El Salvador Top Ten March 19, 2009

I say this every year, but this year’s trip was truly the best yet.  In fact, it keeps getting better and better.  It was great to see old friends and see God do some really cool things.  One of the thoughts I’ve come away with from this trip is that I want to be faithful to give God the space to work in me and around me.

So, in no particular order, here’s my top 10 ten moments from the trip:

1.  Hanging out at the beach with the girls from the Hope House.  By the end of the week I had 12 new sisters (or daughters–I think I’m old enough to be their mom, for real).

2.  The sing-off with the girls at the detention center.  I got to be at the top of a cheerleading pyramid.  How sweet is that!

3.  Seeing the new library at CISNA–We took books down two years ago to start a library.  Now, Shirley Daniels a volunteer with Orphan Helpers, has transformed the library into this really pleasant calm space for the boys where they can read and relax.

4.  Getting to know Idalia, the coordinator at CISNA.  She is a sweet lady with a big heart for the boys and girls at CISNA.

5. Playing chubby bunny with the kids especially Roxanne’s laugh.  I’ve never seen anyone laugh so much at chubby bunny.  It’s great to see the girls at the detention center laugh and just get to be girls instead of murderers and thieves and gang members.

6.  The Evangacube Theme Song and singing with Blake and Becca in the van.  We never used the Evangacube for its intended purpose, but we sure did have fun singing the theme song.

7.  Amy having the courage to share her testimony with the girls and seeing their response.  I still cry when I think about how God has worked in her life.

8.  Catching up with William and Jorge.  These men love God and the kids.  Jorge has the most gentle, humble spirit of anyone I’ve ever met, and William is a big kid himself and big brother to the guys at the Faith House.

9.  Remembering how hugs and smiles and presence can communicate across language and culture.  I sat beside Astrid,  one of the provisional girls at the detention center all week.  I made a point to always say hi to her each time I saw her.  At the end of the week, she hung on tight as she was hugging me bye.

10.  Praying for the provisional girls on our last day there.  Remembering that God gives second chances and praying that these girls never forget who they are in Christ.

11.  Omar telling me he would be my brother since I’m an only child and seeing that Arturro (who I first met when he 8 years old) is now 13 and taller than me.

Granted to You to Suffer October 30, 2008

My church Bible study has been studying Philippians.  Philippians 1:29 says, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.”  As we discussed this verse last night and whether any of us had suffered for Christ, this verse took on new meaning for me.  There was a lady in the study visiting from Budapest and another lady in the study is Slovak.  Both of them recounted different stories of how they or their families had suffered during Communist times because of being Christian.  One lady’s family wasn’t even Christian, but because she attended a church group just for fun, her father was denied a promotion.  Young children in elementary school used to be interrogated by their teachers.  What did your family do on Sunday morning?  Do you go to church?

As someone prayed and thanked God for our being able to meet together freely, I realized that only a few short years ago a meeting such as ours would not have been possible.  I often have heard people pray that prayer at home and maybe I just take the religious freedom available at home for granted.  It all became very real for me last night.

Spouts, Trickles, and Leaks October 9, 2008

One of the big questions I’ve been wrestling with while I’m here in Bratislava is why am I here?  What am I doing?  Will this work that I’m doing matter after I’m gone?

All of these questions have led me to see how results-oriented I am.  Maybe that’s just the way I am or maybe it’s the product of two years of preparing for accreditation reviews at work and asking myself if the mission is being accomplished.  Goals, outcomes, strategy, plans.  What are we doing?  How do we get there?  How do we know when we’ve gotten to that mysterious place of “there” once we’re there?

My questions, I think, point to the question we all ask and what we all wish for ourselves:  significance.  We want to know that our work has purpose and that we’re not working in vain.  We want to know that what we do matters to someone.  Even more than that, we want to know that who we are matters to someone.

Part of the confusion of my questions is that I think I expected to be doing something different than what I do everyday or expected life here to feel different than it does at home.  Perhaps if I was in the deep dark jungles of Africa or in a culture vastly different from my own, things would feel different.  The big surprise has been that things are surprisingly the same.  Even the landscape looks alot like Tennessee (and there’s a bluegrass festival this weekend?  What?!).

Once again, I think I’ve been approaching my questions from the wrong angle or asking the wrong questions to begin with.  I think came expecting to “minister” to people here, whatever that means.  Perhaps that has happened.  However, I know (warning:  here’s another missions cliche coming up) that probably more is going on in me as I’m learning to trust that God has a purpose in my being here, whether I understand it or not. I’m learning more about what it means to offer my work and daily tasks to Him as worship and praise because this is the work He has placed in front of me to do for this time and place.  Maybe it’s not what I was expecting, bit it’s the place where God has put me for right now.

I’ve been listening to my church’s sermon series on Acts while I’m working.  This past week, the sermon was about how we’re all on mission all the time.  I’m learning that is true.  Whether I’m living in Europe or Bristol or where ever, I’m on mission to know Christ and to make him known.  How I go about doing things that maybe are not my favorite things to do (i.e. cataloging books or taking out the trash) speaks to my faith in God.  As God works in me to increase my faith in Him, hopefully that will leak out from me onto someone else.  Occasionally, I might get to pour out myself in a way that looks like what we think ministry looks like.  More often it seems like my faith is coming out in trickles and leaks of the seemingly mundaneness of everyday life.

One Thing I’ve Noticed September 26, 2008

It’s almost cliche to say this now.  I hear other people say this about traveling abroad, and I’ve often said it myself.  But, I suppose cliches are cliches, because they’re true (and even that statement is a cliche, but I digress . . .)

So, one thing I’ve noticed is the slower pace of life here.  It’s not quite as laid back as my experiences in Latin America, but at least from my initial observations without knowing the language enough to know what people are talking about on the bus, is that it doesn’t have that frenetic-gotta-get-somewhere-got-so-much-to-do-I’m-never-going-to-get-it-done pace.

One evidence of this is that I have not seen anyone carrying a paper cup of coffee, anywhere.  There’s plenty of coffee shops and cafes (I knew there was a reason I liked this place), but no styrofoam plastic cups with the sippee lids.

Heather and I went downtown Monday afternoon so that I could see where the Tuesday Bible study would be held.  We stopped in Coffee and Co. for a hot chocolate.  It was Monday afternoon about 3:30 or 4:00.  The place was packed out.  People sitting around enjoying a little java and a little conversation.  I like that.  Instead of running in and out with their paper cups, people were sitting and talking and drinking from real mugs.  Taking a moment to smell the coffee so to speak.

What is Ministry? September 22, 2008

So, one of the questions I’m asking myself already is what is ministry?  I’m not sure what I expected on this trip.  I actually didn’t have alot of expectations going in and tried to purposefully not have expectations.  On so many other mission trips, I’ve gone in thinking we’ll do this or that and most of the time those plans go awry.  So, I didn’t want to come in with too many expectations.

Coming into these 3 months, I knew I would be working with the library, cataloging books and helping to get the library in good working condition by writing fun things like policies and procedures.  Beyond that I wasn’t sure what I would encounter.  In coming to Bratislava and choosing to work with BERC, I had a couple goals, both professional and personal.

Professionally, I want to learn all I can about managing a library especially developing and growing a beginning library.  I want to work hard and get things organized so that the library can be an important and attractive asset to help BERC grow and achieve its mission.

Personally, I want to find out more about missions and ministry in a cross-cultural context.  What does day to day life look like?  How does God want me to continue to be involved in missions?

So far, my experience hasn’t taken me much outside the walls of BERC and most of my interactions have been with other American missionaries or ex-pat Christians working in Bratislava.  Teaching the English classes has given me more interactions with Slovaks.  But since our ability to communicate on a deeper level is limited, how does that translate into ministry?

I think maybe I’ve had the wrong expectations of what ministry is or what this experience will be.  I always think ministry is something I do when I get to a place.  I encourage someone.  I pray with someone.  I teach a Bible lesson.    So far, my ministry just seems to be showing up.  Being present and available.  For me at least, being present and available is alot harder than doing something.  When I do something, I know what I’m doing or why I’m there.  When I’m just being available, it’s not always clear to me.

So, maybe I’m asking the wrong question.  Maybe it’s impossible not to have expectations of some sort.  So far, what I’ve learned is the only expectation I should have is that God’s grace is sufficient for every moment.