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Adams', Duffy's, Moore's
I have said it before and I will likely say it many more times, "It is good to be around like-minded people." And those are whom I'm around here in New Mexico.
I met Paul Adams on a plane from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Pemba, Mozambique in 2005 en route to Holy Given. I met Joy (Waide) Moore not long after as she was in my Grey color group during the same school. They remain two of my bestest friends I have.
Jenny & I flew into Albuquerque last wednesday, and the Moore's came up from Roswell on the weekend. Before they came up, we had the awesome experience of seeing the sights of the Sandia Mountains around Albuquerque.
On sunday we went to the Mars Hill Church plant in Albuquerque. I was impressed overall, but was quite unimpressed that they didn't give the congregation an opportunity to give an offering. I believe that robs us of the blessing of 'giving'.
Yesterday, we returned to Roswell with Joy & Kevin for 2 nights. For my 32nd birthday, we toured around the alien hotspots of Roswell, ate at Burrito Express, and went and seen District 9, which is a crazily powerful and intense movie. I also recieved two awesome books from my love for my birthday, plus a bottle of Versace cologne!
Tomorrow, we return to Albuquerque for 2 last nights in New Mexico before returning north of the border.
 
 
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my time in VA
Virginia has been an awesome vacation. Have I said that before? Mama Deane has been an incredibly gracious host whom we will dearly miss.
Last night we had a mini Holy Given reunion as the Walker's, Travis, and Herbert all came over for dinner and some prayer time. I really miss being around hungry Christians who have devoted their lives to their King's service. It is so important to have fellowship with those who are in like mindsets. I bless the Baker's, without whom, none of us would even know each other.
So tonight is our last night in Virginia. I am far from finishing my 'Making Saints' book, but I have made a great dent in it, and have learnt HEAPS!

Tomorrow afternoon, we make the trek by plane from Norfolk - Atlanta - Albuquerque. It will be great to see more people whom Iris Ministries have connected. I cannot wait to get back to the desert!
 
 
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DAMNAK SANGKE, Cambodia —Villagers in this poor community in central Cambodia live hand to mouth, but many dug into their pockets to help pay for a funeral here Friday for a three-day-old calf with a dark, reptilian hide that many believed was holy.

Outh Kdep, the calf's owner, said villagers believed in the animal's divinity because there had been a drought in the area for three months, but it rained the day after it was born.

The female calf was born Tuesday and died Thursday in this remote village in Pursat province, some 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of capital Phnom Penh. It had thick, dark, scaly skin like a crocodile's, and legs with odd markings.

Yim Rith, 60, a community leader, said Cambodians have for centuries worshipped a Cow God believed to bring peace and prosperity. The deity disappeared from their land long ago, but the calf may have been a sign it was returning to help them, he said.

Hundreds of villagers flocked to see the animal, lighting incense to pray for its well-being and collecting its saliva, believed to cure illness. The flood of visitors panicked the cow's mother, affecting her ability to enough produce milk to feed the calf, and it died.

But the faithful were undeterred. The calf's corpse was placed on a plastic sheet, and people washed water over it in the hopes of making the liquid holy.

Srey Nak, 72, said that when some was applied to her joints and teeth, long-standing pains and aches went away.

"But I am very upset that the Cow God came to live with us for just three days and has now died," she said. "If she stayed longer, then many sick people could have been treated."

Un Dary, General Director of Religious Affairs for Cambodia's Ministry of Cults and Religions, said he did not know about the case, but that many Cambodians, who are almost all Buddhists, also subscribe to animism - a belief that spirits can inhabit all sorts of living and inanimate objects.

Whenever an odd animal makes an appearance, he said, it is cause for the superstitious to celebrate. He speculated that the freak appearance of the calf may have been due to a vitamin deficiency or virus.

Outh Kdeb, 40, grieved for her calf Friday.

Had it lived a bit longer, she said, "my family and the people in this area as well as the whole entire Cambodian nation would have achieved more peace and prosperity."

The animal was buried in a rice field near her house Friday. She said villagers pooled 150,000 riel ($35), and she contributed 200,000 riel ($50) for a ceremony with six Buddhist monks to give thanks and wishes for the soul of the God Cow. They prayed for it "to be reborn as soon as possible."


By HENG SINITH

Associated Press Writer

 
Virginia 08/22/2009
 
seal of virginia
seal of virginia
Staying with Mama Deane is one of the best times ever! It is such a refuge here in Yorktown, that words can't adequately express how good it has been. Jenny has been hard at work, plugging away at her church history book, while I have been trodding through a book on how the catholic church goes about it's saint making process. Fascinating stuff. If you haven't heard of a lady called Anne Catherine Emmerich, I suggest you look her up. She may have had visions that fill in the spaces that aren't mentioned in the Bible. Unreal. Some of her visions can be read -->HERE<--. While you're looking her up, check out another potential saint called Alexandrina Maria da Costa, who died just over 50 short years ago! This lady lived soley on Communion for the last 13 years of her life! No food, no water, just Communion! And that wasn't even the crazy part of her life.
There is much to be discovered in this life. And much that can only be revealed to us.

Jenny & I have but 3 more nights here in Virginia. I pray we make the most of them.
 
 
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I saw Satan sitting there with his whole army before him and, behold, one of his devils came and did homage to him. And Satan answered and said unto him, 'From where do you come?' And the devil answered, saying, "I was in such and such a country and I stirred up many wars and revolts and I caused the shedding of blood and I have come to tell you these things." Satan said unto him, 'How long did it take you to do this?' And the devil said, "Thirty days." Then Satan commanded him to be beaten, saying unto him, 'Is this all that you have done in so long a time?' 

And, behold, another devil came and worshipped him, and to him he said, 'Where do you come from?' And the devil answered and said, "I was in the sea, where I stirred up storms, and sank ships and drowned many men, and I have come that I may inform you of these things." Then Satan answered and said unto him, 'How long did it take you to do this?' The devil answered and said unto him, "In twenty days," and Satan commanded that he also should be beaten, saying unto him, 'Why is it that in all these days you have done only what you say?' 

And when he said this, behold, a third devil came and worshipped Satan, who answered and said unto him also, 'And where do you come from?' The devil answered and said unto him, "I have been in such and such a city wherein there was a marriage feast and I stirred up a war there, and caused the shedding of much blood and the death of the bridegroom and the bride; as soon as I had done this I came to inform you." And Satan said unto him, 'How long did it take you to do this?' And the devil said, "Ten days," and Satan commanded that he should be beaten, saying, 'In all these days you have done only this?' 

Then afterwards, behold, a fourth devil came and worshipped him, and Satan answered and said unto him, 'And where do you come from?' And he who was asked answered and said unto him, "I have been in the desert for forty years struggling with a monk and tonight I have caused him to have a lustful thought." When Satan heard this, he rose up immediately and embraced and kissed that devil, and he took the crown off his own head, and placed it upon the other devil and made him sit by his side upon the throne, saying, 'And so you have been able to do so great a work as this in so short a time!

(from the Apophthegmata Patrum)
 
 
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Today was departure day, session 7, the end of summer camp. The last 2 months have been a great, but busy time. The picture here is of the two cabins I had worked with this summer: the Wolves and the Eagles. I pray that what we poured into the campers bears fruit in the upcoming months. Tonight is a staff party. It will be interesting to see all the counselors all dressed up and looking their best.

The day after tomorrow, Jenny & I are on the road again as we board a train in Albany for a 10 hr trip to Newport News, Virginia to visit the amazing Mama Deane. It will be 6 days of rest and Holy Ghost.
 
 
Jenny & I have resolved to pray more. In everything I read about some saint, or revivalist or reformer, prayer was the thing that was most instrumental in their lives. One could almost say, as your relationship with God so is your prayer life.

I have been trying to make prayer a constant thing throughout the day. If I’m walking to a different area, or if there is a break in conversation with someone, etc, I try to fill up those voids with prayer. It is a conscious shift in mind, and one that is not the easiest, but must result in a deeper devotion to God.

Blessed Margaret of Castello was deep in prayer at the house in which she was lodging when it caught on fire. This was 700 or so years ago, and the houses weren’t like they are today. Often, what would seem like an insignificant fire today, could easily wipe out a whole city block then. Anyways, the house caught on fire and it got out of hand. Men from the surrounding houses dropped what they were doing and rushed to the scene seeing how they could help, although it was apparent that the house was doomed. The owner of the house rushed inside the doorway and called out to Margaret (who was blind, and deformed) to hurry and get out of the house. The smoke-blurred image of Margaret appeared at the top of the stairway. She threw down her cloak and said she was too busy praying to be really concerned. She made her way slowly back to the room in which she had been praying. Her cloak was thrown onto the fire, and instantly, the fire was extinguished. Dozens of people testify to this wonder.

Much of the powerlessness of individual Christians (and corporate Christianity, for that matter) can likely be traced to a lack of prayer. What should be foundational in our lives has become burdensome, and cast off for thoughts that are much more compromised. Prayer is more important than we will ever know, for our own individual growth, and for the good of mankind. Let’s put prayer to the test; we will be overwhelmed with it’s results. 

The great masters of the life of the Spirit have known and written for ages that one of the first consequences of the loss of personal focus on God and the things of God is the failure to pray - whether the prayer of praise, of thanksgiving, of petition or of intercession. As one's faith weakens and diminishes, one's vision of God in prayer becomes blurred, and the simple, daily converse with Him falls by the way. Inevitably, then, other interests push in to fill the void, and the darker side of human nature comes to the fore in a rush of materialism. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity; the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned."

Father Charles Fiore
(from The Life of Blessed Margaret of Castello)
 
 
This was likely the craziest session in the history of Double H Ranch; maybe. The Wolf Cabin was, however, much more chill than Session 4, so that was a HUGE bonus. We got 5 down, 2 to go. Before we know it, camp will be over.

Today, Jessica Hemendinger picked us up and we hung out for the day. She took us into Glens Falls where I got a much needed rain jacket, then we went to Saratoga and seen Ice Age 3 (which in my opinion, was not as good as the first two). It was great to see her, and hopefully we'll get to hang out next break too, as we want to plan a night to see GI Joe.
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Well, I finished reading the AMAZING book 'Saints Who Raised The Dead' and have also just finished 'The Life of Blessed Margaret of Castello'. Margaret was born blind, facially deformed, hunchbacked, and with one leg longer than the other. Her parents of nobility shunned her and isolated her from everyone and kept her a secret. They took her to a Franciscan shrine expecting a miracle and when it didn't happen, they abandoned her. She eventually became a Dominican. Margaret had more compassion for the lost than almost any in history, and performed miracles such as levitation, prophecy, healings, and even raising the dead. Her incorrupt body lies at the Church of St. Domenico at Citta-di-Castello, Italy. CRAZY!! This is a story that history has forgotten, and should be revived. You can order your own copy for under $2(!!!)-->HERE<--. Get this book and read it, and GO, DO LIKEWISE!