Part 2 of my trip report- Finally!

Dear friends,

Here is part two of my trip report about Beijing and surroundings. I have been asked by several to get this posted. Sorry for the delay. I have had major responsibilities at our regional missions conference, a dear friend from our growth group went to be with the Lord (her memorial service is today), a visit from my brother Paul's family, a trip to Denver and Christmas and events surrounding that. So, I have been busy.

I received an all clear for now from my oncologist. I almost had surgery this Wed. to fix the position of my bladder's neuro stimulator. It got dislodged from the correct location on the back of my right side when I fell down steps in the summer. The insurance clearance didn't come in time, which is sad since my whole deductible was met and it would have been 100% covered.  I will have to wait and see if we can afford it sometime next year.

Some of our 16 at the Fritz's on Thanksgiving ( ;

All our kids were home last weekend and Allison is now in Madrid with Tyler and his family for Christmas. Jenni leaves on Monday so she can be at work on Tuesday, and Laura plans to leave on the 30th for Baltimore and then Bradford, England until the end of March. She will continue working with Greg from there. Jesse leaves on the 1st. We are enjoying our time together very much!

Here are more touring pictures of my time in China and also some of our training.

One day we got to visit the Cultural Park in Beijing. As the picture at the entrance implies, all of the 56 people groups of China are show cased. They have sample houses and performances by the various 20 somethings from these people groups wearing their ethnic clothing. We enjoyed getting our picture taken with several of them. 



This was one of the sign posts in the park. At one point some Chinese girls came up and asked to have their picture taken with ME! I guess I was a rarity there!

After a Dai dance program, they demonstrated a water festival. They took smaller containers and dipped them to fill them with water, and then flung the water at each other. It was to signify pouring blessings on each other. Pretty neat!

Try to imagine these figures down in a lower courtyard that isn't open yet. They are made out of metal and are life sized. I could only show you a few here. There were many more.  These are women riders playing polo!

 These jade carvings are tiny and done in the sides of a 8-10 foot high solid piece of jade. They are only an inch high. Even the chain above to the left is carved out of the solid piece! Amazing.

Here I am teaching. I can't show you pictures of our students. I can tell you that the 28 students at this training in the country was fantastic! We had 3 days with them and taught 8 to 5 and in the evenings. Kimberle and I took turns teaching for about an hour at a time. We covered about 25 topics, some for 2 hours. We gave them time to apply what they were learning by writing their own materials for the programs they are doing. These were 3 network leaders and the rest were Sunday school teachers. They were from 6 different areas.

We taught approximately 25 topics over 3 days. Kimberle and I switched off with each other. We taught from 8 to 5 and again in the evenings. One thing we have them do is to draw their community. This gives us an idea of how their area is layed out and what things influence the lives of the children. This one shows a Buddhist shrine near the river that the kids go by every day. They set a goal of  at least one new way to reach out to the children in their community. 

Here I am teaching about discipleship. I love teaching this lesson. I came up with these pictures to help explain the process.

Another thing I enjoy doing is teaching about object lessons- how to do them and demonstrating some. If you don't have visual aids, you ARE the visual aid!

Here is my lesson on how to write a Bible lesson. You didn't know I could write in Chinese, did you? ( ;  Again, we have them take what we have given them and actually write a Bible lesson they can/will use. Then it is practical training that they have learned and are already using. They absolutely LOVED being taught how to do this! And we loved teaching them!

This is the 4 hats Gospel presentation. First we are born with a veil of sin which separates us from God. Then Jesus came and gave His life for us and provided a way to a restored relationship with God- a crown of thorns. If we accept what Jesus offers, we trade in our veil of darkness for a helmet of salvation. When Christ comes back or we die, we are wearing one of these 2 hats. Either the veil which means forever separation from God, to helmet which gets turned in for the crown of life- eternal life with God in heaven. Which hat are you wearing?

 This Gospel presentation is the 5 Shirts. First you have green. The girl on the left was the only one with green on. She represents creation and has her arms up like a tree, signifying man one with God in relationship before sin entered the picture. Then we had someone with a black shirt come up to show how sin put up a barrier between man and God. Then a red shirt to show how Christ's sacrifice provided a way for man to be back in relationship with God. The white shirt shows how through prayer our hearts can be cleansed and we can be restored to a personal relationship with God. Lastly, someone with a gold or yellow shirt comes up to depict heaven, and our eternal home there if we have done the prayer shown in white. Each of these is shared with scriptures. It is easy, costs nothing and you have participation. You can use it anywhere in the world no matter what your budget! (The blue shirted guy was our translator.)

 These are some samples of our training. I hope you get a feel for what I do when I go train overseas. I am gearing up for a big trip at the end of Feb into early March and am beginning the fundraising process. I would be honored to have you join my team financially and consider supporting me. I have to raise about $5000 to go. Just write me an email at nancyfritz@aol.com and let me know. I will get you the information you need. You will get a tax deductible receipt.

God bless you and Merry Christmas!

Nancy Fritz
509-990-8465

East Asia Trip Report- Land of Hard Sleepers and Soft Hearts: Part 1

Dear friends,

Finally a chance to give you a more complete report about my trip! I was in East Asia for 20 days. My first week had an absolutely amazing opportunity to do "discipleship tourism." Wade, Greg's cousin, his son, Josh, (pictured here with me on the "B" section of the Great Wall) and I made up the tour group, and got to see sights in and around Beijing and hear their history from a Christian perspective. It was fantastic to hear what had happened at these places. I was grateful that there was a bathroom at the top of this climb at Tower #5! I was praying for a miracle and there it was! This really was as steep as it looks. My broken toes seemed to handle it OK.

Me and Josh at the "G" section of the Wall.

A welcome sight (at least the bottom part). The English wording on signs is often interesting.

Notice the bricks the wall is made of. We learned that families living in the villages near the construction of the Great Wall were required to make a quotient of bricks out of clay, ash for the Wall.  When their bricks were brought, the overseer shot an arrow at them from a certain distance away. If the arrow penetrated the brick more than an acceptable amount, the entire family was killed. I had heard that many had lost their lives making the Wall, but I didn't know this was how! Can you imagine? Also, our guide told us that the Wall was never actually used for defence. None of it, ever! One time there as a battle at the foot of it, but it had no part in defense.

Here is a close up of some of those bricks.

Here is one of about 30 such meals I had while in China. I hardly ever saw the same food twice. Sometimes we had 4 entrees, and one time 14! I seriously could live on Chinese food! It is amazing as long as it isn't spicy. I don't do spicy well!

We went to see the Celestial Temple. This is a place emperors were required to go to say prayers to "The God of Heaven," the "Imperial God," and to give sacrifices in order for the harvest to be blessed. Read the sign below...

This walkway through the grounds of the Celestial Temple grounds was divided by these white lines to mark where everyone should walk. Only the Eternal God himself was allowed in the middle. The emperor walked on one side and the officials walked on the other side. This was to help remind the emperor that even he was subservient to a greater power.

Flower displays like this are placed all over the city.

We stayed in a chain hotel that whole week and 1/2. The beds are pretty hard and we finally figured out that they were just box springs! If you want a soft bed, you have to stay at a 4 or 5 star hotel. I remembered this from last year and brought a down throw that rolled us very small and brought it with me. I used the covers for padding and then used my blanket on top. At least it was a little softer! It was hot outside and I only wore my sweater a few times in Beijing, and wished for more summer clothes.

Our friends made sure we got to see the Olympic Park. Last year I was 1 mile away from the Bird's Nest and couldn't even see it because of the smog. It was clear when we went this time and it was impressive inside and out!

We got to go in and "feel" the inside of the place. It was really an experience imagining the Olympics in there. I had seen the opening exercises and to see it filled me with awe.

We got to go in and "feel" the inside of the place. It was really an experience imagining the Olympics in there. I had seen the opening exercises and to see it filled me with awe.

There was a video playing that showed the opening exercises of the Olympics with the sounds of applause, etc. 100,000 people can sit in there at a time. And all the seats are good seats!

Josh and I are in front of the water cube where the Olympic pools are. Behind you see an interestingly shaped building. It is built to look like the fire on the Olympic torch. 

Right next to the Bird's Nest is the Olympic Torch. 

As we walked along the Olympic Park, there are beautiful displays of flowers and pieces of art that have been donated by various countries. Along the way are fun signs to enjoy like these. Below see the art that was donated by the USA.

The subway station at the end of the Olympic Park looks like the theme of the Bird's Nest. Very cool!

This is all for now. I will enter another post later with details about a few other touring things and then the training! I hope you enjoyed the report so far!  God Bless You!   Nancy Fritz    nancyfritz@aol.com         509-990-8465

Back from the Far East!

Dear friends,

Wade, Josh and I after we had climbed to the top tower you see behind us.

I am officially part of the Great Wall!

The Bird's Nest was really amazing to see!

I arrived home from my trip this morning and it was absolutely fantastic! All of our prayers were answered and I will have lots to share very soon. We had all 3 trainings, although the 2nd one ended up to be more of a consultation for 3 days. We had no security problems and our health was good the whole time. We were given delicious food to eat, and got to try lots of variety. I didn't loose any weight while I was gone!

We had 62 students and all greatly appreciated the training. We were asked to come back next year. Our style is very interactive and practical and Kimberle and I do very well together. We compliment each other and enjoy each other. Our students were precious. We connected very well with them and some we knew from last year. Several of them came back bringing others, and one invited us to her network for the 3rd training. They want us back next year also.

I still can hardly express how rewarding it is to do this training which is so much what I enjoy and have talent for, and also is a blessing the Kingdom- ultimately helping teachers to lead children to Christ. I am so blessed! Thank you for all who went with me in your prayers and through your giving. I will give a more complete report with pictures in the next few days.

Blessings-
Nancy

Dear friends, September 20, 2011
In less than a week I should be in East Asia for a 3 week trip. My schedule will be packed and exciting. I am finishing up my preparation for approximately 50 1 hour lessons (some repeats and some team-taught) I will be teaching to full-time pastors, youth leaders, children's workers, and many parents who want to learn how to disciple their children. We expect to have 85-100 students all together during three, 3 day trainings. The first training has people coming from 9-10 different locations all over the country.

So... I have been working through our situation of not having enough support to live on (see my last blog entry). Not a whole lot has changed logistically. We have a few new supporters and I was given two sacrificial cash gifts to take with me in case I need anything on the trip. Someone offered to buy me the suitcase I need, when I asked to borrow hers. The ladies at my church are going to be praying for my trip. You are invited to join my prayer team as well if you are so inclined!

My co-teacher, Kimberle- mom of 6!

An interview using a ladle microphone? Typical when you use local resources! That is the way we teach them to do it. They leave encouraged and empowered!

A city map explaining the lives of children there drawn at our last training by those

reaching them. It includes a polluted river, Internet cafe, playground, a fellowship, etc. After doing this, they planned ways to reach the children with their fresh perspective. Here is another one...

Please Pray for Nancy Fritz’s Trip to East Asia

Sunday Monday Tues. Wed. Thurs. Friday Saturday

25 Leave Spokane 2 p.m. thru Seattle	26 Arrive in BJ at 10 p.m. (22 hrs)	27 Disciple- ship tourism co-hosting	28 Touring BJ & hearing Christian history	29 First time this is ever being done.	30 Pray I would be a blessing to those I encounter.	1 Pray for those experiencing this trip to be impacted.
2 Teach SS at a house church in BJ –Ballet Kimberle arrives	3 Prepare & meet w/ hosts to plan	4 Train 30 BJ church youth and adult children’s workers	5 These 3 days we are training 9-5	6 Pray for those attending to successfully “get” & be able to apply all they learn	7 Day off to rest, go shopping and get ready for next training	8 Vision and skills training for 15 full-time Christian workers from several churches
9 Pray for training for youth leaders	10 Pray for unity while writing vision & mission statements	11 Day to travel to another province for last training & set-up	12 30 from 3 churches in rural area.	13 These are receiving their first training	14 Pray we would be able to finish strong	15 Leave for home at 9 a.m. Arrive home at 10:00 a.m. the same day!

Oct. 4-6 We will do a 2^nd training with some of the teachers we taught last year- 25-40. They want to learn more on the topics of classroom skills, discipleship, and teaching families how to be involved in the discipleship of their children. We will also review “1 for 50” for them. The host of this training just told me over skype that her son is in the hospital for a severe asthma attack. Please pray for him.

Oct. 8-10 We will be meeting with 15 pastors and youth leaders for 3 days. We will be sharing 1 for 50 vision for one day, helping them to develop a church vision statement for each of their churches and giving them tools for youth ministry.

Oct. 12-14 We will do a first level of training with a more rural group of 30 outside of the city. This will include a typical first level 1 for 50 training. All three of these trainings will be through translation. Pray for those doing the written translation.

Please pray for our stamina. Pray that we will stay healthy. Pray for us to work well together as a team. Pray that we will give our best to teach well. Pray that we will be able to rest well at night in hotels. Pray for security & protection from the Lord. Trainings have been shut down before.

Making Lemonade...
You know the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Laura is here for this season. We aren't sure how long, but do know that both from her side and ours, it is totally the Lord who brought her home. She and Greg work very well together and are beginning this new ministry together. She helped us turn one of our rentals into a guest house. It is furnished and looking wonderful and we have had our first guest. The empty units (lemons) will hopefully bring in some income this way (lemonade!)

Yesterday I was able to go with a friend for her second mammogram due to something suspicious (lemon). Everything turned out well. No cancer! We were able to have a great time encouraging each other (lemonade).

We really don't have enough coming in to pay the bills with $10,000 in taxes and other occasional bills due soon (lemons), but so far the Lord is providing what is absolutely due each day (lemonade!). We continue to trust that our ministry team will grow so that we will be able to take advantage of the ministry opportunities coming up as well as being able to pay our bills. Greg and I are on Cobra health insurance until the end of the year and that alone is $1250 a month. So the situation is tight... lean...skinny...no frills (lemon), but we have the opportunity to depend on Almighty God (lemonade)! It is a great place to be even though I don't like being here. I am growing in faith and worrying less. We are commanded not to worry anyway, right? It does no good, and God isn't going to answer my prayers any differently if I am depressed and crying as He would if I am optimistically trusting Him. I can change in mood, but my Heavenly Father is consistent no matter what! He doesn't change. He is good, faithful, trustworthy, loving, and a hundred other amazing things. Laura and I watched Soul Surfer the other night and it was a great encouragement. We recommend it. By the way, if you would like to join our financial team, either for a one-time gift or as a monthly member of our team? We would love to talk to you about this. Or you can click here to donate online by check or credit card. If you'd prefer, you can send a check to:
Allegro Organizational Solutions
5535 Memorial Dr., Ste. F-811
Houston, TX 77007 USA
Either way, our account is: US-Frz.GNF

It is an amazing time to be alive. I have been invited to India and another SE Asian country from mid-February through the first week or 2 of March. I am also supposed to go to Thailand in May for an international children's ministry conference. It is one of my Kidzana consultant responsibilities. I don't have the money to go (lemon), but I will if it is the Lord's will (lemonade)!

May the Lord bring me to meet those English speakers He puts into my path during my trip. During the first week I will be around other tourists. I will try to send an update while I am gone, but in case I can't, I will send one when I get back! nancyfritz@aol.com 509-990-8465 God bless you! Nancy Fritz

No hazy, lazy summer days here!

Dear friends,

Tubing down the Little Spokane River by our neighborhood.

Tina, enjoying life...She tends to do that ALL the time!

You think this shadow is scary? You should have seen the real thing! "Black girl hair" is something we have learned a LOT about in the last two years! It is a LOT of work!

Greg and Adjua enjoying a respite during our hike around Brown's Lake in WA.

Into August already! I 've seen very little rain for weeks and the weather is perfect here in Spokane. We have taken Adjua and her two friends both tubing and camping and have had a lot of fun doing it. It was Tina's first "real" camping trip! And Greg gave swimming lessons to them when we were tubing. Tina is from Maloui and Miriam is from Kenya. We enjoyed hearing their stories, hiking, seeing a bear from the car, making som'ors and playing cards. In general- making great memories!

Laura is back in the States since her time in Israel came to a close. She is with Jenni right now and will be here at the end of next week. We haven't seen her since Christmas, so we are excited! She has lots of stories to tell and decisions to make.

Jenni is in her new home and has the house full- people-wise. Late last week her roommate was found. She is from Portland and just graduated from a Christian college. She is a perfect fit for Jenni and they are excited. It was miraculous how the Lord brought them together. Jenni has been fixing plumbing and getting settled while she waits for her job to start. She needs to start work soon as she has gone through almost all of her savings. She applied at Starbucks last week.

Jesse is learing scuba diving and is really enjoying it. He is almost done getting certified and remarked that it was nice to do something that he could pass the test on without so much difficulty! That's my boy! 

Allison is still working hard at her nanny job. The boys are very sweet and the 19 month old can work and iPhone and is recognizing words when she reads to him.

My Reunion

Last month I went to my 35th high school reunion. It was a neat time and my thanks to Mitch and all who took part in planning the whole thing. I enjoyed re-meeting many old (not old!) classmates and their spouses and seeing several friends from my growing up years. How fun! Here are Nancy and Joyce.

One unfortunate thing that happened is that I fell and broke some toes- 3 breaks. The good news is no concussion and no foot cast. Gradually my foot is healing, but I think I re-injured it several times while camping with Greg last week. One bend the wrong way on a root or rock and ouch! Here it is a few days after I hurt it. The swelling was way down by then. I need it to get better before I go to Asia in late Sept. because I will be doing lots of walking and standing! I broke my other little toe last year before my trip to Asia. I don't want to make this a habbit!

I also got to see my mom and brother in Bath, NY for several days. It was good to be there. We got a chance to catch up and visit and talk about the future... And go to the ER to get me checked out. My cousin just happened to be working that day, so it was nice to see her! Thanks Mom and Scott. And the S's for loaning me a great car!

Greg and Me in ID last week

Greg hadn't taken a break for months, so last week we took 4 days and headed for the mountains. It was a fun time to off road camp together. We enjoyed the quiet, nature and swimming in rivers. We also saw 2 moose in one day- in separate places! Here they are, a grown female and a baby. We also saw a mother and twin fawns in a stream. Ahhh.

Here is one of our camping spots, and right beyond it is this 6' deep swimming hole in the river, which we had all to ourselves. It was cold but refreshing! No rangers, fees or neighbors!

While hiking on this path, I heard a huge crashing sound behind us. When we went back the other way, we found this huge tree that had fallen across the trail seconds after we had walked by there. We really sensed the Lord's protection! Someone told us we should go buy a lottery ticket! (We didn't.)

What is happening with our ministry situation?

Well, we are still waiting for our provision miracle from God. We still believe He loves us and has a plan. No one said it would be easy in this life. So we are riding out the surf of this unexpected wave.

We only have a fraction of what we need to pay our bills, let alone, do ministry. Opportunities are coming our way and we are turning them down for the time-being. My Asia ticket is already purchased, so that will happen, by God's grace. But opportunities after that are on hold. We only have 35-40% of our support pledged between now and the end of the year. We got no paycheck in July and will only get 40% in August and the remaining months of the year unless others join our ministry team, or we have some other miracle. 

I feel like I am married to George Bailey- the best guy in town, but although everyone loves and respects him, they don't realize he(we) are in trouble. We still have 1/2 of our townhouses to fill up before school starts at Moody in 2 weeks. The leadership there believe we will filll them, but Wow! This time of trusting is really stretching us.

We have never defaulted on any payments, so this is a very strange place for us to be. Our fridge is broken so we are using a borrowed one out in the garage. I stopped taking vitamins and am only doing limited chiropratic and other medical things. We just did not anticipate being in this spot. (See last blog entry.) Prayers and creative ideas would be greatly appreciated. It is obvious that in this economy raising support is extremely difficult. Even after almost 3 decades of living within this model, we are struggling. We feel that we have a lot to contribute, but without our salary in place, we are like a sailboat with no wind. Pray that the wind of the Holy Spirit would fill our sails both spiritually and practically. We want to learn what the Lord has to teach us during this time.

Unlike George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life, Greg's spirits are high. He is taking 2 hours a day to spend with the Lord and is optomistic and confident. I know in my head and need to trust with my heart. God is faithful. I am being very honest here. Bear with me as I pass through this time. I am looking forward to looking back and seeing what happened with all of this. I will testify! I already have much to testify about, so consider me a grateful daughter of the King.

We would love to be praying for you too. Let us know how you are!

P.S. When Greg and I were walking tonight, he reminded me that as we pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world, why would we think we deserve so much more as a standard than they do? Then we talked about living in a tent somewhere. There are worse things. If I would loose my joy in the Lord in this situation, shame on me! Putting it into perspective, makes it easier to be less stressed. Thanks for your prayers. It really is so small compared to what other friends are going through.

God bless- Nancy Fritz    nancyfritz@aol.com  Email me if you'd like to receive our newsletters.