Take a break! January 25, 2012
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We are so thankful to be able to take breaks, in God’s beautiful creation, and enjoy time with family! Roy is a happy camper with this trout, and his dad is sure to follow suit and we’ll all have happy tummies!
Blessings for hungry children January 24, 2012
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We participated in a wonderful event on Saturday. Initiated by Dan Johnson at the Hilmar Covenant Church, hundreds of people from the surrounding communities, irrespective of age, religion, or other distinctions, joined in a massive food packing endeavor, aimed at feeding hungry children. Working together under the direction of the “Feed My Hungry Children” organization, we followed FDA rules with caps and clean hands and proceeded to measure and bag and weigh and seal meals and pack them in boxes. These boxes of healthy rice/soy/veggie/vitamin meals will be shipped to children in crisis.
In our lifelong work in Africa Roy and I have been very focused on helping people establish food security, and have long been proponents of the old saw “give a man a fish and you’ll feed him today, teach a man to fish and you’ll help him be fed for a lifetime”, but there are always immediate needs. If you try to teach a hungry person anything, without first feeding them, your teaching may just be in vain. If you try to just use words to tell a hungry person about God’s love but don’t give them anything to eat, your words will most likely just fall unheard. We firmly believe that we need to follow Jesus’ example of paying attention to the whole person – body, mind, and soul.
The next day we shared at the Hilmar Covenant Church, and we were blessed by the music! One song in particular had an African feel to it, and this young man is an expert at playing this “djembe” drum!
Durian shakes, anyone???? January 23, 2012
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Flags representing the countries UCC Davis has ministries in
We had a very full but very wonderful Sunday of sharing at University Covenant Church on the 15th. Davis sent us out to Africa in May of 1978, and we have many precious friends and memories connected with UCC. This missions Sunday included reading of scripture and the singing of “Amazing Grace” in many different languages. We do look forward to the day when we feast at the Lord’s table with peoples from every tribe, tongue, and nation!
This time around we had some fun, eating tropical fruit and drinking samples of Durian shakes. Durian is Roy’s all time favorite, but most people can’t figure out why! You should’ve seen the expressions on the faces of those who tried a taste of the fruit and/or the shake. It’s true that it is creamy and sweet, but it has been described by one tropical fruit expert as eating “French custard in a sewer”. Doesn’t that just make you want to try it?
California! January 23, 2012
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Sunset at Pacifica Beach in San Francisco
From southern California and an awesome visit with family and friends and the Rolling Hills Covenant Church, we settled in at Roy’s folks’ home in Citrus Heights as our base. What a delight to be with Mom & Dad and other family and friends on all the inbetween days! Also, we have been blessed with loaner cars from Modesto & Davis for our whole, month-long, California stay! Thank you, friends, and thanks be to God! After a yummy turkey dinner, we headed to long-time buddies Ken & Adrienne Satterberg’s home in SF, to catch a visit with them before they leave for France to work together in Mosaic ministries.
Of course Roy & Ken had to put in some time with poles in their hands, this time not for fish but for crabs! We had a delicious breakfast with scrambled eggs/crab/cream cheese as a result of their efforts.
I think the pelican would’ve preferred us to leave the crabs for him!
January 4th -where we just came from and where we are right now! January 4, 2012
Posted by danforth in : Uncategorized , add a commentAs we drove to Chicago from Indiana Monday morning, a storm was brewing that left 8″ of snow in Plymouth. Sam & Anna & their 2 kids had left just a few hours before us to catch a flight out of Rockford, IL, to get back home to Spokane, Washington. Our joyful family gathering has now split into 3 states. We are thankful to have made it safely up to Chicago with our little light weight Saturn with no 4 wheel drive. Here are Maddie and Maia enjoying the snow this morning!
We are at my sister Laurel’s home in Covina, California, and she is busy pruning her roses today. It is supposed to be in the 80′s and we are lovin’ it!
It’s always strange to me to fly from snow to bright flowers and greenery on the same continent. Although we grew up in California and have worked our entire adult lives in Africa, both of which are usually green and colorful this time of year, I somehow get shocked now when it’s happening within a 3 hours’ plane ride. I am so thankful that there is beauty to behold in both places – YES, snow can be gorgeous believe it or not, and family and friends to enjoy as well. We are BLESSED!!!!
January Prayer Requests January 4, 2012
Posted by danforth in : Uncategorized , add a commentWe had an absolutely lovely time celebrating with our whole sweet family in Indiana. Sam & Anna were able to go and be a part of the Nooni NT dedication and we had lots of super fun with Elaina and Sawyer. We were all together again until the 2nd, when Sam & family flew home to Spokane, WA, and we flew to California for the month. Please pray for our communications with our supporters and our family times and our travels up and down the state of California.
We will be attending Midwinter (Covenant pastors’ conference in Chicago) at the end of the month, and then Sankofa the first weekend in February. We are looking forward to stretching and learning and softening on this journey towards racial righteousness.
Please pray for our Fulani Jesus following friends, we haven’t heard yet the result of their meeting. We hope and pray that they unanimously decided to keep following the Messiah with their whole hearts.
Please continue to pray for Benoit, the CEFA program, and the completion of the processing of customs papers on the cargo truck for CEFA.
Happy New Year!
Love,
Aleta&Roy
Blessing a new New Testament December 31, 2011
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What an awesome gift we have experienced on so many different levels – our son, Sam, and his wife, Anna, went to Cameroon Dec. 15-26, to attend the dedication of the Nooni New Testament. Anna’s parents, Cindy & Dave, have worked on this translation for 20+ years. Anna’s grandpa and a large group of supporters were also able to be there. The smiles and absolute joy can be seen on youtube – Danforths in Cameroon. So we are blessed by being connected to this celebration through family, AND we were so privileged to enjoy our grandchildren, Elaina & Sawyer, while their parents were in Africa.
We are all back together again, but soon will part and go our various ways. It has been so sweet and precious to be together! We are blessed!
Bremen Holy Walk December 19, 2011
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In little Bremen, Indiana, they have a wonderful tradition. Many churches and volunteers put on a “holy walk”. They bus groups of people out to a field on a local farm, in the dark with no electric lights in the vicinity, and take you through a series of live scenes from Bethlehem on the night of Jesus’ birth. You walk along with a guide who is the head of your family, and you have to remember your city of origin, your family name, and your family’s work so you can answer the Roman soldiers properly. As we followed the candlelit path, we encountered shepherds and angels and innkeepers and then sellers in the market. We had to go before the magistrate and our clan’s head paid our taxes, and one of the family members who didn’t answer properly ended up in the stocks for a short while. We then came upon the manger scene, complete with live animals. The kids were enthralled with the acting and the interaction, and they promised to help make baskets or tend animals in exchange for food for our huge clan of 15. We didn’t take any pictures, I’m guessing we would’ve been thrown in jail by the soldiers if we had! This holy walk has been going on for 30 years and was a very special night for us to focus on the reason for the season! Glory to God in the highest!
Horses horses horses December 18, 2011
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Our days are full of family and special events these days. The 4 grandchildren ALL got to ride the horses at Culver Academy, where our son, Josh, works as a social studies teacher. Even baby Maia got to ride, with the help of Kim Cone, her other grandpa.
It was a great time for all. They enjoyed the park this afternoon and even though there are occasional disagreements, the cousins do well together. Our son Sam, and his wife Anna, are in Africa for 10 days, attending the dedication celebration of the printing of a New Testament that Anna’s folks have been working on for many many years. We are thankful that they could be there and that we are able to watch Elaina and Sawyer for them.
Cousins together December 14, 2011
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Over the river and through the woods to pick out a tree at the Christmas tree farm…fun in the snow and then fun decorating! Didn’t the kids do a great job?
