Old Colony Service

We (most of us oversee teachers and the pastor from the Church here) went to Shipyard this morning. We had to get up just after 5am so we could be there when it started. It was really amazing to see all the horses and buggies all tied to posts in the Church parking lot. The ladies went to the south side and we went to the east side and stood at the door till someone invited us in. Then we took our seat on the wooden (no back) chairs. Everyone was dressed in coveralls with long-sleeve blue or dark shirts. All the straw hats were hung on nails about the pews (for the guys, the women kept their headcovering on).

We sang three songs out of an old high-german hymnal, each song was about half a page long and lasted 15 minutes. The singing was more in the form of chanting each word taking 5 seconds with a pause for the commas, etc where the song leader did a short solo. It was kind of neat in that it set an atmosphere of unity and consistency over the last 350 years. As the song continued to go on shall the faith through the generations (at least that was my reflection).

I could not understand any of the words in the song or sermon (both in high german) and unfortunately most of the people could not either (since they speak low-german) so I tried to pray for the church. Praying mostly that God would show me what to pray and praying that God would help the people to understand the words they are singing and the Word of God. The insight I had was, "You have to understand in order to serve", I mean understand these people until I can think from their perspective even if I do not agree with it.

When the sermon was over we sang the third song and then everyone immediately left. Two men stopped to talk to us (in English) outside and the preachers passed by and I made sure I shook their hand and thanked them with the little german I knew (they understood danke-shein)

From here we went to the contemperary EMMC church (planted by the one in Blue Creek). We spent a lot of time talking with the brothers there about their journey out of the old colony and how they were asked to leave for conducting Bible studies in their houses or having rubber on their tires. Surprisingly they seemed very loving to those who had ostrasized and forced them out. Instead of being bitter I sensed they were genuinly loving and praying for those in the old colony still.

This contemperary church sang some songs in English like "Jesus loves me" and some hymns in high german (all this high german is because low german was not written - at least not the Bible and hymnal till recently). Our pastor from Blue Creek was preaching on Habbakuk and that was in English.

Following this we had lunch at their pastors place and had a wonderful time of fellowship.

Please continue to pray for these two churches. One of the struggles for the old colony is they do not understand the words they sing and hear even when they are clearly the gospel so they are left only with a set of rules to obey or to be excommunicated. The new Church needs much prayer because they have been excommunicated from their family and friends so they cannot shop or visit and it is very hard to make a living and very lonely. For now there is only a handful of them but a huge number are just waiting till the time is right to make the switch. It is as if a revival looms on the horizon, may God breathe life anew!

Ministry in Shipyard this Sunday

Several of us teachers are going over to Shipyard (the old colony) this Sunday at 6am to attend the old colony service. Afterwards we are going to the Evangelical Church where Pastor Darryl (From Blue Creek) will be preaching.

Please pray that we will learn a great deal about the old colony culture tomorrow, that God would give us opportunities for ministry and that we could be a blessing on the new Church (the evangelical one) that our community has been helping to plant there.

To learn more about the old colony listen to this sermon I preached at AWANA camp a few Sundays ago.

Missionary Status Accepted

I got an email today from the EMMC Church saying that our status as missionaries has been accepted. Thank-you to everyone who has asked to support us, here is the information you will need.

Funds going toward our ministry should be sent to: EMMC, Box 52059,
Niakwa PO, Winnipeg, MB R2M 5P9.

All funds should be clearly designated toward "Blue Creek Linda Vista
teacher support" and "Chris and Cory Priebe" so that the deposit is made to the right
accounts.

Once again that you to everyone who has asked to support us. This is a huge blessing.

AWANA camp sermons are now online

I wrote a few weeks ago that I was working on putting all the sermons I did at AWANA camp online. It was kinda fun cause I was on a bus somewhere in Mexico working on my laptop as I converted the audio files to be web enabled. The challenge was then to figure out how to upload such big files a satellite internet connection that was hit by lighting just before we got here.

Oh well, here is the link. I pray that you will be blessed by these sermons even as I (and many campers) were blessed a few weeks ago.

http://www.authenticwalk.com/camp/sermons/

Listening to God's Voice all around me

It finally dawned on me, I should be sharing some of the amazing things God has been teaching me in class and what I am learning along with the students.

Well in Bible 11/12 class we are studing Genesis but the course begins with "The Bible" (which is a good place to start when you are talking about first things first). This week we learnt that God has two books - natural revelation (Creation) and special revelation (The Bible). In class I pointed to a large tree and asked the students what they can learn about God from that tree. I quoted A.W. Tozer who said to C.S.Lewis "Beyond this great oak with it's roots reaching deep into the earth and his arms stretched high into the heavens" (rough paraphrase) Likewse we too need to be rooted in God's Word and reaching up to God to pour into us.

I said, "Look at the sky, what do we learn there?" That it changes, it is vast, it is big and must have had a big vast God who loves rythme and beauty.

So I had all the students sit carefully in their chairs and take notice of what was around them and let God speak to them through it. For me, it was the breeze which blew through the door and past me in the hot morning air. Like that breeze I need the refreshing wind of the Spirit to keep me anew each day.

In the end my challenge to the students (and to myself) was this: Pay attention, God is all around wanting to speak to us.

How to Overcome SPAM!

Several people have been asking me how to overcome SPAM. With over 80 emails a day making it through my filter on YAHOO mail I figure I have some experience with it. Here are some of the lessons I have learnt (feel free to add your own tips below)

Here is my basic theory: "The primary reason why people get spam is because they gave away their email address to an untrustworthy source." In other words, spam is really the fault of the user (or his/her friends) and not the email provider. I have tested this theory by creating unused accounts and it seems to be true (except for a few small cases where spammers guess my email address because it is too simple like info@domain.com)

The problem is that if I never give my email address away it is completely useless to have an email address.

Here is my solution: Get 2 email addresses!

Primary email address: This is your email that you want to keep for life. Only give this away to your closest friends and family and those that have proved to you that you can trust them. As soon as enter this address on a web page or give it to one of those friends who send out one of those chain letters or mass mailers with everyones name in the TO or CC you have might as well kiss that address good-bye.

Secondary email address: Sign up for one of those free address at hotmail.com, yahoo.com or gmail.com. In fact I highly recommend gmail.com.

Use this secondary email address to book all your flights online, buy stuff online, sign-up for newsletters and give it to new friends. If that friend or organization proves reliable either let them know you have changed your email (give them your primary one) or if you are not sure yet set up a rule to forward email from that person to your primary.

Once this address becomes too full of spam then create up a new account. With your old account set up an auto-responder that says something like. "I am no longer using this account because of too much SPAM. Please try my new address at 'mynew dot name at-sign gmail dot com.'" (Of course you don't want to put your new email address as 'mynew.name@gmail.com' because all the spammers will get your auto-responder and add that address also to their records).

Turantula outside our door

[This post would be better with a Croc Hunter accent] Cory and I got home today and found a big old turantula on our sidewalk by our gas tank. The thing was huge, dangerous and having a bad day. I approached it with my camera and it reared up on me. But I pressed onand got some really good photos. (Stay tuned for the next part when I develop them on my computer)

Commissioned in Church Today

This morning all of us teachers were called up to the front of the Church and prayed for. It was a real blessing. Here are our teachers (left to right)

Phil (Highschool math and science)
Susie (Kindergarten)
Lisa (Grade 2)
Cory (my wife, Grade 7)
Chris (That's me, Highschool Bible and Computers)
Noelle (Grade 4)
Rebekah (High School History and Language)
Alicia (Grade 5)
Liz (Grade 2)
Jennifer (Grade 6)
Rosy (Grade 3)
and Pastor Darryl in the front

High-School Building Dedication

We cut the ribbon on the new high-school building today. Last year the grade 11's had to meet in the basement of the Church so all summer the school has been working on a second level on top of the middle school. Today the ribbon was cut and the keys were handed over to the school board.

Urgent Prayer: Grade 8 Teacher Needed

We received news this week that our grade 8 teacher will not be able to make it. Unfortunately he could not sell or rent his place and so called and said he would not be able to come. Classes start on Tuesday and so far we do not have a teacher for that place.

Please pray that we God will provide someone (either from abroad or locally) to teach.

Thanks

(If you know of anyone interested please send them to www.authenticwalk.com/belize )

I Know What I am Doing ... I Think!!

Lots of people have asked me, "So Chris, what are you going to be doing in Belize?" This has been hard to answer so far because the community had not decided on what they would want me to do. At first I applied to teach in the school but then the youth pastor resigned so they talked about using my gifts in that area.

I had a meeting with some of the school board yesterday and they shared how scheduling is really tight right now. We are still missing a grade 8 teacher and we don't have another teacher to teach all the electives I would be missing by working part-time. In contrast (and to my joy) the youth ministry is doing really well at this time with their volunteer leaders. It seemed best for all of us that I should teach full-time and then we will re-evalutate in January based on how the school and youth ministry are doing. So here is what I am doing.

8:00 - teach Bible Doctrines to a grade 9/10 split class
8:50 - teach Genesis to a grade 11/12 split class
9:40 - Recess
9:55 - Study Hall for grade 9's
10:45 - Computer Applications for grade 12 students
11:30 - lunch
12:30 - (another teacher will teach the Spanish and Automotive electives)
1:20 - Keyboarding 9/10 (Typing and Word-processing skills)
2:15 - Computer Applications for grade 11 students on Mon,Wed, Fri and Physical Education on Tues, and Thursday (so glad it is last period)
3:00 - Mark student work and prep for next day.

Cory is teaching grade 7 all subjects

Sunday night once a month is youth and we are volunteering to help.
Wednesday night is youth Bible Study every week
Friday night is games night with all the teacher and college and careers

We are also volunteering with the Church to help the youth leaders and at times the Church if they need some leadership develpment based on Cory's and mine's masters degree (although I still have 9 credits to go)

AWANA Camp Sermons Online

I had a hard time sleeping on the airplane and bus ride to Belize so I opened up my computer and converted the audio and powerpoints into a web page for the campers last week to download. I was so blessed and encouraged as I prepared and preached these sermons. I pray that God will bless you as well as you listen to them.

See http://www.authenticwalk.com/camp/sermons/ for the list of sermons and powerpoint slides available

Settling into Belize

After 30 hours of travel we finally made it to our new home in Belize. Boy were we glad to sleep in, well at least till 9:30 and then the welcome crew arrived. Wow, can hardly believe how friendly this town is. Everyone we met so far is so thankful we are here. Thanks for all your prayers.

"Dear God, here we are, use us as you will!"

On the bus somewhere in Mexico

Laptops are cool. Here I am in the middle of Mexico and I can type a blog. Too bad there is no wireless here… So we finally left. After 3 weeks of packing, organizing, running errands and going to camp we actually pulled out and went. My mom and dad came down from Kamloops to see us off and my uncle Willis drove us down in his big old van.

10 bags. That was the total of what we took. 6 pages of stuff listed on our inventory. Do you have any idea what it is like to move that much stuff by airplane. Praise God, so far it is going well. We successfully made it through 2 borders (although in Mexico we were the only ones selected to have everything x-rayed but fortunately they did not take everything apart). One more border to go which is the Mexico / Belize border. I keep praying about that one with all the import regulations and all. Should find out tonight, providing our emails went through and someone from Blue Creek is there to pick us up, that is.

Another look out the window. The trees are really short here… and dense too. I heard it is because the ground is all rock with very little topsoil. They got all these buildings right off the highway in the jungle. Sometimes it is a burnt out factory, othertimes a gas station or some tower in the middle of no where. Cory and Noelle are watching Princess Diaries on their laptop. (I’m rendering the sermons from last week so I can put them on a web page for the campers)

Oh well, just thought I’d drop a line and let everyone know we are on our way and so far… so good. Thanks for all your prayers.