For the last 2 1/2 months I have been living in Lusaka, Zambia. In April we were living at our Pastor Alick’s house with his family. In March we changed ministries and were living on the other side of Lusaka with Alick’s pastor friend, Asini, and now this month we are back with Alick and the family. All throughout Zambia we have been so incredibly blessed. We have had mattress, a stove, a deep freezer and a bathtub! (you don’t realize how much you appreciate all of these things until you are in the middle of India with none of them) When we have set ministry we a lot of different things. In Zambia we have taught in a school, done street evangelism, led Sunday school and a youth group, sung in a choir, prayed for people at a hospital, watered an entire field with watering cans and so much more. When we don’t have set ministry and are just left to do things on our own we do a lot of just getting into the community to make friends and build relationships with the people we see and say hi to every day. People like the baristas at our favorite coffee shop or the ladies who sell bread and vegetables on the street corner. All of these people it would be so easy to ignore or just say hi to and move on but it’s really cool because we are choosing to be different. We get to know these people, we get the chance to go deep and share the love of Jesus with them. We ask them things like “what is your goal in life? What has been your favorite part of the day” and other questions. I think in such a simple way that that kind of behavior and norm we have created is showing Jesus because it shows people that they are seen, they are heard, and they matter. I think now a days in our day to day life it is so easy to treat a stranger as just another face that is not really worth our time but when Jesus looks at me and the stranger next to me he doesn’t see a nobody. Jesus sees us and he knows us deeply and personally so why not strive to do the same with people we see everyday? Why not strive to see people and shine a little light in the process. We are always told to live missionally, daily. Usually people say “well how do you do that?” and I guess what I am saying is well, why not start there?
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Before I left for the race my pastor taught about different friendships we as Christians have. We can have a ton of different friendships but 3 of them are Pauls, Barthalamus, and Timothys. In the future I want to dive into the hows but for now this is my understanding. Pauls are friends that are like your mentors, they do a lot of pouring into you, they disciple you. Barthalamus are friends that you really just do life with, there is more of an equal balance of pouring into each other you do your best to disciple each other. Timothys are like people you mentor, you do a lot of pouring into them, you disciple them.
In India, during February and March, my team and another team did a ton of pouring out. Day to day we went from church to church, home to home, preaching, discipling, and giving our testimonies to Christian people. This was such a cool experience because during this time the Holy Spirit radically changed how I communicated with God. During this time I was able to give a sermon in front of a congregation with the Holy Spirit as my only preparation and man did God have something to say. Again, these kinds of things were so cool but they were also pretty draining. We were filled up by Jesus and we were pouring into each other but being poured into by others was scarce. We were always expected to have at least one person give a sermon or testimony and we always sang in front of churches and congregations which was beautiful but to be honest it was also pretty draining and a lot of times my emotional and spiritual cup was full and empty and full and empty but never full and overflowing. I think some of that had to do with my ministry but most of it had to do with not allowing Jesus to fill up my cup and let it overflow.
Here in Zambia I am finding a really cool balance in the people I pour into and the people who fill me up. In the case of Timothys, that’s my 7th grade class I teach here in Lusaka. These kids are my Timothys because I get the privilege to pour into them the love of Jesus every time I teach. In the case of Barthalamus, my team are my major ones but so are my small group friends at the church I go to here called Eagle’s Nest International (Kara’s gone Pentecostal ha!). Because of this, I really think that my ministry here in Lusaka is so cool and I am learning more and more of what it is like to have an overflow of Jesus. I get to taste a little bit of what ministry will be like when I get home and am no longer “on mission”. In Zambia, God has stretched me and grown me in so many ways. I have learned to be led by the Holy Spirit more than ever before. I have found a new joy for life and new passions for so many things. For me, Zambia has been a season of refreshing transitions. The refreshing part has a lot to do with not feeling like my cup is constantly empty. The reasons for that is because I am allowing God to fill me up every single day and God sends me people, some pretty great Barthalamus, to fill me up too.
The transition I am talking about has a lot to do with the fact that this life on mission that I am choosing is all about choice rather than location. It doesn’t matter if I’m in the U.S. amongst distractions of every day life or in Africa with obvious heartbreak right in front of me every day. Choosing a life where your mission in to follow Jesus Christ is all about the choices I make every day to pursue Jesus and pursue others daily like when we say hello to the people we pass on the street, make friends with the bread ladies and baristas, and ask the cashier what their favorite part about the day was. God is teaching me a lot about how I can make this “trip” my actual daily life. He is transitioning me into a life back in America. He is showing me how to live a life on mission even if I no longer have the job title “missionary”. He is showing me how to live a life on mission even when I choose a path that is perceived as the comfortable way. My teammate Kylee wrote something about a path to the right with distinct, obvious ministry opportunities, walking past drunk people or orphans, and a path to the left that is more comfortable with less obvious ministry opportunities, the path to the grocery store and coffee shop. God is teaching me that even if people think badly about me choosing one path over the other, neither is “better” as long as my motive behind choosing either is good. Choosing the right, more obvious path that screams “ministry opportunity” could be good if I choose to actually stop to meet the drunk man named Kenny who loves the Lord but struggles with self worth or visit the orphanage with amazing kids with beautiful voices but what if I just walk past both and choose to never even open my mouth? Choosing the left, less obvious ministry path that screams “worldly distraction” could be bad if I choose to stay to myself and scroll through Facebook all day but what if I choose to talk in Sign Language to the cashier who is deaf or make friends with the barista who dreams of being a firefighter? Either way, whatever path I choose it’s about whether or not I choose to pursue Jesus. Sometimes our team does a lot of choosing the right and from that we have made some amazing friendships that we will always cherish and remember. Sometimes though we also do a lot of choosing the left but in that God has taught me how to bring this crazy “missionary life” into “normal life” not on a nine month mission trip. He has shown me that sometimes the people you meet while shopping are just as broken and in need of a friend as the drunk man on the street. Both deserve a little Jesus. And since we are his vessels we are called to both places. This is why this season for me has been one of refreshing transition and I am so glad God has given me all of these opportunities to choose him, love him, teach about him, love others because of him, and just do everything for him.
