team Germany wrote: “To Donald ~ Hey! You draw the picture well. And your stories were good. They were bringing me a lot of fun. I hope you will have a great Chinese New Year [a]nd have fun in Taiwan. . . .”

From 5:30am on the first morning of camps to our “finishing celebration” at Ponderosa on Friday night a week ago, the Lord supplied His guidance and strength. Besides His presence with us, I must say too that it was a good thing to see the TAs (Taiwanese Teacher Assistants/Translators) we had come to know over the summer! It was a team effort and an honor to play a part in.

3 Comments » | posted in Ministry Reports

posted by Esther on 02/7/08

Friday was a very encouraging day at school.

The first class we went into was a 4th grade class where we had talked about Gratefulness and made thank you notes the week before. It was such a joy to hear that almost 100% of the cards had been delivered, and to discuss with the children how it brightened up the lives of those who had helped them.

At lunch time my teaching partner had to leave for work and accidently took the sheep puppet prop with him. This was a problem since all of my afternoon classes were younger grades where I had planned to tell the story of the forgiving shepherd. Not sure what I was going to do, I told a friend who said she had brought a mouse puppet and stuffed lion that I could use. It turned out it was of the Lord to have the lion with me because several of my classes remembered the lion from previous visits and it added a whole new dynamic and interest in the story that really grabbed their attention. It turned out better then my original plan! What a refreshement to hear they had remembered lessons from last fall.

In a Special Education class I was explaining the importance of forgiving those who are rude to us when one of the girls spoke up and said, “You should have told me that a long time ago!” She then proceeded to tell me about someone who was often mean to her. She had made the link between what we were talking about and how to apply it in her life.

It is so encouraging when God lets us see bits of the results from the work He has called us to do. This motivates me to do my duty well, because there are results – whether it’s God’s time to let me see them or not.

Can anyone guess where the title of this post originated?

5 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by James on 02/5/08

West Virginia was the first of 21 states to announce it’s choice for the Republican presidential nominee tonight. Can you guess who the winner was? Amazingly, Mike Huckabee took 1st place with 52% of the vote! Romney took 2nd with 47% while McCain, the national leader, took an extremely distant 3rd at 1%. With the winner-take-all system, Huckabee has gained West Virginia’s 18 delegates. The May 13 primary will decide the remaining 30 delegates.

Thousands of people across the nation are still voting. With all kinds of adverse weather conditions, it is great to read about the positive turnout all across the nation as well as seeing it here at Headquarters. The Staff Center here is being used as a voting station and as I write, downstairs there is a continuous flow of Illinois citizens coming to vote.

Huckabee still has a long way to go tonight. Go, Mike, Go!

4 Comments » | posted in Politics