Achieving Success through Failure: A Year in America

August 7, 2005 by Steve Peifer

My marriage, the birth of my older children and the adoption of the twins use to be the happiest days of my life. I risk exposing my shallow side by revealing what is now, without question, the happiest day of my life.
The day the twins got potty trained is without a doubt the happiest day of my life. And you can say anything you want about the excesses of American capitalism, but without Care Bear panties, we would not have...

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Didn’t you used to be Steve Peifer? Adventures in Conferences and Conventions

July 4, 2005 by Steve Peifer

A dream came true in the last week, and it almost was a twofer.
I’ve been to a conference of Christian colleges, a seminar at Harvard, and an Oracle convention in the last few weeks. They have all been good, all in different ways.
The Christian conference was in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Living in a college dormitory was enlightening; it was hard to believe that so many good memories came from such an ugly place. College is really for 18 year olds;...

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Guaranteed Two Phrases NEVER before uttered in the same sentence

May 28, 2005 by Steve Peifer

My life has had lots of surprises since 1998, but even my most optimistic friends would not have predicted this:
I won a full ride to Harvard.
You would not believe how NATURALLY this can be inserted into a conversation:
Drive Through Window Guy: You want a double cheeseburger and a Diet Coke?
Me: Did you say something about Harvard?
DTWG: No.
Me: I did get a full ride scholarship to Harvard.
DTWG: Do you want fries with that?
We live in an age where people get too...

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The End of the Dream and the Birth of Hope

May 17, 2005 by Steve Peifer

The goal was 25 computer centers and 100 schools being fed. It’s getting late in the game, but we had one more big chance. Some friends invited us to share after their church service at their large church in MN. I had this hope that the right people would hear the message, and we would hit the goals.
And then the pastor, who had been at the church for 17 years, announced he was resigning from the pulpit to go on...

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The Ultimate Sacrifice

April 29, 2005 by Steve Peifer

The letters has been storming in. Hundreds, lo even THOUSANDS, wondering what I will do. People asking `Will he not go back to Kenya now? Will he come later?’
And the calls. The volume has prevented any of them from getting through, but I imagine people saying `How is it possible that you could still be going?’
But yet, somehow I am. People will look at me and weep and start chanting `What a NOBLE man.’
I’m sure you know the story, but...

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I’ve heard worse: Enthralling audiences across America

April 8, 2005 by Steve Peifer

When missionaries would come to my church, I would suddenly remember that I had important work to do in the nursery. I thought they were dweebs with bad haircuts who whined about money.
As my older sister would say, `There you go.’
The wonder of the principle of sowing and reaping is that between work and school, I’ve been speaking at churches all over the place in the last few months. We are scheduled to return to Kenya August 9th, and I’ve...

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So! Been eating, have you? Six Months in America

February 24, 2005 by Steve Peifer

It’s been an interesting year back in the United States. I’m not a terribly insightful person, but I think I’ve figured out one thing about America.
The first week we were back in the states I took Ben and Kate to Wal-Mart. As we walked through, with their eyes almost popping out of their sockets, I saw something that I hadn’t seen three years ago.
Wal-Mart was selling three thousand dollar TV’s. I was so amazed at this that I just stopped...

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Ain’t them cute: the twins conquer America

October 20, 2004 by Steve Peifer

Whenever you have an international trip, there is always one incident that makes you remember it; it happened when we went through security in Nairobi. JT’s carry-on was his saxophone, and when they opened it up, there was an interesting conversation:
Security: What is this?
JT: It is a saxophone.
Security: What is a saxophone?
JT: It is a musical instrument.
Security: You must play it in order for us to believe you.
So at ten o’clock in the evening, JT did a song for the...

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