by Guest Blogger, Brett Nirider
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In October 2022, Brett and Juanita Nirider led a team to serve in Morocco. This is the first of two posts from their experience.

​We have now completed four very busy days of teaching in Sidi Ifni, Morocco.  We have one more day here, then will spend the next two days visiting centers in more remote areas, one of which was just beginning when were last here in 2019, the other brand new, full of promise and hope for the children who will be served there.  

Our arrival here was complicated by long flight delays in Seattle, finally making it to Paris too late to board our scheduled departure to Casablanca.  Thanks to the help of a very kind and persistent Air France representative named Lauren LeMeur and a two-hour long wait in line, we made it out of Paris. I looked up “le meur” for its English translation; it means “the great.”  She saved the day for us by booking all seven of us on a later flight.  We arrived in Casablanca later and more tired than expected, but thanks to Lauren the Great we made it.  

After 28 hours of very limited sleep, we enjoyed a restorative sleep in Casablanca, then departed early Sunday morning for a long drive south, through agricultural areas, mountains, dry terrain that seemed to grow nothing but rocks, and finally the Atlantic coast.  

Sidi Ifni is a city of about 23,000 inhabitants that sits upon a promontory looking over the ocean.  It seems to be a popular destination for European surfers, and the juxtaposition of the free-spirited surfers, men and women, their hair tousled about all willy nilly by the wind and the waves, with the more traditional garb of Moroccan men and women is fascinating.  

We have been teaching in one of the centers started as an association of families with children who have disabilities of various types.  These families form bonds of encouragement and affirmation as they strive to provide desperately needed services for their children in areas where there have been none.  They usually start by renting a small house. Many of the parents become the staff.  Most of the workers have about 3 years of high school education, but more importantly they have passion and steadfast commitment to their children.  Once they have begun providing services, the Moroccan government will often step in to help provide funding for a larger center and may even help with the costs of hiring staff.  

We are here to help these very neophyte servants grow in their ability to meet the needs of children who would otherwise have nothing.  Three years ago, when we traveled to a remote mountain village to visit their emerging center, the banner on the wall proclaimed in Arabic, “Do Something!”  And so, they did.  And we try to help them become better at that “something.”  

They are enthusiastic learners.  The rooms are hot, and the colorful cloth wraps that enshroud the women, the mehlfas, provide challenge upon challenge for trying to move and to learn movement in ways that create new problem-solving opportunities for us in our teaching. They remain exuberant, clapping with successful demonstrations of a transitional movement up from the floor as if we had just performed a major symphonic masterpiece.  They’re wonderful, and we love working with them.

Molly and Joyce spend their days upstairs helping the students to better understand the complexities of children with autism and sensory processing challenges.  There are many such children here and from the other adjacent communities from which the children are being transported each day.  Our students are eager to learn more about their children.  Their neuronal synapses are bulging at the seams with the new information they are absorbing.  It’s fun to sneak upstairs when we can to watch our colleagues perform their magic of relationship with the children and with the students.  

Juanita and I are working with those who strive to help children with movement challenges. Hence, we are moving up, moving down, moving all around, trying to stay cool in our very light clothing while our Moroccan friends don’t seem to be affected at all by the heat, even in their multiple layers of garments.  Our Scandinavian attributes are not favorable to us in this climate, even in October when it is supposedly 30 degrees cooler than the summer.  

Because the children are being bussed in from some of the other communities in the region, we don’t really know who will be showing up and who might help us in our teaching, being willing to work with us in front of the students.  We pray for good learning opportunities but also that the children may be blessed by these encounters. We’ve been blessed.

Imane is 22 years old. She arrived at the center on Tuesday to see one of our medical staff, Ellen MD, or Lori ARNP, and then bravely volunteered to help us teach the class.  Because Imane is a young woman, and being sensitive to the cultural expectations here, Juanita stepped forward to work with her while I assisted.  She shared with us a little of her life, her sisters, her cat, what she liked to do, and her pain.  Twenty-two years of tightness in muscles that shouldn’t be so tight to make up for weakness in muscles that shouldn’t be so weak had resulted in malalignment and pain in her shoulder, ribs, and in her neck every night and nearly every day.  Yet her spirit was strong, her countenance gentle and open to hope.  

Matching her gentleness, Juanita provided soft encouraging movements that soon led Imane to sitting with more symmetry, to being able to reach farther on her right side than she had before, and to decreasing tightness and relieving some of her pain.  She left as quietly and gently as she had arrived, but we hoped for the prospects of a better sleep uninterrupted by pain ahead for her.  

Our interpreters have been really and truly wonderful.  Each of them have met the children and staff with as much enthusiasm and loving kindness as we, and they have made us better at what we are doing here.  Our assigned interpreter has been Souliman, or Soul, who is 33 years old and has traveled much of the world.  He has been in business with real estate but decided that wasn’t a good match for him.  He now owns some property outside his hometown of Guelmin where he plans to start an organic farm.  Juanita and I think that’s all fine and good and wish him well in his endeavors to do so. However, he really should be a pediatric therapist.  He engages with the children so naturally playfully, as if he were an extension of us.  He practices the movements with the other participants and helps with the teaching and is really good at it.  He shared with us that he, indeed, is reconsidering his career options based upon his time with us.  

We learned that up until Friday the week before we were to start teaching on Monday, while we were in the air and traveling to Morocco, we had no interpreters.  After much prayer, and unbeknownst to us that there had ever been this potential setback, there they were, our interpreters from Heaven, each of them an answer to prayer.  

The next day we had Yessin come visit us.  He’s a twelve-year-old boy, but much smaller than for his age.  His smile is brilliant.  He wants to be able to walk better and loves to play football (soccer).  We discover all kinds of great things about his body that he didn’t know he could do, and his smile becomes even brighter.  He loves the work, and Soul becomes part of the dance, encouraging, playfully inviting harder work, leading chants of his name with the course participants joining in.  Other children who are there to see our medical staff peer in through the open window or bravely sneak into the room and join in the chants. It is spiritual.  Yessin kicks the soccer ball harder than he ever has before and takes longer steps than he thought he could.  He shares with Soul afterwards that his body feels “Perfect!”  Soul explains to us that the word that he used in Arabic is one that is often used by older people, and truly means, “Complete.”  I love this work.  One of our trainees, a young mom of three, relates, through her own tears, how Yessin’s mother was moved to tears seeing her son walk so tall and confidently, and so different from how he had arrived. 

Our medical super-docs Ellen, MD and Lori, ARNP continue to see and care for countless children and adults who are brought in by bus.  For many it is the first time they’ve ever seen a doctor.  They meet each seemingly insurmountable situation with the most important prescription: loving touch, listening hearts, and smiles.  Because of limited resources here, their toolboxes aren’t quite as big as they would be back home.  Thanks for a generous donation of a local benefactor, they are able to prescribe some medications and other services.  Even though medical resources are few, tenderness is unlimited.  Each encounter is closed with abundant gratitude. 

There was a television crew that came through one day, along with leaders, politicians, and who knows who else. We continued with our work as best we could.  Some of our students who tended to sit back and watch were especially attentive though.  We all want to be seen in the best possible light.  We’ve heard that we were on Moroccan national TV that night.  We couldn’t get our hotel TV to work.  

On the last day Imane showed up again.  She told Juanita that she hadn’t had any pain since her last session.  After 22 years, maybe she had found something that helps.  We tried to help her some more.  It was easier for her to move her body in ways that she had not been able to for 22 years, and she needed less help to do so.  She provided another lesson to our eager class, and to us.  

When I think about how quickly the past 22 years in my life have passed, and how full those years have been, I am grateful for all they have included.  I am thankful that those years have been relatively free of physical pain.  I have enjoyed the freedom of movement and using my abilities to enhance those of others.  Imane’s situation has been very different.  Born with challenges, enduring each day, anticipating that each day will bring pain, not freedom, she has continued on.  

These centers, these warm and loving people, we pray will help lovely people such as Imane and Yessin live their best lives, that their movements will be easier, that strength will grow and pain will lessen.  Twenty-two years is far too long to wait.  

We will come back.  There are plans for more multiple trainings per year over the next several years.  We are honored and blessed to be included in this work.  

For now we prepare for two final days in more remote villages where there are even fewer resources.  There are, however, eager learners, caring hearts, and nascent centers just waiting to do good work.  In 22 years, I will be 87.  I don’t know if we will still be able to do this work then, but I hope that by doing so now, we could come back in 22 years and see something amazing.  

For more excitement, check out oslc.com/westcampus.

One in four children in Pierce County is hungry. A school cafeteria may be the only way some children receive nutritious food every day.

Students in households with incomes below 130% of the poverty level or those receiving SNAP or TANF qualify for free meals. Those with family incomes between 130% and 185% of the poverty line qualify for reduced-price meals.

In our own backyard, over 70% of students in the Franklin Pierce School District qualify for free or reduced lunch. Additionally, over 42% of students in the Puyallup School District qualify for free or reduced lunch.

That’s a big problem.

In 2012, Our Savior began to be part of a solution and launched the Backpacks 4 Kids program.

We could not have ever imagined what God had in mind and how He would use simple food bags and tens of thousands of volunteer hours to build an incredibly deep and powerful relationship with school administrators, board members, classroom teachers, counselors, social workers, students, and community leaders.

That’s the power of saying “yes” to what God is nudging and leading you to do - even when you don’t know what to do or how to do it. When we make ourselves available to God for the good work that He has prepared for us to do, God shows up in incredible ways.

10 years later, each bag is still packed with nutritious foods, including shelf-stable items for both the students and their family. Students receive the backpacks on Fridays through their school counselors and support staff to bridge the gap on the weekends. We’ve expanded our program to include breakfast bags, school break bags, and other resources available to students and their families throughout the week.

Here is what people are saying about Backpacks 4 Kids, today:

• “I have had one student's family tell me how important these bags are to them as they depend on them every week. I allow this student to take two bags home and anything else they can find in the pantry that is given to us by Our Savior Lutheran. It has been extremely helpful and beneficial to have a space full of resources that can be directly given to families, and it is rewarding knowing this student is coming every single Friday to grab bags to take home.”
  

• “I am incredibly thankful for all that you and Our Savior do for the students in our district! The families currently receiving this service in my building are experiencing homelessness or are doubled up living with other family or friends. They are single parent families trying to make ends meet. They are families who have lost jobs and are just recently getting back to work and are working hard to get caught up financially. They are living paycheck to paycheck. This kindness you are proving is allowing them to breathe a little easier and take a little off their very full plates. It is truly a blessing.”
  

• “The weekend food bags have helped us tremendously. They actually helped us get our little one to eat breakfast. He loves the oatmeal and granola bars.”
  

From the outside-looking-in, it is a high-impact social and community service program.

From the inside-looking-out, it is a highly effective way of growing faith, deepening relationships, widening influence where we live, work, learn, and play.

Powerful, life-changing stuff, indeed.

And we aren’t going to stop here because God continues to lead us forward in feeding hungry tummies and souls.

Literally, this week, we received the official permits to break ground and remodel our West Campus building to become our Community Commons Hub which will over double our ability to expand the backpack program and deepen relationships even more. Praise God!

With this permit in hand, we will be updating you with details and a timeline as soon as we get it from Lincoln Construction (the same contractor who oversaw the 2017 rebuilding of our Main Campus Facility).

For now, here’s your personal invitation to this year’s Novemberfest Celebration and Event and November Food Drive.

Novemberfest - Join us online, Thursday, November 3 at 6:30, oslc.com/novemberfest. The goal is to raise $25,000 which will be matched for a total of $50,000. Hear how our B4K program works, how volunteers are involved, and best of all, hear stories of real-life impact for students who receive our bags! 

Food Drive - Canned chili provides protein to hungry students in our B4K program. This year, it has been hard to source and more expensive - but you can help! In November, we will collect donations of canned chili, culminating at the Thanksgiving worship service. Drop off donations in the church lobby. 

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Have you ever been assigned to a jury?

As a juror, you’re sworn not to discuss anything while you’re serving.  I get it. And I believe it’s a very good thing!

At the same time, thankfully, that’s not how it is with Jesus.

Jesus invites us to tell everything about how He has served us and how we are serving others. 

It’s what the Newsboys sang about in 2002: “shine, make them wonder what you’ve got, make them wish that they were not on the outside looking bored.” 

Or, better put, what Jesus said: let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16).

As we move closer toward the holiday season, one way you can prepare to serve others is by helping donate and deliver presents, cards, groceries and meals to over 150 people (over 30 families) right here in our local community. 

We call it the Giving Tree. 

Here is what people are saying about it…
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"Thank you for the Christmas presents and it was [sic] the best gift ever. It was so polite of you." - Child Giving Tree Recipient, 2021
"Thank you for the softest clothes I've ever got and the art set that I can do my art with!" -Child Giving Tree Recipient, 2021
"Thank you so much for making my Christmas awesome. I loved my gifts." -Giving Tree Recipient, 2021

Here are two ways you can respond right now.

• Do you know someone who needs a little help this Christmas season?
• Can your Life Group (or any ministry group) sponsor a family this year?

Complete this short form and let us know we can count on you serving others and telling all about it.

​Tags will be available around Thanksgiving on the Lobby Giving Tree and at oslc.com.

Becoming a member and friend is an important part of being part of a church family. That’s why church family membership is such a big milestone in your discipleship journey. Let me explain.

My member-relationship with Costco is very different from my friendship with Beth. And while that might be comparing apples to almonds - it’s a valid question… especially as a church family.

A traditional understanding of membership is one of being a consumer. Like my relationship with Costco, I give something (money) in exchange for a product (an 18-inch pizza and a rotisserie chicken). In other words, if you want something, pay for it with something of value - money, time, skill or talent, etc.. In this sense, most member-relationships are transactional - “I do this so that you do that”.

Friendship is one of collaboration and partnership. Leaders can be formal positions or informal influencers. In this sense, everyone leads somewhere. There is an equity that echoes, “we’re in this together”. As a result, most friend-relationships are transformational - “we are learning, growing, doing this thing together”.

Both membership and friendship are necessary for a church family to thrive. So, here’s how to be great members and friends at the same time.

Show Up Consistently
Showing up on a regular basis begins to naturally transform our hearts. We move from thinking “I have to go” to “I get to go”. You start thinking of yourself as a member and a friend… and others begin seeing you like that, too. You’ll get to know people better (even if it’s a little bit at a time through shared experiences or conversation). You’ll hear the same stories over time. You’ll share life’s ups and downs because you’re there, together. In some ways, this will naturally happen as you pop in-and-out - but it happens faster when you’re showing up, consistently.

Meet a Few to Connect with the Whole
You hear about a group or team you want to join, but you don’t know everybody. In fact, you only know one person in the entire church. Ask that one person to introduce you to someone who is already part of the group or team you’re interested in learning more about or that you want to join. That personal connection with a single person can connect you with an entire group of friends.

Becoming both a member and a friend requires elements of learning, self-discovery, and growth. That’s why the process of becoming a church family member is such an important part of and milestone in your discipleship journey.

Convertirse en miembro y amigo es una parte importante de ser parte de una familia de la iglesia. Es por eso que la membresía de la familia de la iglesia es un hito tan importante en su viaje de discipulado. Dejame explicar.

Mi relación de miembro con Costco es muy diferente de mi amistad con Beth. Y aunque eso podría ser comparar manzanas con almendras, es una pregunta válida... especialmente como familia de la iglesia.

Una comprensión tradicional de la membresía es la de ser un consumidor. Al igual que mi relación con Costco, doy algo (dinero) a cambio de un producto (una pizza de 18 pulgadas y un pollo asado). En otras palabras, si quieres algo, págalo con algo de valor: dinero, tiempo, habilidad o talento, etc. En este sentido, la mayoría de las relaciones entre los miembros son transaccionales: “Yo hago esto para que tú hagas aquello”.

La amistad es una de colaboración y asociación. Los líderes pueden ser puestos formales o personas influyentes informales. En este sentido, todo el mundo lleva a alguna parte. Hay una equidad que hace eco, “estamos juntos en esto”. Como resultado, la mayoría de las relaciones de amistad son transformadoras: “estamos aprendiendo, creciendo, haciendo esto juntos”.

Tanto la membresía como la amistad son necesarias para que la familia de la iglesia prospere. Entonces, aquí le mostramos cómo ser grandes miembros y amigos al mismo tiempo.

Aparece constantemente
Aparecer regularmente comienza a transformar naturalmente nuestros corazones. Pasamos de pensar “me tengo que ir” a “me voy a ir”. Empiezas a pensar en ti mismo como un miembro y un amigo... y los demás también empiezan a verte así. Llegarás a conocer mejor a las personas (incluso si es poco a poco a través de experiencias compartidas o conversaciones). Escucharás las mismas historias con el tiempo. Compartirás los altibajos de la vida porque estás ahí, juntos. De alguna manera, esto sucederá naturalmente a medida que apareces y desapareces, pero sucede más rápido cuando apareces, de manera constante.

Conoce a unos pocos para conectarte con el todo
Te enteras de un grupo o equipo al que te quieres unir, pero no conoces a todo el mundo. De hecho, solo conoces a una persona en toda la iglesia. Pídale a esa persona que le presente a alguien que ya sea parte del grupo o equipo del que le interesa aprender más o al que desea unirse. Esa conexión personal con una sola persona puede conectarte con todo un grupo de amigos.

Convertirse en miembro y amigo requiere elementos de aprendizaje, auto-descubrimiento y crecimiento. Es por eso que el proceso de convertirse en miembro de la familia de la iglesia es una parte tan importante y un hito en su viaje de discipulado.

According to Historian Charles Nutter, in 1868, Daniel March was invited to preach on Isaiah 6:8 at the Clinton Avenue Congregational Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Being a skilled songwriter and musician, he wrote and sung these words as his sermon:

Hark, the voice of Jesus calling,
Who will go and work today?
Fields are ripe and harvests waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?
Long and loud the Master calls us,
Rich reward He offers free;
Who will answer, gladly saying,
Here am I, send me, send me?

I'm probably not going to sing a sermon anytime soon.

​But, at the end of last week's sermon, I did invite everyone to consider what God might be calling you to do with your time, skills, and resources to love God back, love people like God loves them, and live more like Jesus everyday and in every way.

To refresh your memory or to hear it for the first time, here is a clip of the last minute of last week's sermon.

And since last words can be lasting words, here are Pastor Daniel's last words of his 1868 sermon to prepare you to respond to God's invitation to do the good work that He has given us to do, together.​

Let none hear you idly saying,
There is nothing I can do.
While the lost of earth are dying,
And the Master calls for you;
Take the task He gives you gladly;
Let His work your pleasure be;
Answer quickly when He calls you,
Here am I, send me, send me.

​Según el historiador Charles Nutter, en 1868, Daniel March fue invitado a predicar sobre Isaías 6:8 en la Iglesia Congregacional de la Avenida Clinton en Filadelfia, Pensilvania.

Siendo un hábil compositor y músico, escribió y cantó estas palabras como su sermón:

Escucha, la voz de Jesús llamando,
¿Quién irá a trabajar hoy?
Los campos están maduros y las cosechas esperando,
¿Quién llevará las gavillas?
Largo y fuerte el Maestro nos llama,
Rica recompensa Él ofrece gratuitamente;
¿Quién responderá, diciendo con alegría,
Aquí estoy, envíame, envíame?

​Probablemente no voy a cantar un sermón en el corto plazo.

​Pero, al final del sermón de la semana pasada, invité a todos a considerar lo que Dios podría estar llamándolos a hacer con su tiempo, habilidades y recursos para amar a Dios, amar a las personas como Dios las ama y vivir más como Jesús. todos los días y en todos los sentidos.

Incluí el último minuto del sermón como video clip en el blog de esta semana para que puedas refrescar tu memoria o escucharlo por primera vez.

​Y dado que las últimas palabras pueden ser palabras duraderas, aquí están las últimas palabras del pastor Daniel de su sermón de 1868 para prepararlo para responder a la invitación de Dios de hacer el buen trabajo que Él nos ha dado para hacer, juntos.

Que nadie te oiga decir ociosamente:
No hay nada que yo pueda hacer.
Mientras los perdidos de la tierra están muriendo,
Y el Maestro os llama;
Toma la tarea que Él te da con gusto;
Deja que Su obra sea tu placer;
Responde pronto cuando te llame,
Aquí estoy, envíame, envíame.

God is up to something in the lives of everyday families right here at Our Savior.

But don’t take my word for it… check it out for yourself!​

Every August, our Facilities Team tackles a handful of projects to maintain and improve our facilities. These projects are planned and positions our greatest physical asset (our buildings) to best support ongoing ministry as we move into the program year.

Click here to download a complete list of August Projects.

This year, we will focus on three primary projects.