Our last month on the WR, my team was located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a very westernized culture and they have many shopping malls. On one of our days off, we had a girls’ day where one of our ministry partners took us to a mall. I’m not much of a shopper but I went along with the other girls on my team. I didn’t end up buying anything that day, but I enjoyed looking at all their t-shirts and some of the funny sayings! On occasion, I would pull one out to show my teammates. One in particular I held up and said, “This kind of describes what our life has been like this year!” My teammate agreed and felt she needed a picture J
You see, traveling the world we came across many people that treated us as if we were famous. We were an attraction in Africa because we were white. Even as we would drive by people there, they would stop what they were doing to wave while others would drop their stuff and stare in disbelief… they were actually seeing white people! For some Africans that live in the villages, they had never seen a white person. At times we were treated as celebrities. In one particular village, I remember sitting on a log talking to one of my squad-mates, Shawndell, when two little boys came up, bowed, handed us several mangos each, and walked away. We looked at each other and asked, “Did that really just happen?” We got to meet with the chiefs which is something no ordinary person gets to do and they were honored to meet with us (read about my experience).
Then we left Africa and traveled to Asia. In Asia, it wasn’t always as obvious but they still acted like we were someone famous. Being more technological, people in Asia would take our pictures. My first encounter with this I was actually in a hospital waiting room in the Philippines and as I looked up a lady had her arm sticking out from behind a partitioned wall and was taking a picture of my teammate, Stacey, and I on her cell phone. That was another moment where we looked at each other and I asked in disbelief, “Did she really just take a picture of us?” There was another time it was like my team and I were a famous band and we had paparazzi taking our pictures. We had just finished meeting with a group of college students in China and they wanted a picture of our group… every single student was taking our picture.
I’m not really famous. But to those people, it was like I was. And there were times during those 11 months that I felt like what I think a famous celebrity feels like here in America. So, relatively I was famous. But I wasn’t famous for who I was, but what I was. I was a white American.
I kind of got used to that feeling but I never expected to feel that way coming back to America; yet, I have. I have gone places and people (who I don’t know) know who I am and they know my story. They’ve been reading my blogs. They feel like they know me and are connected to me. Much like it is with celebrities… we know all about their lives yet they have no clue who we are. Then people began to ask me to come and speak. People contacted me to speak to many different groups from the Rotary to groups at church to a woman’s group in NY. One day, there was a message on my parents’ answering machine, “We would like Alison to come and speak to our group on Sunday if she could give us a call…” That was when it really hit me. I told one of my friends, “I feel like I’m this famous speaker that people are calling to book speaking engagements!”
That is a strange feeling. And then to top it all off, I got a phone call asking me to come do an interview for an online radio show. Being on the show sitting there with headphones on and a radio microphone in front of me was another one of those moments… “Is this really happening?!” It was a pre-recorded show that took place about 2 months ago and it has just been released so I want to share it with you! But before I do, you must know…
I’m not really famous, although there have been times I have felt that way since being home. And relatively maybe I am. I am not relatively famous for being me or for what I have done but for what Christ has done in and through me.
I spoke to one of the older adult classes at my church during the summer and before I spoke we sang a few hymns. One in particular I want to share with you because it describes why I have agreed to speak to these different groups and to do this radio interview.
To God Be the Glory
To God be the glory great things He hath done! So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory great things He hath done!
O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory great things He hath done!
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory great things He hath done!
To listen to the radio show click here. It is 37 minutes but I believe it is worth listening to. If you don’t have time to listen now, I would encourage you to listen when you have some time. And may God get all the glory!
Also, If you feel you want to get involved in some way, I am not currently on the field but both
Stacey and
Shawndell (mentioned above) are in need of financial support.
Stacey has returned to Africa and
Shawndell is doing ministry here in Georgia. Check out their blogs (just click on their name) and prayerfully consider how God wants you to get involved!
