My two years in Africa... catchy title I know

I want to try and write a blog summing up my two years in africa.  In order to do a good job with it and cover everything the blog would be WAY to long and no one would read it all.  So I'm going to focus on the most important thing I think I learned, or at least experienced in my two years living and learning in Africa.  I have been reading in Corinthians lately, and today my first full day back in the U.S. I read 1 Corinthians 13.  This chapter talks a lot about love and what love is.  If you had to name the one thing it takes to be an effective missionary on the field, I would say that one thing is Love, God's love that is.  You can have 10 seminary degrees, memorize the bible cover to cover, be a master of apologetics and know 20 languages but if you don't have a true love for God and people you are not going to do well as a missionary, or as christian for that matter.  I got the pleasure and joy of working with so many people who have a genuine love for the people they are serving in Africa.  Love is not feeling, love is an action.  When you love someone you are putting that person above yourself, and looking for ways that you can better serve them.  That's what Jesus did for all of us.  Jesus equals love.  The whole time He was on earth he was putting EVERYONE above himself.  His whole purpose was to save us, to die for us.  Jesus was perfect in every way.  Because of Jesus' perfect love we are able to know Him in a personal way and have eternal life with him.  I believe love is the most powerful thing in the World.  I love the quote from Napoleon Bonaparte... 

"I know men and I tell you Jesus Christ was no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."

If we look to make our lives about loving God and loving people, think of the impact we can make on the World and for God's kingdom.  I got to see this first hand in Africa, so many of the missionaries there are just doing whatever they can to love people and serve them.  The stories I got to hear, the things I got to see were amazing.  Lives are being changed, churches are being planted, and God is being praised all over.  I consider myself so blessed to have had the opportunity to work along side such great people for the last two years and see God work in so many ways.  

I want to thank everyone for all the prayers and support in my time here.  Prayer is the lifeline to the work done by missionaries all over the World.  Prayer is where it all begins and I just want everyone to know the importance of your prayers to the work being done all over the World.  I love you guys!  Look forward to talking to you all from SPAIN!! 

Countdown has begun!

Less than a month until I get to see the great city of St. Louis! It's true what they about not realizing how much you like something until its gone. I'm excited to get back and see family and friends, church, the Cardinals and an assortment of fine dining places such as Taco Bell!!

I'm officially in goodbye mode here in South Africa. Goodbyes are an important thing here among Africans. Because Africans are such relational people it is important to have good goodbyes. I am heading to Hartswater this week to say bye to the people I spent my first year here with. It will be good to see them one last time. After I get back from Hartswater I will begin getting with people I have relationships with here to say so long. It is crazy how fast these two years or so have gone by. In a lot of ways it feels like I just got here, and in others like I have been here a life time. :) I will write my final thoughts blog after I get back to the states and kind of process the last two years. Don't worry it wont be a book, I'm not one to write a ton.

I would ask that those who read this say a prayer for my remaing time here. That it would be a time of good good byes and last times with people I may never see again. Also that I would be able to easily take care of all the things that need to be done before I leave here. I have to close my bank account, cancel internet and gym, take care of stuff with the board here in Africa, somehow pack everything and get it home.. etc.. This may sound like simple stuff, but rarely is anything simple in Africa :) Also prayer for safe travel back to the states, 20 hour flights just aren't that fun. Thanks for the prayers and I will be seeing you all soon!!

A ten day trip into the world of Islam

I was recently blessed with the opportunity to visit a couple in Durban who focuses on reaching the muslim people there.  Durban is very different from Rustenburg!  Durban has a huge Indian population of over a million, and probably around 100,000 of those are muslim.  So I got to pretty much shadow a man who spends his days trying to reach out to the Muslim community.  It was an eye opening experience for me.  We spent time on a university campus looking for people to talk to and share with, we walked through a mostly muslim part of town talking to shop owners, we had dinner and conversation with a muslim man and ate some super spicy sandwiches at another muslim families house.  It was neat to be able to get to spend time with muslims and here a little bit about how they think and why they believe the things they do.  There was a young man at the university that we were able to talk to and share with, the man I was shadowing actually has a pretty good relationship going with him.  He doesn't consider himself a muslim or a christian but is very well educated in both.  It was crazy to hear how he thinks about both Jesus and Mohammed.  They are quite a few similarities in christianity and islam, however there are major differences as well.  But it was neat to see how focusing on these similarities can form a bridge from the Quaran to the Bible when sharing with a muslim. One thing I learned, or had reinforced was that you have to know about the people you are sharing with! Be it their culture or religion or whatever, if you don't know about the people you are evangelizing to you are making things harder on yourself, and possibly giving christians a bad name.  We have to find ways to relate to people in order to make the gospel relevant to them.  We can't relate if we don't learn about their religion or culture or who they are.  Jesus taught in parables to the people, using ideas that they would clearly understand, because he was a Jew teaching Jews, he understood his people.  Paul says in 1 corinthians 9:22b "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some."  Paul understood that there wasn't just one and only way of leading people to Christ, and he practiced what he preached.  I love the story in Acts 17 when Paul is in Athens and is brought before the great philosophers of the day.  He stands up in front of them and recognizes their religiosity and then appeals to the altar they have made to the unknown god.  Paul doesn't bash their beliefs but proceeds to reveal truth and explain to them this unknown god.  Paul also knows about their poetry as well, he appeals to things they said in his approach to reach these philosophers.  Understanding those we want to see come to faith is vital in reaching this World for Christ.  Does that mean we need to learn everything before we share with people?? Of course not! Isaiah 55, an amazing chapter, says that Gods word does not return empty.  So we should be sharing all the time!! Just know that knowing your target people will greatly assist in their willingness to listen to what you have to say.  

The Big News Blog

Daniel and I in Italy

 

I am moving to Spain after my term here in South Africa is finished!!  That is the big news.  Now I will go ahead and tell you all the story of how it came about. 

 

I guess it was back in September that I finally decided on going to seminary when my term here was over.  I had always kind of thought that is what I would do anyway.  I had really not even begun the process of it all when a good friend of mine, Daniel Pirkle had asked about my plans after my term was over.  When talking to a journeyman it is always required that you ask about future plans, whether you are 2 weeks into your term or almost finished, I think it is a law or something.  Anyway I proceeded to tell him about seminary and all that, exciting stuff.  So I of course in turn questioned him on his plans.  He told me he was considering doing another two year term in either Africa or Europe.  I was like that’s cool and asked him about what kind of jobs he was looking at.  He told me university work, which is what he is currently doing in Tokyo, Japan.  Now, since I have been here I have felt more called to the university type work.  I have enjoyed being able to work with high school here, but I think that through this work God has been showing me my strengths and skills are growing to be more suited to the university level, and college student.  So when Daniel told me that, I thought that was great and we should do it together.  Now at this point I don’t think either one of us had really thought about the possibility of serving together.  And I had in no way ever even considered doing another term.  I have had an AMAZING experience, but had said to myself I don’t think I will serve as a missionary again unless I’m married, it’s kind of hard serving by yourself and being the only single guy around. (Blake Welch is now here serving in Joburg…shout out to Blake)  But I decided to start looking at jobs with Daniel.  Daniel had found two that he was interested in, one in Africa and one in Finland.  This is the point I started praying about this as an option, I really didn’t want to do another term in Africa, I was looking for a whole new type of experience.  But I thought the one in Finland sounded awesome, and I think Daniel was more feeling that one as well.  The issue with the Finland job was that it was only a request for one person but the supervisor there said that he would try and work it out for both of us to come but that he wouldn’t know anything until December.  So we were both good cool with that.  I decided to look at more jobs in Europe, in case this one didn’t work out.   I saw one in Spain that looked amazing and was a request for two guys.  Daniel had seen the same job, but it had said they were looking for people that all ready possessed pretty good Spanish skills.  And well neither of us have those… YET.  I decided to contact the guy in charge there and told him about us and what we were looking for.  He was instantly excited and said that our lack of Spanish skills was not a big deal.  I passed this info on to Daniel and he thought it sounded good as well.  We were both however, still kind of set on the Finland job.  I stayed in contact with Spain, and found more out about the job and even had a phone conversation with our would supervisor there.  I was definitely starting to feel more and more like this was the job.  I gave Daniel this guys Skype address and he was able to talk with him as well.  It wasn’t long before Daniel and I both knew this was the job.   So we began praying about this one, and both felt like this was it.  Now at this point I still wasn’t 100% committed to doing another term.  But we began to go ahead with the process, and the farther we got with it the more excited I became.   So now I am doing it!! I will be back in the U.S for a couple months, then off to Spain sometime in mid July.  I’m quite excited about being able to work with a close friend and be able to university work in Spain.  That is my story!!

 I would ask that you all continue to pray for the remainder of my ministry here and my saying goodbyes in the coming months to the people I work with.  Good byes are very important in African culture! 

 Also pray that the logistics for leaving here, the stuff I need to do in the states for Spain and heading to Spain will all go smoothly.

 And pray that my time back home would be a great, I would be able to share with many my experiences here and that time with family and friends would be great!

 

 

a crazy last couple of weeks

Me holding a baby Nile Crocodile

Young male lion just chillin

The last couple of weeks have been rather busy, but with unusual stuff. I helped out at a training for leaders in Joburg for about ten days. I was working with kids there, and by kids I mean 1 and 2 year olds :) Yes thats right I was comforting crying babies, putting little ones to sleep, teaching little ones to share (not an easy task) and successfully avoided changing any diapers!! It was a pretty good 10 days. I also got be around a lot of missionaries, which is always great for me. I love hearing about all the different things going on around Africa, and getting to learn about different ministries. Missionaries are cool people, for real. I remember when I was little the impression I had about missionaries, basically I thought you had to be a big weirdo to be a missionary, and in some ways you do :). But for real, some of the coolest, most together people I have ever met in my life are missionaries. I have learned so much from being around, and observing other missionaries on the field. But back to my update! So I had been planning on going to Madagascar for about the last 3 months, I was to work with a family in southern part of the island. It was a basically going to be a mission trip to see another type of ministry going on here. Needless to say i was EXCITED about getting to go, I mean it's STINKING Madagascar!! However, on Thursday I got an e-mail from the family I was supposed to work with saying it wouldn't be the best time to come. Basically last Monday the country decided to go nuts. The Mayor of the capitol and the President decided to feud, and the result was riots, looting and fighting that spread across a lot of the country. So my trip was cancelled. I was pretty bummed out. This was truly my T.I.A (This Is Africa) moment. So I'm now back in Rustenburg 11 days earlier than I thought I would be. I know God has a plan in everything He does. He knew all along I wouldn't be making this trip, and I take comfort in knowing that God is sovereign and it is His plans that will will prevail. So now I'm back and looking to get back into Freedom Park high school. My main focus for the next 2 months is helping get a christian club started at the high school. They have started meeting all ready, and I am trying to disciple the leader of the club, Tebogo. Pray that i will be able to meet with him regularly and also that the Lord would lead me to other things and show me how to best use the remainder of my time here in Rustenburg.

A risk worth taking

Will you suffer, will you risk??

2 Timothy 3:12

And indeed, all who desire to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Matthew 10:22

"And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the the end who will be saved."

Here in South Africa the teachings of prosperity, and the health and wealth gospel are everywhere!   It boggles my mind to see how pastors and leaders of these churches can preach this junk.   They will preach that God has sent his Son Jesus to die for us and that when we accept this we will instantly have the "good life."   Many people believe this because they see these preachers driving nice cars, living in nice houses etc...   Its sad to see so many people missing the point.  No where in the Bible does it say accepting Christ means an easy life here on earth.  Actually it says quite the opposite.  Living for Christ means going against the norms of the World.  

Most of us as Americans have a pretty good life, one of comfort and ease.  It is so easy for us to get used to having nice things, and being able to take care of ourselves.  This makes it hard for us to be a Christian sometimes, we get used to all the stuff we have, the friends, the money, the security.  We have gotten used to a way of life and don't want to do anything to possibly mess with that.  Now there is nothing wrong with having anything and everything, but if we aren't willing to risk it all for the sake of Christ, then we are putting more into our possessions and security then we are Christ.   Most of us fear persecution, we fear suffering... why?  Because it's not nice to go through, I mean who really wants to be ridiculed by people, made fun of, beat up, lose our stuff?  Not me.   But now I ask myself if I want to grow in my relationship with God, if I want to become more like Christ day by day.  My answer is of course... YES!  I have known the verse James 1:2-3 for quite sometime now. It says "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance".    This is an easy verse to give someone when they are going through a tough time, I have used it for people many times.  But I have lived a lot of my life in a way to avoid this verse at all costs.  I have missed out on a lot of joy and the chance to increase my faith and ultimately growing closer in my relationship with Christ.  I didn't take risks, plain and simple.  So many of us Christians live safe lives. We are missing out on so much God has to offer us when we do this.  We have become content with "lukewarmness."  I think deep down most of us truly want to experience God at the deepest level, but how can we, when we wont open ourselves up to the possibilities of suffering, actually the the guarantee of suffering.  While suffering may not be fun and enjoyable, the benefits of a close and meaningful relationship with God make it SOOOO worth it.  I want to be like the apostles in Acts chapter 5, when they left the Sanhedrin rejoicing and praising because the were worthy enough to suffer disgrace for the Name of Christ!  It all starts with taking a risk for Christ!!!  Don't play it safe, this is one instance where taking a risk is the right thing to do!  Think about it, if Peter wouldn't have taken the risk of getting out of the boat and stepping onto the stormy sea after Jesus said come, he never would have had the experience of walking on water!  We must ask ourselves, what risk is God calling us to take??  Don't fear suffering, embrace it!

Missionary Kid Camp 2008

Having fun

Robert and I representing our teams (It was Narnia V. Gondor)

My group at MK camp

So I just got back from working at the MK camp this year.  This is the second year in a row that I have gotten to participate in it.  I love it!! I was a counselor for the 16 year olds this year, and I think we had a pretty good time.  The theme for this year was "Radi8" and the verse of the week was 1 tim 4:12.  "Don't let anyone despise you for your youth, but set an example to the believer in Speech, Life, Love, Faith and Purity"   I learned a lot as a leader, and I think the kids also took a lot away from this.  Are we really radiating Christ in every aspect of our lives?  When frustrations and trials arise in our lives, do people see Christ in us?  I think about the people who have been examples in my lives and quite a few probably don't even realize they have been an example to me.   It's so important to realize that people are ALWAYS watching.  Everyday we have the opportunity to be examples in speech, life, love, faith and purity.  And more importantly people are watching us when things go bad for us.  It isn't to hard to radiate Christ in the good times, but what about when life deals us that harsh blow that seems unfair?  That's when we are really being watched!! Do I radiate Christ in those times??  I think about James when it says consider it pure joy when the trials come.   Think about it, being able to praise God in those trials will be such a HUGE example to other believers and increase their faith, as well as unbelievers will get to see we aren't just ordinary people, there is something different about us.   Another theme from the week was that ordinary people don't change the world!! Are you being ordinary?  Am I being ordinary?  I pray that when people think about my life they will say "Call him what you will, but don't call him ordinary."   Think about anyone who has helped shaped the World, they took risks, they realized that playing it safe didn't accomplish much.  What risk is God calling you to take?  Do it!