As I sit on the porch of our house here in Swaziland, I’m
reminded of how much has happened in the last month. We’ve lived in three different countries and
are now approaching the halfway point of the Race. After leaving the Awakening conference in
Romania, we headed to Istanbul, Turkey. I can’t give a ton of information but while we were there our main
project was to help with ethnography research. Turkey is one of the least reached places in the world and through
ethnography research the organization we partnered with is developing
strategies to minister to the unreached, unengaged people groups of
Turkey. Through this time of meeting
people and hearing their stories, we got to know the Turkish culture and even
share our stories with some people.
reminded of how much has happened in the last month. We’ve lived in three different countries and
are now approaching the halfway point of the Race. After leaving the Awakening conference in
Romania, we headed to Istanbul, Turkey. I can’t give a ton of information but while we were there our main
project was to help with ethnography research. Turkey is one of the least reached places in the world and through
ethnography research the organization we partnered with is developing
strategies to minister to the unreached, unengaged people groups of
Turkey. Through this time of meeting
people and hearing their stories, we got to know the Turkish culture and even
share our stories with some people.
From Turkey we headed to Israel. Our squad split in half with two teams going
to Arad in the desert and two teams going to Jerusalem. Team Bamboo and Intentcity worked together in
Jerusalem with an organization called Living Bread. During our time there we were able to see
some amazing things…the Garden of Gethsemane, the Western Wall, the Upper Room,
the Garden Tomb, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Old City, and even the Dead Sea. With all the places we visited and opportunities
we had to explore Biblical history, it was still personally my hardest month of
the Race so far. There wasn’t much
planned ministry and most of our time was spent helping out at various church
services or helping organize a rice shipment that came in while we were
there. As the year goes on we are
learning more and more how to function and take initiative even when our
contacts don’t have a lot planned for us. But this month we didn’t know what to do and we struggled with staying
motivated. We fought a lot of internal
battles in our group and within ourselves. It took a lot of us out of the game and was something we eventually
began to deal with towards the end of our time in Israel. I think a lot of us are still working through
some of the issues…how this community of believers should function, how we love
one another every day, how we pursue Christ even when we don’t agree with
everything going on around us. It’s good
to wrestle with these things, to struggle through them together, but we have to
remember that at the end of the day we still serve the same creator of the
universe and giving up on one another isn’t really an option because Christ
never have up on us. As we start to
fight for one another once again, I can feel the tides turning. I sense that this will be a turning point in
the Race where lines that have been drawn in the past will be removed…lines
between individuals…lines between us and God…lines that have prevented us from
growing and pursuing God whole-heartedly.
to Arad in the desert and two teams going to Jerusalem. Team Bamboo and Intentcity worked together in
Jerusalem with an organization called Living Bread. During our time there we were able to see
some amazing things…the Garden of Gethsemane, the Western Wall, the Upper Room,
the Garden Tomb, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Old City, and even the Dead Sea. With all the places we visited and opportunities
we had to explore Biblical history, it was still personally my hardest month of
the Race so far. There wasn’t much
planned ministry and most of our time was spent helping out at various church
services or helping organize a rice shipment that came in while we were
there. As the year goes on we are
learning more and more how to function and take initiative even when our
contacts don’t have a lot planned for us. But this month we didn’t know what to do and we struggled with staying
motivated. We fought a lot of internal
battles in our group and within ourselves. It took a lot of us out of the game and was something we eventually
began to deal with towards the end of our time in Israel. I think a lot of us are still working through
some of the issues…how this community of believers should function, how we love
one another every day, how we pursue Christ even when we don’t agree with
everything going on around us. It’s good
to wrestle with these things, to struggle through them together, but we have to
remember that at the end of the day we still serve the same creator of the
universe and giving up on one another isn’t really an option because Christ
never have up on us. As we start to
fight for one another once again, I can feel the tides turning. I sense that this will be a turning point in
the Race where lines that have been drawn in the past will be removed…lines
between individuals…lines between us and God…lines that have prevented us from
growing and pursuing God whole-heartedly.
Garden of Gethsemane
Western Wall
After Israel we spent two days in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt was a fun mini-vacation where we got to
ride camel, see a bunch of old ruins, and even visit the great pyramids and Giza. Getting to Swaziland from Egypt proved to be
a tiring travel experience that took us on an eight hour flight followed by a
seven hour bus ride. We are in a town
called Nsoko and will be here for about two weeks before we have a debrief in
South Africa for a few days. We’ve been
here in Nsoko for a few days and it has already touched us so deeply and I can’t
wait to fill you in about what’s going on here………next time.
ride camel, see a bunch of old ruins, and even visit the great pyramids and Giza. Getting to Swaziland from Egypt proved to be
a tiring travel experience that took us on an eight hour flight followed by a
seven hour bus ride. We are in a town
called Nsoko and will be here for about two weeks before we have a debrief in
South Africa for a few days. We’ve been
here in Nsoko for a few days and it has already touched us so deeply and I can’t
wait to fill you in about what’s going on here………next time.
P.S. I had a lot more pictures I wanted to post but the internet here is not working…I’ll try to upload more next time we have fast interent (that might be when we get out of Africa though!).
