Currently Reading

What I've been watching and reading: I have been helping out with the youth group at one of the churches I go to.  Last Saturday we had a special day where we watched the most amazing movie.  It is called Faith like Potatoes.  It is about a Scottish gentleman and his family farming in Africa.  At the beginning of the movie he starts out a rough, mean, angry guy.  God transforms his heart and life and uses him in big ways in Africa.

The condition for a miracle is difficulty, however the condition for a great miracle is impossibility. 

We need faith like potatoes.  Plain, simple, real faith that will sustain us in our everyday lives. 

It is based on a true story, and there is also a book.  I am going to buy it on Kindle and maybe use it with the boys for Bible class in the spring.

We are currently reading Peace Child for our Bible class.  It is the most fascinating book about missionaries in New Guinea in the 1960s.  They are trying to connect to a culture based on treachery and cannibalism.  Every day when I stop reading the boys beg me for another chapter.

Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza was a book I found on this list of books to read before you die.  I splurged and purchased it from Barnes and Noble this summer, but didn't get a chance to read it until I got back here.  It is the story of a woman during the Rwandan genocide.  It is a heroic tale of survival and forgiveness.  

It is impossible for a person to harbor anger and hatred when their hearts are bursting with love. pg 223

One book that I fell in love with this fall is called One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp.  One of my bosses suggested it for a book to read as a class.  It is too poetic and wordy for the boys, but I loved it.  The main message is to be thankful.  We overlook all the little blessings God showers over our lives.  We get too wrapped up in ourselves.  Ann Voskamp challenges readers to make a list of 1,000 gifts or blessings in their lives.  

...live selfishly, skip prayer, complain, go to bed late, neglect cleaning the toilets.  I live tired.  Afraid.  Anxious.  Weary.  pg 27

The hurry makes us hurt. pg 66

The real problem of life is never a lack of time.  The real problem of life - in my life is lack of thanksgiving. pg 72

Thanksgiving is what multiplies the joy and makes any life large, and I hunger for it.  pg 48

A few weekends ago I went to the mountains of Constanza.  It was a wonderful time for me to simply rest, relax, and read.  In a meeting recently and someone mentioned the book Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan.  I purchased the book over the summer for the boys to read.  Many years ago when I was in middle school I remember reading it, but I hadn't opened it since then.  I gobbled it down over the weekend in Constanza.  I could relate and understand so much more now.  There is Spanish mixed in with the English text, just like how Julia Alvarez (one of my favorite authors) writes.

I often use websites that send me an e-mail with cheap or free Kindle books for the day.  Last year around this time I downloaded Sugerplum Homecoming.  I loved the Christmas love story.  This year I am looking for another Christmas-y story.  Any suggestions?

In high school I loved reading realistic fiction.  It was my go-to genre.  Since moving to the DR, I love reading Christian books and books about missionaries.  It is fascinating to read stories about how God is moving and working all over the world.  I also love reading multicultural books, or books that weave in Spanish.  I have been using Thrift Books to purchase novels.  When I spent $50 I get a $5 coupon for my next order.  I also have been buying books on the Kindle app, but I love actually holding books.  It is just challenging to do that here in the DR because there aren't many any bookstores.

My TO READ NEXT list:

• Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose: This book is also a true story about a woman in a prison camp during WWII.  The girls in the Reyes Academy are reading it at the moment, and this woman had incredible faith to endure the camp.  
• Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis: This is the story of Katie, a missionary who left her whole life behind in the US to move to Uganda.  She is only 22 years old and has set up a child sponsorship program with over 400 kids getting food, schooling, and the love of Jesus.  
• Faith like Potatoes by Angus Buchan: The book I talked about above. 
• A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah: One of the books I purchased for the boys this summer.  It is about kid soldiers in Sierra Leone.
• Fervent by Priscilla Shirer: The non fiction book that accompanies her movie, War Room.  It is a book about prayer strategy.  

What are you reading?  What is on your book list?  

Con mucho amor.