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Cheap Long Distance Service

General

Nov 212002

I’m just finishing up this week’s BSF lesson, about to start homiletics in preparation for Saturday’s leaders’ meeting.I’m taking a short break.
Fran and I had a conversation at dinner earlier tonight about how long she was on the phone to Travis after I left for work this morning. — Travis called this morning. We have figured out that when he calls us on his drive home, it is when we are getting the day started. It works out good for both him and us. — Anyway she mentioned that she talked to him while he was shopping in Walmart and kept talking to him until he arrived at home. I was like, “WOW! He was at Polk and I-20 when I got off the phone with him. Ya’ll talked a LONG time after I finished.” Fran was like – “Not really” . . . I looked it up online just a minute ago. We talked to Travis this morning for 1 hour and 25 minutes! Guess what? The bill is under 4 bucks!
It is really beginning to bother me that more people won’t get on board with this method of calling us- it is sooooooo cheap!
[jackie]

Rambling

General

Nov 212002

Our morning began with a phone call from Travis. He likes the new dial system we have set up for him and Paige to phone us. Hopefully we will hear from him more often. He phoned on his drive home from work in Ft Worth to Rowlett. It does a mother good to hear a son’s voice.

Today I am home cooking a turkey. It is beginning to smell good. A fellow “m” needed to cook 4 turkeys to feed 150 Chinese (6th graders and their familes) to introduce them to a traditional “Thaksgiving” meal. Anyway – I offered my oven to cook one of the birds – I will get to keep the bones for soup. Yum.

This morning I had the opportunity to look at one of the other apts in our building. The one I looked at is larger and has more storage space then our present living quarters. We will needed a bigger place when we return with our stuff as Associates. I think the apt I looked at this morning will be quieter also. The people who live above our current apt come alive at night; they run & play basketball at all hours. The cement and tile floors – echo tremendously.
Fran

A First for Jackie

General

Nov 192002

While Fran is in the other room striving away at preparing her lecture for the Ladies’ Day BSF class, I am recuperating from my presentation last night. I delivered my first ever lecture for the Evening Mens’ BSF class. Our teaching leader suddenly needed to visit his elderly father who had suffered a nasty fall. So . . . as the Substitute Teaching Leader, I was pressed into service.
I have taught a fair number of times but I can’t remember ever giving a 40 minute nonstop talk. I can’t believe how much time it took me to prepare a coherent talk over John 6:22 – 40. I have a whole new respect for those men and women who prepare and deliver lectures/sermons week after week. Now I’m sure it gets a little easier, but WOW it really took it out of me.
Now I start the cycle all over again so that I can cover for him one more week. Read John 6:41-71 & then pray for me as I prepare another lecture for next Monday night!
Later! – Jackie

Afternoon Outing / Opera

General

Nov 192002

You’ll never guess what I [Fran] did today.
“Bootscoot?” Nope.
“Ice Skate?” Nope again.
“Sing from the Alps?”. No. I told you, you’d never guess!
I’m so confused! I attended the French opera “La Traviata”, sung in Italian, translated in Chinese! I’m thankful for Shirley, who did her best to translate the Chinese into English for me. Visit the web listed here – for a brief summation of the plot.

http://opera.stanford.edu/Verdi/Traviata/main.html

Now this Texas country bumpkin has never watched an opera – this is funny, that I had to travel to the other side of the world to get such varible cultural exposure. My first thoughts about the presentation was “over-exagerated emotional expression in song”. But as I listened, and Shirley translated, it was quite interesting and entertaining. I won’t make a daily habbit of it, I’m sure. Shirley treated me to this event. We left leaders meeting today and she drove us over to a fairly nice hotel. We dined on a western/asian buffet for about an hour among 50-60 others who reserved to participate. Then a Prof. from one of the universities introduced the Plot (in Chinese of course), and then we watched the opera on a large screen – DVD. Yea, I had you going, that you thought this was a live performance. The speaker system was good, and the setting was quite comfortable. During an intermission, the Prof. came over and talked with me in English for a few minutes, then when it was over he presented me with a poster.
This is my first time to not spend Tues afternoon & night prepareing the lecture. I prepared about 2/3 of the lecture in advance – so hopefully tonight will not be an all nighter for tomorrow’s lecture prep. Ta Ta.

Shopping for Thanksgiving

General

Nov 132002

I went for that walk from 4 to-5:30 pm. It is the happening time around town, acutally every hour is the happening hour around Taipei. I ventured over to some shops that if Jackie were with me, I would just say “I want to look around in there” uhu….. well, I actually went in and looked around. I also went to several “dong shea” (things) storess that he loves to go in when we are together. I went to the Mammie store and the Welcome Store, but didn’t find the cream of chicken soup or the orange jello I need to make the dishes I’ve committed to make for a Thanksgiving gathering. Oh well, I still have some time to locate them. Well – I’m tucked in safe and sound – and missing that bell-boy already! [Fran]

Children in BSF

General, Ministry

Nov 132002

Jackie ended up going “South” at 6 am (Wed); however, he is due back Thurs afternoon. I always kiss him goodbye and say “You better come home to me.” Today’s BSF went very well. The lesson was from John 6:1-21. The children had a wonderful day. The children do not cry when they come. They cry when it is time to leave because they enjoy BSF so much. The CL’s are so creative. They brought a box lunch w/5 pieces of bread and 2 little fishes (real slimmy little silver things) to teach the children “Jesus feeds five thousand people with a little boy’s food offering”. Hopefully all the women learned that God will provide their every need, and will calm their greatest fears. I especially enjoyed this lesson; it has lots of practical applicatons, and I enjoyed sharing personal experiences. I gave the lecture twice today – first to the ladies, and then to the Children’s Leaders. It is such a blessing to be able to share the word of God with these ladies. The weather is really nice. I think I will take a 30 minute nap and then go out for a walk. [Fran]

Tweaking Website

Geeky, General

Nov 122002

I’m still messin with the journal and how it looks when embedded into TheBellSite. Can’t seem to get it to embed without goffing up the rest of the page. So . . . It may look different everytime you visit – at least for a while. I could use some help from any of you HTML gurus out there. Send me some mail and I’ll give you specifics.
The trip to the south part of the island is not looking too good right now – the tech guy is having trouble with the install on our software. We can’t go anywhere until he finishes that installation. He has to return to Hong Kong on Thurs night so if we don’t go soon we won’t go at all. Bummer. I was looking forward to a fabulous Smokey Joe dinner. – - Jackie

I love Saturdays

General

Nov 092002

By nature, I’m slow to venture in new areas. JB challenged me to equate this as a dairy or news update. So – today’s entry is…….I love Saturdays. Sleep late, wear pj’s most the day – JB comes into my study and picks on me in between his “project/to do list” accomplishments. Mainly – to say “FEED ME”. Yea, we found some Campbell’s Soup and Nabisco Crackers. The simple things we take for granted until we move away from the great USA..