Angels in NEPAL

Angels. Have you ever thought much about them? Are they real? Do you believe in them?

I remember my youth pastor telling a story about an angel preventing him from a car accident. Other than that, I didn't grow up talking much about the reality of angels appearing on Earth.

Two weeks ago, our pastor spoke on angels during the service that Sunday morning. He shared a story that really moved me and caused me to long to see in the spiritual realm. Surely there are angels all around us. Consider yourself blessed to see one! Here's the story Gary told:

There was a missionary team in Nepal. The man had grown up as a missionary kid and spoke the language of Nepal. However, he and his buddies were in search of a small group of people called the Kahn (sp?) people. They didn't know where they lived. All they knew is that they lived in the mountains, several days' walk into the mountains. They are at a mountain pass and are at a loss for where to go next. Ahead is the crest of the mountain. Going forward meant sliding down a huge patch of ice, not knowing if they would be able to get back to the place they currently were because of the ice. That night, they prayed about where to go. They heard the Lord tell them that an angel would lead them. They fell asleep that night and woke up to find out that it had snowed in the night.

What did they see at the edge of their sleeping area? FOOTPRINTS. "An angel?" they thought. Most likely so. The footprints led toward the huge patch of ice and they saw that in the valley, the footprints picked back up again. So, they decided to follow the footsteps and slide down the ice, and follow the steps into the woods below. The footsteps led right into a village. A man meets them at the bridge that leads into the village. Who was this man? He was the ONLY man in the entire village who spoke BOTH the language of Nepal as well as the Kahn language. He could be their translator!!! When they met each other, the missionary asks this man if he can translate for him. The man agrees, but says, "Only on one condition." He retreats back to his room in the village and returns with a box. He opens the box and pulls out a New Testament and says, "I will translate for you if you tell me everything you know about this man named Jesus." He continues to tell them that the previous night he had a dream. In his dream were white men who he saw coming across the bridge. He knew in his dream that he was supposed to help the white men. Then he tells them that 20 years ago, he was riding a train, and a man on the train gave him this Book. He's been reading it since then and wanted to know all that they knew about him!!

True story. True God. Amazing God. That He intervenes in so many amazing ways! That He orchestrates the very details of our lives so that we too may "run in" to men like this Kahn man who was longing to know more about Jesus. We just have to keep our hearts open and our lives submitted to the One who gives us so much to be joyful about. So much to tell about. The One who gives us life eternal!!

There's No Business Like Show Business

Daniel's former roommate took the spotlight as the male lead, Frank Butler, of "Annie Get Your Gun" this past weekend at the Waxahachie Community Theater. Chris is the one in the center, wearing the brown suit, slinging the gun over his shoulder, standing on the "porch" of the hotel. Dania, Daniel, and I met up with several of Chris' other friends. We all enjoyed watching this musical with great show tunes like, "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" and "There's No Business Like Show Business." We even got to hang out with the STAR after the show!! Lucky us!! He gave a FABULOUS performance! Doesn't Chris look absolutely stunning in his sparkly silver vest and shiny red shirt?!?! And don't Daniel and I look like we had fun -who knew the Lord could match such ridiculously strange people...and we even have friends who like spending time with us?!?!!? It's a miracle.

AUDI addition

No, we're not adding to the Daniel Audi family, but...his little brother, Josh, is about to leave the single world and move into the wonderful world of marriage! He proposed to his girlfriend (now fiance), Elizabeth, yesterday, and we got to be a part of it all!!

He's been planning for about a month and after a 9 day delay in the plans because of uncooperative weather, he and Elizabeth finally got to take a hot air balloon ride at sunrise yesterday morning! Daniel and I chased the balloon around Fort Worth, stopping 5 different times to hold up this sign for Elizabeth to read! She mostly could make out the "marry me" on the poster. She was exstatic of course! They enjoyed a bit more time in the air, and I got to hang out with them a bit afterwards! We love Elizabeth. She has such a sweet, gentle spirit about her that is so incredibly attractive. She loves the Lord and adores Joshie. We're happy to have such a great addition to our family!

CONGRATS, JOSHIE AND ELIZABETH

One Year Ago...

October 13, 2005: Daniel asked me to meet him at Central Market in Fort Worth after I taught ESL to my class of Somalis in Arlington. From there, we walked over to Starbucks for a cup of coffee. After some nice conversation, he excuses himself to the restroom and one of the girls working inside brings me a note that says,

"I like you.
Do you like me?
Check yes or no."

There were boxes for me to check 'yes' or 'no'. Obviously I checked 'yes'. And now, 365 days later, I am Mrs. Daniel Audi!!!

To celebrate the one year anniversary since we began dating, I surprised him with tickets to a Mute Math concert in Dallas Friday night. We had a great time and they give an amazing concert!

Funny...we ran into a guy I grew up with in Shreveport who just got married in February and lives in the DFW area as well. Stephen and I were born 2 days apart in the same hospital in Shreveport. Our families were good friends throughout our childhood. And when I moved to Fort Worth 2 years ago, his parents told my parents that he is playing the guitar in a worship band at a church in DFW. Random to run in to him and his wife at this concert!


Daniel took me to the Kimbrell Art Museum on Saturday to see the Hatshepsut - from Queen to Pharoah exhibit that I had been wanting to see. Then we went to Edelweiss for a nice German dinner.

It was a fun weekend of celebration!

The Lord is good and has given us so much to be thankful for in 2005-2006. He's introduced me to the man I get to live with and love for a lifetime!!

What an amazing year this has been!

21-hour road trip, 2 1/2 days

Friday evening Daniel and I left Fort Worth...our final destination??? Montgomery, Alabama! We stopped in Shreveport to pick up my sister from a wedding and also got to see my college roommate, Betsy, and her husband and little girl. We learned some sign language from little Bella - she learned it from BABY EINSTEIN videos! We got to Ruston, spoke with mom and dad for a bit, then crashed in our bed, knowing that the alarm would be going off at 6:30 the next morning!

And 6:30 DID come early Saturday morning. We had a 6 hour drive in front of us! We got on the road about 7:45 and drove up to the church outside of Montgomery right at 2:00. Whew..we made it on time! (And we even made a short detour in Selma, AL, to see the bridge where Martin Luther King, Jr. made the infamous "Bloody Sunday" march.

The wedding was beautiful. Mike and Tina had asked me to read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a in Arabic in the wedding since Mike, too, had lived in Egypt and they wanted part of their overseas travels to be a part of their wedding. I was fine with this until I realized how incredibly TINY the print was in my Bible and how seemingly far away the podium was from my eyes. I did it though. A couple of mess ups, but really, no one knew!! ;-)

We had an extra surprise that evening because we got to see Molly and Brandon! It was fun to hang out with them after the wedding. Thanks for the brownies and hot tea, Molly!

Sunday morning we were "ON THE ROAD AGAIN"! We made the 10 1/2 hour drive into a 14 1/2 hour trip. We stopped in Ruston again for a little breather and for my sister's baby shower! It was great to see most of the women in my family as well as friends from church. Many people asked, "So, how's the newlywed?!!!" That was fun! Jenny got great gifts. I don't think she has anything left on her registry. Baby Cohn comes in a little more than a month! We're anxiously awaiting her arrival!!

We said goodbye to mom and dad and my grandparents and were headed home! 4 1/2 hours later, we arrived back in Fort Worth, exhausted! We started and finished an entire book on our trip, shared LOTS of connecting time with each other, saw many friends on the way and way back, but are SO GLAD TO BE HOME!!! It's a little hard to start a new week, not having rested much on the weekend!

Oh God, give us energy in this coming week and when we lay our heads on our pillows at night, give our minds and bodies sweet, sweet rest!

remeMbering friEnds

So...for those who don't know, we are currently in the lunar calendar month of Ramadan. During this month, Muslims world-wide are fasting from food and water from sunrise to sunset. In the spirit of thinking about our Muslim friends, Daniel and I dressed up in a "naqab" that I brought home from Egypt and a "galabaya" that a friend of ours who had previously lived in the Middle East had given to Daniel. God has definitely given us a deep love for our Muslim friends - whether they be our friends from Turkey or Morocco or Lebanon or Egypt or Somalia or Sudan, whether we met them while abroad or while here in the States. We're thinking a lot about them especially during this month. We love you all!

showered...AGAIN!

Well, last night Michael and Meg Sanks host and hostessed a celebration evening for Daniel and me. Several of our friends from Fort Worth were unable to come to our wedding, so they invited them over for a post-wedding shower. It was a mixed group of our LA Tech friends who live in the DFW area, my friends who I know from the Arab church, and friends from seminary. It was a really sweet night and Daniel and I felt very blessed! They got together to collect money for our approaching move to Turkey next summer and gave so sacrificially and generously; they gave their widow's mite...and yes, WE ARE BLESSED to have such sweet friends! Thanks so much for a precious evening with all of you!



JASON, DANNY, VICTOR



ANDREW and ERIN
MARY and TODD



ASHLEY, MEG, KIM
KATIE, MELISSA



JASON and MELISSA



DANIEL and KIM
HAYA, JOHNNY, DANNY



ABJAR, JOHNNY



ASHLEY and AUSTIN



HAYA, KIM