Mexico!

As you may have noticed, missionaries can be a little weird.  It's okay. We know it and accept it.  Some of us may even think that it takes a little weirdness to become a missionary.  So, I've had these "bucket list" places that I've wanted to go to for years.  As a missionary, I have had the privilege of going to many places and countries.  I count that part of my life a blessing.  BUT, there are two places I have wanted to go and never gotten to go to.  I have been within mere miles of their borders.  So close that it almost hurt to not get to just cross over.  What are these two magnificent places that I have dreamed of visiting?  Well, Mexico and Canada of course!  How can I travel around the world and not have been to the very two countries that border the US?  

Y'all. Yesterday, I got to go into Mexico!  We are in Yuma, AZ and you can literally park in the US and walk across the border to a little town.  And I have never seen one place with so many dentist offices. We walked around and had coffee.  Then we had lunch. Then we saw the Trump wall and had to take a picture.

It was wonderful!  And now I can check it off.  Canada, I'm coming from you next!

  

So, you see, it was like this...

 Hey Y'all, how have you been?  How's your momma and 'em doing?  So, we are back in the US for a bit.  How long you ask?  Well, not sure.  So, here's the story in case you do not receive our newsletters. (If you do not and would like to, comment on this post.  I will not publish the comment with your personal info, but will add you to the list.)

Our Latest Update

Praise the Lord, from Taiwan!
This is not a newsletter. It is just a short update to let you know what is happening as a result of the recent lockdowns.

The main reason for this update, is to let the church in America know about some recent changes in plans. Due to being unable to conduct our normal outreach (nursing homes, children’s outreach, orphanage), and since my wife had not seen her parents in two years, I decided to send my wife and children back to the USA for two months. On returning to Taiwan in August, they would need to do a home quarantine for fourteen days. I would stay in a hotel and buy groceries for them during that time.

Unfortunately, last Sunday, Taiwan changed their rules requiring the quarantine period to be in a government approved location . We were willing to work with this situation. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all. They also require children thirteen years and older to be quarantined separately from their parents. Alone. I feel this to be immoral.

My options are limited. In the twenty years my wife and I have
been married, two months would have been the longest time we
had been separated. I am unwilling to be away from my family indefinitely. That having been said, there really is no end in sight for the situation in Taiwan. For these reasons, I will be returning to the USA temporarily. Pending a change in Taiwan’s quarantine policy, I plan on travelling between these two countries while my family bases in the USA. Please keep us in your prayers as we navigate these new waters.

Hope to see many of you soon, Christopher J. Bracken

  

After service fellowship in a random city parking lot.

Our new music department compartmentalized in our car.

 Government approved location

So, I might be seeing you! We don't always understand the journeys that God takes us on, but we know he is never surprised. 

Security PSA

I, like most of you, do my heavy thinking when I am cleaning up the kitchen.  I scrub pots and think about the steps I should take if we ever have a super big earthquake.  I load the dishwasher and contemplate a rational argument with a liberal.  And the other night, I started thinking about how hard it must be for serial killers in our current world.  Stay with me, I'm going somewhere with this.  Before, they could stalk their victim and then make their move.  Today, they have to avoid so many security cameras.  It seems that every intersection , business and front door has a camera.  This train of thought led me to thinking about kidnapping.  Now, personally, my plan is to go limp if they ever try to get me.  Have you ever tried to wrangle a limp, protesting two year old?  I have and barely succeeded.  I can confirm that I am not two, nor do I weigh what a two year old weighs.  I think with my arms over my head and body limp, it would take a lot of determination to move me.  I also plan to spit, scream, and if necessary, pee myself to make me not worth the trouble of kidnapping.  So, if one day, I do come up missing, get that footage from some camera.  It will be definitely be worth your time!

Back to the matter at hand.  These serial killers also have to be aware of Apple watches and smart phones.  You can send a SOS signal from them to get help.  Which make me start thinking, how do I activate the SOS signal from my watch?  I feel if it has that function, I should know how to use it because smart watch plus dumb person equals dumb watch.  So, yes, I most certainly looked it up.  And here is your PSA for the day.  If you are in trouble, press and hold the side button on your watch.  Continue to hold it until the slide bar appears.  If possible, slide the bar.  If not, continue holding it.  It will do a count down then notify the police with your coordinates.  And then hopefully, help will be on the way!

While "researching" this, I sort of fell down a rabbit hole and I now know that my watch also has a "Fall function".  If you have a heart attack and fall really hard, your watch will notify the police that you need help.  If you are clumsy and fall super hard, it might still work.

PSA over.  What do you think about while doing the dishes?  And don't say dishes.

Bracken Blurbs

#1- Sunday Morning, I was standing by the door getting ready to head to Sunday School when a lady came in.  She looked at me and said, "You look wider." I cheerfully replied, "Thank you!" Everyone left that conversation confused. (I HAVEN'T gained a pound!  I weighed myself.)

#2- Today, Abbey was going to clean the blender after making a smoothie.  We clean it by rinsing it out, adding water and soap and blending to get the blades clean.  The lid sadly wasn't fully pushed down.  It was her first shower in the kitchen.  And now, my counters, my walls, my cabinets, and my floor are super clean.

#3- I was talking with my Mom in Alabama and she mentioned that Alaska had a big earthquake.  She then ask me if we felt it over here.  I told her that I didn't know, but she is probably closer to Alaska than I am, so did she feel it?  And she is indeed closer.  800 miles closer to Anchorage than I am.  It turns out that she didn't feel it either! (Y'all better not tell her I told this story!)

Hello!

Hi there. I imagine that you have come here looking for something to read.  And all you see are the same stories that have been here for a couple of years.  Let me try to explain.  I love to write and I seem to have an extra amount of things happen to me that are amusing.  And for a time, my kids were little and cute and said the funniest things that I wanted to record and remember.  But then they grew up.  And they didn't want everything I found amusing to be shared on the internet.  Well, they didn't care if I shared, they just cared if people read them.  I can respect that even if I don't really like it.  I tried to invoke a law about if you give birth to someone and spend years (Years!) awake with them at night, you get to share stories until you die.  I was vetoed. And to be honest, it threw me into a writers slump.

But, I enjoy writing and I miss it.  So, I'm going to start again.  It's true.  I am busy.  But it is also true that you make time for the things you want to make time for. So for now, I'll be seeing you.

Pride goeth before destruction...

All my life, I have heard, "Pride goeth before a fall."  But that is actually a haughty spirit.  Pride just brings destruction.  Now, in the following story, I would like to think that I wasn't being prideful.  I didn't mean to be prideful if I was.  I was trying to do the Lord's work like a good, little girl.  But there was destruction.  Great, embarrassing destruction.  The kind that makes me wonder why I am sharing this, but well, funny stories must be told.
Earlier this year, we had special guest here in Taiwan.  We are blessed to often have guest who are willing to endure the long flight over and we are always very grateful.  However, these guest were a bit unusual in several ways.  1. They were younger.  2. Their whole family came. 3. They were here for a month. 4. They were here at a time when my mother-in-law was out of country.  So, I had a chance to host them for dinner at my house.  I love hosting guest and was really trying to put my best foot forward.  I set the table with my best dishes.  I cooked a great meal with homemade marinara sauce, homemade bread and some cute individual cheesecakes for dessert.  I'm not bragging, but I'm pretty good at cooking.  And eating, but we'll just talk about the cooking! 
So, we had all eaten this great dinner and it was time for the coffee and dessert.  I quickly cleared the table and got each person their preferred coffee or tea.  I had just sat down with my dessert and was enjoying the wonderful conversation when our guest speaker said something that hit me so funny.  And for the first time in my life, I spewed coffee out of my mouth and across the table!  I was very, very effective.  I hit the guest speaker, his wife, their coffee cups, my father-in-law's cup and the whole plate of little cheesecakes.  After all, I like to do things well!  I immediately clapped a hand over my mouth and fled to the bathroom.  The table sat in stunned silence.  I quickly washed up and returned to red-facedly apologized and began cleaning up the mess.  By this time, everyone had recovered and were laughing!  Well, I was laughing, but not recovered.
As you can imagine, this has been the source of many, many jokes and I am just happy that they had a good sense of humor about my "explosion".  I am a bit scarred now.  I just barely sip my drink if I am listening to anything funny.  After all, my mouth has already failed me once!

Schedule

Many of you wonderful people have ask us when we are going to be back in the U.S..  In an effort to make life simpler for everyone, I am now posting a very simple schedule over on the right of this blog.  If you are interesting in having the Chris Bracken family at your church at some time, these are the dates that we will be in the US.  Also included are some of our events in Taiwan that we would love for you to help us pray for.  Thank You!