~You know you are a missionary IF...~

you can carry on a decent conversation with someone who obviously knows you, but you have no clue who they are or where you have seen them.  =)
This happens often to us missionaries.  Someone comes up to you to chat, who knows ALL ABOUT YOU, Never introduces herself/himself, and assumes you KNOW THEM JUST AS WELL.
They chat with you for awhile, (& all the while you are RACKING your brain to try to figure out WHO THEY ARE, out of the 1,000's of people you have met!)
The conversation ends, and when they leave, you turn to your family and ask,
"DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT WAS???" =)

It is very common for us missionaries to arrive at a church and someone comes up to greet us WITHOUT introducing themselves.  We may have been to that church 2-6 years ago, and they may be supporting us monthly, but we don't know their face.  We may know that person's name VERY WELL, and pray for them each day (as one of our givers) but we don't recognize their face...since we see LOTS OF FACES in. every. church. we. go. to.  =)

This is especially HARD for a missionary in a big place like IHC, where LOTS of people from lots of churches we've visited are in ONE PLACE!  Someone comes up and greets us, tells us it was so nice having us at their church, tells us they are praying for us, or that it is so GOOD to see us again.
One feels EMBARRASSED to ask their name and what church they attend, so you just keep shaking your head up and down, smiling, all the while you are WISHING you knew WHO this person was, or WHERE you met them.
Or perhaps, we KNOW THAT FACE VERY WELL, but we have no clue what name to put with it. =) 
Years ago, I knew a young missionary kid who teasingly said, "We need to make up a game named, "Place the Face!"  (Probably like "GUESS WHO!")  He was referring to all the familiar faces that come up to chat, but of whom we never find out their name.

I'm a PEOPLE Person!  I love People!  I love connections.  I love to hear who  just married who, who is expecting a baby, etc. I love to know names and where people are from.
When we are at a new church, the missionary can feel sort of awkward going up to people to strike up a conversation. We love it when people introduce themselves to us, and chat for a few minutes.

So, feel free (please do) to go up to talk to a missionary, whether at your church or elsewhere, but PLEASE make sure and introduce yourself and (if it's at IHC or camp or somewhere) tell what church you are from. =)

It will make the missionary feel so much more "relaxed" while talking to you.
He/she will be able to concentrate on actually carrying on an "intelligent conversation" with you, rather than focusing all their attention on thoughts like, "I'VE GOT TO PLACE THIS FACE!" =) 

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!!! 
~Jesus is helping us, but we still have a TON of things to wrap up before we leave.  
Here's a sneak-preview of My Spanish Cookbook Cover.  It has 50 to 51 recipes of mine in it.  Mainly recipes of breads, pies, cookies, soups, etc. that are 100% American, and our Colombian people have fallen in love with them. 
Bro. Edgar is helping us design and print it.  =)
On top it says, "Let's cook American recipes"...and below it says,
"With Heather Dickinson." 
Going up the side of the book it says, "It Pays to serve Jesus!!"~

~I figured I might go ahead and take some pictures of the MESS we are in, SO YOU'LL KEEP PRAYING FOR US!!!  =) 
Here, Phillip is sorting his BOXES of books.  These will mainly be stored and little by little we'll get his books back to the USA. ~

~And the SAD thing is: In times like these, the laundry & dishes keep getting dirty.  =( 
Here's our laundry all clean, just needing to be folded, but WHO HAS TIME TO FOLD LAUNDRY RIGHT NOW? =) 
Any volunteers to come help keep up this laundry? =D  
THANK THE LORD, Our DEAR Kimberly is being a HUGE help in this area!!~

~When we were up on Monesrrate to celebrate Jesus calling us to be missionaries, Kimberly recorded a violin solo.  She wanted to record a song with the city of Bogota behind her. 
In spite of it being COLD, her fingers being nearly numb, Jesus helped it to turn out cute.  =)
Once she gets it all done, maybe I can post the link on here.~

I'm so TIRED that when I get back home to the USA, I'll probably need to sleep FOR ONE MONTH STRAIGHT...but, that won't be possible, for we start services not too many days after we land. 
Phillip wanted to get our deputation services scheduled in the first part of our time there, so hopefully we can have some REST near the end of our time there.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!  We'd NEVER MAKE IT without them!  Don't stop!!! PLEASE DON'T STOP!
And with that.....I'm off to run to record around 150 to 200 choruses and hymns on the piano, and Kimberly on the violin.  Please pray for this too!  Thanks! =)