Buckets of Love

Life beats down and crushes the soul.
Art reminds you that you have one.

The call was to paint a single mural on the wall of a medical clinic in Central America. Two weeks and eleven murals later, Cindy Geffel and friends had splashed hope across Nicaragua between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Cindy travelled with the Rolling Hills youth group to this tropical land of nearly 6 million people; her suitcase full of paint, her heart full of the hues of hope. She came to brighten a place and bless a people. On her palette lay new a fresh mix, a loving God, little children and Nicaraguan art, primitive, whimsical and bursting with color. This she would do with her mom’s paintbrushes and buckets of love.

The first mural for the medical clinic in the eastern coastal town of Puerto Cabeza was a flower garden full of little children in every shade of brown. The next two were in an orphanage. One in the girls’ dorm with a rushing river full of native animals and River Indian people and in the boys’ dorm, a Mosquito Indian warrior covered in the armor of God.

Upon arrival in the capital city of Managua, the project was to paint a mural in Villa Esperanza, a home for girls raised in the garbage dump. For the 2000 families who live among acres and acres of garbage, a safe place for their little girls is a wash of light in a dark corner of the world. The Villa girls are all victims of prostitution and rape. A portrait of beauty, this mural is an ocean scene with wafting palm fronds and graceful cranes.

Meanwhile at the public school, many girls were sick from fetid drinking water. While one team dug a ditch and laid pipe for fresh water, Cindy and her team painted a mural with a quote about education. Cindy chose Proverbs 23:23, “Buy the truth and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.”

Cindy’s latest splattering of color in the new Tualatin location of Northwest Children’s Outreach is located in the daylight basement at Rolling Hills Community Church. This landscape is a northwest scene of the Tualatin River with Mount Hood beyond. If you look closely you’ll see children playing hide and seek, flying kites and fishing. Cindy’s dogs are romping in a meadow and both ducks and beavers paddle around the rushing waters.

Cindy’s next project is an outside wall, eighty feet long, at Bridgeport Elementary. True to her heart’s palette, the scene will be awash with children, community and creation, God’s green earth. The school children have already helped brainstorm the scene, a big pond with butterflies and frogs in the shifting light from day into night.

The Boehme Family's Mission in Japan

Where teaching English is a vehicle for sharing Christ
by Cornelia Seigneur

Erik and Rhonda Boehme are missionaries in Japan partnering with Asian Access. They are home on furlough after spending their first three-year assignment in Japan, where people are eager to learn English. It is a great vehicle to reach the Japanese people for Christ. Erik shared a story about their dentist, Dr. Nahoko, who attended a Gospel choir concert. “One day she asked what the words to ‘Amazing Grace’ were and we told her, and she said, ‘Now I can finally understand what I am singing.’”

Rhonda sensed a call from God to become a missionary when she was just five years old. “I heard about missionaries and I heard about people who didn’t know Jesus and I wanted to tell them about Jesus.”

For Erik, the call came later in life. After becoming a believer at age 20, he transferred to George Fox University in Newberg, where he met Rhonda. He rented a room at the home of a retired missionary named Roy, who put Erik in a room full of missionary biographies. “I just ate it up. And Roy said to me, ‘Why don’t you become a short term missionary.’ So, I spent a semester abroad in Kenya, where I developed a heart to be an overseas missionary.”

Though Erik and Rhonda had clear callings into missions, the location was not as certain. Then, after separate opportunities to teach English in Japan to pay for school, they both fell in love with that country.
And, seeing a need was confirmation.

“Less than one percent of people in Japan are Christian,” Erik said.
And, Erik proposed to Rhonda in Tokyo. Their hearts were sealed to be in Japan.

Rhonda and Erik’s duties include teaching English and Bible classes, leading children’s events and parenting classes, and hosting outreaches.

It takes a long time for some Japanese to believe. “We asked one woman, ‘Do you believe in God?’ and she said ‘yes’ and we asked, ‘Do you believe in Christ?’ and she said ‘yes,’ and we asked, ‘Do you believe He died for your sins?’ and she said ‘yes,’ and we asked, ‘Are you ready to become a Christian?’ and she said ‘no.’”

As missionaries, the Boehme family wanted to be part of the culture. Their house is entirely decorated like a Japanese house. They eat Japanese food, except they still like oatmeal from Costco! They get up in the summers at 6:45 AM with their children, Andrew and Katrina, to join Japanese families for traditional kids calisthenics. “Many missionaries did not do this, but we wanted to, and it gave us the chance to do kids outreach events at the Community Center.”

They host ice cream socials and kids’ events, and a Texas night for adults. They have organized community cleanups. Their children attend regular school.

At their going away party, one gentleman, who had worked at Toyota, said, “I didn’t share my faith with others, but because of you I feel inspired to share my faith.”

The Boehme family is looking forward to returning to their mission work in Japan after they have raised adequate support.

“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire.” Isaiah 55:11 (NASB)

To learn more about the Boehmes’ work in Japan, visit www.asianaccess.org