I’ve had people ask me, why are you traveling around the world to spread the gospel? The gospel needs to be spread here in the states! I’ve also had others tell me that this trip is just for myself and that the “short term” impact we’re leaving on people does more harm than help. Well, let me tell you I understand where you’re all coming from – but I’ll also tell you that all those may seem right on the surface but if you dive deep, you’ll see there’s a much bigger picture.
Traveling the world seems awesome but sit there and think about what you’d be leaving behind. Sit there and think about the spiritual warfare you’ve had in your life. The areas that you’re struggling to give over to the Lord. You’re carrying weight you can’t even hold and now you’re going to try to walk with it. Now bring all those things with you into a new place, a foreign one, with different foods and a totally different community of people that you’ve never met before. And you quickly discover that NOW is the time the Lord is calling you to face all that has been and will be and you’re supposed to work through all these demons and struggles alongside these new faces, these new people. ALL while serving the people of each country the people of each hostel and the people of each bus station and market, even each person you pass while walking alongside the road and you can’t forget about serving the people you call your own teammates as well!
You see, the bigger picture is this; America is FULL of distractions. These include; greed, family, friends, electronics, work, more work, wine Wednesdays and lipstick, sports, Internet, TV shows, movie marathons, the list goes on. These things aren’t BAD, they just add up in busying our days that we can’t hone in to what the Lord has in store. All of these different cultures we’re experiencing can bring many new perspectives to how we live our daily life. The simplicity in this African culture may seem little but the few things they do are actually very important; have a minimalist mindset (here less really is more), relationship based days (being interruptible is key to a successful day, there is no such thing as “I’m in a rush”), and food takes time and is much more affordable if you make it from market goods (you can’t just microwave something and boom have food for 5 in an instant, but you can go to a market and buy a few feasts worth of food for nearly $10).
All of these things have made it more possible to focus in on the Holy Spirit and what the Lord is calling us (ME!) to do, what HE is telling us. I’ve realized and have been convicted of things I’ve struggle with for YEARS simply because I don’t have enough distractions in front of me. I now have 20 minutes to sit in silence with Him without waiting for an Instagram like or a text message or even just getting distracted with the ABILITY to scroll through Facebook. I don’t have to hurry home to watch the bachelor in order to get my “community life”, here I have community because we’re all present. Since we’re all present, we are all capable of honing in to what the Lord is telling us and are more able/willing to do the work of His Kingdom.
Friends, the Lord is talking to us CONSTANTLY – we just tune Him out with forefront noise. These noises come in many many forms and sometimes are even tackled by our own thoughts simply because we’ve given it the power to. “So what?” you may be asking. My question to you is “Can’t you see it?” Can’t you see that the little decisions end up making the big decisions? The development of habits is harder than the loss of a habit. If it takes listening to the CALL for me to come and follow in this way (through 11 countries over 11 months) then that is exactly where I need to be in order to hear clearly all that the Lord is telling me. To be honest with you, it’s month two and I’ve learned that He’s been telling me the same thing over and over again for years; I’ve just refused to listen to Him. Why, because the distractions in front of me I made to be very loud and I viewed them as greater simply because everyone around me did as well. So what happens when I come home and the distractions are introduced back into my life? What happens then? I went and spent a year as a missionary to just come home, find a job in Indy and continue life as it was before.
I’ve gotta’ say that this is very far from the truth. I chose a long-term mission trip in order to learn HOW to make my LIFE a life of a missionary, the life of a follower. Following my call to spread the Kingdom of the Lord throughout this world no matter where that may be. I have come home from short-term mission trips before and have found that it only takes about a month and a half to come back into your ways that you were in before the Holy Spirit changed you through a different culture. ENOUGH, of that for me, I came to learn to CHANGE for good. I came to become exactly who it is that I know the Lord has created me to be. I am a child of the King. Therefore I am an heir to His thrown, I have the abilities to adapt characteristics of Him. He’s always wanted me to come up in His ways, but I’ve always had excuses. I have told myself that I’m supposed to come up in the way of my earthly family rather than that of the Greater One, naturally. I’ve hardened my heart like the human I’m capable of being rather than allowing it to be softened through the Holy Spirit.
Life is ministry and ministry is life. Wherever we’ve gone while being here in Africa thus far, we’ve been the only if not one of the very FEW Mzungu’s around. Mzungu is the term for white person, it originated as the term for “wonderer”, and as a traveler from a foreign country that is exactly what a majority of the white people are. It’s crazy to wrap your mind around at first because as an American, we come from the melting pot of the world and I’ve always seen every race, I can’t even remember who the first would have been. I find myself asking WHY am I such an exciting thing to see, but it’s because for a majority of the children we see we’re their first white person they’ve seen in person EVER. We got it explained even a step further after listening to many friends of ours explain what it means to them to meet us foreigners who are here to just be and meet and love. Some people we meet already know the Lord; they call themselves Born Again Christians. Born Agains are different than just Christians because they believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that He has the power to answer all prayers and they, as Born Agains, have been baptized. We are considered Born Agains here. To these people we have been told that we have been vessels of encouragement from the Lord. They’ve told us that God IS listening to them and cares enough to remind them how special they are. We’re merely praying about where to go and who to meet and then simply going and meeting – therefore these people SEE that the Lord is reminding them that they’re loved and valued.
Those that we meet that don’t know the Lord typically ask what we’re doing. After telling them we’re missionaries that rely solely on prayer and go where the Lord wants and do what He wants us to do next. We typically pray specifically about WHO it is He wants us to meet every day and therefore we tell them that the Lord told us to meet them. When they understand that, they say that they want to be a part of this kind of life. It’s not our responsibility to bring everyone to the Lord, but I personally find so much joy in being a mere seed or a waterer to an existing seed. Being a part of someone’s story is better than not being in it at all, all you must do is just simply listen to the calling. A best friend of mine came to know the Lord years after we had spent every day together, and to be a seed in her process is the biggest blessing I’ve ever been a part of, even more so than when I walk with someone to the cross.
You see, life is ministry and ministry is life. Why do we categorize all these compartments of our lives when they’re meant to coexist? The Lord is a part of everything and everyone you meet needs a little more of Him in his or her life. Yes, we have hung out, helped, and loved on orphans, the homeless, widows, the poor, but we’ve also hung out, helped, and loved on the wealthy, the successful, the leaders, and the reached. That’s exactly what the beauty is in being a part of the Kingdom on earth; we all need more of Jesus.
Perspectives for mission work at home has changed substantially; missions will be me going to the movie, it’ll be me going to the grocery store saying hello to the person parked next to me and asking how their day is going. The question is, are we able to be interrupted. To be interruptible is to be an active follower of the Spirit, to be able to do what He has planned for you today rather than what you have planned. To be a missionary you’re correct, you don’t have to be in another part of the world, but sometimes it takes the African lifestyle to learn what kind of lifestyle the Lord has intended for us. It’s the same, but way different. Same-same but different!
Thanks for staying tuned in. My teammates and I are currently located in Kigali Rwanda on the top of a mountain. The weather app calls our location Prefecture de Kigali and I couldn’t agree more. It’s a breathtaking view day AND night. At night, we’re able to see the city lights of the entire city from our location, making it easy to pray over the city of Kigali. There have been seeds planted here, we see and have heard of them and now we find ourselves praying over the city and demanding the seeds to grow. We continue to meet people and LOVE on each other. You can only give so much, it’s a blessing to be serving alongside great women who help pour into one another as it takes pouring in to be able to pour out!
God Bless,
Until next time!
