A couple weeks ago, it looked like Oscar Mmbali might be forced to leave Belize.
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I sat in the parking lot of Aldi reciting my name, contact information, and household income to the woman on the phone. Two impatient, squirmy boys sat strapped in car seats in the back of my small sedan as I tried to keep my voice steady. “Umm…when is your next available appointment? April 26? Yes, that’s fine.”
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Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a leadership conference held in Kakamega, Kenya. Conference organizers invited Friends leaders from each FUM Yearly Meeting in Africa, along with representatives from other Friends organizations. The conference provided an opportunity for Friends to look at their past, celebrate their accomplishments, acknowledge their mistakes, and envision how God will guide them moving forward.
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When Kevin’s mother called me to tell me he had run away from home, she was crying. Anger, fear, and exhaustion poured out of her through the phone. She wept as she explained how her son told her he would rather live on the streets of Portland, Oregon, than stay one more day with her and his younger brother. He didn’t need them or want them—and at fifteen years old, he was perfectly able to fend for himself.
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My sense is that one of the major changes in Quaker worship over the past century-and-a-half, aside from the introduction of programmed worship (definitely a biggie!), has been the growing sense that young children should not be present for the whole period.
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