Good News Club

For most of the time Jim was in the Solomon Islands,  I helped my sister Ginny (pictured above) with a children's outreach ministry in Mattawa, WA which is about an hour drive from where we are now living in Pasco.  This is where our family lived from 2005 until we returned to the Solomons in 2007.  She has run an after-school club for 2nd- 4th graders in the local elementary schoool for several years.

.   There is a time for snacks, games, songs, a Bible lesson, and a missionary story for anyone with parental permission.  This year we had a consistent group of about 30 kids come every Tuesday afternoon.  Many of the children were really interested in learning more about the Bible.  The boy in the photo below got to play the game of throwing the ball into the egg carton for points by enthusiatically answering the review game question of where the Bible verse for that week was found by saying "palms!"   He had learned the reference from reading it and not understanding the pronunciation of Psalms. 

 My part was to tell the missionary story and help with snacks.

The story this year was about a World War II prisoner of war in Japan who came to know Christ by reading the Bible.  When he obeyed the commands of Christ, his hate for his enemies turned into love.  His desire for them to know the forgivness of God led him to return to Japan with his family as a missionary.  

These children are also surrounded by the hate and violence of gangs in their community. The final day I passed out crosses with the Japanese word for love to help them to remember the death and resurrection of Christ  brings forgiveness and strength to love and forgive.                                                                            Pray with me for these young children to remember the command from Jesus in Mattew 5:44. 

  Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you.                                 

Time flies when you are having fun??!

I can't believe it is already mid-May!  My apologies for anyone checking this blog to find out what is new with the Mudge family.  I think I will share some of what we have been doing from the last few weeks as they happened in new posts with the dates of the events.  It may take a few days but adding to the blog has finally hit the top of my list!   Thanks for being interested and for your prayers as we continue to serve God in all that we do.

The decision is made

After hearing back from all the law schools she applied to,  Emily has decided to attend Indiana University's  Maurer School of Law.  The law school's home page says it is the national leader in the study of the global legal profession...  which is exactly what interests Emily.  The positives of attending there are that it is an excellant program, she got a great scholarship, she knows the area since she is already living in Bloomington, and she already has a good church and Christian friends.   The negatives...hmm. Well the only one from her parent's point of view is that it is still on the other side of the country!

There is an introductory course that begins in early July which allows Emily to ease back into graduate level work after a year off and gives her an extra course elective later on.  She will finish her commitment with the Red Cross in mid June and can begin her 3 year law degree right away.  

Thank you for all who prayed for her during the decison process.  Emily is very excited!!

Signs of Spring

For an area of Washington that boasts more than 300 days a year of sunshine, February and March are the times we do get rain.  For the last couple of weeks we have been getting wave after wave of wet weather coming inland over the mountains. On my way to Mattawa a couple of days ago I saw the rain clouds hanging on the top of the mountains.It was an amazing sight although I don't think my phone camera caught it very well.

Even the miles of desert on both sides of the road have a twinge of green.  A sure sign of Spring!

Low clouds hug the top of the Rattlesnake mountains

On the return trip the clouds were clearing but still magnificent to see.

 A more colorful signs of Spring are the hyachinths, daffodills, and tulips that are begining to bud. Yesterday I couldn't resist taking a photo of the first daffodill blossoms. We also have rubbarb and bleeding heart sprouting and the lilacs have fat buds. Although I don't have any in our yard, they say the forsythia is beginning to bloom so it is time to prune the roses I didn't get to last fall.  Wonderful signs of Spring here in South Central Washington.

Two weeks later

It is hard to believe it has been two weeks since Jim left for the Solomon Islands.  He had a very busy stay in the capitol, Honiara, before catching the plane to the Roviana language area.  It took Jim a couple of days to get our personal things stored at the translation office and set up in the United Church Rest house flat that we have been allowed to rent when we are in Munda.  The cooking issue was resolved and he was able to reconnect phone and electric service at the office so he seemed ready to settle down to work.  

Unfortunately, his body decided to make sure he took a rest. Either exposure to a new flu bug or old familiar allergens, eating new foods, reacting to the heat, or just a drop in the adrenalin level, caused Jim to spend a couple of days in bed and near the toilet.  Perhaps it was  a combination of all of the above.  Regaining strength and energy was helped later last week by cooler temperatures as some tropical storms passed through the area.  One day he emailed that it was raining sideways – not unusual during a windy rainstorm in the Pacific. 

What a blessing that we have been able to communicate via email almost every day.  Writing him about my day and news from the kids helps me feel like he is a part of it all.  And I enjoy hearing about what verses he has been working on and news from our friends there.

Jim has been working alone since arriving in Munda because our translator and friend,  Rev Aaron Bea (bay-ah) is in Honiara undergoing medical tests.  It looks serious.  

Please PRAY for him and any decisions that will need to be made based on his diagnosis.

Jim leaves for the Solomons February 26th

          As we backed the car out of the garage at 4:30 in the morning we met the lady delivering the newspaper.  She offered for us to take the paper but our minds were more on getting to the Pasco airport to try to beat the crowd at the check in counter.  Yes, at our small community airport, which is only about 10 minutes from where we are living, there is quite a rush between 5 and 6 am as many of the regional flights take off early morning to hub destinations like Seattle, Denver, and San Fransisco.   Jim was hoping to get his luggage book from Pasco straight through to Honiara and he knew that would really hold up the line.  As she had to look up the codes for 4 connecting flights, the check-in clerk commented on the "unusual" places he was heading for;  Nadi, Fiji and Honirara, Solomon Islands.

Jim at home making sure his bags aren't overweight.


I intended to send this post out 3 days ago but had trouble downloading this photo of him groggily waiting at the Pasco airport.

           With hours of layovers in San Fransisco and again in Los Angles, Jim had plenty of time to call me several times and even Jeffrey and Emily to say one last goodbye.  The flight from LA left at 9:30 pm and while he slept, he "lost" his Sunday and arrived in Fiji on Monday morning.  Although he had a couple of "travel experiences" in Fiji, Jim eventually got to Honiara only an hour late.  He said he had the normal reaction on arriving from winter in very dry, eastern Washington to the heat and humidity of Honiara - like walking into a suana! 

          Twenty four hours later he got on another smaller plane and flew to Munda.  While in Honiara Jim had done banking and shopping, met individually with our translator, Rev Bea, the Bible Society consultant, and our SITAG director, sorted stuff from storage and washed the musty linens, and enjoyed the fellowship of other translation families over meals. 

         Now he is trying to settle into a very basic living situation and get back to translation work.

Valentine's Day

On this day devoted to love I thought I would share some of the things I love.

Bargain shopping

Phone calls from our kids

My husband and the roses he gave me for today

My well-used old Bible with many of God's promises of love marked  

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
  But the greatest of these is love.  Follow the way of love..."