Random ministry notes typed up!

    Often time’s ministry in America becomes very focused on the numbers.  We seem to forget that Jesus would challenge people to not become Christians because He knew they were not fit for the kingdom and simply poured into a small group of believers.  Another thing is that it has been so romanticized that when we actually get in the midst of practical ministry we want to quit because we find it is actually hard.  Sheep Stink- ministry would be great with out people (no problems!) Often times you will come along and help them and then they will go back to their old ways… It is typically romanticized- glorified like a war- so exciting but when it really comes down to it, it is so hard so we must just keep persevering.  When it gets hard is where the difference between people who were called and people who thought it sounded fun is seen. 

            Our mission is passion and compassion- we are to love God and to love our neighbor.  If our ministry is not about being a laborer of love we should just simply not minister at all.  My life verse has shown me so so so much about my calling! I cannot believe that one verse can reveal so many different and new things to me throughout the years.  His Word is truly living and active.  “ But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples,  “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”  Matthew 9:36-38 Here we see Christ’s compassion and passion for His plentiful harvest and His call to us to pray for God to send out workers! I cannot do it all on my own- it’s God harvest! I feel like in this season of being a missionary in Edmond a lot of what I am to do is to be a learner and to also pray and tell people about this plentiful harvest- about the 2.84 billion people living in unreached people groups or the open doors that are ready to be walked through all around the world! God is doing such a work in the nations.              Ministry must be all about love-everything comes back to love!! Without it- it is nothing! I love this quote about love from mother Teresa: “Love has no meaning if it isn’t shared. Love has to be put into action. You have to love without expectation, do something for love itself, not for what you may receive.” To be true, love must empty itself of self.  Christ was the ultimate minister and sent out one and was basically just pure love walking around on the earth.  If we are sent out by Christ and want our lives to look like His then we will have give everything up and drench ourselves in His limitless love.  “Why go to the ends of the earth if you have nothing to give? The only currency that will cure every culture is ceaseless love… don’t go out to share Him unless you are in love with Him.  When you are in love with Jesus, then all you do will radiate Him.  It is to the degree that you are in love that you radiate Him” – Heidi Baker.  Ministry looks like servanthood manifested through love.  It is us carrying God’s glory by walking, talking… like Jesus and for Jesus only.  To be the very fragrance of Christ, the beauty of Jesus, and the very anointing of Him on earth- that is our job description.  We must give up all that we are to gain all that He is.  The more we minister, the more time we need with Jesus to get filled up so we can pour it back out.  “Missions and ministry are simply about laid-down passion at the foot of the cross, praying, ‘Possess me, Holy Spirit, that I might be conformed into the image of Jesus.  Let me reflect the majesty of who He is.’  Let Jesus love you first so that you can love others as He did.”  If Christ fills us up to the max then when another person meets us, it will be the same as if they were meeting Him.  Ministry is not about where you are or where you go, it is about where Christ is.  When we know God has sent us we will be content and filled with joy no matter where we are or what the circumstances are- we live not for this world!  Ministry is not a competition of misery- we should be the most joyful people in the world.  The point is never the suffering we might come across, but instead it is obedience and wholehearted abandonment to God, whatever the circumstances.  If we want to be miserable we should find another job cause Christ’s love and joy are never ending and are contagious.  “You love until there is pain; you love through the pain, until all that remains is love” – Mother Teresa.

Radical- Intro and Abandonment Notes

“For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.” James 1:11 The American Dream.   Throughout my seventeen years of growing up in the number one suburb in America this term has become an increasingly heartbreaking term to me.  I have watched my family, my friends, and myself get caught up in comforts, materialism, and self-advancement and thus completely deceived by Satan to be useless to God and led blindly down a hell bound race.  We are so caught up in getting to the next step in life that we seem to miss it all.  When Mr. Caldwell suggested I read this book I honestly thought: “oh I already have such a passion for this I don’t need anymore fuel.” But as a have begun to read this book I have realized just how much I still have to learn and so excited to finish this book and live a life in more complete abandonment to Christ.

Abandonment: “I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.  We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.”  Jesus makes it clear in the Bible that to follow him means the complete abandonment of everything- our needs, our desires/dreams, and our families.  When we choose to believe in Jesus we are then faced with the next question- will we obey Jesus?  Will we be too lazy, timid, complacent or whatever else it is that might prevent us from following Jesus or will we simply listen and submissively and faithfully obey the words of Jesus: “follow me?”  When we start to really think about Jesus’ radical words they sound very crazy and would have taken a lot of faith to follow.  I say ‘would have’ considering when He first said them, but when we actually begin to meditate on his word’s meanings I think that we as Christians will find it actually very hard to follow also.  We have numbed everything down and made excuses to things Jesus told people to do, (‘what he really meant here was...”) and thus live lives of disobedience.  We are starting to redefine Christianity and are giving into the dangerous temptation of taking the Jesus of the Bible and twisting him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.  We are trying to mold Jesus into our image and thus when we worship we may be instead worshipping ourselves.  How did we get to this place where it is actually tolerable to spend so much time and money on comforts for ourselves when so many are dying destined to a Christless eternity.  When we actually begin to live out the words of Christ for an eternal treasure the world will think we are crazy.  But we know that we are actually not giving up anything but gaining in the end.  Because we have found something worth losing it all for- we abandon it all with joy!!! I want to be proof that people who are naturally drawn to the comforts of the American dream can be converted to a radical faith in a radical Savior.     

Update!

Here’s a little update on what I am doing! I just finished teaching the third grade classes about Asia and it was so interesting to learn about and teach about the 2.48 billion people living in un-reached people groups.  I am preparing for the next continent being Australia.  I am going to have my Australian friend skype in to the class and I am so excited! Over the next week, I will be preparing questions and getting skype on an ancient OCS elementary computer.  Technology has been a huge challenge this year! Haha I am still trying to make more contacts and am about to start the book Radical by David Platt.  I need to start looking into Asian history and religion to better minister to Asians.  Before I go on a mission trip I always study culture and history and such to be able to understand them better.  I am trying to minister to a variety of different nationalities and religions and need to catch up.  Last week I did a thanksgiving dinner for about 20 internationals and almost had a brawl between a Taiwanese and a Chinese.  Jesus brought supernatural peace and all was good.  He is so sovereign! But I need to learn about all the racial and political issues of Asia before trying to throw a bunch together.  

God is so faithful!

This week I have been preparing for teaching the third graders about Asia.  I have made tons of contacts and found so much information and websites that are the heart beat of my passion.  I am going to primarily talk about the unreached people groups and a little about the restricted nations.  Two out of three people in the world are Asia and 70% of Asians have never heard of Jesus Christ.  The harvest is so plentiful! I made a Buddhist Thai friend this week- it was a total God thing and I am so excited to get to pour into her life! I prayed that I would get to minister to the nations and God has been faithful and keeps bringing more people into my life- even in Edmond!  All I had to do was open my heart to his call and he opened my eyes to the harvest! I have loved getting to know this girl and am honored to give her, her first Bible, take her to church for her first times, and even just watch her eat her first taco! Haha I find soo much joy being Christ’s worker and am praying he will use me in any way he wishes! I am his daughter.  I want to start studying Buddhism more so I can better minister to this girl.  

Blessed Are Thos Who Are Persecuted Because Of Righteousness, For Theirs Is The Kingdom Of Heaven:

“Blesses are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  This is how the beatitudes ends and I think it is a beautiful ending of God’s recipe for revival.  What an honor it is to suffer as Christ suffered for the sake the gospel! Blessed is the persecuted church! 

Blessed Are The Peace Makers, For They Will Be Called Sons Of God:

What is a peacemaker?  Peacemakers are the mercy of God to a sinful world.  They embody His very kindness.  A peacemaker is not simple a peacekeeper.  Our God is a God of peace thus if Christ in us then the peace of Christ should rule in us richly.  

Blessed Are The Pure In Heart, For They Will See God:

Sometimes we make things too complicated when we really need to remember that the kingdom belongs to the children- the simple and pure.  Being purified or sanctified in the heart is a process that only God can take us through and I pray he would purify my heart more and more everyday.  As we are purified, we will see God more clearly.  We must learn to stay hidden in God’s heart and to be fully possessed by His sweet presence.  I want to be utterly taken over- to do this I must be bold and courageous enough to focus on His face and lock my gaze with Him- then He will be faithful to purify my deepest hidden motive. We must learn to have our identities in Christ and to not have spirits of orphans but as adopted- we are CHOOSEN by God!! 

Blessed Are the Merciful, For They Will Be Shown Mercy:

I was extremely humbled by this chapter because of two reasons.  One, Heidi gave so many examples of people that had, had awful, horrible lives because of people, but had still learned to show them mercy because the mercy and love of Jesus.  Two and most importantly I really realized more how God saw me in my sin and took me in and showed me mercy.  What humbled me was in the light of these things, how small are the things that people do to me that I struggle with showing mercy towards?  It is so nothing and I want to show them the love of Christ through them seeing my never-ending mercy that can only come from such a merciful God.  Now I just have to develop this never-ending mercyJ Jesus will help me always!!  

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness, For They Will Be Filled:

            God has designed us to crave; to hunger and thirst daily for a filling of two kinds of food.  He invites us to eat and to drink of Jesus so that we can become full.  Just as we depend on Jesus for our spiritual nourishment, we also need to depend on Jesus for the spiritual nourishment of our lives.  We must feed on him daily.  Only then will we have the fresh bread from heaven that we need to give to both the spiritually and naturally hungry.  The poor in Africa have a concept of this hunger that we will never understand as Westerners- we are too full.  They understand what it means to truly want and to truly be satisfied.  We cannot live on yesterday’s manna or old revelation.  We will grow stale like the bread we eat if we try to.  A lot of times as Westerners we tend to live off of stale bread, crumbs, and garbage and are so poor and pitiable.  Pride keeps us from affirming that the poor could have something we need.  Attending a conference is not enough. We must daily eat and drink from the Word.  Fill our hunger and thirst with the Word- Jesus is the Word- the Bread of Life. We must eat and drink until we are dripping Jesus everywhere we go.

Blessed Are The Meek- For They Will Inherit The Earth

This beatitude is one that challenged me the most thus far.  I am struggling with how to summarize it because I so have not yet fully grasped this idea of meekness.  The point is not I ever, but the point is God always.  He alone is worthy of the glory.  There is no arriving to this point of totally dying to our selves, but it is a continual process of being reduced down to the simplicity of love.  Just following God in everything and realizing that I am nothing.  I need to learn to depend on Him for all my strength and my entire portion everyday.  When we seek first the riches of heaven, God entrusts us with those on earth- that is what it means to inherit the earth.  I always hear to whom much is given, much is required- this chapter really made me realize the truth in that.  The people that Heidi talked about in this book had nothing yet gave everything.  How much more could I give? Even in ministry selfish ambition is a struggle.  We seem to be able to turn everything, even the good things into gods in our lives.  God cannot use selfish ambition or vain conceit, but wants to rip it out of us.  I am praying that God would humble me everyday for the rest of my life.  I am his.  If we are low, He will lift us up.  If we humble ourselves, He will exalt us.  If we walk as He walked, wear what He wore, and love as He loves, we too will inherit the earth.        

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn- For They Will Be Comforted

            Ministry is simply is us loving like Jesus.  It is the Beatitudes manifest through your life.  Missions are when you have the love of God so that He can demonstrate His very life and nature through you.  Missions are intended to be the Sermon on the Mount played out on Earth.  The Beatitudes are God’s recipe for revival and for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  What does God mean by blessed are those who mourn?  As missionaries we are called to comfort those who mourn- to love the broken until they understand God’s love (a love that never dies) through us.  Ministry is as simple as that- just loving the person in front of us.  Stopping for the one and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world.  Often we want the kingdom to look like the multitudes to make our church grow and make us look good.  But the kingdom really looks like one smiling child at a time until nations are full of people who are passionate lovers of God.  There is suffering all over the world.  We can use our suffering to become more like Jesus, or we can let bitterness fester inside our hearts.  The mystery of God’s mercy is that somehow He allows us to understand the pain of others so that we become more like Jesus in our compassion.  He can even use suffering because He knows how to turn everything around for good- if only we let him.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit- Theirs Is The Kingdom Of Heaven

 I have started a new book by Heidi Baker called Compelled by Love.  Heidi and her husband do mission work in Mozambique and she writes many books.  This particular book is about the beatitudes and it is rocking my world.  I have been so challenged by the first chapter when Heidi shares all that the poor and especially the children have shown her about living poor in spirit.  Living poor in spirit has nothing to do with your financial state though the poor really do understand this concept naturally.  Being poor in spirit is a matter of receiving just live.  The poor live simple lives in community of interdependence and really give the world a picture of what the church of Acts looked like.  But most importantly living poor in Spirit is a posturing of the heart where one is wholly given, fully yielded, completely desperate, and totally dependent on God alone.  I want live like this- no back up plan- just diving into whatever God calls me into with complete faith.  Being poor in spirit is a choice- a decision- we all have to make to go lower still, fully dependent on the One who is always dependable.  

Finished Finding Calcutta Finally!:)

A lot of time in ministry it is easy to get caught up in numbers.  Mother Teresa’s ministry strived to not get caught in this strive, but were all about person by person.  The world is too big to get caught up in numbers. “Welfare is for a purpose- an admirable one- whereas Christian love is for a person.” A lot of times ministry is like a teaspoon out of the ocean and you just have to do what God calls you to do without getting discouraged or overwhelmed by the plentiful harvest.  Her mindset was the opposite of Darwinism and would go and help the ones everybody else looked over as a hopeless cause.  “God did not create poverty; it is created by you and I because we do not share.”  A lot of times she was criticized for not “teaching a man to fish” but she just gave people fish, but I really think she was just doing what God called her to do with the greatest love from Christ that anointed her work with a very bright light.  We just have to take hold of the little things in front of us.  “One, one, one…” Sometimes starting out with passion to change the world can be a quick route of discouragement. 

            Mother’s identity was in Christ and she did not get distracted one bit by criticisms and complements a like.  She called her work “little nothingness.”  She counted everything as rubbish as Paul does in Philippians 3!  Being discouraged is a sign of pride because it means that we are trying to do something on our own.  In Christ there is no discouragement.  God works in his own ways and we just have to trust in him for everything.  Be encouraged by the small things in life and ministry.  “Just a drop in the ocean, but if that drop were not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less.”  I could quote Mother all day- she was so wise!   

            On thing in thing in this book that really challenged me was how Mother and the missionaries would try to bring Christ to the people and the people to Christ- in every little way possible.  In maybe just a smile or their actions or prayer.  They would clean and pick up trash as they went and just leave the fragrance of Christ behind.  I just learned about the “tragedy of the commons” and I really want to strive to do little things that nobody else or would even notice, but anything that would shine Christ brighter in this world!   

            I could never possibly blog all of the things I have gotten out of Finding Calcutta on this paper, but I do have a main thing I have pulled out of it is that my view of Catholicism has changed.  I honestly formerly believed there were no true Christians in that denominations, but now I see differently.  “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossian 3:11 I have always though of the body of Christ simply in terms of spiritual gifts, but now I see it could also be the different denominations of the church.  Trough them, we can see the wholeness and beauty of the body of Christ as each has their own strengths.  Denominations in my opinion are a heartbreaking thing to God that is simply humanities attempt at finding a balance in Spirit and truth.  Then a lot of times especially Westerns flee from the Spirit of God that simply does not make sense, but will cling to the truths of Christ.  In these truths we start to form opinions and doctrines that we then debate each other on then a denominations is born.  But also getting caught up in the Spirit with emotions and healing and manifestations of the Spirit can be dangerous too.  We all need to unite and help other find the truth and just run after God- we need each other.  None of us are the head- Christ is the head of the church.  

Learning how to be a missionary in high school- My Calcutta

One of the many, many great things that Poplin pointed out that the missionaries in Calcutta strived to do and did well was not to complain.  She pointed out how when somebody would complain about one little thing a spirit of rife with anger, frustration, and discouragement would spread throughout the entire group like a disease and affect all the good work they were trying to do for Christ.  They actually had a rule that they were not to speak during their day’s work unless it is necessary to get their work done instead they would pray without ceasing.  This reminds me of James 1 when James tells us to be slow to speak.  I was just talking to my breakfast club girls about the not complaining challenge, and I didn’t realize how much it could affect not just high school, but also future mission fields also.  We must learn to set our minds on things that are above not on things that are on earth!  “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:14 How much more would we shine if we simply replaced complaining with thanksgiving and prayer? We are ambassadors of Christ and I think I often times represent Christ poorly by living and talking as if I was of this world and not called to a higher standard.  I heard a story of a missionary who came across a group of ambassadors who were really rude and prideful and acted like they ruled the country they were in.  He realized that his view of their countries as a whole went down because of who they had representing them.  I want to represent Christ like a true child of the living, imperishable, undefiled, and unfading promise!  I am a chosen child of God just simply a sojourner in this world and I want to live in the light of my identity- in the light of eternity.  The power to do this can only come from Christ!  One thing I have really been challenged by is what I am complaining about and how out of focus I really am when I am complaining.  I always keep up with the persecuted church through Voice of the Martyrs and Prison Alert and yet I complain about the school getting mad at me for my skirt being to short? Haha Life is too brief to get caught up in the things of the world!  I want to learn to respect the people in authority of me more and more because not only has God put those people in my life to conform me to be more like him, but also how much more could I shine in this generation?  Even it does not make sense and I think I know better I must submit- if Jesus who knew all things and knew not sin and could submit and respect leadership so can I at least strive to. 1 Peter 2:13-25

            One way the missionaries do not live of this world is how little they own.  Also their ministry ran by a simple life style.  “The lack of toys concerned no one except an occasional volunteer, like me.  I realized more clearly how Americans are accustomed to having so many things that we have trouble coping with out the them… Both children and adults who have many things constantly want more, and then a short while, we are restless and bored again.”  We all have this empty hole in our hearts that is meant for God and God only yet a lot of times especially as Americans we try to fill it with stuff.  We see a picture of this in how we are always trying to upgrade and make renovations in the kitchen and just always striving towards more comfort.  Would we ever spend a long time moving and fixing up a house that when you were done you just have to move back out of?  This is what we do in life so often- we spend our whole lives trying to make our lives more comfortable not realizing that we have to leave so soon.  “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heavens.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 I want to live and die for bigger things!  I like how Mother once put it- “It I not a sin to be rich, but be careful because riches can suffocate you if they are not used in the right way.”  The older I get the more I see wealth as a hindrance and temptation that is always trying to pull humanities focus away from God.   

            The Missionaries of Calcutta first work was always prayer.  This past week I went and taught the third graders at OCS about Christianity and missions in Europe.  I was thinking about what could a third grader at OCS do with this information? So I challenged the kids with my life verse.  “Then he said to his disciples, ‘the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few; therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38 We are not only called to go, but also to pray.  I gave each child a sheet of paper with a country and the percentage of Christians in the country and asked them to pray.  My deep hope is that through what I did last week there are little precious children’s prayers for the nations of Europe entering the throne room. 

            Another great point Poplin made was how there seems to not be as many miracles in the West as in developing nations such as India.  She said she was uncomfortable sharing some of the miracles that occurred which was a witness to the power of doubt in the West regarding the supernatural.   I personally believe there are miracles around us everyday that our eyes for some reason cannot see as God a lot of times.  We tend to either ignore or discredit anything that does not fit our current worldview.  All we have to do is ask for God to reveal himself in huge ways and he will! I have been praying to see miracles like the days of Moses right here in OCS and I know that God will be faithful! “O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear.  In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.”  Habakkuk 3:2 Poplin also mentioned a couple of mission fields that are really seeing miracles on top of Calcutta- one being where my sister went this summer and there is a couple of books about that I would love to read! That is Heidi and Roland Baker in Mozambique.  I definitely want to study this when I teach the third graders about Africa.  Heidi is often called the Protestant Mother Teresa for her work with the orphans there.  Their ministry known as Iris ministry is known for the signs and wonders that occur through it.  Another one she mentioned was all that is happening in Argentina.  I have a MK friend (Mrs. Kalmykov’s little sister so I guess I could talk to her too) that grew up in Argentina and her parents are still missionaries there through the IMB.  I know that they are currently in Israel studying Judaism to be able to minister to the Jews in Argentina.  I would really like to interview somebody from this family to see what Poplin is talking about.  This is a contact I plan on using when teaching the third graders about South America along with my experience there in Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, and soon Ecuador.  

Europe 2

I called my friend Josh last night and chatted with him for a long time about missions in Europe specifically Western Europe.  There are more Christians in Congo then in all of Western Europe.  I found this interesting because so many people seem to want to go to Africa on mission trips when that really is not where the plentiful amount of the harvest is.  I am not saying some are not called to Africa, but it is something to really be prayed through- are we just sending and going there because they are cute people and respond well to us?  In Italy for example (which would be a sweet place to be a missionary haha) there are 60 million people.  Of those, only 250,000 are evangelical and of that number 150,000 are immigrants (we don’t even know how many of these are actually Christians as with all statistics) so do the math that is .17% of Italians are Christians.  We flood the country for spaghetti and site seeing yet Josh only crossed paths with 26 missionaries in the entire country.  Every country is different like Germany for example has more Christians, but Spain, France, and England are very similar to Italy.

            Building relationships is the key to a successful ministry in European missions; making most callings not a short-term calling.  There are two major barriers for the missionaries and just believers period in Europe.  It is not so much the lack of missionaries, but just the extreme rebellion against organized religion.  Most young Europeans think all religion is like the Catholic Church and seeing how corrupt the church has gotten, want nothing to do with it.  Another major barrier is like America they are primarily very well off and do not see their need for a Savior.  “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”  Revelation 3:17 I am praying so hard for the nations of Europe along with America that we would all set our minds on things in the light of eternity and live for what really matters.  See the emptiness and nakedness that we are in with out Christ.

            I think for the 3^rd graders I will have a slide show with maps and pictures and try to creatively present the information to them! I am going to make cut outs of each country of Europe and write on it the percentage of Christians in the country and attach candy and challenge them to pray for their country.  I will let you know how this all goes! J 

            I went to the passages exhibit today and was blown away! It was so cool to see how sovereign God has been in getting the Bible into our hands today.  I am so much more thankful for every precious word I read out of it now.  What a gift from such a loving father!  I was mesmerized at the end, when they had an electronic map that would light up somewhere in the world that the Bible app was being downloaded.  It had a counter that like our national debt continuously climbed in the amount of times the Bible had been downloaded.  This was a much more encouraging growth! lol I sat a watched it for a long time and Vivian pointed out that Asia never ever lit up.  This broke my heart as I looked at the literal darkness over the large area.  I guess somebody is going to have to take them this light to them! J hehe

            Bible study has been going really well.  We have been going through 1 John and exploring many questions with them.  I find so much encouragement from the positive outcomes every week.  It goes to show how faithful God is when we are faithful to step out boldly to do what he has called me to do.  I do not want them to feel like a project and have been so excited that most of the girls have been coming to another Bible study I do every Friday morning for all high school girls!

            I am feeling very called to go to Kazakhstan sometime in the future.  I have a little cousin from there and have done a report on them once and lately I have been waking up with the nation on my heart.  I have sent out for some contacts in the country and have a couple of people I plan on interviewing with respect to that area – my aunt, uncle, and a cousin- who have all been, a missionary (if I can find one), and AJ Kalmykov who was a missionary in Russia which is very similar to Kazakhstan.  

Europe

            The missionaries of Calcutta are showing me more and more the importance of living the life of the people you are trying to minister to.  They live the lives of the poor like in Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  They chose poverty because they realized that their lives were nothing and “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,” as Paul would word it.  I remember hearing how important it is to have a job as a platform on the mission field like Paul was a tent maker because first off we can support ourselves and second off we earn the respect of the people.  The more submerged missionaries get into the culture, the more people will respect us.  If you sit around all day while everybody is at work they might wonder why you are in their country and maybe even find out you are a missionary and thus close their ears to what you have to say.  We have to just go in and love on and build relationships with the people.  In my opinion, we must understand their lives before we can fully do this.  If we are tired from a long day at work, that is one more thing to relate with each other about.  If we plant our lives in their country- especially if we raise our kids the and just do life they will see we are here to stay and we have more of a chance of them listening to the good news we have to tell them.  

            This week I skyped with a friend named Cristina who lives in Rome, Italy, and is Australian and Italian.  She is a new believer and is so so on fire for Jesus! Here whole life is a crazy mission trip all over the place and she is kind of a hippy haha She has the most awesome testimony and is a very precious friend to me! I talked to her a lot about the 3^rd grade thing I am doing and she had a ton of great insight for me.  She is going to skype the kids for the Australian week!  She filled me in on the spiritual climate of Europe, and then I will call my friend Josh for information on the missionaries and need for missionaries in Europe.  Josh is currently in Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, but has done lots of mission work and just finished the two-year Journeyman program with the largest mission organization in the world – International Baptist Mission Board. (IBM)  He spent his two years of ministry in Rome, and actually was the one to lead Cristina to Christ. J He has a huge heart for and has studied Europe especially Western Europe a lot.  I know that they really lack guy missionaries in the whole world, but specifically in Europe.  Both of my friends have been all over Europe so they are great resources.  I have talked with him about it all a lot before, but this time I am going to actually write it down so I can talk with the 3^rd graders about it.  I am going to concentrate on those two things- the spiritual climate and missionaries in Europe and try not to use a whole lot of numbers and boringness.  I am looking for creative ways to present the information.

            Christianity- primarily Catholic is on the fall in all of Europe.  I read on the Internet about this 39 year old in Ireland who said he doesn’t know anybody that goes to church.  The trend of going to mass on Sundays continues, but it is basically just the age group of 60 and above and will soon literally die off.  These mega, old, beautiful churches are becoming more and more empty.  My friend Cristina says the only reason the ones that do go, go is to be saved like a check off the list.  They very much have a work for salvation mindset.  They need to realize that Jesus is the only way to heaven!  They also do not read the Bible and believe it can only be interpreted by the priests which is not Biblical- it is much better for us to read it on our own.  They tend to focus too much on things that aren’t Jesus and worship a lot of idols like saints- Peter and then absolutely love and pray to Mary.  She was an awesome woman because of her faith, but they think she is because her son died for our sins’ and thus she should be praised.  Cristina passionately pointed out that lots of people have lost their sons, hers just happened to be the Son of God!  And he came back from the grave so she has it easier then a lot of strong mothers whom lose their sons!  The younger generation rebels against religion because they don’t want to live by rules and there is a strong spiritual oppression. Cristina being Italian has obviously spent more time in Western Europe, but had some to say about Eastern Europe also.  They have bigger communities of Protestants than Western Europe does, but still mainly Catholic with all the same problems. 

An update for all you academic people reading my blog...

I just want you guys to have an update on some other stuff I am doing related to this study so here ya go.. J

            The third graders at my school learn about culture and all the different continents through the year.  On Friday I met with the third grade teachers to talk about teaching their students about different missionaries, mission organizations, and whatever else I come across for each continent they learn about.  The first continent is Europe so I am excited to look into that and see what I am going to teach and how I will present the information to the kids- presentation, skype a missionary, field trip, game… 

            I have been doing a Bible study once a week with International students at my school and it has been a crazy learning experience.  These six girls, one Chinese and five Koreans, come from completely different backgrounds then all the other students at OCS.  This summer God gave me a heart and discernment for them and how much they need a safe place just to ask simple questions.  They come from atheist families and are thrown into the palace of the Bible belt with a bunch of kids who know all the answers and a lot of hypocrisy and they just don’t get it.  Their parents have lived their entire lives with out God and are completely fine, so why do they need God?  I have been shocked with questions nobody has answered for them.  One girl is here for her 4^th year and I think more than 5^th year in the U.S. asked me- “What is sin?” and “People say ‘Jesus loves you!’ but what does that even mean?”  I cannot believe nobody has answered these questions for her yet.  I have been going through 1 John with them and going all over the Bible from there.  I have been showing them simple verses that we can sadly get sick of hearing but they are new to them! They answer so many questions for them. I feel like Moses in being unequipped and unworthy for the task, but I am just following God and trying to be like Mother Teresa - a pencil in God’s hand in doing what he has called me to do.  I am “finding my Calcutta.”  God has brought the nations to me and they are hungry.  Someday, God willing, I will go to them, but for now I thank God every day for the different mission fields in my life and especially this one.

            I paid my deposit last night for a trip to Ecuador this spring.  I am excited for more chances to share the gospel and to experience a new culture. Some juniors and seniors from my church are going to go down there and do a beach week camp like we go to every summer.  We are doing ours for three church youth groups of different towns in Ecuador. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for the Ecuadorians my team, and myself.

            I made an awesome contact today!  Her name is Vanessa Najera. The missions department at my church hired her to help point 12-28 years old girls who feel called to missions find where God might be leading them, aka me! J I met with her today and we talked for hours about our testimonies and calls to missions.  She is already so much help! I am so thankful she is in my life.  She works right next door to OCS at HHBC and is excited to help with this study, my Bible studies, and figuring out where God is calling me- college, degree, country… She just graduated from OU and was very involved in the International community and also has contacts of Jesus lovers at Colorado University which are the two colleges I am praying about so she will be so much help! I cannot get over how I excited I am about her.

            I am still working through Finding Calcutta and hope to finish it soon.  I will blog more later about that book! J

Clay in the Potter’s Hand - Jeremiah 18

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day…” Acts 22:3 In the documentations of the days of Paul’s ministry we get to see how useful being Roman and a highly educated Jew came to him on countless occasions. God has equipped every single one of his children for the things he wants us all to do.  We are just clay in the potters hand.  Just like at the end of Exodus we see God’s calling to the skilled artists to work on his temple.  “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship…” Exodus 31:3 It makes me ask the question- what has God equipped me with and what is he calling me to do?  In Finding Calcutta, Poplin briefly mentions how English is the official language that unites missionaries around the globe.  As I travel the world I often take for granted that it is not impossible to find English speakers everywhere I have been.  I once heard that if a person were to know Chinese and English that one could talk to one out of every two people in the world.  English is my heart language! That is one thing God has already equipped me with and I have been able to use in countless ways for him.  I have done ESL programs in America along with Nicaragua.  People all over the world want to talk to me simply because I am an American and speak English.  They want to learn English mainly because it is the international business language just like being Roman in Paul’s days.  Jesus came at a perfect time so while so many were under the Roman empire so the gospel was spread rapidly.  Now English seems to be a gospel spreading language.  He has equipped Americans with wealth to take the gospel places and also education.  My Christian education has equipped me in many ways also.  I am prepared for many things this world may throw at me.  Paul was educated under the Billy Graham of that day.  Paul was able to use his education to convince many people of the truth of the gospel.  “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10  

“Do Something Beautiful for God”

As I continue to read this book many things have caught my eye and moved my heart.  At the beginning of the book I believed that Mother Teresa was possibly just a very good humanitarian.  As I continue to read I realize that she totally understood that the greatest in justice is that the Son of God died to redeem his bride from the bondage of sin.  She would say that our suffering was nothing compared to Jesus’ suffering.  She really understood that her strength came not from with in, but from the Spirit of the living God.  All who knew her, knew that she gave glory to God and that it was the power of God that brought all her works into being and sustained her even in the toughest of days.  Mother Teresa worked hard for the Lord everyday up to her death.  “Do something beautiful for God.”  This was one of Mother’s favorite expressions, and it made me wonder- what makes something beautiful for God?  The conclusion I came to was that Christians do many good things in our lifetime, but what makes what we do beautiful is where our heart is.  Is it filled with love, fear, and humility towards God? Or is it full of pride and a desire to be seen by men?  “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1 without love our works are ugly and like nails on a chalkboard!  I want to learn how deep, how wide, and how high this love is! This love that comes straight from the father! We are simply a pencil in the father’s hands and our power comes from Christ! Without giving God the glory, our life is vain.  “It is him, his work.” – Mother Teresa… Let us not miss this simple truth!  The missionaries of Calcutta or God’s pencils who were simply positioned in his hand ready to do what he called them to do would never turn anybody a way! No matter the hour of night, the lack of room in a hospital, the hopelessness in the case… when the poor came they would help them - always. That is doing something beautiful for God.

Hello Blogger World!: )

Hello World! I am a senior in high school and am currently doing an independent study on missions and culture.  I will be researching, reading, interviewing… different missionaries and cultures that I am interested in and will record all my findings on this blog! I am extremely excited to get started on this adventure.

            I am currently reading Finding Calcutta by Mary Poplin.  In this book she explains her two-month visit to Calcutta, India where Mother Teresa did her life’s work in the harvest.  She challenges the reader to find his or her own Calcutta or harvest that God has called us to do our life’s work in.  I am just getting started but I am really excited to keep reading it!  She has a insight on faith and trust in God that hits home as something I learned when I was in Nicaragua this summer.

             When Mary went to Calcutta her goal was to learn why Mother Teresa said their work in Calcutta was religious work, not social work.  I think this is very interesting because a lot of times people look at missions from a humanitarian view and just want to help people or hold babies in a orphanage.  These are great things, but we were called to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” Matthew 28:19 If rocking babies helps us fulfill that commandment then I am all for it, but it must not be our whole focus.  When Mary asked the missionaries what she should bring, they replied with: “Come with a heart to love and hands to serve Jesus in the crippled, the abandoned, the sick and dying in any one of our centers.”  This sounds to me a lot like the ministry of Jesus, so I am excited to read more into the life of Mother Teresa.  “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.” Matthew 9:35 Jesus had a compassionate heart!