flexibility

Well I meant to continue this blog in order, but I think I am going to skip around now...

You see, the president of Malawi kicked the British ambassador guy out and he took Britain's money with him. This apparently made it harder for people to get extensions on the 30 days they are allowed to stay initially. So, I am now having to come home earlier than anticipated. This suddenly made me flustered and feeling a bit rushed. It means I cant spend as much time in the clinic, or tutoring adam, or watching eseme, or dancing, or talking to students. And then I realized I havent even blogged about any of the things i am doing...
I think the word im looking for is flustrated.

Let me tell you a bit about Africa.

I love the people. The food is not my favorite. The weather is cool, sometimes cold and mostly cloudy. I live with Michelle in a house on African Bible College's campus. There is always a shortage of petrol. Im getting used to being called Azungu (white person), its like a chant that follows me everywhere I go. Mostly its cute. But sometimes I feel like telling them that everyone can obviously see that I am white, and I know I am white, so its really unnecessary to state it repeatedly.

I tutor a Lebanese 7 year old on weekdays. His name is Adam and he is the cutest. I really want one  now. But I also want the 7 month old orphan baby Eseme that I watch quite often. She is kind of like the baby chick my roommate once brought home. I tried to resist, knowing I'd get attached, but she is so darn cute and she babbles away while I do the dishes. She wouldn't smile at anyone a few weeks ago and now she smiles and laughs at everything, especially when Michelle and I dance for her. I love that God uses adoption as a symbol of His love for us. Eseme, I would adopt you in a heartbeat if I could.

I have gotten to work in the pharmacy at the clinic. I am learning how to organize the shelves, stock the emergency night medications, count out baggies of medication and so on. I was counting out pills that help support the immune system that people with AIDS have to take twice daily, and I had a moment. I have these moments occasionally here. It is when I stop and I think, I am actually doing this in Africa right now... What the heck? Why am I here right now doing this? It's not a bad why am I here, more of a "I'd never imagine I'd be doing this. Ever." I had one my these moments when I was sitting with Michelle in a line ( a que) waiting for petrol, holding Eseme and drinking Sobo. "Im in a line... waiting for gas with a few hundred malawians, in the middle of africa, playing with a baby who might have AIDS, talking about calories..." What??

Anyways, I have had incredible conversations with some of the college students here about short term missions, and their opinions about teams coming in to help their country. They have told me their awesome holistic, transformational, sustainable, ministry ideas. I feel privileged to have them share their hearts for the villages with me. I think that has been my favorite thing about my time here. It reminds me that the church is alive and active. It is working worldwide to bring everywhere the fragrant knowledge of Jesus.

attempting

       I’m rather a perfectionist when it comes to writing. That doesn’t mean I am good, I'm not, but it means that I type and delete over and over until I finally feel like I have somewhat expressed my internal thought process. Expressing my internal though process is rather difficult because I think in a very fast sequence of memories and current impressions: people, stories, songs, events, emotion, logic, book quotes, first impressions, pictures, smells, noises and tastes. As I try to explain Thailand it wouldn’t do for me to just say, “queasy morning snack, fast showers, rough wood floor, cracks, shoes off, call to prayer, buzzing around, burning lips, blond children, king, cop coon jow lie lie.” So you see it takes me awhile to process and report a more comprehensive version.

Thailand

           I really like Thailand. First of all the Bangkok airport is probably my favorite. It is big, modern, and has chai lattes and TV’s playing the Discovery channel in every terminal. I spent an afternoon in Chiang Mei, and as soon as I stepped out of the airport and saw a couple climb onto a motorcycle and drive off, I knew I wanted to come back. My dad and I walked down the main street next to the airport and found a local looking restaurant. We ordered lunch through hand gestures since my Thai was nonexistent. Ok, I have had curry, and it was spicy, but nothing, nothing, could have prepared me for this random curry we chose. Food in Thailand is really spicy, but really good. It is a different spicy than the spicy you get from a taco stand in Mexico. Taco stand spicy goes away with time, milk and lime. Thailand spicy goes away with water, so it is easier to taste what you’re eating as you sweat and your nose starts dripping. I do not understand why countries that are already hot and moist, eat hotter and moister things.

            From Chiang Mei we flew on a little propeller plane to the Nan province. There we met up with the missionary family that we stayed with for two nights. They are such a great, funny, welcoming family living in a village of Buddhists and Muslims. They took us on walks around their village introducing us to all the friends they have made. In their area they speak Thai-lu, which is a tonal language that is really fun to learn. In one of the small stores we went into the lady invited us in and made us sit down. 

                                                         

•    Nan culture 101: always take your shoes off before going in anywhere. Always offer water to your guests and make sure their cup is never empty. If the person you are meeting is older or somehow more important than you then you need to initiate the greeting by placing your hands together like one of those praying ceramic figures and tipping your hands and head down. Then you say what sounds like “so what de ka” and they will respond in kind. After they offer you food, which they will do, you try to say something like “cop coon jow lai lai” but only say the jow if you are female.

           

            After sitting down we were given this...thing. Fermented tealeaves wrapped around a ton of sugar, nuts, salt, and coconut and then frozen. Then you take ‘It’ and suck on it. And the flavor lasts forever. Its like the redbull of the rice fields, minus the drinkability and non-nauseating flavor. The ladies then told us to come back for lunch after we finished out tour of the rice fields, local shops, and town deities. Man, lunch made up for “It”. You should eat Thai food like the Thai people do. It’s freeing. You can’t worry about germs, or mixing your food, or sharing. You just dig your hands into the rice make little balls and use that to scoop up the curries and vegetable concoctions. My favorite two ingredients they use are rice noodles and bamboo, which I ate alot of between wiping the sweat from my eyes and sniffing. Now I think that the reason hot and moist countries eat hotter and moister food is because you stop thinking about how hot your body is when your mouth is on fire, plus by this time you just start sweating straight water.

            

There are so many more details I could tell, but this post is ridiculously long and I was in Thailand for only two days out of my 6-week venture. Next was Sri Lanka.

           

For the last three years I have been studying Intercultural studies at Biola University. Sometimes I wonder why I chose a major that is rather ambiguous and immediately associated with Missions. Do I want to be a Missionary? Am I called to be a Missionary? For three years I have been asking myself these questions because I want to know, and because other people ask me when I tell them my major, and I feel like I need a substantial answer. I am beginning to think that I have a substantial answer, but that it sounds awfully vague and rather ‘obvious’.
Let me give you a quick overview of a class called Foundations to Global Studies that I took freshman year. My favorite Prof. Murray Decker taught this class and this is mostly straight from my notes.
Mission: is the heartbeat of Biblical revelation. God’s very nature is mission. It belongs to God, not to the church or any individual Christian. It is the whole work of God in the world.
Missions: is a post-Pentecost activity. It is the means by which the Church is taken out into the world. This is the activity that we, the Christ-followers carry out. It exists so that the nations may worship Him; that they may be drawn into His presence.
Worship is the fuel and goal of Missions.
John Piper said this:
“God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshippers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of is name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His and for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join in His global purpose”.
I believe that missions is a mandate for all Christians. That does not mean all people should be Missionaries, or are Missionaries, far from it. But as Christians, who make up the church we have to recognize that Mission is God’s nature. A nature we are called to imitate. So be it praying for missionaries, supporting a long-term missionary or organization, caring for the needs of Missionaries, going on a short term Mission trip, sending Bibles to closed Nations... just being part of Missions is essential to our calling as Christians.
I hope you cam see something of my heart for Missions. I do not believe I am called to live my life full time on the Mission Field, although someday that may happen. Right now I am interested in two things.
One, what the role of short-term missions trips should be in missions. What makes a good short-term missions trip and what a harmful trip looks like. What’s the impact and purpose of short-term mission trips?
If the local Church is God’s agent of change in the world, then how should it be taking care of its missionaries? What does good missionary care look like? How does a church partner with long-term missionaries to further its impact, and respond to the great commission?
These are the questions I am asking as I look at the internship I have before me this summer.

Nietzsche said the essential thing that would provide meaning for life is “a long obedience in the same direction.” Someone else corrected this saying it should be “a long obedience in the right direction.”

A long obedience does not sound adventurous, or exciting. It seems to promise monotony, a distinct lack of excitement. But oh, how far from the truth.

My attempt at Obedience has so far lead to me to college. I am three years in and it has been anything but monotonous. I have been studying Intercultural Studies, while also dabbling in development, Christian ministries and finally sticking to an interdisciplinary track in Sociology.

Consistent obedience. It means I had to find a church to serve and worship communally in, and City Church appeared. Somehow I have gotten to be a part of the beginnings of a Children’s Ministry and have gotten to serve with a team of great people.
Consistent obedience. It means that I have to utilize my time and abilities to spend my time strategically. My time is not my own, right? Sparro is a community of people dear to my heart who go weekly into Compton to tutor at Davis Middle School. The opportunities given to us in Compton have multiplied and exceeded all expectation.
Consistent obedience. It means I surround myself with people who challenge me, and humble me. My roommates, and my other close friends personify the idea of brothers and sisters in Christ. To my occasional frustration they hold me to a high standard and model characteristics of God to me.

So far a consistent obedience in the right direction has been hard, and I have failed so many times. And it is far from being over.

This summer is my internship. A six-week exploit across cultures to implement all my head knowledge gathered in the last three years. I have been able to design this internship to focus on my specific interests. Those being: Missionary Care, and a Philosophy of Short Term Missions.

Here is the plan:
• On June 12th I will be flying to Sri Lanka with my dad to visit a family living there full time. We will be there for five days.
• From Sri Lanka we will fly to Thailand to stay with a couple who work with New Tribes Missions.
• After five days in Thailand we will fly to Malawi. I will stay in Malawi for about five weeks with Michelle Halemeier who works at the African Bible College.
• I do not know the specifics of what I will be doing yet, as it is up to the people I will be staying with.
• Cost: about 4,000$ for the whole trip. 3,000 of that being airfare.

This venture costs a lot, it’s going to be a lot of traveling, and I am going to need so much prayer before, during and after it. If you would like to partner with me on this venture in any way I would love to have your support. This blog is where I will be posting the progression of this venture, from how much money I have raised, to what specific things I need prayer for. I’ll share what I am learning about the countries I’ll be in as well as what I want to learn this summer. Goals, worries, opportunities…. They will all be here.