Kick Ball and Jesus Cookies

Have we told you about the Mayor yet? Each week a new family is assigned the mayorship, and one of the responsibilities is a CIT community event. On Saturday, the current mayors organized a kickball game and a cookout. Super fun. We love these guys so much!! It is weird to think that 4 weeks ago we were strangers. Sadly, 3 families are leaving on Friday as it marks the end of our Equipping session. We will meet the new guys that come in for Language Acquisition on Monday.

Big Paper update: We finished on Saturday!! It is a relief to be done. Reading our paper should be entertaining as it is easy to know who wrote what part. Clay's is filled with careful documentation of every fact, a formal research paper at its best. My portion is filled with lines like "So the break down of demographics in Belgium is as follows..." Yeah, for as many ways that we are exactly alike, there are some really funny differences.

On Sunday we attended Rutherfordton Presbyterian for the third time. We are really enjoying our time there. This was the first Sunday that they served communion since we've been going, and I wanted to share some of my musings on it. As I took a cracker from the passing tray (which was extremely heavy and I almost dropped it- how embarrassing would that be?), I noticed the peculiar shape of them. Little half inch by half inch squares that I was expecting to be made of tasteless dough, since I am used to the Lord's Table being somewhat flavorless. When Dr. Scofield said we could eat, I could not believe what I was tasting. Could it be that the object of the sacred ceremony was.... shortbread??? Yes. The smallest homemade shortbread square on the planet. At first I was a little concerned- could we truly stand in reverence towards communion while eating a tea snack? Could I focus on Jesus' sacrifice well when distracted by its tastiness? And then I was overwhelmed by how perfect it all was. That as we remember and celebrate what Jesus has done for us, why should it not taste sweet? It is, afterall, the sweetest story I ever heard. A LORD that would sacrifice himself to save wretched sinners who wouldn't even be drawn to him except by his grace. Whew. Bring on the shortbread. Let's celebrate the Lord's goodness in the land of the living! And know that something even better than buttery cookies awaits us on the other side.