Ruined for Comfort

“I was forever ruined for comfort and convenience, and luxury, preferring instead challenge, sacrifice, and risking everything to do something I believed in” – “Kisses from Katie” by Katie Davis

This quote sums up the way God is using Africa to change my team. When I arrived in Ghana, I was mentally prepared for all the things that I would see and from the moment I stepped off the plane there has not been anything that has greatly surprised me about the African culture. The severe poverty that surrounds us matches up to the metal pictures that I had created in my head from books and previous exposure to Africa. But this doesn’t make these realities any more difficult to see. It also doesn’t change the fact that these things are wrong and a terrible result of sin. In my head I have always known about unreached people groups and the destitute lifestyles that people around the world live in. But the reality of the unreached has been more difficult because now, instead of having blind statistics and detached percentages, the unreached have faces and names. I know their stories and know them.

It’s frustrating to see this poverty.  More than all the huts I wish I could repair, the cuts I wish I could clean, the sickness I want healed and the children I wish I could clothe, I know that these are only symptoms of the true problem. But when all these material things are so obvious it is hard for me to remember that spiritual poverty is actually a much greater priority than the other urgent needs that seem so pressing.

Last Saturday I sat on the back porch holding a four month old baby in my lap for over an hour. This little boy didn’t cry much, not because I was good with kids, but because he was too weak from sickness and malnourishment to cry. As I cradled his little hand in mine, I prayed such big prayers for this future leader. I prayed that God would make him strong and that he would plant churches and be an example in his people group. I prayed that God would protect him and that this child would have the gift of knowing Jesus at a young age. And as I prayed for this little one, my heart began to split for the material things I wish that I could give him.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more”. – Luke 13:48

I don’t think I will ever understand why I was placed in Christian home and my African friends were not. But I know that I have been richly blessed with the best kind of wealth. As difficult as it is to see them physically suffering, I know that my prayers for them must be that they will experience the kind of spiritual fullness that comes from being totally abandoned to Christ,  rather than that they will have material wealth. It is my job, and every person’s job, who has been blessed with this gift to do everything possible to make sure that this prayer, which was not mine but Jesus’, is answered. 

All or Nothing…

My speech teacher once told me that your speech doesn't begin the moment you open your mouth. Rather, it begins the moment people see you. It is not talking that makes you a public speaker but everything that goes into speaking - your preparation, attitude, appearance.... it is the combination of these that create the identity of a speaker. On the plane ride to Ghana, the Holy Spirit was reminding me that being a missionary is similar. I did not suddenly become a missionary when I stepped off the plane into Africa or when I sent out letters for fundraising or join Team Expansion. I became a missionary the moment that I decided to follow Jesus,  just as you and everyone else did who made that commitment. My time in Ghana is an extension of this love story with Jesus. I have not come here to fulfill a title of missionary but to share about this incredible love that He has loved both you and I with. I have been reminded this week of the "all or nothing" personality of the Gospel. Luke 14:33 says, "so then, none of you can be my disciples  who does not give up his own possessions".  Jesus does not say ' some' of your possessions but All of them.  Jesus doesn't say this so we enter Christianity with a sober mentality but because He wants from the bottom of His heart to bless us with all that He can. We eliminate ourselves from the blessings we could receive when we do not adopt the complete lifestyle of Christ and choose to live only partially dedicated to God's agenda.

                One thing I love the best about the members of my team is our "go big or go home" motto. Last night Terry (the missionary we are living with) asked us to experiment with a juicer they had never used but wanted to learn how to.  After much experimenting we end up juicing 3 bags of mangos into mango ice cream rather than making the simple cup of juice we had been assigned.  It took a whole afternoon but the result was well worth it! Although it feels like we are a bit extreme at times, I wouldn't have it any other way because I know the heart behind each task is to give everything - even the  little things, like mangos - our absolute all.

                Pray for us, reader, that we would not miss out on anything that God has this summer but that we take everything in deeply and experience a lifestyle of full abandonment. 

Almost There: Last Blog Post Before Ghana!

On Sunday Josh drove with me to Louisville and helped me get settled into my room for my week of internship training with Team Expansion. We enjoyed the three and a half hour car ride there and the exploring time we had between our arrival and when I needed to check in. The house I was staying in was a little way from Team Expansion's headquarters and we ended up holding on to my suitcase and backpack with our legs as we went backwards down the bumpy road on a golf-cart. It was a shallow but friendly reminder of the tuk-tuk rides we used to have in Thailand. 

Training was very different than I expected but in a very good way! I thought that most of our training would revolve around classroom-style learning but we spent a significant amount of time outside and interacting with each other. The longest team-building activity we did actually took place on a log. Our instructors brought us to a clearing and then told all of us to stand on a long (and very skinny) piece of wood so they could tell us what to do. As soon as we were all standing in line, they explained that all 19 of us needed to re-arrange ourselves from the tallest to the shortest. Every time someone fell/stepped off the log, we had to start over again. It took us a while to figure out how to "pass" people down the log but an hour and a half later, we finally accomplished this task. This was definitely an interesting experience for me, as I was one of the shortest and after an hour and a half of grabbing onto teammates to move to the end of the log, I realized that 3/4 of the sweat I had on my shirt was not my own. Talk about bonding with your teammates!

Ghana Team: Josh, me, Lindsey and Jesse 

My team for this summer is absolutely amazing. God has blessed me with a wonderful group of people who are also desiring to do some kind of mission work long-term. I loved getting to know my teammates more last week and even though half of us just met for the first time during training, it already feels like we have known each other so much longer. We are all so excited to go to Africa and started practicing our soccer skills in preparation for our work with the youth in the villages! 

Pray for us as we enter into Ghana with a learner's heart to know more about this group of people that God dearly loves!