Global Mission Project

sharing my little part of the world

2011-10-20T21:17:00.004-04:00

It's been over 3 years since we returned to the States after an incredible, life-changing, perspective-shifting adventure around the world! We've had a few friends visit from around the world... 2 Aussies blokes: Ivan from Sydney and Terry from Brisbane and then 2 Indians: Amongna from NE India and Anand from Chennai, India. But it's been a while... until this weekend!!

Our friend Sonny will be here on Saturday. Unfortunately his family couldn't come with him. (Picture is Sonny with his son, Isaac.) But we're excited about sharing our little part of the world with him.

He will be sharing stories about his part of the world at the Howerton Cafeteria in Montreat at 10am on Sunday. Come join us if you can!

Pillars of the Saints: Burning Man project

2011-05-07T12:15:00.003-04:00

My sister Hope is involved with this project which will be constructed at an arts festival in Nevada. Please consider supporting her in this frontier of missions.

changed & engaged

2010-07-14T10:54:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've shared anything on this site... almost a year & a half! I'm not sure who still reads this, but I thought I would put it out there. I haven't remained in contact with people from our trip like I desired and I really could give you all kinds of excuses, but I just haven't prioritized well. I apologize.

Change, I've been told, is the only constant. Some people fear change, some embrace it. I'd like to say the I embrace it, but that's not always true. I have gone through spells when I've been almost addicted to change (i.e. moving around for years after college), but I guess I've settled down into life in Western North Carolina -- the only consistent "home" for me throughout my life. This is a beautiful place to build community, in which I'm very involved!

Last October, I began working with YMCA of Western North Carolina and heading up a federal grant to establish two 21st Century Community Learning Centers at a couple middle schools in districts that have high poverty & drop-out rates. Basically, we facilitate a "community center" in collaboration with the schools which provide after-school tutoring & enrichment activities as well as services to the families including parenting classes and English as a Second Language classes.

The YMCA hired me to facilitate the whole grant: run the programs; hire, train & lead staff; work with partnering community organizations; and manage the budget. It's quite a challenging job, especially in the first year when we had to establish everything from nothing. I've learned so much!

This year, I have July and August off of work which allows me to participate in (and help lead) a mission to Ethiopia with our church's youth group. I'm joining a team that is going to serve with Jake & Sarah Wetzel -- long-term missionaries from my church, serving with Serving In Mission (SIM) in Ethiopia, who have been developing a camp which serves as a resource for youth workers & for youth from all over Ethiopia (much like how their camp in Bolivia is now being run by nationals).

The Wetzels partner with youth workers who are soccer coaches with a sports ministry, called Sports Friends, which is closely associated with the International Sports Coalition (ISC) that Hope & I connected with all around the world! God continues to keep us tied to the ISC body. What a blessing!

First, our team will be leading a sports camp for Sports Friends away from their village home of Camp Langano. Sports Friends works with 50,000 kids in Ethiopia, but they do not have the capacity for every kid to come to a sports camp. So we are taking the sports camp to them! We will work with our church-sponsored Ethiopian coach, who lives in the city of Arba Minch (meaning “40 Springs”), and help him lead a sports camp with about 80 kids. Apparently, we are the first church group to do this, and Sports Friends is excited about possibly opening up this idea for other churches.

Secondly, we also will do an outdoor Bible school for many of the children who live near Camp Langano—a predominately Muslim community. Our team is planning 3 days of games, crafts, Bible stories, and dramas for the two camps as well as learning how to “be” Jesus with them when we can’t speak the language. Please pray that this will all come together.

We leave Western North Carolina tomorrow to drive up to DC, and then we fly out for Ethiopia on the next day... not to return home until August 2nd.

Oh, by the way, another BIG piece of news I need to share is that I am engaged to be married!! My long-time boyfriend, Richmond Smith, proposed to me almost 3 months ago, and we plan to "become one" just after our Thanksgiving holiday this year (the third week of November).

Please pray for us as we move forward in planning for our marriage celebration (slow process right now), and please pray for me to find "balance" & rest in God’s provision... trusting Him with all my heart.

One last thing — soon, you will be able to check our website for Summer Mission Project (SMP) updates, which will tell more about our church's mission teams that have gone out & are going out all over the world. Just go to www.montreatyouth.com and click on SMP.

Thanks so much for being a part of our team, and thank you for your continual support through prayer!!

The Adventures of Childlike Faith

2009-01-05T11:30:00.005-05:00

A trialogue sermon given at First Church of Christ Congregational in Wethersfield, CT, on August 17, 2008 between Rev. Dr. Jey Deifell and his two daughters, Heather & Hope. It's inspired by Michael Yaconelli's book Dangerous Wonder, Ginny Owens' music, and the lessons & adventures of our "Global Mission Project" (a year-long journey around the world)... Risky Curiosity, Wide-eyed Listening, Daring Playfulness, and Dangerous Wonder.

prayer for healing

2008-11-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

We're supposed to expect trials and suffering as part of this life, but considering them as pure joy?!? (James 1:2-3)

About a month ago, I suddenly began having problems with my left eye. So far the doctors are only saying that it's a “partial 3rd-nerve palsy,” causing my eyelid to droop and my vision to double when I look up, to the right and down. I've also battled waves of headaches and severe neck, shoulder and back pain... mostly on the left side.

I've seen a neuro-ophthalmologist who put me through several tests, including MRI/MRA, blood work and a lumbar puncture, the last of which kept me at home for a week or so to recover. During that time, I tried to take it easy, remain inactive, take medicine for the intense soreness in my back, be still, and feel His presence... I have "Come to [Him]" with my burdens & weariness... He is giving me rest.

So far (and thank God) all the medical tests have NOT revealed anything serious (meningitis, Multiple Sclerosis, aneurism, tumors, inflammation of the brain, etc.), but the answers are still not definitive. The only hypothesis my doctor could give me was that it might be Tolosa Hunt Syndrome, so he prescribed an intense dose of a type of steroid, called Prednisone (30mg, twice a day for about a week or so). He said that IF what I have is actually Tolosa Hunt Syndrome, then the Prednisone should have a dramatic effect within a few days... However, it didn’t… So we’re basically back to square one -- not knowing what’s wrong with me exactly.

In the meantime, I took a friend’s recommendation to try something a bit different... craniopathy, otherwise known as cranial therapy. After just 2 adjustment sessions, I felt pretty positive about the results. I plan to try a few more sessions… if not for my current eye issues, then for the chronic neck issues I’ve had ever since my severe bike accident & head trauma in 2001 (which, surprisingly, my neuro-ophthalmalogist doesn’t believe is related to my eye condition.) I pray that this alternative therapy is effective.

So I'm not sure if or when we’ll know my diagnosis, but I'm hoping the doctors will have some answers instead of continuing to go through a long and EXPENSIVE process of elimination. The bottom line is that I need to minimize the quickly accumulating debt of medical bills.

I have put my studies at Gordan-Conwell Theological Seminary “on hold” as much as I can. I have a group project due very soon that I can't get around. I'm praying about my scholastic future, though I’m confident that Father will provide if it's His will.

Please keep me in your prayers and share my story with others.

Please pray for healing, an end to this physical problem (whatever it is), protection from long-term or permanent damage, relief from the intense headaches, God’s providence for the financial burden caused by this medical condition, discernment for what this means for my future, and wisdom in general.

Prayer is powerful, and "the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well."

rustling of my heart

2008-09-09T23:00:00.002-04:00

The challenge of coming home outweighs the challenge of traveling. Now I can sympathize with missionaries & volunteers who live overseas for years, become comfortable in their "home away from home", and then have to return to a changed community in a distantly familiar culture that cannot grasp their own shifted perspectives. I'm thankful that my "adjustment muscle" has been well-conditioned over our world journey but I didn't expect that coming home would rustle my heart so much.

I said good-bye to Hope a few weeks ago, not knowing when I'd see her again (maybe late October). It makes me sad but I feel I'm truly blessed to have a sibling who is also a best friend & encourager of my faith.

The last 2 months were filled with blessed reunions of family & friends (both old & new), some domestic travel, and times of sharing in North Carolina, Maryland, Connecticut, & Massachusetts.

Our home in western North Carolina is called "Rest & Be Thankful" and this summer we often reflected & were thankful for family, God's creation, & community... however I wouldn't necessarily describe the summer as being restful. One of the many highlights was spending quality time with our family, particularly our niece, Madilyn. It was obvious that we'd missed a very formative year in her life.

Connecting with old friends & community has been both wonderful & challenging, especially to be gone for a year - everyone goes on with life & has gotten used to my absence. After more than a month of family time & then a short, road trip to the northeast, I'm back home trying to unpack, involve myself in community, yet not "settling down" too much. Instead I'm hoping to keep my feet light on the ground, ready to shift as God leads me.

Less than 2 weeks upon our return home we hosted our first visitor from our international journey - Ivan Kelly from Logosdor in Sydney. The timing of his visit included wonderful conversations with our family, a restful retreat on our porch (with a gorgeous mountain view), connecting with other Salvos at my former place of work (The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club), and even an authentic, American baseball game (although minor league). Just after dropping Ivan off at the Charlotte airport, we squeezed in a short visit with Terry Williams of Scripture Union who helped to host us in Brisbane, Australia & who happened to be in town visiting with the Billy Graham Association. We hope & expect to have many more visitors from our global journey in the future. We miss all of you!

Our trip to the northeast satisfied some of my desires for continued travel & connection to the family of Faith on a domestic level. Hope & I continued to feed our interest in ministries by connecting with the Body of Ashland Presbyterian Church (north of Baltimore, Maryland) and by visiting the Hartford City Mission (who work & live incarnationally in the urban community in north Hartford, Connecticut). I also helped to facilitate a "group" ministry visit (5 of us from Hartford area) to the Kids Games in Boston. I pray that the experience of observing a Kids Games event in action along with the discussion led by Dan Williams (Kids Games regional facilitator for the Int'l Sports Coalition) planted some seeds for future events in the Hartford area.

Finally, we're extremely thankful for all the opportunities to share our experiences & lesson from our faith journey... especially by way of preaching a "trialog" sermon with our father at 3 different churches (with multiple services), a dialog sermon (just Hope & I) at Ashland Presbyterian Church, and an evening of storytelling with slideshow at my father's church in CT. You can check out an audio file of our "trialog" sermon given at my father's church (First Church of Christ): "The Adventure of a Childlike Faith" (08/17/08). Soon I'll be sharing through another evening of storytelling at my church in Montreat, NC on 6:30pm, in Gaither Chapel's Fellowship Hall. All these opportunities are very important in "processing" & keeping us in touch with the journey that is slowly slipping into our past.

I'm continuing to practice what I preached by learning to trust God with childlike faith. I began classes again at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) but I'm not sure how quickly the degree will come... I'm taking one semester at a time both financially & vocationally. GCTS is supporting my design of a creative "internship" this term which involves organizing & consolidating my research from this journey while converting the experience into "talks" to share with young people & potentially some articles. I'm also hoping to add some research/resources to the Center for Youth Studies website's "encyclopedia"... so please let me know if you have any ideas or input to expand their world-wide database of information around youth issues, culture, studies, & work . Actually, I encourage people from all backgrounds & cultures to look over the topics ("information", "resources", & "action") to see if & how you may be able to contribute to this free online resource!

Please continue to pray for Hope & I as we work through our "re-entry" of being "home". This process will take more time than our actual year-long journey 'round-the-world! We both seek to understand how God desires to use our unique experience and we're trying to keep our hearts in tune with His...continuing to stay open & flexible.

reentry

2008-07-05T13:00:00.001-04:00

After 29 airline flights, about 15 cross-country bus trips, about 8 cross-country train rides, numerous minibuses (of all qualities), taxis, tuk-tuks, auto & manual rickshaws, motorbikes, bicycles, rented & borrowed cars (on the left side of the road), river boats, kayaks, motor boats, charter boats, subways, inner-city buses (some a bit scary), a camper van, the back of pick-ups, and even an elephant... we finally made it home.

One definition of "reentry" is "the return from outer space into the earth's atmosphere of an earth-orbiting satellite, spacecraft, rocket, or the like."* From this perspective, we are "the like" that has been orbiting the earth, and now we're trying to return to the atmosphere of our home. (Seems extreme, doesn't it.) Well, a new friend in Vancouver pointed out that our "adjustment muscle" has been working all year long, so it should be well-conditioned and ready for just about anything, including reentry. We've been preparing ourselves for reentry for several months, but we find that it's harder coming home than it was adjusting to the shock of new places, people, cultures, traditions, foods, and styles of communication.

Just before our return to North America, a new Fijian friend told us about her challenges with reentry after returning home from extended service overseas. Although she wasn't in the Peace Corps, she shared how the Peace Corps prepares their volunteers for this reentry before they even go into their 2-year assignment. Their "Working Overseas Guide" addresses "Life After the Peace Corps" (section 6), touching on ways to prepare self & family, to deal with "reverse culture shock" & the change of a "new job culture," and to keep linked to your Peace Corps experience.* We're in the midst of figuring this all out on our own... with God's help, of course, and with the support of our blessed parents & eternal Family.

For example, my mom read The Reentry Team by Neal Pirolo before she gave it to us to read in New Zealand. Pirolo describes how the Church tends to avoid the reentry issues that missionaries go through upon their return home. He points out how we like to edit out difficult, faith experiences & instead use "warm, fuzzy" terms(19). There are only a few selective "reentry" programs in place for missionaries, but, generally speaking, very few mission organizations and churches seem to be pro-active about facilitating a smooth reentry process. I have heard of an effective reentry program, including a missionary's kids track, that some friends are participating in as they return to the States after 13 years in Cambodia. Fortunately, as they approach their retirement, our parents feel called to host missionaries on furlough, and their North Carolina home (a.k.a. "Rest & Be Thankful") is a perfect place to listen, nurture, rehearse and promote respite... as they've done with us upon our return home.

Hope & I have actively "processed" things throughout our trip (observing, discussing, praying & seeking understanding), and we realize that we need to continue to be intentional about this "processing" as we reenter life here at home. It's especially challenging because finding quiet space is not easy in our family-filled abode... but we are SO thankful for them all at the same time. We especially treasure the quality time with our beautiful 3 1/2-year-old niece, Madilyn.

To recap, the last two weeks of our year-long global mission trip adventure were spent in North America, namely in the cities of Vancouver and San Francisco. Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), is an incredibly beautiful part of God's creation, flavored by an incredible diversity, strewn with people who are passionate about social justice... and not a bad place to reenter the continent. Our hosts, Rachel & Ed, were gracious enough to host us in their one-bedroom apartment for the week, and they even allowed my dear friend Ashley to come visit us from Seattle. Thanks to these old friends, our wonderful reception party lovingly embraced us, and we were able to spend some time processing with each of them.

While in Vancouver, we connected with both old & new friends. I originally met Joyce Ress (formerly Heron) nearly 5 years ago when I visited Vancouver to check out Regent College... Have you ever had an immediate, deep connection with someone, finding yourself revealing intimate challenges & significant growth within the first hour of conversation? Joyce is that kind of friend, and we reconnected quickly once again. Our time with her was filled with anointed conversations, full of blessing after blessing. Our timing to reconnect was good as she was on a sabbatical from her role as Executive Director at Jacob's Well, one of the ministries we visited during our time in Vancouver.

We spent an afternoon with a CRM ministry called Nieu Communities -- the same ministry we connected with in Pretoria, South Africa. My friend of 8 years, Amy Wilson-Roberts, directs this intentional, missional & discipleship-driven, community-minded ministry in the Commercial Drive district. She invited us to share our experience with the apprentices & staff, especially in relation to the gift of hospitality. During this divine appointment, everyone asked us very relative and thought-provoking questions.

Next, we squeezed in a visit with 2 of my favorite people who were in town for only a couple days between a trip to Cambodia & a trip to the southeast of the States -- Sue & Johnnie Wilson. Sue recently graduated with an Applied Theology degree from Regent, and Johnnie works with CRM as part of the Staff Development & Care Team. They filled the evening with Spiritually-directed questions, and they facilitated some good reflection & processing for us.

While in Vancouver, we also spent a couple of evenings with some intentional communities on the east side of downtown. Each neighbor group focuses on relational ministry with the marginalized, and they fight for local & international social justice. We joined the Saint Chiara Community one evening, checked out their music-centered after-school program at St. James Anglo-Catholic Church, shared a community meal with them, and let the Spirit lead us through a stimulating discussion with Lane, Jeff & Kathy. One other evening, we shared a meal with Servants to Asia's Urban Poor, and participated in their weekly "Creative World Justice Meeting." With them, we learned about & prayed for the plight of so many of Asia's poor who are caught in the snare of injustice (namely, the wake of the Cyclone amid the evil regime in Myanmar and also the slave-like conditions of Singapore's maid trade). Now serving as the International Coordinator for Servants, Craig Greenfield once led an innovative, community project with orphans in Cambodia. Interestingly, after reading my blog, he discovered that we have multiple mutual friends (again part of this 3 degrees of separation with the Faith) and commented, "... as if you have been traveling around the world visiting all our friends!" (in Cambodia, Australia & New Zealand)... I love being a part of making the world a little bit smaller!

As I mentioned, we visited Jacob's Well, but I have to share the divinely-ordained timing of our visit. Every Thursday morning they come together for a time of worship, and when we came in to join them, we were excitedly greeted by 3 staff who were busily cleaning the kitchen. Apparently, the municipal health inspector called in a surprise visit for that afternoon, so with minimal staff & a lack of volunteers, they sang praises for our "incidental" visit & helping hands. We dove right in, cleaning out cupboards & drawers. We took a break from the cleaning for some anointed worship time and a healthy, spontaneous lunch, seasoned by candid discussion & personal stories.

Before the end of the week, we fit in a short yet full visit with Rob & Iona Snair, who have over 20 years experience doing youth work. They lead an amazing & innovative program under Youth for Christ called Lifeteams -- a school of youth outreach filled with "experienced-based, college-credited learning in a soul-shaping environment." They share a vision of discipleship & leadership training that speaks relevantly to post-modern young people.

On Sunday, we attended both the 10th Ave. Church & the Grandview Calvary Baptist. Our new friend from Servants, Kevin, shared his powerful testimony before being baptized through immersion at 10th Ave. It was wonderful to witness his celebration. That evening, we joined the Grandview community of faith in celebrating Refugee Sunday, and we shared stories with some in the community at their fellowship potluck dinner. In between the two services, we squeezed in a short visit with Johannah Wetzel from my home church in North Carolina.

Other highlights of our time in Vancouver include reuniting with our new Fijian friend Adriana (up to Squamish & back), hiking with our NC friends Rachel & Ashley in Deep Cove, and checking out Rachel & Ed's amazing community garden plots. Vancouver is a beautiful city, so it's no surprise it rates in the top 3 of the world's most livable cities. I can see why.

Now, our official reentry to the States was with our brother Tony & his wife Mardie in the Mission District of San Francisco (not to mention being picked up at the airport from a random old friend, Clancy). "The Mission" was Hope's home for nearly the 3 years just before this year-long trip began, so this visit was the beginning of her true home-coming. Along with spending quality time with Tony & Mardie and catching up with old friends, we visited several communities in the SF area. The first ministry we actually heard about through a new friend in Paarl, South Africa, who used to live in the Bay area. She pointed us to ReImagine: "A Center for Life Integration," so we joined them for their Tuesday night "Seven at Seven" gathering. Each of these fellowship gatherings are a unique experience, and this particular night we participated in a gift-giving experiment which involved connecting with the surrounding Mission community by passing out cookies to neighbors. Later, we reflected on this experience of sharing Christ's love through cookies. That evening, we made some new friends, especially Sarah Montoya and Amy Ross.

We also spent some time with The Outer Circle community in the Golden Gate Park area and the San Dimas Community in the Mission District. Both communities are part of Innerchange -- another CRM ministry and sisters to the Innerchange groups that we met in Pretoria, South Africa and Phenom Penh, Cambodia. These San Francisco InnerChange teams actively seek bridges between the Church and the Poor, claiming "in the spirit of St. Francis, for whom our city was named, we reach out in true solidarity and friendship with the marginalized, empowered by the love of Jesus. Gang members, drug dealers, 'gutter punks,' and the homeless are our friends, and have been God’s instruments in transforming our lives, even as we seek to be messengers of hope in theirs." It was powerful to hear their stories, witness the Spirit's work through them, and to connect with the apprentices, a couple of summerXchange participants, a staff member, and some of the wanderers/seekers that they journey along side (particularly at one of their weekly pancake breakfasts in the Golden Gate Park).

On Sunday, we worshiped at Dolores Park Church, joined them for coffee after the service, and met a few formative members of this friendly part of the Body. Later, we joined the Church of the Sojourners in the evening for a contemplative, house-church-style worship service centered around community, fellowship, food & praise. One of my favorite parts of their gathering was the intentional time to affirm children & later a time to affirm the adults. What if all churches were sought to dedicate time to affirming one another?

We are so thankful for our flavorful reentry & visit to San Francisco, including all the quality time with Tony, Mardie, Rhea, Amy, Clancy, Chris, Leng, Hung, Annie & Megan, not to mention our home-coming party with a special slide show & story-telling presentation. (Tony & Mardie hosted a small gathering for us to present only 20 pictures with specific stories, consolidated to share some of our experience.) Finally, for our very last evening of the trip, Mardie invited us to her cousin's very unique yet "incidentally" quite appropriate storytelling about her journey of faith back to her roots in Judaism. She intertwined her testimony with song & guitar in a creative way... Although I wouldn't share my testimony in the same manner, it gave me some ideas about how to share my own story.

People have shared prophetic words with us throughout our trip, including just the other day -- about how this blessed journey is way bigger than just us... I'm still praying about God's intentions for & expectations of us, specifically how, when & where He plans to use us & our experiences. I know that's His business and that He'll reveal everything in His own time... I'm just continuing to pursue my relationship with my Maker.

sega na leqa

2008-06-16T13:56:00.019-04:00

"No worries" ("senga na lenga") ... we learned this phrase very quickly at the beginning of our time in Fiji, and it set the tone for the whole visit.

Several times throughout our trip, I've described how we didn't intentionally plan the timing of our travel (with places, events, seasons, etc.), yet I continue to be amazed by how divinely-guided our journey has been. Once again, God surprised us as He prepared us to visit Fiji. We added this South Pacific island to our round-the-world itinerary at the last minute, but we knew then that we had no contacts & no plans there... However, now we have a family there through the Int'l Sports Coalition (one of the divine networks that we've been welcomed into throughout the trip).

While we researched Fiji a bit before our arrival, we had no idea that our year's experience would seem to culminate in just 12 days there... "Fijian time" is like "African time" (relaxed, perpetually late, unclear time-lines)... Fijians love music and blend harmonies like Africans... Fiji even reflects Madagascar's "island culture" a bit (independent, resourceful, and a blend of Polynesian, European, Asian & African ethnicities). There is also a very significant influence from India (culture, religion, food, people). Fiji's beautiful beaches reminded us of the beaches of Thailand (with amazing coral & marine life), except that they're generally more expensive. The in-pouring wealth & influence of "western" nations seem to set the prices of some resorts to well over a thousand dollars a night! Finally, as we discovered in other parts of the world, many Fijians Believers are faced with a significant amount of nominalism & mere "tradition" of a high percentage of "Christians" in this culture.

I'm extremely thankful that God designed our trip so that, before heading back to North America, we would be re-immersed in a non-"western" culture... where poverty is evident, family is highly-valued, faith is tangible, and our comfort zones were stretched once again. We had to smile when we first arrived in Nadi and a woman addressed our questions/concerns about logistics with "Just relax... you're in Fiji now... sega na leqa."

God's lessons "not to worry" continued throughout our visit in Fiji, and we found ourselves letting go (once again) of "western" concepts of time (restraints & schedules), especially as we began to stress about planning our "island get away" for a couple nights to an outer island somewhere... God broke us of that anxiety and opened a door through our "Fijian mother" and friend, Selina, who graciously helped us plan a low-budget visit to Mana Island. She also connected us with her 2 friends that work there: the manager of the backpackers that we'd looked into originally and the youth activities coordinator of a nearby exclusive resort. Through her, God provided an island experience within our budget AND connected us with an amazing yet small community/family of Fijian Believers while we were there... He never ceases to amaze me.

We spent our last morning in Fiji at Selina's church community which has a HUGE children's program. Again, God convicted me of my habit of worrying. The theme verse for the youth service was Matthew 6:25, ""Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear..." When they asked us to share, I had to admit my weakness to these young people, and I encouraged them to really trust the Lord... He will provide... just as He has for us throughout this entire trip... more than I could ever imagine!

So, to recap our time in Fiji, I'll start from the beginning... Arriving in Nadi the evening of July 3rd, we were welcomed with the smiling face & huge hug of Selina Sarasau. We were pretty sure that she'd be there, but we hadn't received confirmation before leaving Sydney. It was such a blessing to be greeted so warmly!

The very next day, we got on a bus to Suva (Fiji's largest city with about 400,000 living in this west coast metrolpolis of the main island, Viti Levu). After a beautiful 4-hour bus ride around the south side of the island, we arrived and were greeted by our friend Tom Tiko & his mom, Ula. The Tiko family graciously hosted us for our 5 days in Suva -- housing us, feeding us, letting us hitch rides with them, helping us connect with ministries, and including us in their family celebrations. Tom also introduced us to Caleb Ludwig, the Director of Student Life at the Univ. of the South Pacific. (Like the Student Life that we connected with in Christchurch, New Zealand, this chapter of Student Life is an extension of Campus Crusade for Christ.) Caleb invited us to share at their end-of-term, student-led meeting, and we played a couple short "pairs" games before telling them a bit about our journey together, siting Mark 6. Shortly before this meeting, Caleb also introduced us to the Campus Crusade staff, including Jeff & Jennifer Lauer, who spontaneously invited us over for dinner & fellowship.

Also, while in Suva, we met up with Captain Kesoni & Merewalesi Qoriniasi from The Salvation Army, and we got to hear a bit of their story in serving for the past 3 years as Corps officers with the Suva Central Corps (church) that shares the campus of Fiji's TSA District Head Quarters. We got connected with them through their family friend (& our new friend) Darren Frazer from TSA-Winton, New Zealand.

That Friday night, we joined Tom & his fellow youth leader Lucy for a visit to Pacific Harbor (on the south coast of Viti Levu). After arriving a bit late ("Fiji time"), we joined a group of about 20 youth and were invited to share some of our experience... so I did it through my recreational/experiential-education style with an activity I call "Who are you listening to?" (one we've done a number of times throughout the trip). It'd been a little while since we'd been asked to lead activities for a youth group, so it was a lot of fun!

Saturday, we ventured into the Colo-i-Suva Forest Park -- a incredible, tropical rain forest with heavenly pools & waterfalls to swim in. Even there, God protected us... You see, both our hosts and the local park services guy warned us not to bring valuables due to the few muggings of the past there, but God provided an angel to go with us & keep us safe... Surprisingly, he came in the form of a new Western Australian friend named Mark. All along the way, we were amazed at God's creation and sang His praises all day long!

That first Sunday, we worshipped with two very different communities of faith. The first was with another friend from the ACE conference, Pastor Joe Mateiwai, who leads a Christian Outreach Center congregation called CenterPoint Church. This lively & spirit-filled service was held in their newly-acquired warehouse-type space, which now allows their congregation more room for growth & development. During the service, Pastor Joe spontaneously invited us to share in front of the entire congregation and later to meet with some of the young people from his church in the afternoon. After sharing with them, we attended our second worship service of the day... at the Tiko's church, Wesley City Mission Church, where we met several people including 2 women connected to YWAM-Fiji.

On Monday, we traveled back over to Nadi (on the west coast of Viti Levu), where we were embraced by Selina, her daughter (Tamarisi) and granddaughter/namesake (Selina). Immediately, we joined them in a fellowship/appreciation dinner for some leaders of their recent "Family Day" program. Tuesday, we set off for our relaxing, 2-day "get away" Mana Island (mentioned above). We spent the days exploring the island -- from the 360-view mountain top to the coral-rich waters off the coast. Each evening, we spent in fellowship with local Believers who worked in the exclusive resort next door to our backpackers. Our new friend, Tu Villi graciously introduced us to his colleagues, friends and Family. In fact, one night Tu Villi & other Brothers serenaded us with beautiful harmonies of praise songs... amazing!

Back in Nadi, we reconnected with Tom Tiko's older sister, Adrianna, who took us out to Port Denarau and who we hope to catch up with in Vancouver as well. (She's a pilot for Air Pacific.) Then we went up to Lautoka for a day trip to stop by The Salvation Army and then YWAM. First, we met up with Capt. Ulamila "Mila" Vakawalebua from TSA in Lautoka (another friend of Darren Frazer from New Zealand). Although our visit with them was brief, we met her commanding officer, helped to "send off" their youth leaving for a Youth Councils retreat, and got to hear some of Mila's story & call to TSA. Then, we visited the Personal Transformation Center associated with YWAM, and we met Tress, Tina and a few others there. They are about to begin their first Biblical Counseling training course in July, so say a prayer for them!

Friday night, we were invited to lead the youth group meeting at Selina's church (the International Full Gospel Tabernacle Church). The gathering included nearly 80 young people ages 14 to 30+, and I managaed to successfully facilate 2 games & the "Who are you listening to?" activity, incorporating scripture & a bit of our story. It was so wonderful to share in such an interactive way with young people again, just like I did a lot in Africa & India. The evening was annointed by the Spirit, and the young people really seemed to hear God's voice through me... which is something I continue to give thanks for.

Before leaving Fiji, we squeezed in a few more authentic local experiences, including getting some Fijian dresses or "chombras" tailored (thanks to Tamarisi's help), exploring the Garden of the Sleeping Giant (with the younger Selina & our new friend Joe), and eating lots of authentic Fijian food like "palusami" (coconut milk-curd mixture wrapped in taro leaves) & "kakoda" (a raw fish/coconut milk dish with a little spice).

Finally, Sunday, June 15th was the longest yet shortest day of our trip -- boarding a plane in Nadi at 3:15 pm and then landing in Vancouver at 2pm the same day. We began the day in worship at the English service (8:30am) at Selina's church, which was followed by Sunday school for all ages and then a youth service for school-age youth while the Fijian service was going on for the adults. It was a packed morning! Afterward, we ran home to freshen up & grab our bags, and then our new friend, Eroni, joined us at the airport to send us off. When we met Eroni at the youth night on Friday, he shared his passionate story & call to work in spreading the Gospel & discipling new Believers in remote villages in the interior of Fiji. We said our goodbyes to him & our "Fijian family" through a group prayer -- praying over Eroni, being prayed over by Selina, and thanking God for His work through the three of us.

It's strange to be back in North America after 11 1/2 months. Fortunately, I'm currently reading a book my mom gave me about re-entry. It's written for missionaries' care/support teams (neither of which I have exactly, other than a few individual Believers) to learn & understand how to encourage & facilitate a healthy re-entry process for the missionaries they commissioned & sent out. I realize now that Hope & I will need to keep each other "in check," hold each other accountable, and support each other through the re-entry process... in hopes of avoiding shock, cynicism, detatchment, and/or avoidance. This incredible journey has effected us both in ways that many won't understand or take time to try to understand... But that's okay. Our Heavenly Father understands, and He will continue to shape our character to be more & more Christ-like through all types of experiences.

We're thankful & continue to be amazed by our extended eternal family all over the world, especially as we're connecting with such incredible Believers & friends here in Vancouver... But I'll save that for the next blog entry.

what's your coping mechanism?

2008-06-03T08:08:00.001-04:00

Just the other day in Brisbane, we met with our wonderful friend Clayton Fergie, who we met at the sports ministry conference in Thailand with the International Sports Coalition (ISC). We were eager to reconnect & “process” our trip with Clayton, because he is very progressive & well experienced as the International Youth Coordinator for Scripture Union. Meanwhile, he was eager to meet with us, too, because he wanted to discuss the issues that we’ve seen are common to youth from the places we’ve visited around the world. Upon reflection, we touched on some of the same issues I wrote about in my last post: the void of contentment, the lack of foresight, the “escapism” found within youth culture. Clayton perceptively used the term “coping mechanisms” in reference to the many ways young people try to deal with the quickly changing world around them. I appreciate his observation.

We are on the cusp of a major turning point in history. With the invention of the printing press came the Enlightenment period, which carried individualism, free speech & modernization to the masses, among other things. I often wonder what this Information age will bring to the world or how the invention of the Internet will define it (or us, for that matter).

Young people today are dealing with a world that is changing at an extraordinary rate. Generations are changing within years, not decades (e.g. from the information sharing “web1” to the cyber communities of the “web2” culture). Young people from all corners of the earth are being fed the same information, often through the “western eyes” of “globalization”. The family nucleus is breaking down, in part due to the individualism & consumerism from the “western” world.

Youth are thirsty for community, and they’ll find it however they can: gangs, cyber networks, sexual relationships, etc. They want to have a sense of belonging in something… even if it’s illegal.

That’s why mere “programs” don’t work anymore. This generation is all about relationships. I’ve heard so many progressive leaders in the Body throughout Australia talk about “meeting people where there at.” This means getting out of church buildings and be intentionally engaged with the community around, for example through sports, the arts, schools, etc. Why is this so hard for the Church? Why do Christians stay in an isolated bubble or island away from the world? Jesus & the disciples engaged with people in the market place, in homes, around dinner tables, in the fields, and in the temples. Jesus could have become an Essene, who are characterized by isolated communities, but He didn’t.

Also just the other day, we met with a pastor of young adults (imagine that, I wish all churches had someone specifically serving young adults that way), and he pointed out the lack of discipleship within the Church. In fact, as we’ve been back in the “western” world, I’ve noticed that many other leaders share this opinion. We’re so focused on the conversion experience while we should be concerned about coming along side people as support in their “journey” or walk with the Lord. It’s not a matter of being “in” or “out” of the circle of Believers. Life is a journey of faith that’s not a straight line… it’s often diverging from the assumed direct path, looping around, going backwards at times, or even in circles… We just need to continue encouraging people to move towards Jesus, through our words and actions. That’s what mentoring is all about. Everyone needs to mentor, be mentored, or even better… both! That’s the best thing you can do for this young generation: walk along side someone, respectfully redirect them, consistently support them, carefully encourage them, and unconditionally love them.

As we go into our last month of this incredible journey of faith, we are leaving the “developed” or “western” world one more time to go to Fiji -- a beautiful part of Creation that is really struggling with a dichotomy of wealth and a tension between ethnicities. We look forward to our time there -- visiting with ISC friends, getting an authentic taste of Fijian culture, and hopefully taking a couple days to relax before we re-enter North America.

In these last few weeks, we have met so many incredible people of faith around the Brisbane & Sydney area. Terry Williams, another Scripture Union/ISC family member, greeted us at the airport & surprised us with unknown hosts for our first week in Brisbane: Owen & Gay Riley. The Riley’s are incredibly kind, hospitable & creative, and they are passionate about children’s education, particularly with Religious Education (RE), Child Safety & Kids Games. During our first week, we met up several amazing people. Sarah Coleman is a young, vibrant woman gifted in working with young people in various ways, most recently with the “Red Frog” project, as well as writing books including Single, Christian Female. We also spent an afternoon with the crew at YACMU (Youth and Children’s Ministry Unit): Paul Yarrow, Michael Jeffery, Tom Kerr, & Colleen Castray, not to mention the numerous “drop-in” visitors who added to our conversations. The discussion was very engaged and filled with pointed questions, intentional reflection, encouraged processing of our experiences, & their keen observations of Australian youth issues. We squeezed in a lunch with Paul Catchlove to gain perspective of the youth work happening in the Catholic Diocese in Brisbane.

Over the weekend, we joined Scripture Union for an all-day training for "Camp" Directors on Saturday. Camps in Australia are best described as conference/retreats like we have in the States. We were thankful to gain perspective to the holistic approach of Scripture Union in complementing camps with school chaplaincy & community outreach. Our first Sunday in Brisbane we worshiped with the Riley's at Logan Uniting Church, an engaging service with a strong community focus, and later that day with Colleen Castray & her family at the youth service held at The Redeemer Anglican School.

Early Tuesday morning we switched modes, saying goodbye to the Riley's then spending much of the day at the Scripture Union office north of the city. We squeezed in a bit of time with Wendy Strachan, SU's International Primary Coordinator, before she flew off to Europe & the U.S. to facilitate trainings. She generously lent us her car & apartment while she was gone! We also spent some valuable time with Brad Suosaari (Chaplaincy Manager) & Steve Forward (Chaplaincy Development Consultant) who have extensive experience with the chaplaincy program in Queensland and now lead this innovative program nation-wide. As an American involved in ministry with youth, I had to wipe my envious drool as I learned about this incredible opportunity: for the Church in Australia to minister to youth culture by placing Christians into public schools to facilitate RE and pastoral care for students of all ages! The next day at SU, we shared out testimonies at their weekly all-staff "Engage" meeting, and then Francis Kneebone & Malcolm Brown coaxed us into doing a podcast for their Youth Ministry Internship Scheme (YMIS) website... another empowering training program. On Friday, we had an informative lunch with Mick Cross, a YMIS graduate & gifted visionary, who had spearheaded some unique youth programs around the Brisbane area & now leads the Vetamorphus program which trains high-school-aged, Christian, youth leaders for vocational education credit in school.

We also connected with some incredibly innovative, incarnational, community-centered ministries/networks like Forge & Waiters Union. Through our New Zealand friend, Lloyd Martin, as well as our new friends at Scripture Union, we visited with an incredible family affiliated with Forge... Steve & Felicity Turner & "company". We are so thankful to have a couple days with these wonderfully receptive, hospitable, & encouraging folks up on the Sunshine Coast. Back in Brisbane, we joined members of the Waiters Union at Project Hope, Black Star Coffee, & then their unique "community fellowship". The founders of this amazing network, Dave & Angie Andrews, graciously met with us over a "cuppa" (hot tea), offering their humble perspectives on community development.

We took a quick trip down to the Gold Coast to visit the brother (Junior) & extended family of a new friend of ours from Auckland (originally Samoa), and to joyfully celebrate the beautiful baptism of their 8-month-old son. Our short time with their family was a very blessed preface to our Pacific Islander experience, because they shared their Samoan traditions, food & warm hospitality with us... Once back in Brisbane, we also connected with another Samoan (Josephine Aufai) and "shadowed" her as a SU school chaplain at Woodridge State High School -- an area known as "the Bronx" of Brisbane. Although this school was wonderfully diverse, it was much more equipped & immaculate than a school in the Bronx would be. After our time with Junior & Leah's family and then our engaging conversation with Josephine, we decided we definitely needed to visit Samoa on our next trip to the South Pacific.

Before leaving Brisbane, we managed to fit in a number of other fulfilling visits with folks. We joined Owen Riley to help him lead a Primary school class in (Christian) Religious Education. We spent a morning discussing international youth trends & issues with Clayton Fergie (mentioned above). We visited the community-focused YWAM-Go Centre where we gained incredible perspective from Director Dave Neibling & International YWAM staffer Jim Nightingale. Over this last week in Queensland, we were hosted by the wonderfully hospitable & extremely generous Terry & Marg Williams.

As you can notice, our time in Brisbane filled up so quickly, and we praise God for saturating us with His body of believers, who opened their supportive arms to embrace & encourage us. While there, we did schedule some time for seeing a few sights around Brisbane with Hope's exchange student friend, Cate, who took us to Mount Tamborine, the PowerHouse in New Farm, China Town & finally "the Valley" for a great funk show. We also joined our new friend Colleen & her wonderful kids for dessert up atop Mount Coottha to see the city by night.

We spent our last 5 days in Australia back in Sydney where we were graciously hosted by Sue & Aaron in Maroubra, Tara Toohill in Glebe, & by Pamela (Ivan's Rotary Colleague) in Black Town... all very different parts of Sydney! We also connected with the Baptist Youth Ministries' Pip Almond & Andrew Palmer, who facilitate an innovative "gap year" program called PLUNGE. We served at a fund-raising event for the Logosdor crew (including our ISC friends, Simon Hood & Ivan Kelly), which is producing some incredibly creative ministry tools available on-line for free! We attended the concert-like Hillsong evening youth service on Sunday. We met up with Peter Clarke, who has a wonderful perspective on youth culture within the Postmodern context (the young adults pastor mentioned above). We also managed to stroll along the coast at Coogee where we caught a glimpse of whales migrating north. We shared tapas with new & old friends in the city. We checked out the incredibly diverse Black Town festival & parade, and we spent a day on the Sydney Harbor with Ivan Kelly, his son & grandson. Finally, I reconnected with my former host sister, Shelly Dowling, who is part of our family of faith as well.

Our time around southeastern Australia was rich with so many relational experiences whether through reconnecting with old friends (from our Rotary exchange years, our affiliations through family, & our travels around the globe) or making new friends through ministry connections/families & friends of friends. It's funny how I began this blog entry focused on the need for relational ministries, and now I sum up our time in Australia as relational. I wonder how the Church would be perceived, if our focus shifted more toward relationships & community, rather than buildings & programs...

We are now in Fiji... it's wonderful to be back out of our comfort zones! Not long before we're home though... please keep our re-entry in your prayers.

the void of contentment among youth

2008-05-16T08:00:00.012-04:00

I came to Australia for the first time in 1991 as a Rotary exchange student at the age of 17. (That’s half my life-time ago. It's strange to revisit a place where I only have adolescent memories.) In Rotary, I lived with 3 families & attended "college" (year 11 & 12), even though I’d already finished high school in the States (it’s called a “gap year”). This year marked the beginning of my independent, adventurous, outgoing nature.

I have to be honest… unfortunately I don't remember a whole lot... only a few places and some significant people. 1991/92 was pre-email so I haven't kept up with very many people. The little bit I do remember conjures up nostalgia as well as some discontentment. I bet most of us could say that when we look back to our adolescent years.

Recently I’ve found myself reflecting on what’s happened in my life over the past 17 years since my last visit — university, relationships, jobs, moving around, traveling, community, deaths, marriages, births. I've changed a lot since I was in Australia last... thank goodness! I guess most people hope their lives don't look the same as it did in adolescence. (Wouldn't that be scary?!) Hind-sight is 20/20, so now I can see how God worked through many people & experiences to draw me to Him in a personal way.

As one who adores working with young people, how do I express & inspire youth to have foresight in their decision-making? Moreover, how do I encourage & communicate to youth the importance of long-term, forward, eternal thinking? Youth live for the here & now... as did I while “partying away” my high school career. This "gap" year spent in Australia was one of many turning points... not because I wised up to the “sloppiness” of partying, but because I got fed up with trying to fill the thirst in my heart with substances that attempted to let me escape from reality. When I returned to the US after that year, my priorities changed which helped me to get much more out of my university experience. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen to every youth. Some have to hit rock bottom before they can start to put things into perspective.

One of the biggest issues for youth in the “developed” world is the lure of drugs & alcohol… but why? Maybe the youth of undeveloped countries don't have the financial resources that youth in developed countries have to pour into these lifestyle choices. Maybe the issues of youth in undeveloped countries are more life & death (poverty, AIDS, crime... cyclones & earthquakes). Maybe the structures of community & family play much stronger roles in the undeveloped world. Or maybe it’s a cultural issue. Both Australia & New Zealand are known to be “drinking cultures” so, naturally, binge drinking has become a huge problem here (& not just among youth). Why do they go to this extreme with both alcohol and hard drugs? Is it cultural, escapism or peer pressure? I learned that the son of a family I spent a lot of time with back in '91/'92 lost their son to a heroin overdose… so this issue pierces my heart. Maybe these issues arise among youth in the developed world because they tend to be so egocentric and seemingly invincible that they don't think outside their little world or realize how they affect those around them. Maybe they are attempting to fill the void of contentment that they don’t realize only Christ can fill.

I wish I had an answer for these youth. I know it's good for them to take any opportunity to branch out of their little world & gain some global perspective, but that doesn't mean they have to travel internationally. It could mean just going "across the tracks," to the "west-side," or even to the other side of the lunch room… but how realistic is that? How often do you see a young person seeking to get completely out of their comfort zone (which always involves a bit of fear)? It's rare.

I'm thankful that over the last couple weeks, my worry about knowing God’s plan for the future has turned into wonder. But just the other day Hope & I read a devotion which challenged us to desire & pray to be surprised by God. My prayers have changed. I know He wants me to point youth to His Son as the answer for contentment, but how will God use me? Surprise me, God!

Since my last post, we've visited Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, Adelaide, and as of now Brisbane. Sydney is yet another big city, although centered on a beautiful harbor. Our precious hostess Rosemaree Knight, who we met at the Int'l Sports Coalition (ISC) ACE Conference in Thailand, poured out nurturing love & support for us. Her call & gift is in networking, and she does it well. While in Sydney, we reconnected with another ISC friend, Ivan Kelley, who has an extensive background with unemployment programs with The Salvation Army (TSA) & youth work in local/regional Corps. He facilitated our visit with TSA's Oasis Youth Support Network program which holistically addresses the huge homeless issue in Sydney. Ivan also helped us reconnect with Simon Hood, a humble visionary who we also met at the ACE Conference. Simon plays a critical role in the training & development of Global Community Games (Kids Games) and serves as the Creative Director of Logosdor —"an innovative production house providing you with complete creative solutions globally" & a "cutting edge creativity for the children of the world"— with an abundance of free resources... check it out!! Finally, we also connected with the YWAM-Island Breeze base DTS (Decipleship Training School) and with the Wesley Mission which "ministers to a community with real needs" in downtown Sydney.

Next on our itinerary: visiting my old stomping grounds as a Rotary student — Canberra. It was quite an experience to revisit the Tuggeranong community & to reconnect with several old friends in the area (Pete, Ian & new wife Cat, Jennie & family, Roxana & Pam for me, and Lian for Hope). While there, I squeezed in a visit with Major David Terracini & The Salvation Army... "doing the most good" in the southern part of Canberra including effective work with youth.

Moving further south, we found that ministry in Melbourne is filled with innovative urban work. We loved connecting with the Urban Seed community which includes staff, volunteers, educators, students, homeless, & even the upper class from the surrounding businesses... relationships, conversation, communal meals, "engaging faith, community, & culture", and planting as well as harvesting of “seeds” in a variety of forms (school programs, city walks, residential community, advocacy, etc.) I'm so thankful for these recent exposures/opportunities to learn about “incarnational” ministry (blending social justice with relational work) in both Australia & New Zealand... and I wonder if it's a part of God's desires for me in the future.

We also checked out The Salvation Army's "614" program in the city and found that it takes a different approach to urban ministry than the "614" program in Wellington, NZ. Melbourne’s "614" focuses on serving the homeless, both young & old, and opens the doors of its community center which brings in all walks of life in the city. Thankfully, Brad Ellis spent some of his valuable time to show us around and to tell us about a number of the Corps’ programs, including a double-decker-bus youth program, similar to our friend Darren Frazer from the south island of NZ.

Before leaving Melbourne, we managed to squeeze in visits with three other ministries. We met up with Jeremy Dover, a youth pastor with a passion for chaplaincy as an effective form of sports ministry. Sports Chaplaincy Australia has grown quite extensive over the last decade in this sports-crazed country. We spent a little time with Samara, our new friend from Urban Seed, and learned about the incarnational/communal outreach called the Indigenous Hospitality House. We talked with a few in the community who feel called to practice the gift of hospitality toward Aborigines in need of short-term housing while in Melbourne for medical visits. Finally, we also worshiped at St. Jude's Anglican Church during their "workers" service Sunday evening. This family of faith understands & seeks to meet the needs of young adults (a group often neglected by the Church), because they “believe there is a real need for people at this stage of life – a time when real life tests the ideals of University teaching.”

Overall all, our time in Melbourne was great. We really enjoyed the city, the culture and the community. We were especially blessed by the company (& generous hospitality) of some wonderful friends (Brendan & Belinda, their respective families, Cormac & Catherine – Hope’s former fellow exchange friends in Brazil, & Asher-who we met in Laos). We said our goodbyes and began heading down the coast along the beautiful Great Ocean Road, which was constructed by WWII veterans during the "depression" because it provided jobs & community support for soldiers. This is one of the places I have vivid memories with fellow exchange students as we explored the amazing beaches, spectacular blow holes, & incredible rock formations.

After a couple days of driving, we finally made it to Adelaide, and we were welcomed into the warm home & the open arms of Jenny & Gerry Dowling , my first Rotary host parents (now w/ many lovable, friendly pets). What a blessing to reconnect with them after so many years. They showed us fabulous hospitality, and they shared with us a bit of the culture, like visiting the Cleland Wildlife Park (to feed & pet kangaroos, wallabies, emus, koalas...), sipping wine in the Borrosa Valley, going to a game of “Australian rules footy” (a type of rugby mixed with football), and rowing with Jenny’s dragon boating team (for breast cancer survivors & supporters). We’re so thankful to spend the quality time with them!

While in Adelaide, we also visited a variety of ministries. First, we joined the Craigmore Christian Center for a high-energy youth night led by Henry & Leah, and later that weekend, we attended their Sunday morning Mother's Day service where Henry gave a very anointed sermon…. We also visited The Salvation Army in Ingle Farm to check out their extensive community projects, and we were blessed to meet & spend a short time with the legendary visionary Barry Kennedy (who is also the founder & director of TSA’s "Muggies" program, among other projects)… We also connected with several other amazing people doing incredible Kingdom work in & beyond Adelaide: the energetic & compassionate Amy Day who is gifted in networking as well as relational & sports ministry; the humble & well-experienced Howard & Jean Groome who shared with us their passions for & work within the Aboriginal community and who engaged us in a provocative reflection on our global experiences; the friendly & informative Les Dennis at Holy Trinity Anglican Church who welcomed us & led us on an historical tour of Adelaide’s oldest church; the engaging, young couple Shane & Stephanie who are fellow, Christian humanitarian/counselors growing in their faith amidst a secular culture; the innovative & well-connected Adrian Blenkinsop from The Bible Society & James Kreig from Scripture Union who both gave us their personal perspectives on Australian youth culture and how they’ve connected with it in relevant ways; and the gracious & devoted Jenny Lanyon with Scripture Union who shared with us her call to youth work and her perspective on effective work with primary school children.

We're now in Brisbane, Queensland, which sits along the middle of the east coast of Australia. We’ve made contact with many people that we’re hoping to connect with here, but we're also hoping to fit in a few exploratory trips into the surrounding beauty! The next two weeks will be very busy, and then we're back down to Sydney. Please pray that we continue to keep focused on the here & now (rather than what God’s has in store for us next), especially as we go into the last 6 weeks of this year-long world-wide adventure. Please also pray that God will continue to reveal Himself & His will, both now & in the days, weeks, months to come.

are you a "tall poppy"?

2008-04-19T10:33:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest issues that youth workers address in every culture is peer pressure. Albeit a constant challenge, it takes on many different forms – contingent on the culture, the topic and the youth involved. – and it concerns many different pressures, including crime, drugs, gangs, sex, AIDS, youthful marriage, and even the sex trade industry.

Many cultures devalue peer pressure because of this very context, but, in fact, it can be a very useful tool if youth “pressure” their friends in a positive way. For example, in the US, we often encourage individual self-esteem by pointing out special, unique & independent qualities in order to emphasize their “liberation” through free choice & a personal resistance to pressure, such as in the D.A.R.E. program or the Boys & Girls Club "Smart Moves" program.

Over the past 2 months, I’ve found it very interesting to observe the New Zealand culture and to seek an understanding of idiosyncrasies such as the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”. From what I’ve learned, Kiwis are generally not taught to rise above and be special; instead they don’t want to stand out, to achieve, or be recognized for their gifts. Anyone who sticks out at all gets knocked down, mocked, or bashed with sarcasm – to keep them in their place, so to speak. It takes a strong person to push on through, against the flow of “normality,” to excel as an unique individual. This “syndrome” seems to me to be a type of cultural peer pressure applied to all ages. Therefore, since Kiwi youth have double the pressure (from culture & their peers), New Zealand youth workers especially need to be equipped to challenge and to disciple kids to stand strong to their convictions.

We’ve met some amazing youth workers here in this beautiful country of New Zealand, doing incredible relational ministry. In fact, someone recently pointed out to me that most of those youth who attend church and get involved in youth activities here in New Zealand tend to have a real, deep faith, not just an inherited faith from their parents… and they know that they are going against the flow and that there will be some costs involved as a so-called “tall poppy.”

I mentioned Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne in my last post, but I have to quote him once again. “In our culture of ‘seeker sensitivity’ and radical inclusively, the great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd. With the most sincere hearts, we do not want to see anyone walk away from Jesus because of the discomfort of his cross, so we clip the claws on the Lion a little, we clean up a bit the bloody Passion we are called to follow.” (p. 104)

Jesus is a revolutionary, a humanitarian, and an unpredictable Savior. Following His ways will cost us. We need to be real with the youth about this cost, especially in the secular world where it’s “not cool” to have faith in Jesus (even though other religions have become acceptable & “cool”). This idea of “not being cool” or standing out like a “tall poppy” should be expected. We are called not to be of this world, so the world isn’t going to be all about us.

I’ve learned a lot from the minority of Believers in this secular country. They’re active in their faith, thirsty to serve, and immersed in community. Ministry takes on a very relational tone, like much of the world, yet “Christianity” is still persecuted in a different way… like it needs to be censored and made “politically correct”… much like the rest of the post-modern, pluralized “western” world.

I have to be honest, though… we have been challenged by the New Zealand culture both because it’s where we are beginning our “re-entry” into the “developed world” and because of the numerous idiosyncrasies that separates this culture from the rest of the western world. We’re learning & it continues to be a stretching process, but thanks to incredible people that God has connected us with, we are working through the learning curve.

Since my last post we have traveled from the very southern end of the south island all the way up to “Northland” in the north island… And we picked up 2 more travelers along the way – our parents! It’s truly been a blessing both for us & for them!

I’ll begin my ‘recap’ of our travels where I left off in the last post… David & Fiona McKenzie of the Central Baptist Church (Invercargill) showered us with a healthy dose of “Southland” hospitality, encouragement & culture, including discussions around contemporary youth issues,
stories from their tool shop, as well as an adventurous high-speed motorcycle ride. Then, Darren Frazer & the Winton Salvation Army Corps embraced us for family day with youth at the beach where some surfed in the cold water while others dug through the sand for “treasures.” They also gave us a chance to share our story at their Sunday morning service, and they welcomed us into their homes with fellowship over meals (good NT style).

We made our way around & up to Dunedin, via the beautiful Catlins Coast, just in time to make it to the Student Soul gathering at the Otago University Student Center… a casual, emergent-church style gathering of mostly students. We met with the leaders Rev. Helen Harray & Rev. Richard Dawson later for an anointed meeting where Richard gave us perspective on local, regional, & even national issues in the youth culture. We also stayed with a group of young women studying at the University, one of which we’d met at Christmas in Hat Yai, Thailand. Finally, we randomly met up with our old, family friend, Bryan Donnell who happened to be in Dunedin filming while we were there. It was fantastic to reconnect with an old friend after coming across seas of new faces throughout this year.

Back in Christchurch, we celebrated Hope’s birthday with a few new friends (from our time there a month before). We also spent a long day of connecting with ministries: visiting Annabel & Fiona at Spreydon Baptist’s SHARP after-care program, helping Student Life hide Easter eggs at an on-campus outreach at Canterbury University, then driving out to the YWAM-Oxford base to hang out with Jenn & meet a bunch of the crew (including a number of Americans), and finally volunteering through the evening to register 4,000+ youth at Easter Camp. We loved
Easter Camp: amazing speakers & music, great workshops, wonderful people, meeting contacts from the north island, reconnecting with various youth workers we’d met throughout the south island, watching some youth try out “krumping” (a urban dance style born in Los Angeles), and wandering around the multitude of activities there (from skate ramps to carnival rides to soccer tournaments to art instillations to a giant slip ‘n’ slide)… needless to say, it was a full day!

Easter weekend we continued our NZ tour by heading up to Auckland and being greeted at the airport by our new South African friends, the Zwart family, who started out as friends of friends but who very quickly became our extended family & home base in the north island. Hope & I celebrated a wonderful, peaceful Easter with them, including a divine message from a visiting pastor from the Dunedin Elim Church. While with the Zwarts, we connected with their local Elim community in various ways, including short visits with a few of their pastors: Colin with “Power Zone” (a church & after-care program for primary kids), Rebecca with “Voltage” & “Oxygen” (for intermediate & high school age), and Locky with “Edge” & "Sphere" (for the 18-35 year olds). I really appreciate Locky’s passion for working with young adults, who are usually part of the most age group of church families. At the moment, though, this particular Elim church family is going through a great loss after a tragic flash flood took the lives of 6 high school students & a teacher… please pray for them!

Also while in Auckland, we caught up with some of the ISC (International Sports Coalition) sports crew and sat in on their small Christian Sports Network gathering. New Zealand is a very active, extreme, sports-crazy culture… both playing and watching, and these guys have a real vision for reaching Kiwis through what Kiwis love – sports. These leaders are at the beginning stages of bringing together a network of sports ministries that can support, encourage, strategize & share resources. I wonder what the Body would look like if we all came together to do this.

After this meeting, we raced to the airport to pick up Mom & Dad. We were so excited about seeing them. Waiting for them to get through NZ’s customs was agonizing! We stayed one more night in Auckland with the Zwarts before driving up the beautiful coast to the Northlands. We stayed in Whangarei with a couple couch-surfers who had room for all 4 of us (their first family to host)! Stu was an incredible host: openly sharing his space, showing us his favorite local spots, including Ocean Beach, and even hooking me up with an opportunity to try out wake-boarding… overall, a great, first couch-surfing experience for Mom & Dad. While in the north, we had a blessed experience connecting with the Land family out in a remote mountain valley near Opononi & Hokianga Harbor -- a family under the auspices of the Catholic Workers Movement, dedicated to living sustainably & organically. Our time with this amazing family included singing, prayer, stories, and a small Maori traditional greeting by their beautiful developmentally disabled son, Gilbert.

Back in Auckland for a brief stay, we managed to fit in a vibrant service at the Life Church, a visit with established youth trainer & humble teacher Murray Brown (with YouthTrain), and a lively evening service back at the Elim Church in Howick. I also spent a morning with Kevin Reeves, leader of the King’s Kids program at the Auckland YWAM base. While visiting the base, I had the unique opportunity to meet some Samoan guys who are pursuing & sharing their faith through traditional South Pacific dancing & drumming all over the world!

We began our trip southward by stopping over at The Salvation Army’s Blue Mountain Adventure Centre (BMAC) in Ruarimu. Hania, Kyle, Billy, Kent, Leanne & their beautiful family blessed us with a couple nights of rest & fellowship near the beautiful, majestic Tongariro National Park.

On our way down to Wellington, we visited the peaceful community of Camp Ngatiawa. I’m incredibly thankful
that my Kiwi friend Aaron Roberts got us in touch with Jenny & Justin Duckworth. Our time with them was rich with prayer & liturgy, discussion & teaching, work & adventure, laughter & delicious food… all in only 2 days! I would love to come back to spend more time with this amazing community (Al & Anita, Ray, & all the wonderful kids).

On our way down towards Wellington we stopped by one of the three L'Arche Homes in Paraparaumu for a powerful, yet brief visit with Tim, other staff, & clients. While in the Wellington area, we were hosted by an incredibly nurturing couple -- Lloyd & Anthea Martin. Lloyd is a humble visionary & youth trainer who facilitates a practical, innovative education program called Praxis, which aims to develop & strengthen youth workers into more intentionally effective leaders in New Zealand, Australia & the South Pacific. Anthea works as a “resource teacher” (social work) with behaviorally challenged high school students, but she balances her demanding job with play (like adamantly supporting her favorite rugby team, the Hurricanes). While staying in Porirua, we worshipped with St. Barnabas Presbyterian just north of town, and we joined Lloyd & Anthea’s fellowship with their community.

In Wellington, we connected with some fantastic people involved in some amazing, urban ministry. We spent a Sunday evening with “Still Waters”, an intentional community in the city reaching out to the homeless and needy. The evening began with a casual worship service or gathering with song, prayer, the Word & a short teaching. Then it moved into fellowship and ended with a wonderful meal & blessed discussion with Andrew, Sacha, Jason, Anne, Colleen & Warwick. The next day, we visited with Cat & Tom who are part of Urban Vision (the original inspiration for Still Waters) and living in the Newtown Tennant High Rises (government “council” housing). At the end of our short time in Wellington, we squeezed in a visit with Steve Molan & his wife Faye at The Salvation Army’s “614” program -- an innovative, relational & incarnational ministry with young people all over the Wellington city center. We also fit a short visit in with the “god-mother” of youth work for NZ who we’d met at Easter Camp, Merrilyn Withers. She & her sister are a traveling duo , based in Wellington, with years of experience in youth work... quite an inspiration.

As we headed back north, we stopped through Raurimu again to share a meal & evening with our new BMAC family. Then, we stopped through Lake Taupo for a bungy jump!, hot thermal pools & lunch.
As we finished lunch, we “randomly” observed a group of young people who began singing & hip-hop dancing on the street. We learned that this group was from the Equippers Church in Auckland and that they had come to Taupo to help reach out to the youth community… an interesting “God-incidence”.

Continuing northward, we spent some quality time in the Bay of Plenty: connecting with Anthea’s parents, her sister & family in Whakatane, then fellowshipping with an incarnational community in the Merivale neighborhood of Tauranga (Gregg, Bron, Bo, Lizzy, Katrina, Stuart, Jo, Graham& family), and finally taking a day to drive through the incredibly beautiful Coromandel Peninsula on our way back to Auckland.

We soaked in Mom & Dad’s love through our last days. Together we worshipped at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, one of the oldest churches in NZ. One of the most interesting parts of this experience was worshipping in the midst of this classic European-style cathedral, which was gutted out & set up in a contemporary style (chairs set up sideways to face a big screen & band). We also joined our new friend Frank & his family (another friend of a friend) at the Journey Church (in Grey Lynn Community Center) where we enjoyed their nurturing community, prophetic, relevant, & humorous teaching, and wonderful conversations. As we packed up & got ready to leave NZ, we squeezed in a visit with Andrew Kerr from the ISC group who was gracious enough to come all the way over to Howick area for a visit.

It was sad to say goodbye to Mom & Dad. Our time with them was filled with blessed conversations, anointed prayers & shifting perspectives. We continue to pray for Mom's health and for the doctors that examine her. We pray that they will be shocked at her improvement, so she can give God all the glory!

While Mom & Dad were on their way home (via San Francisco for a visit with Mardie & Tony), we flew back down to Christchurch where our wonderful new friend Jason picked us up & drove us out to Governor’s Bay for lunch. Then, at the Rodem House's "international night," we enjoyed an evening of fellowship, good food, and a chance to share God’s unique calls for us on this trip (in front of over 50 people!). Finally, in our few remaining hours in NZ, we ate lunch with our new amazing sister & friend, Charlotte Boyes, who works as a 24/7 youth worker in the Spreydon Baptist community.

We are so incredibly thankful for the 2 months we spent in this beautiful country. We learned & saw so much! We’re now in Sydney staying with an ISC friend, Rosemaree, who has graciously opened her home as a "base" for us, and we’ve already managed to connect with a few ministries & people. I have to say it’s strange being back here after 16 years, and I know it’ll only get even more weird as I revisit Canberra -- my old stomping grounds as a Rotary International Exchange Student that long ago.

challenged by re-entry

2008-03-16T12:31:00.003-04:00

A Kiwi (New Zealander) I met in Thailand tried to prepare me before reaching this beautiful country by telling me that New Zealand is a very secular nation comparing to France or other European countries. I have to say that in the last month I've met more self-proclaimed atheists than all the other countries we've been to thus far... combined!

One of the proud, atheist Kiwi's I've met along our way referenced religion as a crutch - I've heard that before in the States. Yet I feel that my faith has helped me to throw away the crutches of achievement & independence, thus freeing me to not be defined by "worldly" success but by "eternal" success -- relationships, interdependence, compassion, sacrifice, & service -- all for His glory. Reminds me of Ginny Owen's song "Free". It's hard to describe to unbelievers because faith isn't tangible and God cannot be proved scientifically... otherwise it wouldn't be faith.

Pastor Wally Behan from St. John's Anglican Church in Christchurch (ChCh) spoke about how prosperity & comfort are some of the biggest dangers in forgetting God. He taught from Deuteronomy 8 where God warns Israel about forgetting to praise Him when things are going good in the Promise Land. You'd think it would be the opposite... but we're drawn to God during difficult times not when things are going good. Wally pointed out how New Zealand compares to Israel -- forgetting to praise & give thanks for God's blessings.

New Zealand & the US are part of the "developed world" so we share a lot in common. Our cultures are financially prosperous -- not every individual but the population as a whole. We're proud of our achievements, very independent, driven by financial success, so we push God out because we're doing well and we don't need Him.

We have begun our re-entry into the developed/western world. Interesting, but not coincidental, Hope & I are reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. He inspires me to not accept the status quo of faith that many people get very comfortable within prosperous cultures. In reflection on what he has put his mother through with traveling to Iraq & watching him go to jail for challenging anti-homeless laws in Philly, he shares something his mother said, "I have come to see that we Christians are not called to safety, but we are promised that God will be with us when we are in danger, and there is no better place to be than in the hands of God." He goes on to point out, "Perhaps the most dangerous place for a Christian to be is in safety and comfort." (p. 227)

Along with the faith values of risk & trust, I'm learning first hand that my loyalty or nationality is not of this world. I belong a Father who is omniscient & to a family that crosses cultures. Shane captures this perspective well by saying, "Rebirth is about being adopted into a new family - without borders. With new eyes, we can see that our family is both local and global, including but transcending biology, tribe, or nationality, a renewed vision of the kin-dom of God with brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and Iraq, Sudan and Burma, North Philly and Beverly Hills." (p. 200-201)

So what next. I don't know yet. But I do know that "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required..." Luke 12:48 (NASB) I pray for revelation, discernment, wisdom, & guidance... to be continued.

As for our time here in New Zealand, I've not been able to post an entry in too long (I apologize) so I have a lot to share with you about the extended family of faith we've connected with here.

First, in ChCh, we connected with Andy (an American with a passion for the Chinese community), Tim & Hannah Capon (the adult children of missionaries in Thailand--Lynley & Peter) as well as Des & Kath Thomson (Lynley Capon's sister & brother-in-law) were all our first hosts in New Zealand. (Kath helped us make connections with several incredible brothers & sisters in the south island.) Some other new & blessed friends include Anne Scott (a long-time friend & Taiwan colleague of the Alexander family from Montreat Pres.), Hailey (girlfriend of Bruce who lent us his car for our travel around the south island) & her mom (incredible servants heart with a powerful story), Tim Perry (youth worker with 24/7 program at Spreydon Baptist & avid outdoors man who took us rock climbing) as well as Duane Major & Charlotte Boyes, Justin & Heather, Joelle, Cush, Katie, Anna, Josiah, Sarah & Chris (among others) of Student Life. We also had the wonderful opportunity of visiting/serving with these other members of the body: the Rodem House International night, Annabel & the Spreydon Baptist After-school program, Mike Dodge (Director of Canterbury Youth Services & visionary/guru of youth work on the south island), and Laura, Kathy & Ian Viney of the Addington community (an intentional, community-living outreach). Finally, we attended Sunday services at Grace Vineyard Church, Chinese Church's Mosaic Service, Spreydon Baptist Community Church (link above), St. John's Evangelical Anglican Church, and Arise Church while in ChCh.

After ChCh, we began our journey around the south island with short "couchsurfing" stopovers with Ian in Akaroa & then Brent & Laura in Kaikoura before we headed up to stay with Brett & Ayelet in Nelson (nearly the northern-most city on the south island). While in Nelson, we connected with Brian & Laura Hurst parents of a Student Life friend as well as Wesley & Caroline of City Church, whose lively "inaugural" service we attended that Sunday morning. That evening, we went to the Annesbrook Communtiy Centre evening service before finally going to Brian Hurst's talk on the "history & geography of Israel" at Trinity Presbyterian Church.

We finished off the north end of the island with a couple nights "surfing" at Scott's place in Takaka and a day hike in Abel Tasman NP (picture). Finally heading down the west coast of the south island, we stayed with Charlotte's folks near Greymouth and met with Nikki who helped start "the Shed" program through the Anglican church in order to meet the needs of youth in that community.

Very spontaneously, we stayed with a wonderful couple of faith in Queenstown, Wakatipu Community Church, Dorene & Stuart McKenzie. Once again, God opened a door at the very last minute to lead us into the small faith community of a very touristy yet incredibly beautiful part of His creation. We sat in Bruce's car in Wanaka last Saturday afternoon after a long, cold & wet night camping along side some new friends (Don, Alan & Lex) at Lake Paringa on the west coast. We were tired & hungry not knowing what we should do: camp in Wanaka or head to Queenstown to try to find somewhere cheap to crash? As we weighed the options & began to get more frustrated by the minute, a ministry contact (David McKenzie) called & offered his parents place for us. Praise God for His blessings!

While in Queenstown, we joined Dorene & Stuart's community of faith at ... Presbyterian Church for both the morning service & the informal discussion/potluck at the pastor's house that evening. We also visited the evening service at Impact City Church where we met an outgoing couple (Sharon & Lee) and the vivacious pastor (Dean).

We're now in the Invercargill area visiting with numerous of youth workers including David McKenzie (who came to our rescue as we approached Queenstown) & his wife Fiona with Central Baptist, and Darren Frazer with The Salvation Army. I'll talk about that more next time.

Please continue to pray for us. We've learned to be very flexible with our travels/agendas which has become relatively easy for us, but our parents are coming to join us in the north island on March 26th for 3 weeks, and we understand that they won't be as accustomed to our sort of spontaneity. We are trying to solidify plans for them, but we're still not sure of most things. We're challenged by the lack of time online to research, but we're trying to trust & remain confident that it will all work out. God already knows He just hasn't told us all His plans yet.

I pray that you will have a blessed Easter!

Out with a BANG!

2008-02-21T15:30:00.001-05:00

We ended our trip through Asia with a bang -- in more ways than one. The first "bang" was witnessing just some of the incredible Kingdom work going on in & around Hong Kong (HK) by both nationals & foreigners. The past 4 1/2 months we've been in Asian countries where the percentage of Christians averages 2%, but in HK we were told the average was over 12%. In a way, this seemed a bit underestimated because most everyone we met were on fire and serving the HK community in amazing, innovative ways... Then again, HK is very populated, and like most big cities around the world, there are many lost & unreached people milling about... Suffice it to say, 10 days wasn't enough to connect with all the people we desired to connect with. We really hope to come back some day for another visit before heading to the mainland.

Another "bang" was the culture shock of being back in a modern area of the world. What challenged me was that HK is quite different, especially economically, from the first 7 months of our trip. I found myself working through some trust & worry issues that I thought I'd made significant progress on during this trip. Yet God spoke to me in many ways, both through people & scripture during our time in HK. I'm learning to trust Him in all areas of my life... but I'm sure this will be a life-long process.

The last & loudest "bang" were the incredible fireworks over central Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year, which we just happened to be there for.
I'd like to say that we had planned all along to be in HK at this time of year (i.e. looking ahead to determine the best time to spend our first visit and to experience the Chinese culture in such a westernized city), but I have to admit we didn't even realize the timing of it until well into our trip! The Chinese New Year is not like the New Year we're used to -- where the celebration is limited to one big night, some fireworks, a kiss to bring in the New Year, and/or a day off where some watch football and some celebrate with a couple family traditions like big plates of black-eyed-peas & collard greens (can you tell my heritage?). The Chinese New Year is a week-long family celebration where everyone travels to their home towns to connect with their extended family, give gifts (mostly little red envelopes filled with small amounts of money, which are passed on & received with 2 hands & a bow of the head), set off lots of fireworks to ward off the evil spirits, and eat lots of food. However in central HK, the official holiday is limited to only 3 days of celebrations, including a firework show over the city on only one night for all to enjoy and to ward off spirits together (instead of setting them off individually all over the city). The result of such a collaboration was the most amazing firework display -- 4 times bigger than I've EVER seen. (The picture really doesn't do it justice... our videos came out better.) I guess to ward off everyone's evil spirits at once... With all these "bangs" put together, it was quite a fun way to end our time in Asia.

Needless to say, our 10 days in HK were pretty full. We spent our first day with a friend from the International Sports Coalition (ISC) sports ministry conference in Pattaya, Thailand. He led us all over the north end of town visiting ministries, missionaries & organizations. One of which (Breakthrough) had already been suggested to me by several people, but since our friend does volunteer work for them, we were able to meet with a couple of the organization's leaders for almost 2 hours. They are doing some great, innovative & experiential work there, which I look forward to seeing & experiencing first-hand at some point in the future. Next we ate lunch with, visited the offices of, and prayed with the workers from Sports Services International, which is affiliated with the ISC, YWAM of Hong Kong, Sports Ministries Coalition, and Gateway Camp & Outreach. (Again, one of workers I had already met at the ISC conference in Pattaya, too.) After lunch we visited some amazing women working with Revival Chinese Ministry International. They shared stories of their experiences in the mainland and poured out their hearts & passions for this incredible ministry. We ended our day with a visit to our friend's church, Revival Christian Community (RCC) of Kwai Fong -- a vibrant & growing church which meets in an old movie theater! It was definitely a very full first day.

Other ministries & missionaries we spent time with throughout the other 9 days include Jeff & Janet Brice (pictured right) with the East-West Institute, Godwin, Jared, Jaya & Melanie with YWAM's Shanti ministries, YWAM's Brisbane, Australia DTS team, Craig, Tammy & their wonderful kids with One Voice, the McEntires & Woods family (pictured right)
supported by my home church (Montreat Presbyterian Church), High Rock Christian Centre & Ave Robinson with Mobile Mission Maintenance, Kam Yee Ho & other workers with St. Stephan's Society (Jackie Pullinger's ministry), and John Hsu a long-time missionary, trainer, and friend of our parents.

On Sunday, we visited 3 churches -- the RCC in Kwai Fong with our sports ministry friend, the Vineyard Church which Jackie Pullinger leads, and St. Andrew's Methodist with Jeff & Janet Brice. Each service was very unique yet rooted in the Spirit. It was wonderful to see so many different Believers worshipping together in the same place. Next time we'd love to visit some of the other growing churches that we heard about in the area, because there just wasn't time this time to travel all over the city, let alone eat lunch in between, to check out all the places of worship.

The rest of our time in HK we spent visiting with our amazing host (Jason Hinojosa) who has become like a brother to us, hanging out some with his friends, hiking the beautiful mountains of HK, taking a boat ride with a number of the HK International School staff & friends, joining the throngs of people at the Chinese New Year parade, and eating dinner with Elizabeth & David's old friend Alex & his beautiful wife & daughter.

Again, our time in HK was very full. Overall, though, we were amazed by all that God is doing there. Many of these people shared with us their deep passions and really inspired us in our walk. Unfortunately, though, our time ran out so quickly that we missed out on meeting with 4 other people we wanted to visit.

Now, as we've moved on & down to New Zealand, we are quickly getting connected with the Body as best we can. We're not sure of our plans for the south island (which is where we are currently), but the north island contacts are really coming together (even though we won't be there until after Easter). Nevertheless, we are moving forward & only God knows what will happen when we leave Christchurch, aka "the city of Christ" as the Chinese translate it. As always, we wonder what God has planned for us next.

Long Live the King

2008-02-02T21:14:00.000-05:00

"Who is the King of glory? The Lord of Heaven's Armies - he is the King of glory." Psalm 24:10 NLT

I have to admit that it is hard for me to understand this concept of "king". My comprehension of this personification was limited by being raised in an independently-minded culture where democracy is idolized. The idea of subserviant submission challenges my "American" ideas of "free thinking" and "free speech". The closest I've ever come to understanding the idea of royalty are the British crown and the midevil tyrant-like monarchies.

Yet after spending so much time in Thailand within the last 3 months I have a whole new perspective and appreciation for the term "King" because the Thai really love their king. We were warned from the very beginning to never say anything negative about him, lightly joke about him, or even step on a Baht note (Thai currency) if you accidently drop it because it bears his image. This adoration for their king is well-founded though. He is a very good & respectable king, and he has done so much for his people.

My friend Emily pointed out to me recently: wouldn't it be wonderful if all Christians could show this kind of adoration to the King of kings? That statement started me thinking about our irreverent detatchment, especially as a western culture, from God. I'm not saying all Christians are like this... many show awe toward the Creator. Unfortunately though some limit God only to a counselor in times of trouble. How would it tranform the Church (and therefore the whole world) if Christians really understood how much more God really is & the magnitude of His love for us? Many times I have been brought to tears by the Newboys' song: "Amazing love how can it be that you my King would die for me? Amazing love I know it's true. It's my joy to honor you. With all I do, I honor you."

In fact, the difference between our Heavenly King and the Thai king is that many fear the inevitable death of the their beloved earthly king because his successor is less than desirable, but no one really ever needs to fear the death of our beloved living Father. "All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen." 1 Timothy 1:17 NLT

Our time in Thailand just ended with a couple weeks that were quite different to our time in Laos. After heading over the boarder into northern Thailand, we were received by the Haynes family in Chiang Rai who gave us the nurturing that we needed desperately. We were amazed by the Haynes family -- all 5 of them (William, Cindy, Emily, John William & Marshall) having such generous hearts... and an incredible family cookbook with some delicious recipes.

During our 5 days there, we helped a YWAM d.t.s. team build a bamboo fence, visited the Family Learning Center several times, saw an energy-filled performance by the Christian band "Isarapap" out of Bangkok, toured Home of the Open Heart a ministry "caring for HIV/AIDS orphans & their families", spent a Saturday with Ruth Fox (American Baptist Association) & Paul Pierson (Mission to Unreached People Society) who shared their stories from the heart with us, checked out a couple of Chiang Rai's temples, supported a Christian hill tribe village by taking an elephant ride, and finally visited Vern McCally to learn about the Eden House (a Project LIFE project/YWAM ministry which "extracts" young girls from extreme "at risk" situations & provides care for them in an orphanage-style setting).

Aside from all the visits with various ministries and with the amazing Haynes family, I had an infection on my foot treated at a Christian hospital for only $33. Amazing, eh? Makes me think of Michael Moore's recent film "Sicko"... and glad I haven't had to pay exhorbent prices for all the health care I've had to received over the past few months.

After Chiang Rai we went to Chiang Mai and stayed (for 10 days) with our gracious host Karen Thomson -- an amazing woman who has been working in Chiang Mai for 8 years with CBN Siam. While there, Hope took traditional northern Thai massage & foot reflexology courses, and I visited with some amazing youth workers & missionaries, including Steve & Tirzah Gibboney with Chiang Mai Community Church, Mel Walters with Christian Outreach Center of Thailand & the Haven Project, Norbert & Cathy Baner of DTST-Asia & Vineyard Community Church, the Haynes' friend Tessa Hershberger with The Centre, our friend Greg whom we met at the sports ministry conference in Pattaya, and the Alexanders' daughters Annie & Emily plus Emily's beautiful daughters Vera & Lydia.

Over the weekend, we took it easy, visited with Karen, and checked out an elephant project. On Sunday Karen took us to Thammanikhom Church (a Church of Christ Thailand with a Presbyterian Church affiliation) where we met Joan & Allen Eubank -- American residents of Thailand more than 40 years... and still going strong! When we met them, they were hosting "mission tour" group from the States which we tagged along with after a "cultural" church service & lunch for their afternoon activities -- visiting a "dormitory" program for hill tribe children. Next we drove into town & arrived just in time for the youth service at Chiang Mai Community Church in which I gave a testimony about our unique journey. Out of that testimony God presented us a number of open doors that we are currently trying to pursue for New Zealand.

Then, in our second week in Chiang Mai, the dynamic duo joined forces again to visit with some more amazing people, including a few from the Eubanks' visiting "mission tour" team, a Montreat College graduate friend in town from China for a conference, Rev. Esther Wakeman, Ph. D., who is the Vice-President for Student Development and Religious Affairs at Payap University, Esther's husband Rob Collins who is about to retire from leading the Christian Communications Institute started by Joan & Allen Eubank which communicates "faith through Thai culture", Bill Yoder (another Thai mission veteran) who just retired from PC-USA missions with Payap University, the staff of the Garden of Hope which "helps nurture new beginnings" by "offering choices for life" (to those seeking refuge from the sex trade industry), our new friend Grace who we met in Satun (southern Thailand) in mid-December - picture, and Mark Crawford & 3 of his kids who introduced us to the amazing ministry of Agape Home "for babies & children with HIV/AIDS" (Avis, the founder, has been so faithful to God's call on her life & she's still actively involved... we caught up with her while she gave children haircuts in her office).

Obviously, we stayed very busy in Chiang Mai -- observing incredible ministries and learning about so many opportunities to serve. We didn't even have time to visit with everyone we'd hoped to, so I'd love to come back one day to spend some more quality time. In fact, if you have any desire to work with young people here or anywhere else we've been -- at the university level, in churches, in orphanages or on the streets -- please let me know and connect you with the right people.

Our last few days in Thailand we spent in Bangkok trying to fit in a few visits with "old" new friends and with a friend of a friend (Benjamin) who works in children's ministries (King's Kids) through YWAM. We also attended a very emotionally transparent & humbly honest Sunday morning service at Evangelical Church of Bangkok.

The last 3 months in SE Asia were very blessed. We are so thankful for the privilege and pray to have the chance to return to this unique & beautiful part of God's creation.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our journey through Hong Kong for 10 days and then on to New Zealand. As usual we are walking in faith, not knowing what God has in store for us. Please continue to pray for strength, energy, good health, ministry contacts, and discernment of His will as we travel.

resolving to believe in the impossible

2008-01-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

The turning of the year brings thoughts of resolutions, convictions, decisions, and intended change. But why should these thoughts be triggered by the change of a year in the Roman calendar? Here in SE Asia each culture has it's own new year celebration (February, April...) with their own traditions. Why do we limit ourselves to tradition & comfort? I guess as humans we have linear perspectives that can be quite limiting. But I think God designed us to be ever-changing and evolving -- in other words, not stagnant -- so that "being too comfortable" should become a red flag. Is our faith just a religion without the relationship? Have we stopped running the race (as Paul says) and set up camp?

It's easy to be comfortable in America. I think our culture perpetuates the "need" for security. But really, are we ever secure? Is anything or anyone in this world completely dependable? Hope & I had gotten to a stage in our trip where we had gotten comfortable with how God had designed this adventure -- opening doors for us & leading us to connect with established ministries, missionaries, & mission groups. Although we'd nearly abandoned our American "need" for security, we became "too comfortable" with this design -- expecting that He would continue to provide in the same way that He had been. Basically, we began to put God into a box, so He had to teach us a lesson about His nature.

We left Bangkok in a very non-"farang" (foreigner) way... by non-governmental "private" bus. You see, all the coaches were filled due to the New Year holiday. (Even if they celebrate another New Year, that doesn't mean they won't recognize the Roman calendar New Year... any excuse to celebrate.) So we took our chances hopping on a "private" bus from Bangkok's northern bus terminal. We arrived at the bus station to be enveloped into a mass of Thais... Thousands trying to catch buses back home for the holiday. We were the only "farang" there... literally. At first I didn't know if this was normal but when I saw the TV cameras I realized this had to be out of the ordinary. Thus began another unique experience of an almost torturous overnight bus trip up to Udon Thani.

We made it to Udon Thani in time for a short day visit with our friend Pratha, who we had met at the Sports Ministry conference in Pattaya in early Nov. We wish we had more time but our Thai visa was about to run out. Pratha is an amazing leader with incredible passion & vision for his community. His vision involves the development of a sports complex with a Biblical theme-park concept. When visiting his church building, we were able to look over the plans, and he informed us they just celebrated a ground-breaking ceremony the week before. Please pray for wisdom, support & funding as he continues to organize this enormous project.

We were greeted at the Laos border that afternoon by another friend from the Pattaya conference. It was good to see him & hear more details about his incredible story. Unfortunately, our other contacts in Vientiane were out of town for the holidays. Our friend (and only firm contact there) shared his limitations in helping us get involved with the Lao church, because our participation as foreign "missionaries" carries judgments, stigmas and restrictions imposed by the Laos government, which in turn could put Laos believers in jeopardy. This new realization lead to a mix of emotions, including personal disappointment, frustration with the government, and sympathy for the state of persecution in Laos.

We were able to have breakfast with our friend's beautiful family, see some of his entrepreneurial projects in progress, meet some of his ministry workers, & catch a ride with a van load of Laos Christians up to Vang Viang. They were going to a youth camp that we weren't allowed to attend, again due to the sensitivity of the Laos situation... Thus set the theme of our 17-day Laos experience: missing Christian contacts for various reasons and having to be thrown into the mainstream backpacker experience.

Now I know most of you would not think this is a bad thing; in fact, you may see it as a way that God gave us a little "vacation" within this mission adventure. But honestly Hope & I wrestled with the feelings of disappointment & frustration. We wanted to have a ministry experience in Laos, not a tourist experience. We expected that God would facilitate better timing with connecting to the 9 connections that had opened up... He had opened the doors but nothing was working out. How could it not be in God's will for us to have a ministry experience in Laos?

During our daily devotions we read a selection in "Our Daily Bread" called "Beware of Open Doors". Although I don't believe that our situation (re: lack of ministry connections in Laos) was a result of our assuming God's will, but it made me start to think about my assumptions of how God reveals His will for us. I decided that instead of putting my energy into feeling disappointed and frustrated, I would put my energy into praying for opportunity.

Two significant lessons came out of this experience. Just as all ministry in Laos (or in any other restrictive country), our ministry began to take on a relational nature... for us, it was with fellow backpackers. In all our travels no one had ever asked us what "1 Peter 3:15" said (on the top of the business cards we had made before our trip began). While we were in Muang Ngoi (one of the most beautiful places in Laos), we met a bunch of travelers who became our "crew" for a few days. This crew included 2 Israelis women, another American, an Irish, 2 Australian, & a Canadian... none were believers. But the "1 Peter 3:15" led us into a number of conversations in which we shared our faith... "an answer to the reason for the hope in us." Relational ministry, right in front of us.

The other lesson was not to limit God's doors of ministry opportunity to established contacts and ministry networks. One day we rented a couple mountain bikes to explore the area just east of Muang Sing -- the northwestern most town in Laos (between China & Myanmar). We planned to ride around, take in the scenery, and maybe visit a couple villages. Upon arriving in a small remote Yao village called Pon Don Than, we heard some singing accompanied by guitar (which wasn't Laos-style music) and a big crowd around the village well. We stopped to observe and try to figure out what was going on. A bunch a kids were getting "baths", some even getting their hair styled, while a young non-native-looking Asian played guitar & sang with a passion. Something was happening here... we could feel the Spirit.

One of the non-village-looking Asians came over and introduced himself in broken English. He explained that they were a team of 6 Koreans here to do "volunteer work". Since Korea has one of the largest percentages of Christians in Asia (30%) most of which sees missions as vital to faith, I asked him if they were missionaries, but I think he may have avoided directly answering me, either because of the persecution in Laos or because he didn't understand. So we continued observing and talking a little to the other Koreans. Even though the songs were in Korean, Hope noticed the English titles in guitarist's praise song book. We wanted to help them serve but we worried about our "farang" faces endangering their ministry so we decided to say our goodbyes, pack up our guilty feelings of uselessness, and be on our way.

At that moment the first guy we spoke to passed a brush to Hope and asked her if she could help de-tangle a young girls' hair who just got a "bath". We were so excited to be invited into serving. I prayed that the accompanying musician would play a praise song that I knew so I could sing along... and the next song was "You Are My All in All". That's when one of the Korean girls turned to us with surprise and asked if we were Christians. They all got so excited and continued to bring us into service with open arms. We ended up spending hours with them -- praying for children, drying them off after their baths, brushing their hair, spending time with their community -- until the team began to pack up their things to move on to another village. They invited us to join them but the village was far away and we were on our rented bikes. We thanked them for including us, gave them our information, took a few pictures, and were on our way.

As we ate lunch at the beautiful, quiet Adima cafe/guest house nearby, we reflected on how amazing God really is. Why had we put Him & His ways into a box, otherwise known as our expectations? I thanked and praised Him for connecting us randomly with these Korean brothers & sisters out in the middle of northern Laos. God is the God of the impossible... He had to teach me once again.

Now we are in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, visiting with the amazing Haynes' family. Their story, faith, and open hearts are refreshing our tourist-weary souls. I guess, since God got His point across, He has brought us into this incredible family to nurture our spirit. Thank you, Father.

[Please keep us in your prayers for health -Heather's body seems to be going from one ailment to the next- and for discernment of God's will for us in Hong Kong, New Zealand, & Australia... we're praying for hosts as these countries are significantly more expensive than the first 7 months of our trip. I know He will provide.]

a different style Christmas season

2007-12-28T00:55:00.000-05:00

After spending more than a month cumulatively in the country of Thailand, it's still hard to wrap my mind around understanding this culture. We found that it's been an easier adjustment than India but this culture seems more reserved, wanting to please so therefore they mask issues to bring comfort to the farangs (foreigners/westerners) or to avoid confrontation. Emotions seem suppressed in this culture which can cause major problems if they build up. We've been warned that if you see 2 Thais yelling at each other, get away because they have lost it and could do something pretty drastic.

After our short visit to Cambodia, we returned to the progressive, international city of Bangkok to pick up Richmond who joined us for most of December. I'm not sure if Richmond realized what he was getting himself into by joining the Deifell sisters in this unique adventure but he fared well with the idiosyncrasies of our travel system & communication. He said that my personality hasn't changed too much but he did notice a few things: my budget-consciousness has driven many of my decisions which can be limiting (am I really trusting in God's provisions?), my spiritual walk has been nurtured which is expected when being introduced to so many incredible members of this family of faith, and I'm learning how to really be, something I'm not so good at in my WNC world of work, school, etc.

We've been busy traveling all over southern Thailand for the last 3+ weeks but I want to keep this post from developing into a novel so I'll try to focus on some highlights. We have been so blessed by our Bangkok hosts (Amy, Kip, Elise-2, & Selah-3+months Baggett... Amy is the sister to Ruth Ann Somerville) who have allowed us to keep this as a hub for our SE Asia travels... even when they are in the States for Christmas.

Our first stop south was in Lam Thap, a village outside of Krabi where we were hosted by Radt Yaithong, her wonderful family, & short-term missionary, Trevor Lee (from LA). This YWAM ministry reaches many rural Thais through prayer ministry, English lessons, house-church, and relational ministries. We felt the Spirit moving in some incredible ways, especially when praying with some of Radt's neighbors.

After a short trip out to the extreme tourist destination of the Phi Phi Islands with Trevor, we traveled up the coast to Khao Lak to visit with Step Ahead, another YWAM affiliated ministry. Khao Lak survived the hardest hit of the Tsunami 3 years ago, with over 4,000 casualties. This ministry facilitate some effective empowerment projects including English classes, a mushroom project, orchid project, 4 preschools, & possibly a eco-tourism project in the near future. We prayed thanksgiving for this incredible staff (Benz, Bree, etc.) and appreciated our amazing host, Paul McKnight. A big highlight was participating in the Step Ahead Christmas party... helping us with the challenge of getting into the season in the midst of a tropical climate & Buddhist culture.

For my 34 birthday (I still can't believe it!) we checked out the Similan Islands... beautiful, quieter (than Phi Phi) islands although still a tourist trap (especially with expense)... something we're not too keen on. But that experience prepared us to fully appreciate our last Thai beach experience off the coast of the Satun province. We had an amazing time with a family in this SW province. Their ministry is relational involving English classes & After-school, fishing projects, & even constructions projects. They put us to work teaching English classes & even Richmond got conned into teaching during his 'vacation' by leading an art lesson. This family is gifted with humor along side Biblical perspectives and an incredible amount of patience. They brought us out to Koh Bulon Don, an island not touched by tourism that houses a community of 60 families. This is the type of experience we'd been praying for... unique, quiet, authentic, and community.

We spent a couple days (including 1/2 of Christmas day) with Paul McKnight's parents in Hat Yai, Barry & Rowena. They have years & years of experience as missionaries in Thailand, most recently affiliated with World Outreach, so their stories were fascinating. They also have huge hearts and, Rowena especially, nurtured us just as our mother would... an answer to prayer to be able to spend this special celebration with such extraordinary people. Part of the celebration involved a Christmas Fair put on by their church where hundreds of people showed up for games (led by some Kiwi missionaries), performances, food, lantern-lighting, and telling the real reason for this holiday. We found out that most Thai think that Christmas is the western New Year celebration, therefore Richmond & I heard "O Come All Ye Faithful" at the airport this morning (28th) while we were saying our goodbyes.

We give thanks & praise for all these incredible missionaries that God opened the door to. We originally thought our ministry contacts in the south were lacking but it's not about quantity, it's about quality. We're now headed north into Laos and again our ministry contacts seem lacking but we'll see what God does. Keep us in your prayers for this popular travel time of year, meeting the people God wants us to meet, strength & rejuvenation at our 1/2 way mark, and for the 3 moles I just got removed to be checked for skin cancer... a reminder of my heavenly citizenship.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T23:15:00.000-05:00

First, I apologize that I haven't been able to work on an update in the last few weeks. We have been busy visiting incredible ministries & people outside of Krabi, up to Khao Lak, & to the southwest in Satun. We have been involved in prayer ministry, English classes, recreation with kids, and Christmas outreaches which have all shifted our perspectives as we try to wrap our heads around the Thai culture.

We are now in Hat Yai visiting with the parents of a new, ministry friend/brother. It's wonderful to be in a home with some of our faith family during this precious season. We will be catching a train (18 hours) tomorrow afternoon back up to Bangkok... interesting way to spend Christmas night.

It has been a very unique Christmas season not just because of the Buddhist/Muslim culture that surrounds us or the tropical weather & beautiful scenery but because we are not caught up in the commercialism of the western world. It brings our focus closer to the real reason for this time of celebration. I'm so incredibly thankful that I can share this celebration with Hope & Richmond.

I hope to get an extensive post with pictures up by the end of the week so check back soon. Have a wonderful Christmas. I hope it's filled with laughter!

Keep playing...

2007-12-05T01:20:00.000-05:00

Dangerous wonder, risky curiosity, wild abandon, daring playfulness, wide-eyed listening, irresponsible passion, happy terror, naive grace... all part of a "childlike faith" and what it means "to recapture the joy [& freedom] of being a child and [applying] it to your relationship with God." Hope & I just finished studying these topics over the last couple months in Michael Yaconelli's book Dangerous Wonder. In many ways, reading this book as a devotional really reinforced & encouraged my perspective on faith, and I'm thankful that I've been able to hang on to this sort of childlikeness. In fact, upon reflection on one of the last discussion questions in the book, "What has God been calling you to do?", I recognized that I have a reoccurring desire to teach & inspire these same principles in other believers.

Funny thing is, my new friend Jesse (a missionary from Nagaland, NE India) asked my other new friend Pheng (a former Buddhist monk in Cambodia for 8 years) how to stay young-looking: Pheng's opinion was to stay single, but my opinion was to keep playing, so you never forget how.

The timing of this study has been interesting in that Asia (like much of Africa) seems to be filled with cultures where "youthfulness" can be looked down upon, seen as inappropriate, and even viewed as a second class. I guess it's not too far from the way many older "responsible" Christians may view young leaders of the faith. For example, another new American friend named Andy, who is a second generation missionary to Japan, shared that one of the biggest crises in the Japanese church today is the lack of young leaders because their "inexperience" is looked down on. Likewise, Brian Maher shared with us some similar examples in the Cambodian church, but I am inspired by his motivation & call to empower the Khmer youth.

So, about a week and a half ago, we traveled from the coast of Cambodia (Sihanoukville) into the Mekong Delta and arrived in Cambodia's capital (Phnom Penh) just in time for the Water Festival -- an annual cultural festival which brings over a million people from the countryside into the city. We checked it out briefly, got our fill, and then chose to avoid it for the rest of the weekend due to the crowds.

While in Phnom Penh, we visited with Hayden Sewall and Lisa & Dave Everitt of Innerchange Ministries, Andrew Thomas of The Bible League, Pastor Meng Aun Hour & his wife Rady of Followers of Jesus Church & Orphan Voice, International Christian Fellowship, Kiri Nguon through the International Sports Coalition, Brian Maher & Todd Smith of the Youth Commission of Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia, and Christina Valenti of two International Youth programs, Cross-culture & Solar. Aside from visiting with all these people, we also tried to grasp a bit of Cambodia's tragic history by visiting the Killing Fields & the Tuol Sleng genocide museum -- both landmarks of the Khmer Rouge... a lot to fit into one week.

Lisa Everitt is a vivacious woman with a refreshing sense of humor, and she helped us get oriented and connected to youth ministries around Phnom Penh. Her husband Dave shared from his heart one evening speaking to our hearts and encouraging us. With over 12 years of ministry experience in Cambodia, Lisa & Dave have incredible insight.

We had met Pastor Meng at the sports ministry conference in Thailand, and he invited us to join a group of about 20 Christian leaders on a short trip up to Kratie (NE Cambodia) for a marriage conference led by Andy (the American missionary in Japan mentioned above). We were only with the group for just over 24 hours, but we were blessed by Andy's teachings & perspectives, by learning more about the culture of Cambodian marriage & youth, and by meeting Vatong with World Hope International & Veasna of EFC/Youth Commission in Ratanakiri (far NE Cambodia). After our return to Phnom Penh the next day, Pastor Meng's wife Rady graciously introduced us to the Followers of Jesus School which provides a 1st through 4th-grade education for youth from the streets of southwest Phnom Penh... most of whom would otherwise not get an education because of the corrupted, bribe-fed expense in Cambodian public schools.

Later, we spent an evening hearing Kiri's incredible story: escaping the Khmer Rouge by floating down the river, playing professional soccer for Vietnam, returning to Cambodia just to escape again through mine fields, coming to faith by independently reading the Bible in a Thailand refugee camp, traveling to America, and then returning to Cambodia several months ago to pursue sports ministry through coaching. Amazing!

One morning, we caught a motorcycle taxi to the north side of Phnom Penh to have breakfast with Brian Maher. Both Lisa and our new friend Veasna encouraged us to meet with Brian, and we're so thankful for the opportunity. Brian has spent the last 13 years in Cambodia working with Khmer youth... empowering & mentoring them. I resonated with his approach and his passions, especially regarding the Diamond Project. After breakfast, we went back to the Youth Commission office with him to meet the visionary of the Diamond Project, New Zealander Todd Smith, as well as some of the empowered youth who came through the Diamond Project & currently serve on staff. The whole morning was a huge blessing... In fact, it's not surprising (anymore) to discover that we have a mutual friend in the States -- a wonderful friend who grew up in his former youth group in CT and later attended Montreat College: Annie Helstein. What a small and beautiful world!

The web continues to grow... as our new friend Andrew Thomas became a surrogate brother during our stay in Cambodia -- checking in with us periodically and then connecting us with Pastor Vuthy of the Bethel Church. In our short trip to Siem Reap, we were blessed to be able to stay with Pastor Vuthy, his family, & his 'apprentice' Pheng Sopheak (the former monk mentioned above). Our brief visit also included assistant-teaching some English classes with 2 Bethel Church staff & 2 missionaries from NE India (Jesse & Akom) and spending each evening hearing Pastor Vuthy & Pheng's stories... And of course we fulfilled the usual tourist requirement by checking out the incredible ancient temples & ruins of Angkor Wat.

Overall, our experience in Cambodia amazed me but, like many other places along this big "introductory" trip, it made me want to come back to spend more time. Today, we're leaving Bangkok and heading south towards Malaysia. We're also visiting a couple of YWAM ministries in the beginning and then... only God knows!

Refinement: avoid or embrace?

2007-11-24T09:03:00.000-05:00

Hope & I have been talking a lot about the process of refinement... how challenging & painful it can be, and yet how freeing it is.

In fact, it's interesting to think about how restrictive a life of faith might seem to an outsider (and maybe that's why many aren't interested in taking that path), yet after deciding to embrace a life of faith (when you stop running, turn around, seek Christ & begin engaging with Him) the "faithful" experience can be quite liberating... Many of these "rescrictions" are mis-perceived as external & temporal while the freedom through them is internal & eternal... Kind of like the discipline necessary in child-rearing.

Hope & I are continually amazed as we listen to story after story of how God personally purifies and uniquely cultivates so many brothers & sisters around the world. Just tonight our new friend Dave poured out his story to us about how God refined his call to do church-planting in Cambodia over the last 14 years. His words spoke to Hope & I personally --reminding us that the process began before we were even formed in our mother's womb (Psalm 139), that the fine-tuning is on-going & life-long, and that His desired outcomes are rarely what we expect or can even fathom. We all have "a call" that we should continually seek afresh each day.

In my last posting, I briefly mentioned that we had the privilege of attending a sports conference in Pattaya, Thailand. We were honored to be invited after our time at ISLS in South Africa, and we had been looking forward to it ever since. We are babies in this new family of sports ministry so we weren't sure what to expect... or what kind of reception we would receive into this exclusive, world-wide, leadership conference. For the most part, though, our reception was shockingly warm because we reunited with so many brothers & sisters from all over Africa & India we had met, visited with, and even been hosted by along our journey. We also made some amazing connections with many people who we will be visiting with in the months to come and who we would love to visit & serve with on our next global mission trip. God has designed our trip to have a strong component of networking that He's already using to link the Body together in many ways.

I'm so thankful to connect with the YWAM ministries of Pattaya Slum Ministries & the Tamar Center... both incredible lights shining amongst the darkness of this seemingly hopeless city. Pattaya was originally a fishing village changed into resort "R & R" area for soldiers during the Vietnam War. It's "red-light" district compares to the red-light district of Amsterdam, but in many ways it's worse! Supposedly, Pattaya has the biggest sex-trade in the world! The Tamar Center's target is to minister to these workers and try to get them "off the street" by training/employing them in card-making, baking, serving coffee, hair-styling & sewing. I encourage you to look at their website and pray about how you &/or your church, community or club could support them (maybe by selling their cards through your church gift shop or buying beautiful hand-made Thai silk bedding for wedding gifts). We're thankful that God scheduled a divine appointment with Nancy Barkus to be our host for the day... an incredible woman (64-years-young) with a wonderful perspective who also reminded us that God designs all the pieces of the puzzles of our lives to fit together perfectly in His plan.

For the couple nights that we stayed in the Pattaya after the sports conference, we were hosted by the dedicated youth workers of the Pattaya Slum Ministries. These Thai ladies were very patient and wonderfully sweet -- allowing us to join them for a couple days of their "after-school" programs. The language barrier posed a challenge, but it didn't stop us from engaging with the kids and praying for many adults in the slum communities. Kiap, Moo & Arrhi shared Thai meals with us (yum!) and helped us coordinate our next travel plans... we're so appreciative of these new friends! [Make sure to check out the rest of our photos via the link to the right.}

Over the last week or so, we jumped into the backpackers' scene for the first time in the last 4 1/2 months of traveling. (It's amazing that we've been be in home-stay situations for ALL but 4 days of the first third of our journey!) We were only a bit nervous -- feeling immature because of the lack of our independent experience traveling -- yet we were pleasantly reminded by multiple travelers along the way that we actually DO have a strong "travel-sense" about us... or maybe it's just that we're strong, independent, assertive women, not willing to be taken advantage of.

For example, after a nice, relaxing weekend exploring the island of Koh Chang (off the southeast coast of Thailand), we crossed over the corruption-filled, southern-most Thai-Cambodia border (near Krong Koh Kong) and managed to politely & innocently fight for our right to not overpay for our Cambodian visas. (The border officials were angrily adiment about charging people $15 more than it should be, be we got by with saving $10 each.) We finally & successfully crossed the border (visa in hand), and we traveled by bus and over 4 river crossings to spend a few days down at the Cambodian beach-town of Sihanoukville before heading to here to Phnom Penh... It's been a crazy weekend here in the capital because the annual Water Festival brought more than a million Khmer from all over the countryside... but it's worth it to see this side of the people and to be innudated by a contemporary culture celebrating a historical tradition.

Along the way (between Pattaya and Phnom Penh), we met some amazing travelers from all kinds of places, including Thailand, Cambodia, Italy, Australia, Israel, Canada, and Sweden (to name a few), and we connected (heart-to-heart) with a Buddhist Thai guy in Koh Chang who owns a MSO (my-self-organization) that distributes & brews organic/free-trade coffee from rural Thailand. After the fun-filled border crossing, we stayed connected with 3 wonderful Swedish ladies -- Jessica, Hannah and Sara, the latter of whom also joined us for a night in Phnom Penh.

I will go into more detail about our stay in Cambodia in my next posting. However, suffice it to say (for now) that God has miraculously opened multiple minitry contacts here in Phnom Penh and even a pastor in Siem Reap... many doors opening... it's shouldn't shock me because this has been typical of our adventure thus far AND because as long as we keep pursuing His will & desires for this journey, He will provide (Matt. 6:32).

a quick intro to SE Asia

2007-11-15T23:39:00.000-05:00

We made it to the sports ministry conference and visited 2 YWAM ministries (Pattaya Slum Ministries & the Tamar Center) all in the last week+. Unfortunately I don't have time to write a post/update and I'm really not sure when I'll get a chance.

Hope & I are heading to Ko Chang, an island off the southeast coast of Thailand. We're really excited about getting a little bit or R 'n' R. We feel like we've been going & going: jumping from the packed 'program' of India straight into incredibly spirit-filled conference and then into the amazing ministries working in the crazy, sad, tourist city of Pattaya.

After our time in Ko Chang we are heading into Cambodia via the very most southern point of Thailand... should be an adventure. We'll make our way to Phnom Penh where we have several ministry contacts so we'll hopefully get a taste of what God is doing in Cambodia.

Please keep us in your prayers for continued safety, discernment and minimizing our language barrier. SE Asia is a facinating place. I hope to update soon.

Indian "Stretchable" Time

2007-11-10T15:59:00.000-05:00

How do you wrap up an explosive 6½-week experience in a distinctly rich culture with a complex history, spiritualism & religiosity... an experience that was so perspective-shifting, inspiring, yet overwhelming, humbling, and incredibly educational? I'm not sure that I can answer it, because I'm still processing it all, but for the sake of time (and for finishing this post), I'll just say that I must recommend that all Americans take the opportunity to visit India & figure it out themselves. Although, I know that this might be too much of a challenge for many Americans, but it’s when you aren’t “secure” or comfortable that God refines your character. I would love to bring some of my old Boys & Girls Club kids to visit the slums of India or the townships in South Africa. They would really learn to count their blessings.

The last week & a half in India we spent in West Bengal, splitting our time between the “rural” industrial city of Durgapur, its remote villages, and the massive congested city of Kolkata.

First, our connection in Durgapur was surprisingly well-established in advance, which is especially unique for this seemingly spontaneous adventure -- thanks to one of my supporting churches (the Cathedral of All Souls), to their Youth Director (one of my best friends, Shawna Gilmore), and to their sister Diocese there.

Our first few hours in West Bengal included driving down deserted highways (which is almost completely unheard of in this crowded nation), because a huge strike called off all pubic & highway transportation.

We risked taking the highway and ended up being stopped by the strikers out in the middle of nowhere. They threatened to keep us there until 6 pm (when the strike ended), but thankfully they were peaceful protestors. After a short time I boldly joined our host & driver in begging for mercy, and they actually let us go. I guess they felt sorry for this travel-weary foreigner or maybe they wanted to stop me from repeating “please” over and over again... or maybe they just liked my smile. I’m not sure, but we were thankful to be on our way.

Our “program” with the Diocese of Durgapur was full, thanks to Bishop Probal kanta Dutta. Some highlights include visiting Shantiniketan (the home of Nobel Prize winner Rabindrenath Tagore), spending time with the children & staff of the Diocese’s Child Study & Development Center, fellowshipping with the incredible staff of the Sarenga Child Development Center (who are doing amazing, holistic work with 180 youth and their families), visiting Diocese’s project out in the small village of Samadhi & the beautiful forest surrounding it, visiting with Lynn who is a missionary from Blowing Rock, WNC, and especially helping to facilitate a Recreation Evangelism Workshop "retreat" with 15+ youth leaders. I must elaborate on this wonderful experience.

The Bishop organized a youth retreat around our visit -- bringing together specific youth (ages 17-25) who have surfaced as leaders in various churches throughout the Diocese. I was a little apprehensive about my abilities to lead a 3-day retreat but God worked through me... in spite of me... if that makes any sense. Through fun & games, some powerful lessons & discussions, and the presence of the Spirit, this group was brought together in a supernatural way. In just over 24 hours I felt a kindred spirit with these brothers & sisters, and I think they were inspired to break out of the "preaching mold" and to bring a new recreational element to doing youth ministry. Praise God!

After an amazing time in Durgapur, we took our last Indian train ride into Kolkata. Our hosts were yet another sports ministry contact facilitated by our friend Paul Moses. Subir is an Indian, his wife Eunok is Korean, and they are both driven to facilitate an amazing ministry called Good News Children’s Education Mission. Their work includes various Kids Games events all over Kolkata each afternoon, 3 mobile schools for street children that meet every weekday morning, and a boarding school/"hostel" for 150+ boys & girls from the slums or directly recruited from their mobile schools. We visited 2 of the mobile school sights, joined an afternoon of Kids Games, and visited the Hostel at Chandpur, out in the area of Varupur (known for all it's guava trees). It’s inspiring to see how willing Subir & Eunok are to pursue God’s calling by working such long hours. Their dedication to Kingdom work with children inspires me.

Our last morning in India we got a small taste of the impact of Mother Teresa's ministry by visiting the Mother House where she is buried, the Missionaries of Charity Children's Home, and the Home for the Sick & Dying. I was particularly humbled by an experience in the women's ward of the Home for the Sick & Dying when I gathered a thin, frail skeleton-of-a-woman in my arms to move her to a new bed. Shouldn't this make me sad or even resentful toward God? No. Instead I felt my heart fill with love and compassion for this woman. I can't cure her or even talk with her due to the language barrier, but I can love her and pray for her. I hope to come back to serve with these incredible sisters one day... God-willing. I'm so thankful for getting a taste of both the new and the old ministries in Kolkata.

Our time in India was best characterized as a very "stretching" experience (fitting in with Indian's "Stretchable" Time, or IST). We are now in Pattaya, Thailand, attending the the ACE Sports Ministry Conference where we are reconnecting with friends we've met along our journey and making connections with those we will visit in the months to come. ISC is an incredible network of amazing Christians who seek unity in the Body and all for His glory. I wonder how God will call me to stay involved with this global network of Kingdom-builders. I wonder how God is calling me to implement all that I am learning from this amazing, life-changing experience.

Jump first. Fear later?

2007-10-29T13:00:00.000-04:00

Hope & I are reading/studying a wonderful book called Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli. It's quite apt for this time in our lives -- taking "the adventure of childlike faith". I think it's easy to become 'too comfortable' in America. I'm thankful that I've been given this opportunity to be astonished & amazed by traveling in an unpredictable world and learning to trust in a "not so tame" Jesus. In his book, Mike Yaconelli reminded me of C.S. Lewis' analogous relationship between Christ and Aslan, the Lion of Narnia. After rising from death, Aslan played with the children, but they weren't sure "whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten." Mike Yaconelli asks:

What happened to radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianity that turned the world upside-down? What happened to the category-smashing, life-threatening, anti-institutional gospel that spread through the first century like wildfire and was considered (by those in power) dangerous?
What happened to the kind of Christians whose hearts were on fire, who had no fear, who spoke the truth no matter what the consequence, who make the world uncomfortable, who were willing to follow Jesus wherever he went? What happened to the kind of Christians who were filled with passion and gratitude, and who every day were unable to get over the grace of God? (p. 25-26)

I've met many of these "radical" Christians all over the world and will continue to meet them, I'm sure, even in America (although they seem to much more rare). The most exciting part is that God is molding me into a radical follower of Christ. I'm learning that "the Christian life is more than finding Jesus -- it is following Jesus... a daily act of fearlessness that takes us through the most frightening and rugged terrain to a place of peace, joy, and abandon." (p. 62)

So I'm sorry for taking 2 long weeks to post... Although, I'm not really sure who reads this besides my family who we've talked to regularly, thanks to skype. I'm feeling a lot better these days thanks to prayer, some nurturing and a bit of down time. We actually got a chance to get away from the crowds of India... which I didn't know was possible!

I left off the last post mentioning Manoj "strong man" Chopra. He's actually considered the strongest man in India! So, even though Indians are generally not very big or tall, Manoj is. He's actually about to take the last phase of WWF training to become the first Indian pro-wrestler. He travels all over the world sharing his testimony through 'amazing feats' like tearing a phone book in half and bending crow bars... a good person to have on your side.

However, Manoj's greatest strength is his family: his obedient children--his gorgeous, 16-year-old daughter Pooja, his strong, 13-year-old son Ashok and his faithful, prayer-filled wife Ragini, who is a self-less, humble disciple and servant leader. Most of our time in Bangalore we spent encouraging, learning from, and praying with our new sisters of faith.
We also visited the beautiful Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, relaxed at the Century Club, and even spent a day visiting historic city of Mysore. One afternoon (my favorite) while staying with the Chopras, we spent with some of Ragini's prayer fellowship group hearing the incredible testimonies of Jean, Poornima and Jayanthi. These women are all incredible prayer warriors.

During our last morning in south of India, we visited with Robin & Linda Paul at Break Through and then a short time with Dr. Ken Gnanakan learning about ACTS. I really wish we had spent a lot more time with these 2 innovative ministries -- both exactly my "cup of chai". You can look at the links to learn more, but hearing Robin & Linda's story really inspired me. Americans are pretty familiar with the idea of using of ropes courses and non-traditional games to facilitate teaching values and team-play, but it's quite a novel idea here in India... a much-needed novel idea. This culture emphasizes individual success, ambition and drive -- not team-play & innovation. Similarly, we learned that ACTS is also non-traditional in that, "rather than mere theoretical knowledge, ACTS aims at imparting practical skills and life changing attitudes for personal and community transformation." Dr. Gnanakan aims to "prepare people to face contemporary challenges" of health, environment, technology, business and commerce... with a very holistic approach.

Now, we have spent the last 10 days in north India, specifically New Delhi, Mussoorie & Dehradun, and once again God has blessed us with incredible hosts: David, Sue & Mary Hudson and Scott & Tim Smith (unfortunately Melanie & Hillary Smith were on a school trip so we didn't get to meet them this time). The Hudson's are new to India having moved to Delhi at the end of June, but, hailing from Southern Pines, they opened their home in true NC-style -- with open arms. Come to find out they know our close family-friend, Jim Morgan, from Sue's time at Wake Forest, Brad & Laura Long from missionary orientation back in 1980, and the Somerville's from their time in Korea... the world continues to grow smaller and smaller.

Highlights of our time in north India include spending time with the youth fellowship of Free Church, attending the second annual "A Cross Reverb" at Free Church (a Gospel musical, youth concert with 4 bands: Blessed Horizon, Fountain Floor, Delhi Bible Fellowship, and Kingdom International), traveling to Mussoorie (the foothills of the Himalayas), hiking up to Flag Hill in Mussoorie, relaxing on the Smith's back porch in Mussoorie, fellowshipping with Margaret Thomas & some British missionaries in Dehradun, leading a recreation ministry workshop for 20 youth workers in Dehradun (set up by Scott Smith & hosted by Sam Thomas at Bethel Christian Fellowship), visiting the Qutb Minar complex in Delhi with Sue & Mary,
and worshipping with & learning from Koko, Heather & Peter (part of an outreach ministry to the collegiate community of University of Delhi) and John, Matt, Anne & Craig (a visiting mission team from Faith Bible Church in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA). We got connected with this outreach through Paul Moses, because Koko is part of the the sports ministry team of India and attended ISLS in South Africa last year (2006). I'm thankful that we were able to sit in on one of their programs, especially the one called "Focal Point": a series of discussion about various topics hosted by this outreach ministry. This week's discussion was very interesting to hear from an Indian point of view -- "masculinity & femininity" from a Biblical perspective versus a societal one.

So, obviously, our cup continues to be filled and to overflow here in north India. We fly to Calcutta on Wednesday to spend time with another sports ministry colleagues of Paul Moses' in Calcutta and with the sister diocese to one of our supporting churches (Cathedral of All Souls from the WNC Episcopal Diocese) in Durgapur (NW of Calcutta). Then we're off to SE Asia! I can't believe our time in India is coming to a close. I hope it's God's will for me to re-visit India some day... a beautiful and very unique part of God's creation!

next phase of India

2007-10-17T06:16:00.000-04:00

I find I’m getting used to India… the crowds, crazy driving, unique customs, and inquisitive culture. (Check Hope's blog for more details.) This country is growing on me. I say ‘country’ but it seems like many countries. Each state has a unique culture, a different language, many specific customs, and special foods. Someone told us that there are 1026 languages/dialects in India. We’re saturated with so many cultures, and we still haven’t even been to the North yet -- a whole different subculture of India.

We spent 6 days in the state of Kerala on the SW coast of India, thanks to an old family friend, Rev. Julie Walkup Bird. She served as an associate pastor at the CSI (Church of South India) Immanuel Church in Kochi a few years ago… quite a feat to lead a church as a woman in this culture. Immanuel Church embraced us during our short stay by inviting us to join their weekly feeding of the poor and their Saturday night prayer fellowship, and by inviting me to speak at their women’s fellowship, Sunday school, a youth gathering, and the Sunday evening worship. Several members of the congregation opened their homes to us including the Mathews, Dr. & Mrs. Jacob, Molly & her daughter Karin, and the families of Rev. Jacob & Rev. James. Another highlight was our visit to Karunalayam, a CSI boarding school for the mentally handicapped where Julie & Adriane volunteered regularly. The youth performed several songs for us and even roped us into singing for them (quite entertaining).

We actually had a chance to see some sights thanks to Thomas Mathew and Mary Mohan James… the Dutch Palace, the Chinese fishing nets, St. Francis Church (Vasco de Gama's original resting place), and even a peaceful boat trip into the Backwaters, Kerala’s most well-known sight-seeing attraction.

We took an adventure into rural Kerala to visit Pastor Jose’s (from Mumbai) brother -- Francis & his family. They live in the "pineapple capital" of India, Vazhakulum. Our adventure involved taking a wild, packed bus ride 50 km (1 ½ hours) out of the city where God provided a friendly, Catholic, guardian angel, Rose, to show us the way. The next day, Francis’ son (Joseph), daughter (Krupa), & niece (Rani) led us on a hike up to Chakki Para. We were so thankful to get out of the city to see such a magnificent view, especially in such good company.

This rural visit also included a meeting of pastors (Pentecostal, Assembly of God, & Baptist Brethren) on Friday night. I learned so much about the Catholic Church in India as well as the division between Protestant Churches. These pastors are seeking unity, but it seems like coming together as the Body of Christ can be quite a challenge here in India. I know the Church all over the world has this challenge but the judgments seem pretty extreme in India. These pastors weren’t even sure how to begin to facilitate fellowship (time to just be together), let alone a dialogue between church leaders. They pointed out that this issue is one of the biggest challenges to spreading the Gospel in India. I would love to go into more detail about this meeting because it gave me so much perspective on Christianity in India, but I could probably write a whole paper on it.

We just left Chennai where we were visiting with Paul & Grace Moses. It was such a blessing to reconnect with these friends, and we are grateful for all the provisions they have made to facilitate a ‘program’ for us... they kept us very busy. As the Director of the International Sports Coalition for India, Paul is invited to speak all over the place -- nationally and internationally. In fact, we joined Paul soon after our arrival for one of his leadership classes at Maranatha Bible College where I facilitated a short introduction to recreation ministry to 1st year students.

They took us out to their newly-gifted, 11-acre property outside of Chennai where they plan to build an unique campus to facilitate sports ministry & to relocate their orphanage (from another village nearby). They have already built a pavilion on the land where they minister to widows once a month. Widows have a great plight in India as they are seen as a burden to families, so Paul & Grace’s organization (the Sangita Charitable Trust) provides food bags for the widows to give to their families. They had 185 widows attend the program on Wednesday where they shared the Gospel, and we helped to hand out food bags.

Afterwards, they took us to the Sangita Home in the village of Padapai where they house 65 orphans ages 2-5. I’m amazed by the servant hearts of the staff there whom live & work with these children… 24/7. (These women’s dedication put a shame to the 40-hour-a-week work ethic of Americans!) We stayed the night at Sangita home, played with the kids, taught the children a couple songs, led a fellowship time with the staff, and helped prepare the 5-year-olds for their first day of preschool, which was especially unique because it marked the opening of the Krupa Preshchool. We participated in a opening ceremony and met some incredible people.

Some other highlights of our time in Chennai include: leading talks at a soccer outreach as well as a prayer fellowship group for sports minitry, visiting the India Fellowship for the Visually Handicapped, learning what the International Justice Mission is doing in Chennai, worshipping with the Sports Ministry Fellowship, riding around the city on motorcycles with Reejan, Thomas, Sennai, & David, sharing dinner & hearing the testimony of our new sister Hepzibah, and fellowshipping & being encouraged by Anand & John. We met so many amazing people who are a part Paul Moses' community of sports ministry. Chennai was a full week, and now we're in Bangalore visiting with Manoj "Strong Man" Chopra & his family... That will be in the next post.

In the meantime, please keep us in your prayers as we work through the "storming period" of our mission year abroad -- the constant traveling, adjusting & adapting; the profound patience & gratitude we must always maintain; and the need for physical healing & strength. (I am still fighting some stomach pain and now a bit of a sinus cold.)

Working through the culture shock...

2007-10-03T00:27:00.000-04:00

Someone recently described Indian culture as being the most opposite to American culture therefore creating culture shock more intensely. I knew in my mind that this was probably true but experience has now proved it.

Some of you may remember our dear friend, Paul Moses who we will visit in Chennai in a couple weeks. He taught “cultural studies” at ISLS in South Africa. During his training he spoke about the inevitability of culture shock and that one goes through 4 stages: romance, reaction, recognition, & resolution. I think that our experience of traveling the past 3 months has broken us into culture shock pushing us through the romance stage rather quickly.

In the first week of this new segment of our mission adventure we spent in Kalyan, a suburb of Mumbai (Bombay). We experienced several of the components to the second stage of culture shock, the “reaction” stage, according to Paul Moses: growing sensitivity, daily activities seeming to be huge obstacles, and even a bit of a desire to cling to our own cultural comforts. It has made me even more thankful to be sharing this experience with Hope. Instead of harboring irritation or avoiding the obstacles, we encourage and support each other to stay positive. Once again we seem to balance each other.

The food, on the other hand, hasn’t been a shock but a welcomed change with it’s abundance of spices. We’re especially the home cooking of our host mother Gracey and our new friends Margaret Auntie and Gracey Auntie, Manju’s aunts.

We had an 18 hour lay over in Jo’burg on Sunday (23rd) which we spent with Hope’s Rotary exchange friend Tammy & her family. Tammy insisted on throwing us a traditional braai in celebration of our leaving and of Heritage Day – a South African public holiday. The next day Tammy joined us for a quick visit with Cecile, Andries, Anelia, Marisje and Cecile’s mom. It was a truly wonderful way to end our time in Africa.

We flew into Mumbai just after 1:00am early Tuesday morning, and thankfully we were greeted by Pastor Jose, his wife Gracey, and his 24-year-old daughter, Anitha. We only received confirmation about this on Saturday night, about 48 hours before. God’s lessons of trust continue. Since Mumbai is India’s second most congested city with 120 million, it took us almost 1 ½ hours to drive to Kalyan. Even at night time on fairly desolate roads, our hired driver had to dodge the occasional truck, motorized rickshaw taxi, cow or dog (the later 2 considered deities and freely roaming everywhere). Needless to say, exhaustion overwhelmed us.

Over the next 6 days, the Jose family graciously hosted us. Some of the highlights of the week, beyond Gracey’s incredible cooking, included visiting Pastor Joy & his family in Geetanagar (one of Mumbai’s slums), taking the local public transportation (trains, buses, & rickshaws), picking out salvar cummis (traditional outfits) in order to blend even just slightly, traveling to Pimpri (outside Pune) with a variety of new youth-worker friends for evangelism and fellowship, stopping by St. Mary’s (a type of mountain retreat) at the Lonavala “hill station” and Tiger Valley at the Khandala “hill station” on the way back from Pune, worshiping with Pastor Jose’s “prayer fellowship” church (which meets in a very small apartment where he preaches in the doorway between 2 rooms), leading recreational ministry with their youth group, and sharing 3 very special fellowship meals with our newly adopted family and sisters & brothers of faith (Manju’s family).

After a 28-hour train ride in the second class sleeper “bogie” (coach), we arrived in Kochi (Cochin) on Tuesday, October 2nd, Gandhi’s birthday—a public holiday. We are exhausted but relieved to be safe, sound, and hosted by new friends and members of God’s family.

Once again we’ve been pleasantly amazed at how God has prepared the way for us… this time by designing our first, independent train ride in India. We began with our hosts (Pastor Jose & nephew Josh) personally escorting us to our train’s platform. Then “God-incidently” we shared a compartment with 3 wonderful ladies, 1 of which just happened to be traveling to our same destination. After keeping us and our stuff safe through the night, God set up a divine appointment for us to be welcomed by a second-degree colleague of our old friend, Julie Walkup Bird — Rev. Sunder Jacob, Associate Pastor of Church of South India Immanuel.

I wonder how long it will take me to learn to trust that He will provide as we continue to seek His will.

Madagascar… not the movie

2007-09-22T16:39:00.000-04:00

We’ve seen six different species of very cute lemurs, but none of them have spoken, sung or broken into a jig. The only fosa (lemur predator) we saw was sleeping so it didn’t seem quite as vicious as in the movie. I did see a Yankees’ hat but we didn’t run in to any New York Giants. It’s not surprising, but the movie isn’t a very realistic depiction of Madagascar. The only possible similarity to the movie is the radiant beauty of the rain forest which left us in awe.

Other than that our experience in Madagascar took us back into a 3rd world culture with no traffic lights, dodgy “taxi-brousses” (or “taxibes”) for public transportation, intermittent & undependable public services, and masses of people staring at us (the “vazaha” or foreigners) walking through the crowded markets filled with persistent sales people. Some differences to our other 3rd-world experiences in African are the extended mid-day lunch break for many shop keepers, the lack of any lines on the road (except for a few lines put in for the India Ocean Games a month ago), and the multitude of smokers… maybe a because of the French influence.

We flew into Antananarivo (or “Tana”) a week and a half ago and were greeted by an affectionate, unique couple Nelly & Solo, both alumni of the International Sports Leadership School (ISLS) in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Nelly is Bulgarian and Solo is Malagasy; an interesting mix and a gracious duo facilitating amazing work with Kids Games. Their three kids (Gabby, Mickael, & Sonja) showered us with affection, and we adopted their 17-year-old neighbor Vero for an adventure down to Andasibe. Solo & Nelly are gearing up for a huge Kids Games event at the end of October where they expect over 100,000 children and 5,000 youth workers to participate! We joined them for a “counselors” training in which 2,000 of the leaders showed up. It’s incredible how God is opening so many doors for them.

We also squeezed in a short yet very meaningful visit with the family of our new friend, Hanitra Raharinosy, who we met at the Cultural Studies workshop that we attended at ISLS in collaboration with the community development program ALICT. Her sister, Vololoniaina, and brother set up an insightful meeting with Fafah, the Deacon overseeing youth for their FJKM Ziona Fanantenana Ambatobe Church.
Then we rushed to catch a beautiful choir competition. Along the way, we randomly witnessed a “famadihana” ceremony in passing (a strange ceremonial exhumation and reburial to revere Malagasy ancestors). The Ziona choir, led by Hanitra’s husband, won the competition, and we went out for a celebration dinner with him and their two beautiful daughters.

Next, we took a mini-“vacation” to the lusciously green Andasibe (between Tana and the east coast) — our first ‘touristy’ experience in 2 ½ months since we’ve been so blessed to be graciously hosted and richly surrounded by the family of faith. As our first hotel & sight-seeing endeavor, it was beautifully serene, but being amidst so many other tourists made us want to minimize these sorts of ‘touristy’ things because it diluted our cultural experience. Our time hiking through the rainforests was amazing yet a bit wet and soggy.

We finished our extremely short visit to Madagascar by joining the Turks—a PC-USA missionary family that has been here more than 14 years and that has given us a wonderful perspective of this unique culture. Dan shared his expertise on Malagasy agriculture and environment while Elizabeth shared her outlook on the country’s health issues. As a couple, their partnership lends an incredible amount of expertise to the relationship between the Malagasy FJKM and the PC-USA. They graciously welcomed us into their family (son-Robert & daughter-Francis) and community (Betsy-former Nieu Communities-Pretoria participant & Noro-“older sister”). They took us to visit both the Topaza and the Akany Avoko orphanages. And they helped me facilitate a recreational evangelism workshop for 35 youth workers.
It’s been a very fruitful yet busy end to our stay in Madagascar.

We wish we had more time here, just like everywhere we go. It’s a struggle to travel in and out of communities and cultures so quickly. We always wish we could stay for longer in each place, but we’re just getting a taste of everywhere we go—just grazing the surface. We realize that connecting with ministry communities and missionaries is vital to our gaining perspective more efficiently. Please pray that God will continue to bless us with these connections. We’re flying back to South Africa tomorrow for a less than 24 hour layover before we fly on the India Monday. We’re a bit nervous about our time (and especially our arrival) in India. As usual God hasn’t revealed His plan to us, but I know it will all work out… it always does… His sovereignty is more real to me than it ever has been.

don't be nominal... break out of the box

2007-09-07T08:56:00.000-04:00

Cassie Carstens shared with us his ideas of a more "practical implication to ministry," and he said something that resonated with me... "Kick people out of the church and into the streets." I think many of us can relate to this frustration -- whether it be toward our local church, our denomination or even political leaders using a "Christian" platform to push their own agendas. However, instead of turning his back on the church or writing off the spiritual/political struggle, Cassie pursued ordination. What a proactive approach to facilitating and engaging the Body of Christ in social justice.

I've been inspired by so many Christians throughout our trip who live out their faith rather than letting their faith become nominal. It's not a Sunday ritual for them; it's everyday life.

Last week, Hope and I attended part of the "Cultural Studies" training at ISLS (International Sports Leadership School), and we had the opportunity to meet and share ideas with nearly 60 people from 30 countries all around the world. A couple times during the training, we divided into small groups according to our national/regional origin to discuss the barriers & possible solutions to sharing our faith. One common barrier shared among these groups was this problem of "nominal Christianity."

Basically, the church is a body of believers, not a building to visit once in a while. It's like Bruce Taylor from Walk in the Light pointed out: if you take the "ch" off either side of "church" you're left with U-R... you are the church. Similarly, a former ISLS participant pointed out to us the tendency of many Christians to live on "an island" -- only leaving now and again to go recruit someone to come join the island... No wonder so many Christians come across as legalistic isolationists. A solution to this "nominal Christianity" is found in the way we live out our faith in the world, not in isolation. It's like what Paul Moses shared with us last week: one of the best ways anyone can be a witness of the Gospel is through "lifestyle evangelism."
________________

The last week and a half, we spent in one of the most beautiful places in South Africa: the Western Cape (Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Paarl). The beauty of God's creation surrounded us with a majestic landscapes and a Spirit-filled communities. We began our week in Cape Town with Arrie Hougaardt and his family (wife-Erika and daughters-Jana & Sune). We toured some of the city, and we worshiped at Lighthouse Ministries, a racially & culturally diverse church which formed in the late 70's as a call against Apartheid.

Monday afternoon, we interviewed Cassie Carstens and Paul & Grace Moses (who we will visit next month in Chennai, India). Then Tuesday afternoon we served with Kuyasa, a community center in the Kayamandi Township, which is led by Cassie's wife Jenny and directed by an American named Cindy.

Wednesday, Thursday and then Friday morning, we attended ISLS, and we were warmly embraced by some brothers and sisters of faith from all over the world. Once again, God's timing amazed us. You see, in the 3 months of training each year (August-October), the school invites various teachers from around the world to give insight to a specific subject they specialize in. Just last week Paul Moses taught "Cultural Studies," which aligns with a huge part of my call... gaining perspective. Not only did the subject fit in perfectly to our trip, so did the classroom diversity as it immediately provided practical application for us. To top it all off, the Cultural Night event on Thursday captivated and mesmerized us! Each participant (including us) had to present something from our respective cultures. The one other American in the group (ironically also named Heather) brainstormed with us... It was nearly impossible to think of something "American" that we were equipped to do, but we finally came up with sharing S'mores and doing the Hokey-Pokey -- in the good old-fashion silly American way. The only challenge was finding similar ingredients to Graham Crackers and Hershey Bars, but the substitues we found were yummy! (picture: Paul Moses' first S'more.)

Then, we spent the weekend with Greg & Jebs (or JT) Oefinger and the Monte Christo Ministries (MCM) in Paarl. Even after recent events (in Pietermartzburg & Durban), our introduction to their ministry shook us a bit. As soon as we arrived, Jebs asked if we would be okay with joining her & a new minitry staff, Laura, at a memorial service for a young girl who had been raped and murdered in the Mbekweni Township where they serve. As we arrived in the midst of rain, the familiar sounds of African harmony filled our ears. We had a chance to pray with some people there and to hear from the girl's father. It was a profound memorial.

After only planning to stay with them one night, we ended up staying for 3 nights. We felt His love poured out through the open-arms and nurture of our amazing new friends, even after they had just been through one of the most difficult weeks in their 3 1/2 years ministering there.

Monday afternoon, we returned to Cape Town with just enough time to tour a bit of the Cape's extraordinarily beautiful peninsula with our new friend Juanita and then to visit with Craig Stewart and the incredible staff at The Warehouse. In just a few years, the staff of the Warehouse have developed an effective urban ministry -- one which focuses on equipping the church around Cape Town, encouraging empowerment as a Body, and building relational ministries. I'm amazed at how effective they have become in such a short period. I believe the reason for this is that they are committed to spending the first hour of each and every work day in prayer together. What would happen in ministries and churches world-wide if they were that committed to prayer? Craig shared that when they see a need in the community they begin to address that need by praying for workers who are called to that need and who are driven to lead. He pointed out that we as Believers don't usually allow room for God to be God. Craig has a healthy approach to serving in the Kingdom: focus on prayer, community, and celebration, and know that sustainability can't always be quantified.

We're now back in Johannesburg, the so-called Los Angeles of South Africa. While here, we're catching up with our friends Mutodi & Leslee and the whole Neshehe family, and we're trying to work on administrative things, like emailing and posting a blog (way over-due, sorry). We also got to meet Cecile & Andries Louw's newborn daughter, Marisje.

We leave for our 11-day visit to Madagascar on Wednesday and, just now (within the last week), our time there is beginning to "jell." 'Tis the nature of our adventure. I'm really learning to not fret and to really trust that God will direct our path.

If I can’t relate, am I really effective?

2007-08-28T18:07:00.000-04:00

Hope and I have seen some challenging things in this trip. We discuss eternal issues daily. Yet I didn’t expect to encounter something this past week that would cause such a massive jolt of reflection that would ripple through all the compartments of my life.

While serving with Walk in the Light ministries outside of Pietermaritzburg, we met, served, and prayed with a woman very sick with AIDS. I’ve never interacted so closely with anyone truly suffering from one of the most dreaded diseases of this generation. She sat in a simple, worn-out den chair outside her mother’s shack in Haniville Township. Her family called an ambulance around six that morning because she was in so much pain but by the time we arrived at around ten they hadn’t seen any help. A new staff from the UK, Dave, explained that many AIDS victims’ legs swell due to their failing lymphoids, and they’re unable to walk — that’s the state she was in. Before we began the process of moving her, Dave led us in prayer. Then we carefully lifted her from the chair and laid her in a stretcher as gently as we possibly could. As I helped to carry her to the Land Rover, I reflected on how light she was while praying that I wouldn’t slip on the gravel.

Getting her into the Land Rover smoothly & gently was a challenge but we did our best (picture shows us contemplating the task). Her sister, who is HIV-positive yet still fairly healthy, joined us as we transported her to the nearby hospital. As we drove, I attempted to comfort her with my arm around her… praying the whole time for her to sense Christ’s presence and peace. Once at the hospital, we lifted her gently into a wheelchair. Afterwards she insisted by motioning her hands that we not leave her there to spend the night so we told her sister to phone us when they were ready to go home again.

This experience began the ripple-effect, but it wasn’t until the next day that I felt the jolt. Phindile, the “secretary” of Walk in the Light, invited us to join her for medical “rounds” in Haniville in which she visits clients daily to “make sure” they take their medication for AIDS and TB. (She explained that if she doesn’t check daily they will neglect to take it.) As we began our walk with her, I asked her about the woman we helped the day before. Without hesitation or any noticeable remorse, she responded, “She died.”
Deaths from AIDS are so common that Bruce, the Director of Walk in the Light (family picture), facilitated 73 funerals last year, just in his part of that one community… However, our encounter with this woman hit us in two profound new ways: she was the first, visibly suffering, AIDS victim that we’ve interacted closely with, and she was the first person we know directly to die from AIDS. I began reflecting on this as I walked down the steep hill that cuts through the township. While wrapped in my thoughts, I saw a young boy about 10 years old with torn shirt, dirty, mis-matched pants and sweater, and no shoes walking up the hill. As we passed him, Phindile greeted him as she had to all those we passed along the way. He looked familiar and Phindile shared with us that he was this same woman’s son. I looked back at him and as he turned toward me I saw her in his eyes, his broad cheek bones and his full lips. He had a distant look of shock, loss and aimless disbelief. I wanted to go hug him but he probably wouldn’t have known what to think of this white female stranger hugging on him. Tears filled my eyes as the ripples of reflection invaded my thoughts, memories and heart.

Another experience that rippled through my heart, mind and soul was this last week while rather spontaneously serving a small inner city program for the homeless of Durban called Isinkwa Setheku. (We didn’t even know the name of the program as we drove with our new friend George, Karien’s brother, into the dark, prostitute-filled, inner-city streets of Durban. All we knew was that the program began at 7 pm.) George left us in the care of Paul, the current coordinator of the ministry, who put us into a group with Phil & Gus. Paul led everyone in a prayer and then sent us out to shelters around the Durban city centre. As we drove with Phil & Gus, we received a very quick orientation on Durban’s homeless shelter “business” and what the Isinkwa Setheku was all about. Being the warmest city in South Africa, many homeless flock to Durban; unfortunately, though, “shelters” began to spring up, charging about 20 rand (US$3) a night for a bed & shower. This inner city ministry Isinkwa Setheku is trying to raise support & find accommodation for a shelter ministry, but they have met challenges and not been successful yet.

Neither Hope nor I had directly ministered to the homeless so we didn’t know what to expect that night. After observing Phil minister to a woman he obviously knew from other times ministering on the streets, my attention turned to Lynda, a 30-year old male who had been on the streets for only about 3 months and felt that his past was unforgivable. Our time was blessed with honest conversation and prayer focused on God’s unconditional love for him. It seemed his situation reflected the prodigal son. I don’t know if he took my advice to return home but that is what God put on my heart to tell him.

While encouraging my trust in an all-knowing God, these ripples of reflection permeated through my conscious thought, but they have also made me question my effectiveness in these brief visits with ministries around the world. This trip is all about trusting God’s design in that we don’t know where we will stay day to day but I'm learning to let go of my will and let God guide us in His sovereignty. I am learning to really trust my heavenly Father with my own steps so I must translate this trust to His meta-narrative design of all of life. I cannot yet fully grasp the reasoning of His call to this unique adventure but I can trust in His love and design.

I must close with thanks to Hank Keating, a colleague of my father’s, who connected us to two incredible men of faith — Dave Peters (picture at the Valley of a Thousand Hills) and Bruce Taylor. From our introduction last Monday night, Hope & I were both blessed by their display of faith, their trust in God’s provision, their words of wisdom & encouragement, and their nurturing spirits of brotherly & fatherly love. African Enterprise and Walk in the Light are both holistic Christ-centered ministries bearing amazing fruit for God’s glory. Also a thanks to our generous, new friends, George & Minette Murray, who shared their limited space with us in Durban and opened their hearts to us like family.

six degrees of separation?

2007-08-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned over the last week is how wonderfully small and interconnected the world is. It’s so amazing to discover God’s kingdom this way.

The moment we walked into Pangani Nieu Communities in Pretoria, we immediately met Alycia, a beautiful, gregarious woman from the States. After less than 5 minutes of conversation, we found out that she works with 13th Floor, a performing arts ministry based here in Pretoria that we’re already connected with through Karien Murray.

Similarly, our old friend Amy Wilson connected us with her friend Kevin Thomas about trying to meet while he traveled through South Africa, but we had no idea that we’d cross paths so soon. We met here at Nieu Communities the night we arrived (Tuesday), but we didn’t make put it all together until on Wednesday morning.

Then, Saturday morning, we went with our new friend Dayna to the bus station to pick up her old friend, Bell, who came to Pretoria for a vacation from her job at a Bible College in Jeffery's Bay. It didn’t take us long to make a connection with her, too. She graduated from Gordon College with Natalie Burns—an old friend from First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, who also shared an art class with Hope in high school.

It really is a small world after all… And, believe it or not, we’ve had more experiences of the same nature!

Kevin Thomas spent a week with Greg Oefinger in Paarl (near Cape Town) that we’re already planning to connect with thanks to our friend Brittany, who we met at Ministry of Hope in Malawi.

Our new friend/ministry colleague Hein Reyneke got married at the house of Cois, who we already connected with through Rodney Seals a month ago in Johannesburg and hope to meet with while in the Cape Town area.

A former participant of the Pretoria Nieu Communities, named Betsy, serves with the Turks in Madagascar, and the Turks are PC-USA missionaries that we are hoping to visit thanks to our previous connection through the Dimmocks (missionaries from Montreat Presbyterian, now serving in Lesotho after 15 years in Malawi).

These names may not mean anything to you, but my point is that it's more like 3 degrees of separation within the ministry world.
__________________________

Now we're back in South Africa, a 1st-world country with frequently seen McDonalds & KFCs, more consistent electricity, and Sudafed for my head cold. Cecile, Andries and Anelia Louw graciously opened their home to us again. In our brief visit, we connected with SAAWE, met new people, reconnected with Mutodi, Leslee, & Mutodi's family, ran much needed errands, made dinner for the Louw's, and Hope even fit in sanding & painting a rocking chair and shelf for their new baby's room. (Marisje is due at the end of August and could come any day. We hope to meet her before we leave the continent.)

Saakie Fourie, with SAAWE, not only gave us a ride to Pretoria but he also made possible a meeting with Hein Reyneke, the coordinator of the southern Africa region for Kids Games, SCAS, and "Ubabalo 2010"… After our meeting over brunch on Tuesday, we spent Thursday afternoon with Hein and got a short orientation on these ministries and to get some guidance on our upcoming visit to Cape Town. Hein reminds me of Shawn Stewart in that he has so much energy and gift of vision for kingdom work with youth. Kids Games is my type of ministry, using games to share the Gospel with youth. I won’t give you a full overview but you can check out the website through the link. I highly recommend anyone who uses recreation in youth work to register with them and use the invaluable, free resources they provide!

I can’t express how thankful I am for the connection to Nieu Communities through Amy & Johnny Wilson! Definitely check out their website. Anyone who wants to get a taste of missions in the context of an intentional, Christian community would benefit from spending a year at one of the 3 Nieu Communities sights (Pretoria, Vancouver, or Glasgow). We have been blessed to participate in 2 women’s gatherings (dinner & birthday celebration), an incredible fellowship meal, and many wonderful conversations with progressive Christians seeking a different perspective.

On Wednesday we learned about Tshwane Leadership Foundation, which is the umbrella over the Pretoria Community Ministries who are doing incredible, holistic, urban work. TLF strives to “strengthen the unfolding movement of churches, communities and programmes with capacity, resource development, advocacy and policy work, communication and marketing, and spiritual nurture.” We met with Kathrin --- for over an hour to try to grasp an understanding of this movement and it’s history. We were very thankful for her taking time to meet with us considering the huge, annual project unfolding this next week called “Festival of the Clowns.” We wish we could stay here to check out all the events and participate in the social justice workshops but alas we are catching a bus down to Pietermaritzburg tomorrow. She arranged a tour of the ministry sites for us with a humorous, outgoing, Malawian staff member, Eric. It was moving to visit the AIDS hospice house, the boarding house for young women trying to get out of prostitution, and free day care and homework club for urban youth who would otherwise be on the streets or alone at home throughout the day.

On Friday we ate lunch with Colin Honiball from 13th Floor and his colleague Ritich. We learned about the unique ministry of 13th Floor, the history, their current work here in South Africa and in the US, and the vision for the UK and Mozambique. 13th Floor has a distinctive way to minister to the youth culture through arts and performance by thinking outside the box, an issue most churches are challenged by.

After lunch we joined Dayna Curtis in a trip to Soshanguve, a township of over 3 million. She introduced us to GoGo’s (grandmother’s) family who Dayna had ministered with during her year participating in Nieu Communities in 2005. Dayna recently facilitated a mission trip with a group of non-Christian’s from Los Angeles… quite a unique adventure.

Our time in the north part of South Africa comes to an end for now. We ended this segment of travel by meeting up with Mark Walkup, an old family friend who has been working in Harare, Zimbabwe but visits Pretoria for a work conference. He has a refreshing perspective and some incredible stories as Zimbabwe is in a state of chaos which is something few can relate to.

Tionana

2007-08-11T09:08:00.000-04:00

"See you" -a common farewell in Chichewa

We left Malawi yesterday with mixed feelings: sad to say goodbye once again yet gratitude for our friends there and the sense of fruitfulness in our work through the Ministry of Hope (MoH). These last 10 days have been full.

I appreciated returning to Matapila, the village I stayed in last year with the Montreat Pres. summer mission project. This visit differed from last years in that we were hosted by Gift (the MoH Feeding Center Director for the nearby village Katonda and interim Director for the Matapila Feeding Center) and his beautiful wife-Esnart, daughter-Tawina, and son-Takodwa. Unfortunately we didn’t get out to Matapila until mid-afternoon... once again leaving after lunch when we thought we would be leaving first thing in the morning. African time. We did get to catch the Matapila market day in full throttle, the busiest day of the week. It’s a bit uncomfortable to be starred at constantly by hundreds of people but after a while you get used to it. They rarely see azungus (white people) out in their villages.

The highlights flourished throughout our time in Matapila. One blessing entailed spending evenings with Tawina and Takodwa. It took a short while for them to check us out but it didn’t take long for them to melt our hearts. Another blessing involved visiting Selengo, a village about a 30 minute walk away, where we spent 3 days in ministry last year. The changes amazed me: finished goat pin with 2 male goats & 8 females, finished maze mill in action, and the mini-market formed next to the mill bringing support to the local economy. With the help of Mavuto & Wiseman (African Bible College students/MoH interns), we played Red Rover with the kids and led a devotion. Unfortunately the last child to make a run got “clothes-lined” when he chose to try to break through 2 bigger kids’ arms. He fell back on the ground hitting his head on a rock. It reminded why we never played Red Rover at the Boys & Girls Club. But it all worked out… Jimmy (the Director) told me Monday that he healed alright.

Another highlight consisted of a very successful workshop on recreational evangelism: using games as an experiential way to share Scripture lessons. The morning filled with smiles and laughter from a diverse age-group of youth and youth workers (more than 40 all together). After lunch (of nsema & soy- common protein source here, not just for vegetarians) we met with just the youth workers. I wanted to make sure that they grasped the concept. They did! We ended the session brainstorming scripture lessons for a Malawian hide-and-seek game. I was so excited! Then the youth leaders decided, of their own initiative, that they should meet once a month to share ideas and encourage each other. Dean Borgman (of GCTS & Center for Youth Studies) said this might happen and I’m so thankful it did.

This week we were blessed to go out to Mponela, a village in the north. Actually, it’s much bigger than what you would think of as a village, something like 11,000 in the surrounding area. Our new, good friend William directs the Feeding Center and goes beyond the normal programing with hundreds of orphans by doing some amazing things in the community. He developed a support program for widows and he’s now beginning a job skills training program. As we walked into the city center we observed his connection with the community by all the kids running up and people calling out "uncle". He’s doing great work while giving God all the glory.

Tuesday evening we were called to spend some time with an encouraging, generous woman, Enala, who has supported William like a mother. She treated us to coffee, tea, croissants, and mandasi (Malawian doughnuts) while she prepared a dinner for us to take back to Williams. We invited Violet & Felocia (2 young ladies MoH is supporting through textile school) and the 3 guards for the Center to join us for dinner and we still didn’t manage to finish all the food! I must admit that I’m glad we didn’t eat with Enala otherwise I would have felt obligated to eat the goats’ intestines that were one part of the meal. (Hope tried some anyway.) When we got up the next morning we found Enala sitting in William’s living room waiting to visit with us and she brought a breakfast which ended up feeding 7 people! In addition, Enala sent over some medicine and leamons to help Hope fight the infection which had set in. And before we left she sent over 4 nsomba (fish) and 2 big bags of teza (peanuts) to take with us. Enala radiated generousity.

A huge highlight to our time in Mponela involved the workshop we facilitated with almost 50 youth workers. William recruited at a number of churches in the Mponela area and various ministries. Unfortunately we experienced the coldest day yet but that didn’t hurt the turn out too much. I took the workshop further by teaching 5 games and connecting them to scripture lessons, then teaching a couple more games but having the youth workers brainstorm scripture for them, and finishing out by inviting them to share Malawian games to link to lessons. It intrigued me to find that not many people could remember games youth played. I observed that in Malawian culture there lies a distinct division between youth and adulthood. Youth ends in marriage which most often happens fairly young, especially in the villages. It seems like a lot of adults forget how to play. I engage them in play and it reminded them of childlikeness of faith. Christ encouraged this quality in Matthew 18 & 19. I’m so thankful He is calling me to facilitate childlikeness in His people.

We ended our visit to Mponela by listening to the beautiful harmonies of well over a hundred youth. As I stood there I made a conscious effort to hold on to this memory as it would probably be a long time before I hear such sweet sounds from African youth again. Although our new friend Felocia and her brother gifted us with a demo of their families' new album which they will produce as soon as they raise enough money.

Unfortunately Hope’s infection didn’t get better so we visited the African Bible College clinic where she received the diagnosis of a sinus infection. She tried to take it easy for the rest of our stay only venturing out to the pharmacy, to pick up our new, beautifully-tailored African outfits from the talented and fair tailor, Ishmael, and to walk down to the neighborhood market one last time. Our final evening in Malawi entailed hours of no power, wonderful company (Daniel & William), and the simple delicacies of sandwiches instead of the italian meal we planned for. God designed this so we would bask in the fellowship of our brothers in Christ, which I thanked God for as I drifted off to sleep very late in the night.

We safely rested our heads at the home of Cecile, Andries, and Anelia again here in Johannesburg. As will be the case throughout the next almost 11 months, the direction of our next steps aren't confirmed yet. We might make our way up to Pretoria next to visit ministries there. Keep us in your prayers as we pursue connections throughout South Africa. We'll keep you posted as the events unfold.

Mulungu akhale nanu

2007-08-01T23:00:00.000-04:00

"God be with you"... as He has with us. I'm amazed every day by how blessed we are. The Ministry of Hope (MoH) has been so good to us... specifically Daniel Moyo, Charles Gwengwe, Rollins Mtambo, Mr. Kamanga, Agnes Guta (who is leaving), Rowana (who is replacing Agnes), Kalvin Kalonga, & Mpho Lungu. Daniel, the Director of Education, Spiritual Development, and Volunteer Coordination (quite a mouthful), has been an incredible host and friend. We had met last year just after he graduated from African Bible College (ABC) and right before they brought him on full-time... a great move on their part.

A lot has happened since my last post including saying goodbye to our fellow North Carolinians as well as our new friend Brittany, a retreat at Lake Malawi of 120 youth (8-15 year olds) from the six MoH feeding centers, lots of walking around the chaotic streets of Lilongwe, haggling with the women in the fabric area of the Old Market, a formal service at the neighborhood CCAP lasting 2 1/2 hours, a late therefore shortened recreational ministry workshop at ABC, feeding precious babies at the Crisis Nursery, leading a Bible Study about the Dangerous Wonder of childlike faith, and a blessed afternoon with Youth Care Ministries filled with good people and games with urban youth of Lilongwe. Many, many blessings.

The youth retreat was an incredible experience filled with lots of dancing, playing, swimming at the beach, praying, inspiring talks with some translation, small group activities Malawian food, wonderful youth workers and ABC student/interns, and did I say dancing? Daniel had arranged for a Afro-reggae-gospel band from Scripture Union in Lilongwe to come out for the week. They kept us dancing until we headed to our tents and then woke us up to dance some more. That's where the video clip comes from (below). We had a different experience than the Lutheran High School group from CA (who helped facilitate the retreat) because we chose to camp with the kids at the "House of Joel Bible, Missionary, & Training Center" where the retreat was held. We could have taken the more comfortable route by checking into a room at the Chipoka Lodge. They would take off to the lodge around 8pm while Hope & I would continue on dancing with the kids. We were woken each morning around 5am to little voices speaking Chichewa all around us but we wouldn't straggle out of our tent until we heard the Afro-reggae-gospel vibes floating through the camp around 7am. Although the retreat was a bit exhausting, it was a huge blessing!

Saturday we spent with Daniel and my friend Yohane walking all around the city center of Lilongwe visiting markets, tailors, a community center, taking a minibus packed with 23 people (quite normal, actually), ending the day at the Area 47 (neighborhood) market to get fresh vegetables. It was an educational experience, perspective shifting.

We chose to get up early Sunday morning (6:15am) to join Daniel for the CCA Presbyterian church service. I was amazed at how formal the service was, not what I expected. We literally sat for 2 or the 2 1/2 hours... my butt was going numb! It's interesting how ceremonial the Malawian culture seems yet at the same time they are always late (hours) sometimes never even showing up. Seems to contradict itself.
Early Sunday evening we went down the street to the MoH Crisis Nursery to help with feeding time. I know we're there to help but I think we're the ones blessed. Mom, you would love it... 18 beautiful babies. They are there because they are either orphans or they have health issues that their parents need help with (including malnurishment and HIV/AIDS). Some will go back to their families (sometimes extended family), some will be adopted, and some will end up in orphanages. Hope & I both would love to adopt one but the Malawian government doesn't make the process easy. You must live in Malawi for 18 months before you can even start the application process, which takes another 18 months. Somehow Madonna bypassed this process last year.

So Monday we experienced Malawian culture quite vividly which ruffled our American perspectives. We showed up at the ABC gym (which we had rented) to find the leftover mess from a wedding from Saturday strewn all over the floor. Then over half the workshop participants showed up 2 hours late. It all worked out fine and it was still a blessed time but it was a gentle reminder of how clock-oriented our time perspective is in America... as opposed to event-oriented as is the perspective here in Malawi.

Tuesday we began our day reconnecting with the ABC student/interns and William, the MoH feeding center director for the village of Mponela. He is an amazing "man after God's own heart." At the youth retreat he had shared with me his experience doing missions in Rwanda during the height of violence and turmoil. He has traveled all over central & southern Africa working with youth. He expressed his frustration with the church lacking any focus on youth. It seems like a common theme so far in my African experience: for youth to have no voice. It's frustrating. Jesus said, "when you did it to one the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me" (Matt 25:40). In Malawi (& Mozambique) you're considered a youth until you have your own family. Paul (writer of much of the New Testament) would have been treated as a youth... interesting.

Then we ate lunch with Lessie, a former MoH staff who I connected with last year. She's had a challenging year including losing her job at MoH, catching gastoral-malaria, and therefore losing a 7-week old baby she was carrying. She's an amazing woman, still showing kindness and contentment.

After helping with feeding time again, I drove Hope & I over to a Bible study with a "youth group" of 17-20 somethings. God placed Dangerous Wonder by Michael Yaconelli on my heart. I encouraged these "youth" to hold onto "the childlike attribute of our faith called dangerous wonder", "- a place landscaped by risky curiosity, wild abandon, daring playfulness, quiet listening, irresponsible passion, happy terror, and naive grace." If you haven't read it, you should.

Today we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with William Nyasulu and Youth Care Ministries. I met William last year, briefly, and caught a glimpse of his vision for urban youth in Lilongwe. Youth Care has two after-school programs and a "safe haven" housing 8 homeless youth. William gained perspective on effective, urban youth programming by taking part in "Urban Promise" in Camden, New Jersey, a ministry supported and promoted by Tony Campolo and EAPE . He now has a vision to build a 'campus' with a primary & secondary school, 8 'group homes' for homeless youth, resource center, technology center, library, guest house for missionary groups... and it goes on. They have acquired land and he hopes to make it to the States to raise support and research more urban programs.

We spent the afternoon with one of the After-school programs which they call "camp". I encouraged Mavuto (an ABC student/intern) to facilitate 2 games devotions he had learned with me on Monday (Red Light, Green Light and Elbow Tag). We met many volunteers including 4 ABC graduates who are heading to New Jersey in September to work with "Urban Promise". One, Robert, wanted to hear my perspective on American youth and how they differed from Malawian youth. One big difference is respect. In America, adults don't get respect, they have to earn it relationally. But here in Malawi, respecting your elders is a part of the culture. I've observed this in many ways, even in the handshake. I hope that the western culture doesn't dilute the Malawi traditions too much.

Tomorrow we go out to Matapila, a village to the south where MoH started. We will be staying with Gift and his family, helping with the feeding center programs, and facilitating a recreation workshop for youth workers. It should be another unique, perspective-shifting experience.

dancing to afro-reggae gospel

2007-08-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

Muli bwanji? Ndili bwino.

2007-07-24T16:50:00.000-04:00

"How are you?" "I'm fine." Actually more than fine...

Upon arrival at the Lilongwe Airport, we were greeted with officials, Malawian national guards, and many on-lookers. I knew we were expected but I didn't think our visit had such earthly importance. Come to find out that President Bingu wa Mutharika was flying in just after us. We walked out into the small lobby of LLW Airport into a sea of unrecognizable, starring Malawians faces. It was wonderful to see my good friend, Yohane, walking through the crowd toward us with a huge smile on his face.

Mr. Kamanga drove us to the Ministry of Hope office (our housing/base camp) to met all the new staff and we were given a short, casual introduction and tour from Charles, the Executive Director. It felt great to be hugged by Philip the same "cook" from last year and greeted by Mr. Perri the same guard. The office crew eventually left us to a vacant house where we settled into a quiet evening of dinner and emails (MoH has "high speed" which is an unexpected convenience).

After joining a MoH staff meeting, I caught up with my friend Daniel Moyo, MoH Program Officer, to talk about the "schedule" of events which includes a youth retreat to Lake Malawi, a sports evangelism workshop in the African Bible College (ABC) gym, and another workshop at the MoH feeding center at Matipila, a village north of Lilongwe. Daniel is another friend from last year that is now on MoH staff full-time. Yohane & I then walked over to ABC to confirm the use of the gym and to tour the campus... beautiful! I was blessed to meet some wonderful classmates of Yohane and was reminded why they call Malawi "the warm heart of Africa".

Friday afternoon we drove with Rollins, one of the other MoH drivers, out to pick up Hannah, Samantha, & Jeff (from WNC) in Matapila... where the MPC youth group stayed last year. As we made our way through the traffic of Lilongwe, we passed many landmarks... the shady 7-11 & Internet cafe we frequented last year, the wood market with the high-pressure salesmen, the old town market, the mosque... it warmed my heart to recognize the city. As we made our way, Philip and Rollins were humored by Hope & my attempts at speaking Chichewa. They taught us some useful phrases like "achemwali anga", "my sister"... something we use a lot.

We made our way north in the the very familiar, purple, MoH minibus. Rollins is a very fast driver; we hung on for dear life. We turned on the dirt road that took us out to Matapila & Serengo. It seemed much shorter this time, probably due to Rollins driving. Our visit in Matapila was very brief but I was filled with warmth seeing the church, primary school, and the MoH house where Shadrack lived. I look forward to getting back out there to stay for a longer visit.

Saturday morning we ventured into town with Daniel, beginning the journey by cramming into Mpho's car. We picked up more groceries for dinner and faced the challenge of perusing the wood market. Even though the vendors exclaimed, "looking is free", they desperately worked at convincing us to buy from their "discount shop". For me this experience was humorous; for Hope it's something she could do without.

Saturday afternoon MoH hosted a "Founders Day" event. It was a 3-hour event filled with testimonies of MoH's effectiveness with orphans, vulnerable children, and facilitating adoptions. It's interesting to observe the formality of public speaking in Malawi. Each speaker makes a point to greet all delegates and representing parties... it becomes quite time consuming. They did include a bit of entertainment from the ladies at the crisis nursery while kids played all around us. The ceremony ended with a moving talk from Nancy Dimmock, a MPC missionary who started the crisis nursery program. During refreshment time I reconnected with William from Youth Care (an urban "youth center" program-I met him last year) and the Dimmock's (who are moving to Lesotho).

Saturday evening we enjoyed dinner and fellowship with our fellow North Carolinians. Brittany, a Azuza Pacific University senior, arrived from Nkhoma with stories of her experience attending a Malawian wedding... quite an unique cultural event and one I would love to go to!

Sunday morning we attended a powerful service at Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC) with a guest preacher from the Baptist Church of Blantyre. He spoke on 1 Corinthians 7 regarding marriage, singleness, and not being defined by others, only by God. Afterwards, Daniel and the Dimmocks helped me in networking with youth workers and sports evangelists known all over Malawi whom I look forward to learning from. Sunday evening we treated Daniel, Mr. Kamanga, his wife and daughter to Indian food. It was a blessed time of fellowship with lots of laughter and good food.

Monday morning began with staff devotions, singing, & giving thanks... a good way to start the week. The office then filled with action, people, and preparations for the youth retreat at Lake Malawi. Rollins gave me the keys to his car to use for the day. He was a bit reluctant maybe because he wasn't so sure that this silly, American girl could drive on the left side of the road. I have to say I was a little nervous but the only challenge involved hitting the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal... quite a few times.

Monday evening we were powerless. You see, here in Lilongwe the power goes off every day, sometimes up to an hour but yesterday evening the power was off for a good part of 5 hours. The night turned into wonderful fellowship, an experimental dinner, and dancing. We learned that our new friend, Jeffrey, is quite the dancer... waltzing and swinging. He's going to make a young bride very happy one day.

Today we celebrated Hannah, Samantha, and Brittany's service to MoH with a fellowship lunch and chocolate cake, ending with "Till We Meet at Jesus' Feet." It was been a wonderful beginning to our time here in Malawi.

goodbye to Mozambique, on our way to Malawi

2007-07-18T17:45:00.000-04:00

We are in West Kempton, Johannesburg, staying with our dear friend Karien’s sister, Cecile, and her wonderful family, Andries and 2-year-old Anelia (note picture). Our hosts have been such a blessing as they have already connected us with effective urban ministries and a number of youth workers… but before I get into those details I must first report on our time in Mozambique.

Saturday morning, we joined Mollie with her son, Philip, and Lisa for a trip to the craft market. Much like the wood market in Lilongwe that I visited last year, this market was crawling with very aggressive salesmen who claimed to be our “friends” and said that they’d give us a “very good price.” Due to the language barrier, Hope had to handle most of the haggling, but she didn’t much like it… in fact, it flusters her quite a bit. Maybe because of my background in marketing and sales, I actually get a kick out of their persistence matched against my insistence on my set price.

After the market, we caught a “chapa” (minibus) to a small school where Lisa’s church meets—A Igreja Reformada do Mozambique. We met with Pastor Paulo and Luis, the youth leader, before the start of youth group. After a few praise songs and prayer, I led them in “steal the bacon,” which Luis translated for me as “pega o bife” (“take the beef”). They got really into it! (see pictures) Then I led a experiential devotion: “Who are you listening to?” It went really well although it was a challenge to break my thoughts up into short sentences and phrases for translation.

From there, we went to Lisa’s old flat to meet up with her Jacana friends for dinner. After a yummy Thai dinner on the coastline, we caught a passing, empty chapa back to the city. Lisa was a little thrown off by how empty the chapa was although it was very convenient for a group of eight. She explained that she would never jump on a vacant chapa if she was alone or even just with a friend. Come to find out that the driver was taking his lady into the city for a date and figured he’d pick up this large group to make some extra money… funny.

Sunday, we woke up early in order go to two church services: one in Portuguese at A Igreja Reformada do Mozambique and the other in English at the International Church. Although I didn’t understand the first service, it was wonderful to listen to the prayers, praise songs, and Pastor Paulo’s sermon. I tried to sing along to the overheads and follow the scripture readings. It’s amazing to me that I could follow the context considering how awful I am at languages. It was truly a blessing to worship with these brothers and sisters whom I had spent time with throughout the week. All the youth workers from Masana attended the church while several of the young adults from “youth group” the day before led worship. Pastor Paulo even incorporated a bit of my talk into his prayer. Afterward, while at the International Church, I was surprised to connect with Les & Mark Harper (associated with CBN). What a blessing!

After both services, we rushed back to Henrik’s to see Lisa off. It was sad to see her go but at least we know we’ll reconnect with her in Montreat for years to come. We were quite spoiled by her amazing gift to host. Through her we met so many people in ministry and missions, participated in kingdom work, and were blessed with a beautiful place to stay. I’m so thankful for her!

Sunday night we met up with Pastor Paulo at the KFC (yes, there are actually 3 in Maputo… no McDonalds though) and caught a ride in Luis’ VW bug over to Café Shalom—an outreach created by American missionary Jim Bower to minister to the middle-class, Mozambique youth… Although, Youth for Christ uses it occasionally while Sunday is reserved for A Igreja Reformada do Mozambique. We played pool there—Luis & I against Paulo & Hope… needless to say, Luis & I won. They played Kirk Franklin as well as some other contemporary, Christian music. I hope to coordinate more urban, Christian music for them to play like Lisa McClendon, Out of Eden, Mary, Mary, and Mars Ill, among others.

While there, I interviewed Luis to learn about his experience with Youth for Christ’s “Africa Team,” which travelled throughout southern Africa performing dramas and dance dealing with life skills. He is still active with YfC’s Board. It’s amazing and wonderful to hear about how ministries in Mozambique & in South Africa are invited to schools to teach about life skills (HIV/AIDS, drugs, etc.) while also having the oppportunity to present the Gospel. That would never happen in the States!

As I closed with Luis, “Beto” (Alberto) from Youth for Christ showed up. He jumped right in, thoughtfully answering my questions. Then, Les Harper, also with YfC, joined us. It was a blessed discussion that involved some brainstorming. Afterwards, Les expressed her appreciation to be able to discuss issues with an objective youth worker… I’m thankful that can God use me.

Monday morning, Madalena (Henrik’s neighbor/housemate) invited us to come along with some other American missionaries (Katie, Connie & Marshall) and friends (Maggie, Charles, & Neil) to visit an effective ministry in a village outside of Maputo called Magoanine. Pastor Vasco Munhane is a visionary who empowered his community to minister to the orphans and provide a school through their church, "Arca da Salvação". It was an amazing story that seems rare in Africa. One of the biggest frustrations of many nationals I met was the lack of empowerment of the people. Instead, people seem to look for hand-outs or quick-fixes, like the idea of giving a man a fish…

On our way back into Maputo, Neil & Charles invited us to catch a ride back to Jo’burg with them that afternoon instead of taking a bus the next morning. When we got back to Madalena’s we called Cecile to see if we could come a day early, and she said Yes! We packed up our things quickly and took off to Jo’burg. It was a quick goodbye which tugged on my heart-strings as Mozambique had grown on me quickly. I would love to go back and spend an extended time there (which I’m sure will happen everywhere we go).

While back in Jo’burg, Cecile & Andries have connected us with several ministries which we will visit when we return from Malawi. We got a chance to visit with Andries’ friend, Siphiwe, who is involved with a job-training ministry—one of the 7 programs facilitated by MES. This ministry is in the heart of the city and in an infamous area of Jo’burg, called Hillbrow. We learned about the training program and participated in a Bible study with 23 of the 28 guys in the program. It is a very effective ministry that turns clients over in 6 months or less, helping them get jobs and learn life skills. MES is a ministry I’d love to work for, if I lived in Jo’burg.

Today, we were blessed to meet with Rodney Seals who is a renown youth worker, visionary, camp director and minister for over 27 years. He was so encouraging and we hope to visit with him and his wife in Pretoria when we return from Malawi.

I apologize for the long entry but God has blessed us with so many ministry opportunities, and I want to share them all with you. I’m learning so much, growing so much… and we’re only about 2 weeks into our trip!

Maputo, Mozambique

2007-07-12T04:35:00.000-04:00

We made it to Mozambique and are in the care of our wonderful sister/host, Lisa Frist. It was refreshing to hear and see Lisa as she called out from her friend Inacio's car at the boarder. She had arranged to come out to meet us because she had to renew her 30-day Mozambique visa (she has to make the hour & a half trip every month of her stay here). Although the greyhound was fairly nice, it was a bit loud, blarring music or movies over the speakers without the option to fade the volume. So our drive to Maputo was instead filled with catching up with Lisa, sharing experiences, and gain understanding about this next leg of the adventure.

So we've been in Maputo about 3 days and are still drinking in the culture, the sounds and smells. We saw the Indian Ocean for the first time on Tuesday. We've been blessed to meet so many people... nationals, Brazilians, Brits, Swedish, Swiss, Americans. Lisa introduced us to her Mozambican pastor named Paulo. He also serves with a ministry for street youth called Manasa ("light" in the indigenous language). We observed the ministry on Tuesday... worshipping with the group and meeting, eating lunch, and praying with the leaders. It is such a blessing that Hope can translate for me. Her portuguese seems to be flowing well (she may not agree). It is a beautiful language that is mesmerizing even though I comprehend so little. I usually get the context of the conversation but that is about all. Paulo knows a bit of english as does Amacleto and Luis.

Tuesday night we walked over (Maptuo is a walking city unlike Jo'burg... it's wonderful) to Mollie & Wesley's for Bible study. Mollie & Wesley are from Winston-Salem and are fellow Tarheels, having already trained their four-year-old to say, "Go Heels!" Sarah was another American here serving with World Vision (she's from Knoxville, TN). It was a blessed time of study (James 1) and sharing. Please keep Bill & Courtney, Sarah, Sophia, and Mollie in your prayers. (Also, I tripped on the sidewalk and hit my left knee-having a history of fluid in that knee, it has swelled up fairly big... keep that in your prayers as well.)

Yesterday we went back to Manasa to lead games and an experiential devotion on trust with the young men and boys (pictures). It was a very different experience for them and a learning experience for me! We also surveyed the leaders of this youth ministry & took portraits. It was truly a blessing to get their perspective on their country, the youth of Mozambique, the effectiveness of ministries (and in some cases ineffectiveness), and their own prayer requests. All the leaders asked for prayers of wisdom for God's will for them and their ministry. They hope to find a larger place to host them (they are at an Episcopal Church now) so they may reach more youth. I hope to have more information about Manasa soon but internet access has been a challenge. We ended our time with Manasa by sitting in the side alcove of the church, listening to a vocal quintet, drinking in the experience of angelic harmonies while looking out the side window of the church to clothes drying on the many balconies of the high-rise apartment building next door.

We have more ministry opportunities coming in our stay in Mozambique that I will share in the next post. Please keep us in your prayers as we arrange logistics of travel. We have decided against travel in/through Zimbabwe due to the crisis there. So we are now investigating other options to get to Lilongwe, Malawi and then back to Johannesburg.

Soweto youth choir

2007-07-08T13:51:00.000-04:00

Almost a week...

2007-07-08T11:33:00.000-04:00

We have had a wonderful adjustment in our first stop in this worldwide voyage. We have adjusted to the jetlag and learned a lot about the history and culture of South Africa.

We have visited Museum Africa, which featured various exhibits from Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin’s photography from 1919-1939 of Southern Africa to “Gandhi’s Johannesburg, Birthplace of Satyagrha (passive resistance or soul force) to Jurgen Schadeberg’s “Tales from Jozi”, a photography exhibit of urban life in South Africa. It was an experience that has contributed to some cultural intelligence for our mission.

Yesterday we had a unique “tour” of Soweto beginning with sharing “fat cakes” with Mutodi and his extended family. Then we went to see Nelson Mandela’s house (Desmond Tutu’s house was on the same street… the only two Nobel Peace Prize winners who lived on the same street). Next we visited Regina Mundi and were blessed to stumble upon a youth choir practice (hopefully I’ll attach a clip later). Mutodi drove us all over different parts of Soweto where I re-connected with many that I met last year. Although many were surprised to meet this smiley, white, American girl in the township last year, many more were surprised to see me come back and bring my sister.

Today we visited with Mutodi’s family some more and are about to go to an evening service at Little Falls Christian Centre a short walk from Mutodi & Leslee’s house.

Tomorrow we are catching a Greyhound (same name as the States bus company) to Maputo, Mozambique to visit with Lisa Frist. She has arranged some great, youth ministry opportunities so it should be very exciting. We’re still trying to coordinate our travel arrangements to Malawi. We are a bit anxious about possibility of taking a bus through Zimbabwe… it’s so unstable now. Keep us in your prayers.

Mutodi & Leslee Neshehe have offered to keep their place as a home-base while here in southern Africa. So if you want to send us a letter, package (Leslee misses peanut butter candy), or get a phone message to us, this is their information:
c/o Mutodi Neshehe
PO Box 651056
Benmore 2010
Republic of South Africa

We made it…

2007-07-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

We are so blessed to jump off this cliff of international travel to land into the soft, warm arms of our dear friends Mutodi and Leslee here in Johannesburg, South Africa. After a long 15+-hour flight, which was blessed with a lot of sleep (after several sleep deprived nights), we find ourselves adjusting to jetlag fairly well. Our first day was lazy one of grocery shopping and emailing followed by an amazing experience at Atlas studios. They host a film night the first Wednesday of each month of various themes along with corresponding food. Tonight they hosted “Counting Headz”, a documentary about South African female hip-hop artists from deejays to emcee’s, to graffiti artists, to beat-boxers to b-girls (break-dancers). As many of you know, the urban culture is a huge part of my call so it was a nice setting to begin our journey with a taste of urban South Africa. We also got a chance to converse with one of the co-directors/director of photography, Vusi.

Today we got a chance to experience a South African television studio (our friend, Mutodi, is a celebrity on a popular national sit-com). It was interesting but definitely not my vocational call. So, tomorrow we are going by the bus station to work out our transportation to Mozambique to see Lisa Frist on Monday. We're a little anxious about working out land travel in Africa, especially our trip through Zimbabwe to Malawi. It's not popular being American, especially in Zimbabwe.

We’re making connections with ministries here in Johannesburg but plan to visit when we get back from Malawi. Transportation around Johannesburg is a bit challenging because our friends work… so we’ll see what happens… it’s in God’s hands so I know it will all work out.

I don’t think I mentioned it before but we have a Skype number that has voice mail. (828) 333-4672 or hope.deifell. So be in touch. We were blessed to talk to my parents and Dave & Elizabeth yesterday for free… and mom & dad again just now. Wow! Technology is so facinating.

Keep us in your prayers as we work out the logistics of Africa land travel. We will try to post again soon.

Itinerary & map...

2007-06-26T18:19:00.006-04:00

View Larger Map
The pink flags are where we've been, the purple lines are the routes we've taken, and the blue flags are the places friends have suggested or invited us to visit.

Africa

July 2nd fly to Johannesburg, South Africa, to visit Mutodi & Leslee Neshehe
July 9th bus to Maputo, Mozambique, to visit Lisa Frist, lead games & devotion with ministry to street kids, a local youth group, and possibly a outreach cafe' ministry... visit orphanges and more
July 15-20th make our way on to Lilongwe, Malawi, to serve with Ministry of Hope, lead a recreation training for youth workers, reconnect with people in Selengo & Matapila, possibly visit Mzuzu, Malawi, to visit Ministry of Hope outreach
August 10th make our way back to South Africa, then to Lesotho, Durban, Pretoria, Cape Town and possibly Swaziland... hopefully meeting up with Mark Walkup, Sharlene Shwartz, 13th Floor, and more...
September 12-23rd fly to Madagascar, back through Johannesburg for a day

India

September 24th fly to Mumbai, India, where we hope to connect with our friend Manju's family
Spend a few weeks traveling south to Kerala where we hope visit Immanuel Church of South India (where our friends Julie & Adrian served), and then maybe fly north to New Delhi and take a few weeks to travel east to Durgapur where we hope to visit with the Diocese of Durgapur, India Episcopal Church (sister Diocese to Diocese of WNC) and maybe even the Sisters of Mercy in Kolkata

Southeast Asia

November 8th fly from Kolkata to Bankok, Thailand, to visit with Amy & Kip Baggett (Ruth Ann Somerville's sister) then on to travel through Southeast Asia including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam

Hong Kong/Southern China

January 24th fly to Hong Kong hoping to visit the McEntire's, the Woods, and more and hope to make it into southern China to visit the Vinzani's

New Zealand

February 15th fly to Christchurch, New Zealand, to travel through the south & some of the north island connecting with youth workers/colleagues of Aaron Roberts

Australia

April 14th fly to Sydney, Australia, and from there travel to Canberra to catch up with Pete DeVries, to Adelaide to spend time with the Dowlings (my host family from 1991), to Melbourne maybe, and more... hopefully track down some old friends while meeting new ones and make it north to the Brisbane and the Great Barrier Reef

Fiji / Vancouver

June 2nd fly to Fiji for about a week, then to Vancouver, British Columbia, to visit Sue & Johnny Wilson, Amy & Aaron Roberts with Nieu Communities, Johannah Wetzel, Joyce Heron with Jacob's Well, and Rachel & Ed

Final Leg

June 24th fly to San Francisco to visit Tony & Mardie Deifell
July 1st fly back to Charlotte, NC... just in time for July 4th in WNC

Whew! All these desinations and order are set but the timing is flexible with RTW tickets. So the dates are subject to change... and probably will.

As you can tell, our contacts are 'jelling' in Africa but slowly coming together beyond. It makes me a little anxious but I know it's God's lesson of faith and trust. Please let us know if you have any contacts (friends, family, or ministries, etc.) in any of the places we plan to visit. We know that we will gain a better perspective of each culture if we are connected to locals.

Please be in prayer for us as we have too much to humanly accomplish in these last 5 days. Ginny Owens' song "I AM" keeps running through my head.

Please watch this blogspot. You can even subscribe to the rss feed (below the picture) to get a notice in your inbox anytime we update. Keep praying... it's the backbone to this unique call.

Blessings,
Heather

3 weeks and counting

2007-06-09T18:07:00.000-04:00

The tickets are booked.
We're working on logistics daily... which includes research, networking, designing trainings, praying about objectives, and saying goodbye to this blessed community in WNC.
I would love to say that everything is coming together... well it is, in Africa. Lessons of faith... He will give us the sense of things 'jelling' as we go. It'd be too easy if it were all planned perfectly... plus we'd think it was all because of our effort, not because of His sovereignty. It will come together.
We will leave on July 1st and land gently off this international cliff into the arms of our friends Mutodi and Leslee in Johannesburg. After a week we are on to our friend, Lisa Frist, in Maputo, Mozambique. Then the Ministry of Hope in Lilongwe, Malawi for a few weeks and maybe our friends, Mark & Ruth Walkup, in Zimbabwe on our way back to South Africa. We hope to make it down to Cape Town and to Lesotho to visit with the Dimmocks. We plan to go to Madagascar from Sept. 2-12 with a day lay-over in Johannesburg before flying to India.
So, that is the first few months. We will keep you posted as we go.
Please keep us in your prayers as we work on logistics. Pray that we will sense Christ walking with us, leading us, each step of this journey. And that we will culturally sensitive along the way.

Come hear Heather share her vision for the trip over dessert

2007-05-12T21:41:00.000-04:00

Sharing My Vision over Dessert
An opportunity for me to share a short presentation explaining the various components to this global mission project followed by time to answer questions.

Monday, May 14 at 7:00pm in the Fellowship Hall of Gaither Chapel in Montreat: Gaither Circle off Lookout Road

Monday, May 21 at 7:00pm in the Flood Gallery of the Phil Mechanic Building, Asheville River District: 108 Roberts Street, corner of Haywood St./Clingman Ave.

project brochure

2007-05-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

project description

2007-04-18T22:15:00.002-04:00

How has God refined our project? What does it look like exactly?

First, we yearn to connect with the Body wherever we can. In fact, we recognize that God has given us the unique opportunity to network with and for others, so we're constantly trying to keep our eyes, ears & hearts open to His will. Some examples include the research that I'm doing about youth work (below), but they also include the day-to-day "survival" in trusting that we'll find places to rest, paths to take, people to support, and conversations that facilitate fellowship.

Second, I desire to gain a global perspective on work with youth culture... specifically to learn about the ministries, the missions, the visions, the issues youth are facing in different communities, the testimonies, the histories, the populations served, what’s working, what’s not working, new ideas, frustrations, etc.

Third, we desire to serve others in any way we are capable:
• Leading workshops for youth workers on "recreational ministry/evangelism", so they can learn to use informal fun games/activities to share Scripture with youth in an experientially-educational way. Ideally, the workshop lasts 3 hours long, and the attendees invited to participate are those who lead youth and/or minister to youth in some capacity. We don't need any special equipment -- just a few recreation/soccer balls and any kind of open space to play games (inside or out)!
• Leading youth in recreation ministry activities. An efficient time frame would be about 1-1½ hours in order to keep within youth attention span.
• Serving in anyway we can to help meet a program’s needs: build, paint, clean, cook, baby sit, network, teach, listen, encourage, ... we’re open to suggestions.

Support Letter, by Heather Deifell

2007-03-24T17:44:00.000-04:00

Hello to my encouraging Loved Ones,

I am on the cusp of an incredible, new stage in my life: planning a year-long trip around the world to go to ministries, especially with those working with youth, to serve, train, and encourage youth workers. It's exciting to begin moving forward in a call God set in my heart 3 years ago, a call to a specific, purposeful global mission trip.

I'm aware that this call has been influenced by many of the experiences God's put into my life. I worked with The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club (TSABGC) in Asheville as the Program Director for almost 6 year which led me to the Urban Ministries Certificate program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte. As I finish this certificate, I'm now switching gears to the MA in Christian Leadership program. I have also been working with the senior high youth group at Montreat Presbyterian Church (MPC) for over 5 years. In November I began doing social work at a local elementary school by providing community support for children who have significant behavioral & circumstantial challenges, most coming from the government housing neighborhoods in Asheville. Through all of these experiences, God has given me a passion to serve urban youth and facilitate the training of youth workers with a similar passion.

There are several components to this mission trip.

To serve in whatever capacity ministries desire. We hope to help further develop & support youth programs, teach English, facilitate building play spaces, and serve to meet any ministry needs. I would also like to learn, observe, and survey what each ministry is all about: the mission, leadership, staff, volunteers, and population served. This research of urban ministries will be for the Center for Youth Studies as well as for my own career development as an urban youth worker.

To facilitate education about and research for the Center for Youth Studies website. This website is an amazing resource for youth workers. I will be writing for the “encyclopedia” component in hopes to build resource lists of ministries that will be accessible through the Internet to anyone seeking missions to support and/or serve around the world. I hope that through plugging youth workers into the networking component of the website, communication between ministries will be facilitated. This will hopefully lead to forums on the website and local collaborations between ministries. Please send me your email so I can keep you linked to developments in our progress with youth and youth workers.

To train and encourage youth workers. Shawn Stewart, MPC's youth director and Youth Specialties trainer in South America, is serving as my mentor for the Mentored Ministry component to the MACL degree. He is supervising me this spring in developing trainings to bring and implement in ministries around the world. One such ministry is the Ministry of Hope which is closely affiliated with Montreat Presbyterian. I joined Shawn, 2 other youth leaders, and 9 youth in a mission trip to Malawi in June of 2006 to work with the Ministry of Hope (many of you helped support me in that blessed mission trip -thank you!).

I'm working closely with Shawn Stewart and Dean Borgman, founder & director of the Center of Youth Studies and Professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary CUME campus in Boston. I'm blessed to be mentored by two gifted, experienced men who are helping me prepare for this unique mission experience. I'm also blessed that the Center for Youth Studies (see attached letter) and MPC have endorsed this trip. I’m thankful that my sister, Hope, will be my traveling partner for at least 6 months.While in Malawi I was blessed by many experiences but two specific experiences have helped to refine my vision, influencing my call to a global mission trip. One was observing Shawn’s training of Malawian youth workers in the village of Salengo. As I watched, God impressed upon me the similarities between Shawn’s training and my own experience facilitating trainings for my staff at The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club in Asheville, NC.

The second experience was meeting a director of an urban youth ministry in Lilongwe. After sharing, he invited me to come train his staff. I told him my vision of returning and asked him what kinds of trainings he felt his staff would benefit from. He expressed his desire for program trainings such as education, arts, and games. Then he expressed their need for training of “the psychology of these youth.” As I’ve reflected of his requests I am amazed at how God has been preparing me for a different kind of call through my experience with The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club, my undergraduate degree in psychology, my current pursuit of a MA in Christian Leadership with a Certificate in Urban Ministries, and a new experience in social work with behaviorally challenged kids. Through all of these rewarding experiences, God has called me to train and equip youth workers around the world to bring Christ's love to this next generation.

This trip is much bigger than me. I know that God is using me to encourage ministries around the world, spread the knowledge of their mission, vision, and needs to others, and bring valuable resources to missionaries working with youth around the globe.

Some of you may be able to support me financially. As best I can see the budget for this trip is $15,000, of which the MPC missions committee saw fit to support me with $3,250 leaving a balance of $11,750. Checks can be made out to “Montreat Presbyterian Church” with “global mission trip” in the memo (NOT my name... so this to can be a legitimate tax write-off for you) and sent to:

Heather Deifell
c/o Montreat Presbyterian Church Missions Committee
P.O. Box 279
Montreat, NC 28757

But I know first hand that prayer is the most valuable support given. Please pray that as I pursue God's call I will discern His will for this trip, ministries to visit, designing our itinerary, being flexible, preparing trainings, working out logistics, and raising funds. Also pray for us throughout this trip for safety, discernment, wisdom, encouragement, and communication. Thank you.

Blessings in Christ,
Heather Deifell

p.s. Remember to send us your email so we can keep you updated along the way.
p.p.s. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who might support this unique mission trip.

Resources needed: high capacity flash drive for power point trainings & documenting surveys/ resource lists/ research or a used, small laptop with Internet abilities

Projected itinerary-leaving June:
fly NYC (or Atlanta) to Johannesburg, South Africa
by land up to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (via Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, & Kenya)
fly Addis Ababa to Calcutta, India (into southern India)
fly Calcutta to Bangkok, Thailand (into Laos, Cambodia, & Vietnam)
fly Bangkok to Hong Kong, China (into southern China)
fly Hong Kong to Sydney, Australia
fly Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand
fly Auckland to Vancouver, Canada
fly Vancouver to NYC (or Atlanta)