About a month ago I was playing around with the web site that tracks statistics for our blog. It’s fun to look at even though I hardly understand what any of it means. That day I clicked on something called “Map Overlay” and proceeded to be sucked in by a map of the whole world. When I moved my cursor over a country, it showed me how many visits our blog had had from that country in a certain number of days. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The Siestas are literally all over the world. Even in countries I’ve never heard of! Praise our God! I called my mom and we discussed it in happy tears. For those of you who are joining us from outside of the U.S.A., know that you are dearly loved and remembered.

On that note, I want to give a couple of hints to the international Siestas who may be hoping to join our summer Bible study. (All the details of SSBS3 are here in case you missed it.)

If you are in Canada, David C. Cook is your LifeWay distributor. You can order your book from them here.

For everyone else, you can click here to see a list of LifeWay distributors by country. They may be able to help you get a copy of Kelly Minter’s Ruth workbook. I’m praying for God to work everything out for you.

Just for fun, here’s a list of the countries with the most visits this month.

1. United States (with 95% of our visits)

2. Canada

3. United Kingdom

4. Germany

5. Australia

6. South Africa

7. Japan

8. Netherlands

9. Singapore

10. Brazil

Siesta Summer BIble Study III Launch

Second Gathering

Third Gathering

Final Gathering

Video greeting from Kelly Minter

_______________

I can’t believe the blog has been around long enough for us to be having our third annual Siesta Summer Bible Study! Wow! We had an amazing time studying Kelly Minter’s No Other Gods in 2008 and Jennifer Rothschild’s Me Myself and Lies in 2009.

It’s finally time to announce the book that we’ll be going through together in the summer of 2010 – Kelly Minter’s Ruth: Loss, Love & Legacy! We’re thrilled that Kelly has written another study and can’t wait to dive into it with all the Siestas.

Let me fill you in on some details.

Who: As before, we want you to assemble a group of in-real-life friends, co-workers, family members, acquaintances, church family, Siestas in your town, neighbors, or whatever mix of ladies God puts on your heart.

What: Spend the summer together in the Word! Our workbook (also called a “member book”) is a 6-week Bible study on the Book of Ruth. We will meet every other week to discuss two weeks of our homework.

When: We are partial to Tuesday since that’s our normal night for Bible study at LPM. So we will launch our SSBS3 on Tuesday, June 22, and “meet” every other Tuesday until August 3. Yes, you can meet another day of the week if necessary but you’ll see when the time comes that it’s the most fun when we all do it on the same day.

I’ll give you the basic schedule now so you’ll know what to expect but Beth will  have much more to say about it closer to the time of our launch. If we don’t answer your questions now, save them and see if they get answered within the next several weeks.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 (1st Mini-Session/LAUNCH/Group instructions)

(DO WEEKS ONE AND TWO OF HOMEWORK ON YOUR OWN.)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 (2nd Mini-Session/Group Instructions)

(DO WEEKS THREE AND FOUR OF HOMEWORK ON YOUR OWN.)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 (3rd Mini-Session/Group Instructions)

(DO WEEKS FIVE AND SIX OF HOMEWORK ON YOUR OWN.)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 (4th Mini-Session/Conclusion)

Where: Wherever you are most comfortable. Kelly’s workbooks are part of the Living Room Series. Her core group of ladies meets in her living room and they always share a meal together. In fact, you’ll find recipes in the workbook if you’d like to use them. We think that’s a really fun part of the experience. The first summer my group met in a different house each week and last summer we met in the same house each week. We’ve had some siesta groups meet in restaurants and coffee shops. Do whatever works for you and your ladies.

Why: A summer lived in Bible study is one lived in victory!

How:

1. Get your workbooks. LifeWay will have plenty of them for us, but you won’t want to wait until the last minute. You can find them online on LifeWay’s web site and on Kelly Minter’s web site.

2. Assemble your small group. You are more than welcome to participate solo or with an online discussion group, but for the sake of richest fellowship and best accountability, try as hard as you can to enlist three or four other women to meet with you every other Tuesday. Let the ladies know that the gatherings will be low on stress and high on much needed fellowship and rich discussion. Keep the emphasis on a relaxed and refreshing atmosphere where you can develop some wonderful relationships in Christ.

3. Sign up on the blog on our official Launch Day- Tuesday, June 22. We’ll ask you a few fun questions about your group.

4. Beth will facilitate the study by posting 15-minute videos on the mornings our meeting days. They will have instructions for discussion questions and activities that will be based on the previous two weeks of study. The videos will be like the ones you’re used to seeing on this blog – very casual and homemade! The idea is to incorporate the videos into the beginning of your meeting times if possible. In case the video aspect of the study doesn’t work for you, you will also find the discussion questions typed out on the blog.

5. After your gathering, you’ll check back in by telling us something about your meeting via a comment on that same post. Don’t worry if your group can’t meet on Tuesdays. You’ll still be able to find the post and comment throughout the week.

What if:

-I want to use the discussion questions in the back of the workbook instead of the ones on Beth’s videos. Go for it!
-I really, really want to do the study but it’s not in the budget. Email me.
–I’ve already committed to doing another Bible study this summer? That’s great! Stick with it.
-I don’t want to participate but still want to be a part of the blog. We totally understand and want to see you around Siestaville this summer. Know that the Bible Study will only take up one post every other week.

We look forward to getting started next month!
Love,
Amanda