this blog was written 2 weeks ago in Nepal At this point in the game we are REALLY used to expecting the unexpected, so taking 14 children from the orphanage to a free health clinic, all I could do was laugh as I thought back to what happened in the Phillippines when Lacey & I took the babies from the orphanage to get their imminuzations (remind me to tell you that story when I get home, its pretty funny). The bus arrives and takes us to a hotel where a 3 day international conference is going on. We walk into the conference room turned health clinic and I stop in my tracks. “Am I seeing correctly?” The room is full of American doctors, here on a short term medical missions trip. Seeing other Americans is the equivalent to seeing your cousins so when they said “hello!” and greated us with hugs it was like going home. At the end of the day the board of directors, comprised of 5 Southern Pastors, took their seats in the front of the room alongside the doctors and for the first time in 8 months we got to sit in the back and observe; just sit there and not have to give a message or talk. And thats when it hit us. As the Pastors sat in the front of their room dressed in business suites I wanted to say, “do you really know what its like?! we are living with the people we are ministering to, you are here for 3 days and interacting with the children for 30 minutes!” who am I to think that just because I’m dressed in the same clothes I’ve worn for 3 days now (hand washing clothes really affects your definition of ‘dirty’) and I’m on an 11 month missions trip I am somehow better than the “rich Southern Pastors.” How can I even judge the Pastors and think that I am somehow better than them because my ministry is different. They are in the financal ministry this month. They get to show up and hand over a check and take some pictures and go home. How can I be angry at them for that and think I am better than them because I ‘get my hands dirty’ so to speak. The only reason I am on this trip is because of the people back home in the financial ministry right now, pouring into my life. Listening to the Pastor give a breif message I sat there judging what he said and pointing out to my teammates what I didn’t agree with. As much as God taught me about self righteousness that day (really, how can we judge others?! only God knows people’s hearts), God also showed me something really important. I’ve changed. a lot. a whole lot. I can look back at pictures & journal entires and see how much I have changed. Interacting with other Americans though, made me realize just how much change has happened without me knowing it. I love differently. I see people differently. I’m not okay with just asking “how are you?” I want to sit and talk with people, whether it’s a board of directors or the homeless person on the street. When I listen to sermons I think about what is said and not just go along with it because someone I respect says it. My motivations are different. I think differently. I go out to dinner and get a “to-go” box not to bring food home but to feed the street children. My priorities have shifted. Things I once thought important and essential no longer are while things I didn’t think were important now are. In 3 months I’ll be back on American soil. And God willing I will continue to be shaped and molded by God and will return differently. We were meant to grow. To learn to crawl, to learn to walk, and to learn to run.
“Today you are taking the children to the clinic for health check ups.” ‘Oh jeez… what adventures will this bring,’ I think to myself as our Pastor explains that a bus will be coming to pick up all the children from the orphanage later that morning to bring us to the health clinic.
The doctors hooked us up! They had granola bars and snacks from America with them that they gave us (we legit almost teared up we were so excited), we got meds from their pharmacy, and new toothbrushes and Crest toothpaste!
(picture from Google)
Where’s God marking you off on the growth chart?
