Book Review: Freedom of Simplicity

By Katie

Recently Matt and I were in a hotel and had the opportunity to watch CNN and Good Morning America in English. It was interesting to hear how many times words like “less”, “fewer” and “shoestring” were used. It seems the economic recession is really creating a fad of “less is best” in the United States these days.

I had been reading this book, Freedom of Simplicity by Richard J. Foster, when I saw the tv shows. The book is very aptly named; Foster breaks down what simplicity is and how to find freedom in it. Simplicity is much deeper than what the media is promoting these days.

Of course Foster talks about the things you would expect in a book on simplicity: prayer, money, time. He also talks about how simplicity is both a grace and a discipline. If he were to write “Five Simple Steps to Simplicity”, he would be focusing too much on discipline and neglecting grace, therefore crossing into an ugly legalism. In fact, the first chapter is called “The Complexity of Simplicity” and sets the stage well for the rest of the book.

Another thing that deserves mentioning is the sources Foster draws from to write the book. He quotes the Old and New Testament, of course, but also includes examples from the saints of all denominations through the centuries, along with examples from his own life and the lives of his friends. In doing this, he shatters any thoughts that simplicity is a new idea with the Green Revolution or the recession (the book was written in 1981, before all that anyway).

It’s a beautiful book, one that I will definitely re-read often as my life changes. Read it for a breath of fresh air.

Singing in Spanish

By Katie

Señor Nate Vanderzee of Grand Rapids Christian High School put in a request for a song to share with his Spanish classes. Here´s what we at La Iglesia Cristiana Reformada La Mora have to share with you.

First, an introduction by my two favorite three-year-olds, Elias and Raúl:




No importa la iglesia que vaya,
Si detrás de Calvario tú estás.
Si tu corazón es como el mío, Dame la mano y mi hermano será.

Dame la mano, dame la mano,
Dame la mano y mi hermano será. (Repetir)

A few notes on the video:

We sing this coro at every service. When shaking hands, one needs to go as fast as possible, trying to get to every single person in the room before the song is over. This seems to be the manner in which this is done, almost as if your life depends on it!

This is one coro in a cadena de coros, a chain of choruses. Coros are very short songs all sung to the same chords and strung together to make one song that's about ten minutes long. You can hear the end of one and the beginning of another one in the video. The song leader sings them in whatever order the spirit moves, and there are no written words. This style of praising really got Matt and I down at first because it's really difficult to learn the songs and participate. We're doing better now, though, and learning more all the time.

Feliz Año Nuevo (Happy New Year)

by Matt

After Katie's family left we came back to Catacamas, and were kind of sad. Probably sad because we had such a great time with her family, and it was time to get back to reality. Also because it is hard to be apart from your friends and family during the holidays, and even harder in a foreign country. Anyway we decided to get right back on a bus and go visit some old friends near Minas de Oro, Honduras.

While studying at the U of MN I had done an internship with some coffee farmers for an organization called Tierra Nueva. We always keep in contact, and they invited us to stop by for the new year since we had the time off anyway.
First we went to a small village high in the mountains called Pocitos to the house of Tobias. Tobias showed us his ripe coffee which is just starting to be harvested. We had a great time with the family. There is no electricity in Pocitos, so we went to bed early, and slept well because it is really cool at night up in the mountains.





Next we got a ride from Pocitos through the mountains to Tablon, where Apolinario and his family lives. We spent new years eve there in Tablon eating lots of Tamales and drinking lots of really good coffee. Actually there was a period of about two days during which the only thing we ate for breakfast lunch and dinner were tamales! Good thing they taste good and agree well with my stomach. In Honduras it is tradition to celebrate the new year by "burning the old man". So, you take a bunch of old clothes, stuff them with sticks, grass, and fireworks and make it look like a person. Then at midnight you light it on fire. It is supposed to represent leaving behind all the bad things of the past year. We stayed up well past midnight waiting for the old man to burn since he was a little damp and didn't really want to start up.





Finally we passed through San Luis visiting Carlos briefly, and then on to Minas de Oro where we met up with Dagoberto. We ate some more tamales, got to look at Dago's coffee processing operation, and then roasted coffee with Dagoberto. Dago is the only Honduran I know that brews coffee without sugar. Katie and I were happy to have some rich, dark, fresh, bitter coffee!





It was really a blessing to see all these people again and it helped prepare us for coming back to live in Catacamas where we have the luxuries of electricity and relatively easily accessible transportation.