December 2009
Country of the Week #5 - IsraelDecember 30, 2009
Population: 7,500,000
Capital: Jerusalem
Official Language: Hebrew and Arabic
Religions: 75.5% Jewish, 16% Muslim, 2% Christian, 1.5% Druze
Israeli News Stories:
Near Plane Crash - Israeli and French planes almost collide in mid-air.
Planets Named - Uranus and Neptune finally receive Hebrew names.
Anti-Abortion - Abortions will delay the 'redemption'.
Behind the Scenes #4
December 27, 2009
This post is a day early and a picture short because at 5 a.m. (so they say) tomorrow morning a group of us are driving up to spend the day in New York. Hopefully we'll manage to get in both Ellis Island and Times Square but I'm not sure exactly how that is going to work short of taking the subway and it's supposed to snow. I would have done it Tuesday but we're going into D.C. that day and so it's just going to have to be now or never.
I'm talking about new years resolutions now because Friday is going to be a completely different post altogether. I only have one resolution, a very good one and it's not really a resolution per say but more of a life rule. I don't have many of those that I've made up for myself other than 'take a shower every day' and 'don't do anything halfway'. The rest of them all come from the Bible.
Anyways, this new rule goes as follows: Try everything. Or, better put, take every new opportunity that comes your way. So this year I am determined to try out every single type of food I can get my hands on, go every place I can afford and try any activity I can, regardless of courage, desire or potential amount of danger. I'm sick of regretting missed opportunities.
It should go without saying that this rule does not extend to illegal activities or substances, or alcohol. I've got more character than that.
I'm interested in knowing what your resolutions are, what plans you have for the year and what not. I know people are reading the blog, the number of visits goes up substantially every time I look at the site, but no one is posting in the Shoutbox (except my mother. Hi mom!). I appreciate the readership but you're all invisible! This site is very, very, very young and small so now is the time to make your opinions known while it's still easy to change things. Anything you'd like to see? Anything you'd like to know? More information? Less? I'm going to get some layout stuff done here this weekend while there's no work and while I'm doing that I might as well change anything else that needs to be changed so let me know!
Thanks!
Country of the Week #4 - Peru
December 23, 2009
Population: 28,836,700
Capital: Lima
Official Language: Spanish (used by the government), Quechua
Religions: 23% Catholic, 6.7% Evangelical, 2.6% Other, 1.4% Non-religious, 0.2% No affiliation.
Behind the Scenes #3
December 21, 2009
The table on the back porch.
Three days 'til Christmas and I have never been so glad to have all my Christmas shopping already done. Thanks to the recent snowstorm the stores around here are a disaster with lines reaching way beyond any normal human's level of patience. At least mine anyway. The roads are still messy, and probably will be for the next week at least, but manageable.
My whole schedule has been completely thrown off thanks to the storm because we haven't had to do anything, everything has been canceled. I've been getting so much sleep, it's absolutely wonderful. I'd go out and play in it but the snow is too powdery to do anything with so we'll have to wait until it melts a bit to make snowmen and have snowball fights.
Nothing going on really except that Christmas will be here on Friday so I'll post another picture and call it a post.
Don't forget to specify, Merry Christmas!!
Reality Check #4
December 18, 2009
Something that is, and always will be, very important to me is my testimony. A Christian's testimony might be called the equivalent of his reputation, the way everyone thinks of you. It goes before you and it sticks around until long after you're gone. It takes years to build up and mere seconds to destroy. But you cannot simply rely on it to do all your witnessing for you.
People are watching us. Now, I know a lot of people go on and on about stressing how every single person on earth is just peering at Christians to see how they behave and what it is exactly that they are doing (I have a teacher who says this) but I have to say that I disagree. Yes, people are watching us, but in this day and age they're also watching the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Muslims, the Catholics and the Seventh Day Adventists, not to mention however many thousands of other religions there are. People are looking for answers, for proof that something bigger than them exists and if they think they've found that in another belief, they'll go with that! We can't just say that living 'good' is going to convince people to get saved, there is no way that is going to work.
Before I appear to contradict myself, let me make my point. We have to be different. If we act just like the Mormons, just like the JW's, just like the Catholics, what will make anyone listen to us over them? But how? How can we be different? We'll stick with Mormons, JW's and Catholics. Of the three groups, at least two of them participate in aggressive door to door witnessing (I have never had a Catholic come to my door...). Baptists (one of which I am) also participate in aggressive door to door witnessing. All of the groups tend to dress well, though not every single person throughout the group. And, most dangerous of all, if you're a part of one of these groups, you really believe what you're a part of.
So what do we do? Well, quite simply, we do what every group that wants to get noticed does. We get vocal. Someone said, "It doesn't take a lot of people to make trouble." We don't want to make trouble, we just want to get noticed. We want our reputation to spread. We want people to know what we believe. We can't just mince around anymore and expect people to notice how we live and ask us how we're different. Our testimony is vital in this plan because if we say we're Baptist, if we say we're saved, and then live a debauched life, why on earth would anyone believe that we have something to offer them?
So don't just live different, be different. Tell people how you're different. That's a command given to us in the Bible. The Mormons do it, the JW's do it, everyone does it. Why can't we do it?
Country of the Week #3 - Mexico
December 16, 2009
Population: 111,211,789 (11th most populated country)
Capital: Mexico City
Official Language: Spanish
Religions: 89% Catholic, 11% Other (2nd largest catholic population after Brazil)
Maryland
December 15, 2009
You know you're on a flight to BWI when a bunch of weird people start showing up in the terminal. What is it about Maryland that attracts the oddballs? What did we ever do to the rest of the world? Crazily enough I've run into people I know twice before on a flight to Maryland. First time was someone I went to school with and the other time a family that goes to the school I graduated from. It's a crazy small world, I must say.
As a basic sample of what I'm dealing with, there's a fifty year old woman playing the air guitar, a whiny teenager carrying a straw cone hat, a huge jerk of a woman talking about other people's relationships loudly on her cell phone and a scholarly looking gentleman with a brown shipping tube. I'm not any better being sequestered in a corner with my stuff piled around me like a protective barrier. Horror upon horror I'm seating in the disabled/pre-board area. No one has made me move yet though. I'm waiting for the last minute.
Got to find a bathroom and my mom made me promise to go look for real food to eat. Apparently pumpkin bread, cheetos and leftover goldfish don't cut it with her. I tried to explain how horribly expensive everything in an airport is but her point was valid. I'm going to get sick if I just eat junk food. So here I go.
Macheton!
December 15, 2009
Bonus post this week because I've got an hour to kill before I take off for San Diego. The Tucson airport is very small and filled with rare individuals. That or I'm just not accustomed to being surrounded by your average, everyday American.
It was quite the trip to get here, I'm not sure if I've even gotten any sleep in the last twelve hours, largely because I woke up every time the bus shook and that was all the time. I'm not tired but I sure look like I've been through a war and the couple next to me with the ugly baby is having a fight.
The bus trip was uneventful except for the part where they stopped us to search all of our luggage. I wasn't paying attention and thought they just wanted to search our carry-on luggage so I wasn't there when they sent my suitcases through. In the process of scanning my luggage they found the machete that I'm carrying back as a Christmas present for someone and, not knowing who the bags belonged to, began to get very concerned. There was all sorts of instruments and soldiers hanging around when the driver yelled out, "Whose blue bags are these!?" It was two in the morning, I was groggy and upset so I just grunted. They directed me into the scanning room and seemed to be all surprised that I was the owner of the macheton that they had found. It was all hilarity afterward, thankfully, and the soldiers were really nice as we talked about how I was armed and how they couldn't figure out who owned the bags. Pretty much the same thing happened at the border except for one, they spoke English and two, I stayed with my bags. The guys at the border were really, really nice and it felt nice talking to a stranger in English. Once again they were all confused as to why I had this giant machete in my bag. They also opened the little bag because the large amount of computer equipment I had packed inside concerned them.
At the airport I forgot to take my knife off and so I had to mail it to myself but I didn't have a pen and I had to ask for one from a security guard who asked what I was mailing. We'll stop there. It's been a long morning.
I am, however, inside the airport and will shortly be in route to San Diego where I will hang out for three hours before heading to Maryland. All's well that ends well. Steph has a three hour layover in Phoenix sometime this afternoon. Talk about really ironic.
Behind the Scenes #2
December 14, 2009
I'm sitting here writing this on Sunday evening with a mostly full suitcase on my left and a disastrous desk on my right. I'm doing this now because I will have absolutely no time tomorrow morning. I don't leave until eight in the evening but the hours in between seven in the morning and eight are going to be jam packed with...well, packing.
Mostly packing but I've also got to run into the centro and buy some last minute Christmas presents for some people. Then I've got to wait for the grocery people, clean my room up (because it is literally a basuron) and decide whether or not to take two suitcases. Best case scenario would be one big suitcase because one is easier to manage than two but it might be two because Brittany needs a box mailed to her grandparents and it's fragile so I can't just check it and it's going to have to go all the way to Maryland unless I happen to chance across a post office (highly unlikely). With two suitcases I could take stuff home to leave and not have to deal with it in May. Whatever, I'll deal with it tomorrow.
This post could very well be called Packing, Parties, Cats and Sat Goodbyes. I just explained the packing part. The parties would be for the two Christmas parties we had this week! The first one was the kid's club Christmas party. It went very, very well. First off, Sugey came and taught for us with a flannelgraph board and we had cake, coke and candy. The kids were just awesome. For a craft we decorated little paper Christmas trees with glitter glue and markers. It was funny because they would go to all the trouble to carefully draw on the tree with red glitter glue and then they would spread normal Elmer's glue on the tree and ask me to sprinkle gold confetti on top which would change their red glitter glue to gold. They were all confused and sad until I explained how the glitter glue was sticky until it dried and then made a rule that I wouldn't put more glitter on top of the glitter glue. During the lesson they spread the trees all over the Jeep to dry so now the bumper and hood have little spots of red and gold glitter. Completely worth it though. I can't wait to start up again in January.
The second Christmas party was the institute party which we held on Friday night. It was early this year because I'm leaving tomorrow and was in charge of it in a way. I did the gift exchange at least. Mrs. Dorr did the food. For the gift exchange I bought everyone the exact same thing and then wrapped each gift in a different sized box or bag so that they looked like different presents. Then we did the draw a number and choose a gift thing. They fought for ages over the small bag for some reason. When they opened the presents it was hilarious to see their faces when they realized it was all the same thing they had been fighting over. We also tried to play the clothespin game with the prize being a travel coffee mug. They didn't quite get it though. Any time anyone said the word 'regalo' everyone else would attack them and steal all their clothespins. As hostess I had to keep saying the word to explain the gift exchange so I lost pretty quickly which was good because I was tired of being attacked. Victor was jumping over tables just to get clothespins from people. We won't be playing that game again any time soon.
On Thursday Brittany and I were at Ley picking something or other up, I don't remember what, and as we were walking back to the car we stumbled over a small kitten. She (he?) was so cute. Mostly black with spots of gold and flecks of white around the eyes and the tip of the tail. Since I saw him first I opted to keep him in my room and named him Titus. I realized, about an hour into it, that I was not at all a responsibility person and offered the cat to Karen who agreed to take him. But since Karen wouldn't be leaving until Saturday morning I got to have Titus for two whole days.
I must say, it was very nice to come home to someone who was practically giddy to see me. Every time I opened the door Titus was nearby wanting to be held. If I sat down, he found a way to get into my lap. When I fell asleep on Thursday evening he was right there curled up next to me. I fed him tuna while he was here so he smelled fishy but other than that it was nice to have him. But I couldn't have kept it up, I have never been able to. I would have gotten tired of taking care of him and he would have gotten tired of whining for food all the time. So in the best interests of both of us I gave him away. I really miss him though. It was nice while I had him. I think this is the first time I've understood the saying 'Better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all'. I still think it's a dumb statement but I do understand it now.
As for sad goodbyes, today was a dismal day on the bus route. We had ten people in total and four of those were workers. After service I just piled everyone into the Jeep and took them all home on my own so we didn't have to rent a bus. It makes sense that we would be low today because yesterday was the birthday of the Virgen Guadalupe and so everyone was in the centro really late for the parade where they all go around following a statue of the virgen plus it was really, really cold this morning so anyone who wasn't sleeping from being up late was sleeping because they didn't want to get out of bed. If they weren't still in bed they were either visiting their grandmother in a nearby pueblo or going to the centro to buy things. In short, I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone except for the few who came on the route. It'll be okay, I'm not leaving for forever, I am coming back. But I wanted to say goodbye. You know how it is.
Tomorrow evening at 8:00ish I leave Navojoa for Tucson. I should get to Tucson around 6:00 in the morning. From the bus station I'll take a taxi to the airport, check in and fly out around 9:20 bound for San Diego, California (makes sense, I know). I don't know what time I land there but I leave there at noon headed for BWI where I will land at 8:00 Tuesday in the evening. So, all told I will be traveling for 22 hours straight because Maryland is two hours ahead of us here in Mexico. I've never been able to sleep well in moving vehicles so we'll see how this works with the sleep thing. On Wednesday it's straight to work and sushi for lunch!
The posting schedule will stay the same over the holidays, never fear, I'll still have enough free time (if I have time to sleep, I have time to update the blog) but it might start to be a bit boring because...well, I won't be in Mexico. States life is so much tamer than life in Mexico.
Adios! Hasta miercoles!
Reality Check #3
December 11, 2009
Last week after church Giovanna came up to me and told me that her uncle had died. This was tragic in more than one way, least of which being that the man had died.
I'd had, you see, an opportunity to witness to him and had decided not to take it. Like every one else in his life I had just assumed that he would keep on living, that he would still be there in a week's time when it was more convenient for me or Pastor Dorr to go and speak to him.
He was only about fifty years old. He wasn't in good health, his family had decided to send him to a nursing home and he had stopped eating because he did not want to go. He was barely drinking any water but at least he was doing that. He was being cared for by his wife and his daughter who is a nurse.
Giovanna had told me about him on Wednesday evening as she was getting off the bus.
"They were wondering if you could come pray with him."
"Of course I can." I said. "Or Pastor Dorr can. I'll talk to him."
Giovanna just nodded and went to her house.
That Saturday on visitation I gave the lame excuse that I hadn't told Pastor Dorr yet because he was out of town but when he came back I would tell him and he would probably go over on a Friday evening. That was fine with everyone, after all, he was still alive and chances were that he'd still be alive on Friday.
We were wrong though. That next Wednesday Giovanna told me that he had died that Sunday after she had returned from church. It had been quick, he hadn't been eating for so long that his body just gave out.
I hugged her. She wasn't that close to him. She didn't cry.
I almost did. I have no way of knowing whether or not that man ever got saved. I gave up the one opportunity I had to witness, it might have been the one opportunity he had to ever hear about Christ. I might have just sent him to Hell for all I know. All because I was lazy and didn't take the time.
How many people are there out there that we are just letting go to Hell because we're too lazy to take the time to simply hand them a tract? During the last judgement, how many people are we going to remember that we never took the opportunity to witness to? How much blood is going to be on our hands? I know I have one man's blood on my hands. I hope to make it the only blood.
Hand a tract to someone today. It's free, it's painless and it takes two seconds. Two seconds and someone has the Gospel in their hands.
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Revelation 20:12, 15
Country of the Week #2 - Colombia
December 9, 2009
Population: 45,644,023
Capital: Bogota
Official Language: Spanish (2nd largest Spanish speaking population after Mexico)
Religions: 90% Catholic, 10% Other
Behind the Scenes #1
Monday, December 7, 2009
Valeria and Gladys
I've been writing absolutely all morning. A report on Acts (how many people were saved in each chapter) and a report on what Mormons believe. I just finished the report (it ended up being three pages and references) and as soon as I finish here I'm going to go get it printed up. I learned so much from doing the research for that report. Mormons really appear to believe exactly what we believe on the surface. But underneath it all...well, it's like opening a bonbon and realizing it's the orange cream kind. I was shocked and disgusted. I'll probably end up translating the report and posting it up here on Friday.
It's been a good week, really. Brittany is back, that's the best part. Sugey is probably very relieved (she hasn't said anything though). The meal quotient per person is down now that Brittany can cook her own meals and Sugey actually gets to leave the house once in awhile. Me, I'm just glad to have someone to talk to in English though I can't deny the fact that my Spanish has drastically improved over the last two weeks just because I've been speaking it all day every single day.
On Friday we went to a Bible conference in Guaymas, about three hours away. The theme of the conference was Holiness and, wow, there were some good messages. A lot of it I'd heard before (don't date around, keep standards, be a good testimony, etc) but the point was basically to re-energize the people that came, not really to teach them anything new. Hopefully the majority of the people came away from it with the realization that we really should be living a different, God filled life, separated from the world. It's a very easy concept to understand, a whole lot harder to live. The preachers did a good job explaining it though. Granted, eight hours of preaching is a lot (eight messages...) but well worth it, especially since the next one isn't for a year.
The bus route was down on Sunday, we had 35 people, but it was really cold in the morning and there was a Christmas parade in the afternoon so a lot of people were going to the centro or sleeping in. It has been extremely cold here recently, to the point that anyone wearing a long skirt probably has their sleeping pants on underneath (I know I do) and we bring blankets to class in the evening (well, I do anyways, and share with anyone who fits. The more people the more heat). I can even wear a coat all day now. The problem is though, that if I'm so cold right now, how am I going to react in Maryland where it snowed all day on Saturday? Ah well, I'll muddle through.
Glad to see a lot more responses in the shoutbox! I'll try to answer any questions, or feel free to email me (the email address liz@otterfiles.com is a blatant lie to trick spambots so just click the email address to find out the real one). I'm really trying to get this page out there so find me on Twitter, link me from your own website or tell someone, anyone!
Chavo!
Reality Check #2
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Throughout the world there are churches that, every Sunday morning, send out a bus (or buses) with a driver, usually a captain and maybe a few workers to go pick up kids for Sunday School and the morning service. Depending on your church this may be the primary method of getting people to come to church. With some missionaries I know this is true. With other churches the bus ministry is just something they do because they have buses. Some churches don't have a bus ministry. Regardless of what your church does, if you have a bus route there are some things you must do in order to make it a success.
There are three things you have to have before you can actually start a bus route. A vehicle (who says it has to be a bus?), a captain and a driver who will preferably be someone other than the captain. If you have extra workers it's always the more the merrier with a bus route.
I'm not here to tell you how to start a bus route. This article is about what you do when you've got the route up and going.
I've been running the Miravalle, Jacarandas, Allende, Pueblo Nuevo, Aviacion, Nogalitos and Rosales route for three years. We go through all of those pueblos every Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon. On a good day it takes at least two hours to run the whole route, more when people aren't ready the first time you go by. We run anywhere from 30 to 50 people on most days, mostly kids ages 4 to 13. Only on rare occasions do I bribe them with candy.
I'm going to come out and just say it. My bus route is a ton of work. If I want it to it can easily consume at least three days of my week - Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. A bus route is absolutely not a ministry for a lazy person.
With a bus route you are dealing up front with people. That's what a ministry is-people. Reaching out and being an example of Christ to individuals who need Him. As such, you need to really get to know the kids on your route. It doesn't suffice just to know names and birthdays. Really try to get to know them. What's their favorite subject in school? What's their favorite color? Do they have pets? Are they allergic to peanuts? Another great idea is to get to know their parents. Personally, if I were sending my kid on a bus to a church I'd want to know the people he's going with. Once you have a personal relationship with people, they'll be more open to receiving the Gospel and accepting Christ.
The secret to a great bus route is to actually grow to love the people you're with. It must be a true love, not this fake stuff a lot of people can turn on at will. You have to have a genuine, honest concern for them and their welfare. Once you've reached this point you'll be surprised how many doors will open up. I've had the worst behaved kids turn into little angels after a month of just loving them. Never get angry and yell. That just makes them close up. Imagine someone is yelling at you. What do you feel? A desire to open up and be friendly? Absolutely not.
Pray for the members of your bus route by name - daily. It's interesting to me that whenever I find myself relying on my own strength to run the route I stop praying about it. I'm here because God has me here, He already knows what's going on but I still pray about it. I pray that He'll show me how to help the kids he has given me, to bless the people on the route and to keep everyone safe while we're on the bus. (We've had some close calls.)
Although it sounds bad, give people an incentive to come. Some kids need that. On my route we have a running competition going. We've got everyone divided into five different teams (red, green, blue, yellow and purple) because we have five workers (Jorge, Moises, Misael, Abraham and myself). At the end of the month whichever team who has the most points gets a really great prize. Last month we went to the park and had pizza and popsicles. (The alliteration was accidental but awesome.) Yeah, it was an expensive outing. I won't deny that I spend a ton of money every month on my bus route. Candy and prizes aren't cheap. But it's just money. And what better use for it than the ministry?
Competitions are great because every kid loves the thrill of winning. Plus they're all naturally competitive. You can do it however you want but in my competitions you earn points for saying a verse, dressing right (guys with collared shirts, girls in skirts) and bringing visitors. I had considered giving points for just coming but then realized teams would be able to win without even doing any work so I nixed those points. Even the adults get into it. The individual on my route who invites the most people is a forty-five year old woman.
The best competitions are ones where kids can see advances every week. If you just tell them you've got something special if they bring ten visitors they're not going to be interested because they can't see how it's actually going. But if you tell them that you'll give them something special if they bring ten kids then tape up a piece of paper with their name and the amount of visitors they've already brought they'll be much more interested because it's something that they can see and relate to. It's even better if you have five different pieces of paper taped up for five different kids. Then Jack really wants to bring visitors because he's only one point ahead of Jason. If you don't have many people then feel free to involve the workers. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone.
With the competition comes responsibility. The only reason it works is because I actually follow through with my promise to take them to the park. If I were to stand up in front of them every route, promise them a really great outing, and then fail to do it, why would they ever trust me? And if they can't trust me then who can they trust? Not only is it a bad testimony for me but it's also counterproductive because you really can't fix something like a broken promise.
Another thing that is vital to a healthy route is consistent visiting of new areas and re-visiting of people who used to come but haven't in awhile. A bus route grows stagnant if you just let it sit. You'll start out with maybe twenty-five people from which you'll find your most faithful who are still coming after the people who were just going for the fun of it stop coming. By that time you'll have around, say, fifteen. Occasionally you'll get a visitor or one of your faithfuls will drop out but by and large you're running around fifteen.
If you just sit there and are happy with these fifteen your route will never, ever grow larger. You can leave it up to your faithfuls to bring new people but that won't get you anywhere. You have got to go out at least once a week and invite new people to come on the route. Once you've visited every house in your area go back and start again. Sometimes it's fun to take people from the route out visiting with you. That way they get an idea of what it is exactly that you do and inspires them to do some inviting on their own.
If you know of someone who used to come but doesn't any more go back and visit them from time to time. A lot of the time they've just fallen out of the habit of getting up and going to church and a little bit of encouragement in that direction will get them going again. Don't give up on people, even if you've visited three months in a row and they've never come. Just give them a break and come back at a later time. Or maybe just drop by to say hello. Don't pressure them, it has to be their choice to come back, you can't force them. (Obviously if they tell you they never want to go again and that you should stop visiting them, do so. To continue going after they've explicitly told you not to is harassment.)
A great tool you can use while visiting is fliers. People like to know exactly what it is that you're doing, when you're going to come by and where you're going to go. Plus you can give fliers to your regular riders to hand out to their friends. That way you can be sure the information they give is accurate. (Put a phone number on the flier so concerned parents can reach you if need be.)
This article has already gone longer than I intended it to so I'm going to end here with a recap. First off, you have to actually love your bus route. It hurts sometimes, especially at first before you've developed a thick skin but the rewards are immense and definitely worth it. Secondly, a route is a lot of work. It is time consuming and expensive. But it is a ministry. What could be better than that? Thirdly, keep your promises. Prove that you're trustworthy and that you mean what you say. What kind of testimony does a lying bus captain have? And, finally, fourthly, keep visiting new houses and old houses. Don't let your route get stale. Keep it alive with fresh blood.
Obviously things are going to be different on your route. There is no formula to having a good bus route. Every area is different, every person has their quirks and every bus worker has his or her strengths and weaknesses. But keep these things I've written in mind and you'll have a good foundation for whatever you decide to do.
Country of the Week #1: France
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Population: 65,073,482
Capital: Paris
Official Language: French
Religions: 51% Catholic, 31% Agnostic/Atheist, 10% Other religions/without opinion, 4% Muslim, 3% Protestant, 1% Buddhist, 1% Jewish
Reality Check #1
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind but now I see.
We recently had a series of lessons given to us by Hermano Abel, a veteran missionary from Mexico to the country of India. He stood in front of us all Tuesday morning and explained to us exactly what it means to be a missionary; the calling, the field, the sacrifice, the wrong ideas and the hard work. Tuesday evening he showed us the film 'End of the Spear' which tells the story of Jim Eliot, Nate Saint and their attempt to reach the Waodani indians in the rainforest of Ecuador.
Normally I don't give in to the forced drama of a movie but this is a story that, if it doesn't get to you, you're harder than stone and you have no hope. These five men paid the ultimate sacrifice to reach other people for Christ. They went to tell the world of the Gospel, they became missionaries, and they gave their lives for the privilege.
And it truly is a privilege. If there was one thing Pastor Abel hammered home during the sessions was that being a missionary really isn't about going out and witnessing to other people. Yes, that's a good thing, but all Christians were told to do that. It's a general command given to all believers, not to a select few. Every single person who says that they have accepted Christ as their personal savior should be out telling other people about the Son who came to die for their sins. Anyone not doing that is selfish, in the wrong and will answer to God for it one day.
So witnessing is everyone's job. Being a missionary, on the other hand, is a job given to the called, the ones God has chosen to go to other places to tell people about Him. No, being a missionary is not going to the other side of town and starting a church. That's church planting. Granted it is hard and definitely necessary but missionaries have to actually suffer. Missionaries sacrifice their friends, their family, their job maybe, their nice house, their way of life, all to go to a new place, a new culture, a new set of friends, a new language and a completely different job. It's never easy, ask any missionary you know.
Pastor Abel told us to start doing several things on a daily basis. Not everyone is going to be called to be a missionary but we should still be ready, willing and able which means we should be behaving ourselves like missionaries even though we aren't actually missionaries in a foreign field. We need to be so immersed in the Bible that we can't imagine going a day without reading it. We should be praying hard, without ceasing, that God would show us His will. And when He does show it, be sure as anything that you are right in the middle of it. Fourthly, and I've already touched on this, we need to be witnessing, telling everyone we know about God and His son.
One interesting thing Pastor Abel told us to do, he even gave it to us as homework, was to buy a map of the world and choose one country every day or week and pray specifically for that country. What a brilliant idea! I bought a blank one and taped it up on my wall. Then I colored France blue and posted a sign that says Country of the Week: France over the map. So this week I'm praying for France and I'm going to carry this idea over to OtterFiles. Every week I'm going to highlight a country on the map and give the details such as population, language, primary religion and any other important details I think are interesting. You obviously don't have to go along with this but if you think about it, pray for that country, what harm can it possibly do? I'll update the country every Wednesday.
If you can, watch End of the Spear and please let me know how you liked it. The men are wearing very little clothing during most of the movie and there is definitely a lot of killing so it isn't really a family friendly movie if you have younger children. If the movie isn't an option try reading the book, Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Eliot, the wife of Jim Eliot, one of the men killed.
Truly, ours is a high calling. We are in the service of the Lord of all creation. We haven't done anything to deserve this, we can't possibly deserve it. If we were to submit resumes I can assure you we'd all be seriously unqualified. Nevertheless, God wants to use us for His glory. Maybe you don't go on to become a missionary in the Netherlands, maybe you never become a pastor. Don't worry! God still wants us to be a witness for Him, showing the people around you how His grace saved you and how He wants to save them too.
That's what we're here for. Nothing more, nothing less.
As the Bible says, "For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain." And also, "...he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
December!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
I'm going to move December onto it's own page sometime later, just wanted to get this post up because it's already late.
Welcome to December, everyone! How are things? Good I hope. I'm not doing too badly, had a good kid's club this afternoon and might get to watch a movie in class tonight (the one about Jim Eliot, ever so educational, I swear). It got really, really cold this morning. Should have probably frosted but there wasn't any. I didn't get up to go running, couldn't convince myself that getting into shape was worth suffering hypothermia. I have no gloves you see. I might have been able to do it if I had some way of protecting my fingers.
It did manage to rain yesterday and a little bit on Sunday which is probably why it got so cold today. There was a lot of mud up in Miravalle and I almost crashed into a tree trying to get through it. Granted, I could have been going slower but then I would have probably gotten stuck. Anyways, no one saw it except the three other people in the car with me and even then they didn't see all of it because by the time we had stopped right in front of the tree the windshield was covered in mud. So no big deal. We survived though the down side is that the Jeep is super muddy again.
On Sunday we had 43 people on the bus which is a phenomenal number in that it was a low day because it was cold. The next highest number was 23. And these people just came because they wanted to go to church! I didn't give out candy or anything. It's great how much the bus route has been growing.
Sadly I only have two weeks left until my Christmas holiday begins. I'm excited to go to Maryland, yes, but I'm still leaving behind a great group of people. It was so hard to explain to the kids in kid's club today that I was going to be gone for a whole month. They were really, truly crushed which really made me feel good (not that they were crushed but that they're going to miss kid's club so much).
Well anyways, I must go about finishing this nice coffee that I have and go shopping for popcorn because what's a movie without popcorn?
Chavo!
