On the way to the airport, my phone began to ring. I looked at the number and didn't recognize it. The voice on the other end was a man that had been through the treatment center. I had given him a book with my number written inside. He called to tell me that he was staying clean and that his daughter really liked the book.
The flights went fine, with no significant delays. It was hard getting used to the city mentality again. At school, everyone waves to everyone, even though we may not know each other's name. In the airport and on the plane, most people glue themselves to their technological device or magazine and avoid any interaction with others. If you sit next to someone on the plane, they will usually answer your questions, but are not interested in becoming a friend. On my last flight, however, I found an exception. I sat next to this nice gentleman from South Carolina who was on his way to spend Christmas in Spokane, with his wife. We talked all the way from Minneapolis to Spokane, mostly about the Bible. He is a believer and was surprised to run into someone that knew a little about the Old Testament and prophecy. Sometimes it pays to be friendly, because you never know what someone's story is. I was reading at the terminal in Minneapolis when a guy about my age sat down a few seats away. I started talking to him and found out that he went to Moody Bible Institute in Spokane. We discussed missions and he told me about his experience trying to learn Chinese. Thankfully, nothing bad happened on the trip. My parents picked me up at the airport and we drove home.
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I was astounded at the statistic. The teacher claimed that 50% of missionaries who start their ministry in the tribe, end up leaving. Some leave for legitimate reasons outside of their control. Often, certain health conditions require access to modern healthcare and are not conducive to living in a remote tribal village. Some missionaries have left the field to take care of a parent or other family member. But by far, the biggest reason that people don't remain in the village is interpersonal relationships. Sadly, it seems we aren't able to set aside our differences in opinions long enough to accomplish the work which the Lord has brought us to do. There certainly could be legitimate doctrinal differences between co-workers to make team unity almost impossible. But often, disagreements are about small things.
One of the difficult factors in team unity is cultural differences. Today in class, we had a panel of people from various countries who were answering questions about cultural differences. This is in preparation for forming a team with members of more than one nationality. Americans are not the only missionaries. It is possible I could be on a team with Australians, British, Germans, Koreans, Brazilians, or Canadians. Without understanding the culture of my co-workers, I could easily offend them. Even other countries that speak English see things differently than we do. Certain words that we use commonly are extremely offensive to the British. I also have to understand that they are probably not trying to be offensive with the things they say and do, even though it may seem like it, being viewed through my American cultural grid. Some of the best advice I have heard concerns not only team unity on the mission field, but any relationship with anyone. At the beginning of the semester, a speaker advised us to "refuse to be offended." It is unlikely a person was trying to get on your nerves, but if he was, and you react in a positive way, he might become ashamed of himself. It is difficult to set aside our pride and refuse to let things bother us and drive wedges between us and our friends. Thank you all for your prayers. If you live in Idaho, I may see you while I am out there over Christmas break. Until then...Adios. Our modern culture gets very excited about anything on the subject of aliens, UFO's, magic, and conspiracy theories. This is evident in its love affair with science fiction. Most normal Americans are thrilled by movies that incorporate any of these subjects. I, on the other hand, am one of the joy smashers that has no interest in any of these. If it isn't real or plausible and doesn't make a good point, I probably won't like it (ie. Star Wars, Harry Potter, War of the Worlds). An exception is if it is funny, ie. Galaxy Quest. I assume that people are just entertained by things that aren't real because it stimulates their imaginations. For some, it could be a way to momentarily escape the stresses of real life. What is even more amazing to me, however, is a conversation I had with a guy last night.
He sat down and opened his Bible. It looked like he was somewhere near the beginning. When I asked him about it, he said, "I'm not religious. I'm reading it for research." He proceeded to tell me about a show on the History Channel that seemed to connect the Bible, ancient civilizations, and aliens. He was adamant that ancient peoples did not have the technology to build things such as the pyramids and concluded that they must have had help from someone. Apparently it is also more believable that miraculous things in the Bible resulted from advanced technology brought by a race from another planet than that God did them. And this guy was sober. Part of the reason he was looking into the Bible was because he knew there were stories in there of people who led good lives. He seemed to be hoping that this would prepare him mentally to overcome his addictions. This guy could certainly use your prayers. Maybe I should conclude this post by clarifying that I do believe in UFO's (Unidentified Flying Objects). However, I don't believe they come from other planets. Some of the things seen are probably natural phenomenon that we don't fully understand. As for alien abductions and such, the ones that aren't fake are probably demonic. Regardless, we who are believers have nothing to fear, because "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." (Col. 2:15) You have probably heard the term cotton mouth. I discovered cotton face at our staff and student small group Christmas party. They asked for volunteers, and my team volunteered me. Someone handed me a tub of Vaseline and instructed me to smear it on my face so that cotton balls would stick to it. So I lathered up. Whoever ended up with the biggest cotton ball beard would win. Each volunteer buried his slimy face in a mixing bowl full of cotton balls for thirty seconds. When the time was done, we took pictures and promptly emptied our Santa beards into bowls for counting. You never know what a day will hold. I didn't wake up Saturday morning thinking, "Tonight I'm going to be scrubbing petroleum jelly out of my beard." Most people don't. If you do, then you have a peculiar profession, or you are a very strange man. If you're a woman thinking that...then you should consider shaving it.
On Sunday, I went to Cedar Ridge, as usual. One of my friends there is finished with the program and will be leaving this week. He is halfway through reading "By This Name". Finding himself in the despair of the helplessness of the law, he can't wait for the end of the story. He has a court date soon and could use our prayers. |
AuthorWe are normal people who believe that God would have us serve Him in Brazil. We are saddened by the existence of people who do not have access to the gospel due to their location and language. We want to live among such a people group and plant a church among them, shepherding the believers as they grow to maturity. Archives
November 2019
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