He is Faithful

The other day, I was reading the latest update on the Wissmann family's blog when I clicked on the sample song He is Faithful from one of their recent CDs. Even though I had heard the song before, it ministered in a tremendous way to my spirit that evening. The beautiful words and sweet harmonies applied a balm to my soul that I greatly needed. Since then, I have listened to this song several times a day to remind myself of God's faithfulness in the midst of the storms of life.

With the desire to share this lovely song with you, I have copied the widget of sample songs from the Wissmann Family below. Be sure to click on song #4 to hear He is Faithful and to be reminded of the presence of the Lord in our lives. And while you're at it, I'm sure you will enjoy the other songs listed; most of which are hymn arrangements in the blue grass style for which their family is known.

Video Clips from Dia de la Raza

In my last post, I shared lots of pictures from Dia de la Raza, but only had the time to upload one video. Here are a few more that I took that day to give you a glimpse into our fun, colorful life here at RGBI!

This first video is of a traditional folk dance from Chile:

Here is a portion of the hilarious skit performed by friends from Honduras. Even if you don't understand Spanish, I think you'll appreciate the actors' attempts at humor. :-)

The last video I'll post from Dia de la Raza is of Luis from Paraguay singing in the three languages of his country. English and Spanish are two of the languages. The third one I don't even remember the name for but seemed like a cross between English and French. You can see some of the words on the screen.

Dia de la Raza

My fellow Americans at RGBI

Dia de la Raza was a fun school holiday this past week during which we celebrated the cultural diversities amongst our staff and study body here at RGBI!

The morning started out with a procession of the flags from each country while the national anthems played. Then, presentations were given from each country that included videos, folk dancing, songs, poems, and skits. After the presentations, we all filed outside for a grand parade around the school grounds, ending at the circle of flags. Each flag was hoisted while again the national anthems were sung. Finally, we finished the celebration with a big, international meal! What fun!

My friend, Jada, prepares to march in with the American flag.

Here comes Panama!

The students from Chile performed a traditional folk dance and sang a song from their country.

The Honduranians performed a hilarious skit that had us rolling with laughter!

All countries present and accounted for.

Out they go!

Getting ready for the parade.

Our fearless leaders!

Hurray for the red, white, and blue!

Time to eat!

En La Cocina

This past Monday, we celebrated Dia de la Raza here on campus. It is a school holiday dedicated to the celebration of the international diversity we share. The day included presentations from each country, a parade, flag raising, and an international meal.

Here are a few pictures I snapped the night before of preparations taking place in the kitchen!

Above, Lilian from Honduras prepares tamales from her home country.

Filling ingredients include a thick, corn sauce, chicken, rice, peas, bananas, raisins, and olives.

She wrapped each tamale in a large banana leaf.

Then, she cooked them on the stove!

Hermana Nieves, our weekend dorm mom, made delicious "pancitas" - little bread-cookies - from a recipe she received from her grandmother.

I got to try one hot out of the oven and they were scrumptious!

Volleyball Champions

Don't you love those movies about underdog sports teams that play with all their might and end up winning? Well, now I can say I've been a part of such a story - and it wasn't in a movie!

A school-wide volleyball tournament has been taking place on campus the last several weeks. I was invited to be on a team with fellow South Americans and gratefully accepted. However, I didn't hold out much hope that we would be very good considering that the majority of my teammates were soccer players and rarely stepped foot on the volleyball court. :-)

But at least we could give it a shot and have fun, right?

Practices got underway and I realized I was part of a team that was downright terrible.

I know that sounds pessimistic, but I really did think it true! Just goes to show you can't base anything on first impressions! The good thing was, I'm not the greatest volleyball player myself so I felt good that at least I wouldn't be the only "weak link" on the team.

Imagine my surprise when at the second practice game I saw my team actually rally together and play some decent volleyball. Maybe we weren't so bad after all!

The first weekend of the tournament we beat one team and lost against another. The second weekend found us the victors against both teams we played. I was impressed to see my teammates work so well together and play not only decent volleyball but excellent volleyball! It turns out I was the weak link after all...which was humbling to recognize! :-)

We tied with two other teams in our division for winning 3 out of 4 games, so a tally of points was taken. Based on our scores, we came out in the lead and were told we'd be advancing to the semi-finals! I was shocked! Never did I imagine we'd make it so far!

Part of the crowd at the semi-finals Friday night.

Praying before we began.

Ready to conquer...

Pressing forward for victory.

I can't believe we won!

Heading to the finals...

And so it was that our humble little South American band played tonight in an intense final competition against the other leading team of the tournament. I have to be honest and admit that even with all the victories I had seen us win, I still thought we would be beaten tonight. I mean, the other team was REALLY good and we would need every last ounce of effort to keep the scores close, let alone to win.

O me of little faith.

Let me just say right here that my team is AWESOME. :-) They gave their wholehearted effort to the competition tonight and the best part is, we all had fun doing so! Even though the scores were neck and neck...even though the tension in the air was so thick you could practically slice it with a knife...it was a real joy to play volleyball with a court-full of Christians who love the Lord, wanted to have fun, and wanted to win!

The first match we won...but only by the skin of our teeth! It was close all the way.

The second match we again played with scores so close we had to go into overtime for I don't know how long, only to lose the victory at the last.

The third and tie-breaking match started out dismal - 4 to 0. But as we are famous for doing, we rallied together, encouraged one another, and plunged forward.

Linda served a perfect game...and steadily our scores went up!

Before long, we had pulled ahead..and kept going! 15 to 4 South America!

We won!

The victors! Go South America!

Receiving our gold medals...

and the trophy.

RGBI 2010 Volleyball Champions

1st, 2nd, 3rd place teams

Alejo from Venezuela

Linda was so excited --- she said she's never won first place for anything in her life until now!

Our team captain and his co-captain :-)

Friends who wanted in on the fun!

All the students from Chile sharing in the South American victory.

Fun times are here!

Never underestimate the underdogs!

String Quartet Special

I am glad we don't all have to be professional musicians to serve the Lord with the musical talents He's given us! In contrast to the amazing violin skills of the blog post below, here is a more amateur group playing a special music piece for chapel that is an original composition by the gentleman playing the piano.

A Visiting Violinist

The other day in chapel, we had the privilege of hearing a professional violinist from Azerbaijan give her testimony and a mini-concert. She was amazing! And hearing how God has worked in her life to draw her to Himself was such a blessing.

Here is Diana's personal arrangement of Great Is Thy Faithfulness. (You can see another video of her playing a piece by Bach here.)