Pure Religion

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:17) Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart (Zechariah 7:9-10)

Eliya (pictured left) and I met at an orphanage while helping to lead a 5-day trip of students from Haven of Peace Academy. I think he’s about 4 years old, but it’s hard to know for sure because he was abandoned. One day he was found sleeping in a public bus when the bus reached the final destination with no one else remaining. One minute he’s in his mother’s arms and when he wakes up, he’s alone, abandoned. The driver took the child (probably around 2 or 3) to the police station and Eliya eventually ended up at Agape Children’s Village. He has AIDS and though he is doing well right now, a year ago his caregivers believed he was going to die because he was so sick.
On Easter Sunday I was playing games outside of our church with the kids when an older woman stopped and greeted me. We talked for a few minutes and when I asked her where she lived she told me she was looking for a place to stay. She had been kicked out of her last home by the landlord. The landlord was the caregiver to an orphaned relative named Paulina. 8-year old Paulina is made to do all of the household work and given no food. The woman that I met had been helping Paulina by giving her some of her food and simply being kind to her. When the landlord/caregiver found out, he forced the woman to leave.
Later on Sunday I was with some friends coming back from the beach. We had to cross the harbor on a ferry. Now, first you need to understand that we don’t have waiting lines in Tanzania. The first person to be served is the person who shoves to the front and demands service. So as we’re waiting for the ferry to unload so that we can get on, everyone begins to push toward the gate and force their way forward. You can imagine fans at a major football game who begin to storm the field to celebrate victory—that is what it is like to board the ferry. So the gates open and every one “storms the field”. I could tell that there was something on the ground a bit in front of me, so I began to try to resist the tide of people thinking that someone had lost their shoe and was trying to get it. But as I get closer I realize it’s a person on the ground nearly being trampled. What was strange was that she wasn’t crying out and no one seemed to be making an effort to either help her or even to avoid stepping on her. I began yelling to the people behind me to stop pushing because someone had fallen on the ground. As I pulled her to her feet, I saw her face—she appeared to be mentally retarded. Drool was coming from her mouth and her eyes were distant and unfocused. She was so skinny that I felt I was lifting a skeleton. I helped her to the side and tried to talk to her but she was unintelligible. I looked around for someone that she may have been with but I found no one.
Why do I tell you these sickening stories of humans neglecting and abusing the vulnerable? I am hoping to paint small and incomplete picture of the need here. I recognize that these things happen all over the world, but these are the specific things that I see here. I have heard countless stories of the abuse of widows and orphans. Pray with me for justice, freedom from oppression and God’s loved to be showered upon orphans and widows here.
Above: Maria, age 7, is another orphan who lives at Agape Children's Village and has AIDS.

Lavish Blessing

I've just returned from our organization's retreat in Spain (and some in Portugal) and am still wide-eyed with wonder at the blessings of God during the week.
First of all, God worked it out so that many good friends were there with me.
Brett Carl, my former youth pastor and boss
Drew and Lindsey Wilkins, best friends from college
Meg, team mate who's been in the States for 8 months
Anna, college friend who is doing similar work as myself in W. Africa
Lois, mentor and friend from Kenya
and many others! The joy of being with old friends was deep and delightful. I think I had forgotten the goodness of long-standing friendships where there is mutual understanding, love, safety, trust and FUN!
Secondly, I heard and saw the gospel lived out in the lives of the workers of our organization in a way that truly overwhelms me. The gospel preached is a beautiful thing. The gospel lived is earth-shattering, humbling, shocking and glorious. I wish I could say the name of my organization at this point so as to recognize the gospel in them but most of you already know.
Finally, dialoging with fellow workers, meeting new people and hearing how God is working around the world was exhilarating. I heard from workers in Romania, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, N. America, South Africa, France, Spain, and so many more countries! God will build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
May you each be blessed lavishly.
Top: Lindsey, Drew and I in Huelva, Spain.
Bottom: Meg, Anna and I in some town in Portugal... it started with "T"

Storying the Bible

In the neighborhood where I used to live and taught microfinance there are a lot of young boys that I slowly got to know. A friend of mine had the idea of starting a soccer ministry in the neighborhood and so I began running drills and organizing matches for them. After they play, I narrate to them from the Word of God. These narrations start from the beginning and work through the Bible to the ascension of Christ. More than 75% of the members of our church here came to know Christ because of these narrations. Following is a blurb from Firm Foundations Ministry who has put out great resources for storying the Bible.

"This curriculum is set up to chronologically teach through the Bible, from Creation to Christ! The meaning of the gospel takes on new significance with the right foundation, and there will be a complete understanding of what Christ accomplished on the Cross! This curriculum was developed for missionary outreach to pagan cultures that had no foundational knowledge of Christianity. This same approach needs to be used in our western world, with apologetic teaching added to the beginning of each course to defend creation and oppose evolution. This would give a tremendous foundation for children and adults to be able to understand and defend the Scriptures in this secular age.

From the publisher

Just as a jeweler places a diamond on a black velvet background to reveal its beauty, the Gospel can only be clearly seen and appreciated when displayed against the background of the Old Testament. These carefully crafted Bible studies lay a solid foundation for the Gospel from the Old Testament. The Gospel is then presented in all its logic and beauty.

The Bible studies have been used with great success in evangelistic outreach among people from vastly different educational and cultural backgrounds.

As you teach chronologically through the Bible, your students will come to know God as He revealed Himself progressively through Scripture in His interaction with mankind. Beginning in Genesis and ending with the life of Christ, these studies produce an understanding of:

• the nature and character of God
• man’s sinfulness
• God’s hand in history
• the grace of God
• Christ as the promised Redeemer

The Bible will come alive and will be seen as one story—His story."

“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me” ~ Psalm 138:8a

Over the last year there have been many times when I have asked God, “What am I doing here? Am I doing any good at all?” It seems that I increasingly see pain, brokenness and sin around and in me. But I’m supposed to be a minister of reconciliation, to preach the gospel in word and deed, to be a part of “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on EARTH as it is in Heaven.” Where is the fruit of that labor?

As I read this verse, God answered many of those questions. The fruit is me. It is my sanctification and that is precisely what I am doing here – being sanctified, made into the image of Christ, prepared to be His Bride. As I teach transformational development principles, microfinance and the Bible, I am the one who really changes as a result of my work. My mother, a gifted teacher, has often told me that as she prepares for Bible studies and teaches them she is the one who learns the most, not the students. That same principle works here – as I toil and labor for God’s Kingdom, as I enter into the pain of those around me, as I speak into the lives of people here, I am the one who experiences healing, reconciliation and sanctification.

God has placed us in relationships – 4 key ones in fact:
1. Me and God
2. Me and myself
3. Me and others
4. Me and creation
As a result of the fall, all of those relationships are broken. But Christ came to reconcile all things to Himself and He gave us the work of reconciliation. Here is some reconciliation that is happening in me:
1. God has grown in my heart – His glory has become more delightful to me, His law has become more wonderful to me, and His deeds have become more praiseworthy to me.
2. I have learned more and more to establish my identity, security and hope in Christ, not in achievement, approval or acceptance.
3. God has blessed me with relationships with people from many different cultures and has given many opportunities to show and receive love, forgiveness and grace.
4. I have begun gardening and as I compost and improve the soil, that is actually reconciling a relationship between me and the earth. Until now, I’ve never appreciated insects and critters, but they help the compost to decompose faster so I now get excited about them. I am being reconciled to earth worms and millipedes and dirt!

House Guests

In the last few weeks, we have had an unusually high number of houseguests. Here are a few of them...

Matthew McBride has a different approach to critters than I do... he wants to catch and keep them. I'm all for exterminating. Currently there is a crab in a box, 2 snakes in a cooler (see below), a scorpion in an old ice cream container, and a small tarantula in tuperware.

I stumbled upon this intruder my first night completely alone in the McBride's house... no guard, no Matthew, no one! I did what any sensible girl would do - called Papa! I'm pleased to report that he is now dead.

I was on the other side of the screened in door looking out when this guy jumped on it. Surprise!

Most recent find- just a couple of house snakes. Can someone explain to me why we have "house snakes"? It seems as if whoever named them thought it was appropriate for snakes to be in the house.

These little frogs are a daily issue. They secrete a nice, poisonous slime on their skin so if you touch them, wash your hands quickly. They come in constantly... fortunately, they are frog mutants who can't seem to hop... they creep along like Golum in Lord of the Rings.

Not pictured: a large crab that showed up in the office.

Mary Mole was my Swahili teacher in Kenya. She’s a dignified and gregarious woman who speaks her mind and works hard. She also has AIDS. Her husband died 7 years ago from AIDS and she was diagnosed shortly afterwards. After spending months in the hospital, she began to improve due to anti-retro viral treatment. She has four children, the youngest of whom is 13 (Sarah - pictured to the left with Mary), all of whom know her status and are loving, loyal and supportive of her. In the spring of this year she decided to make her status known to her boss so that she would have the opportunity to minister to others with AIDS. Her boss, the headmaster at a church-affiliated high school, began to make life miserable for her until finally Mary asked for a transfer.
Mary’s life story is exile. Her mother was kicked out of the house with her and Mary’s sister because she was pregnant out of wedlock. When Mary married a man from another tribe and when her husband died of AIDS, her in-laws refused their responsibility to her and chased her away. Since she had married outside of her tribe, she has always had a hard time among her own tribe. During the election violence she was harassed and robbed simply because her married name was of another ethnic group. And most recently she was practically forced to leave her job at the school. Now she is teaching at another school where her boss has tried to have her fired due to having AIDS. Praise God that the board of the school refused to have her fired on such illegitimate grounds.
I had been in touch with Mary and knew that she had been transferred to a village school a few miles away. So when I went to Kenya to visit, I found out the school she worked at from her cousin and got a "bush taxi" to the school on a cold and rainy day in the mountains of Western Kenya. I wasn’t sure if I would find her and she doesn’t have a cell phone (it was stolen by her sons’ classmates during the post-election violence) so I was anxious as I sloshed through mud and pouring rain to the school compound. The look of surprise on her face is something I will never forget!
I sat with Mary for hours in her new home, so far away from any support system or family. We caught up on life and she told me how she was battling depression, discouragement, and stigma along with AIDS. But her faith in God shook me to the core. As we talked together she shared scripture with me, specific promises of God that she was clinging to. She praised the Lord for His faithfulness to her. And then she said something that I’ll never forget. She told me that she was blessed to have AIDS because it made her appreciate each gift of God in a new way every day. She has learned to treasure God deeply and to delight in Him and that has given her a joy that no one person can take. What a challenge and encouragement she is to me. Please pray with me for Mary! She needs encouragement, love, support and community. Pray for her children as well that they will find Christ to be their security as their mother has.

A Brief Update

Surprise! This is a new post!

I came to Kenya last week to go to a Chalmers' training and decided it would be a good time to visit old friends. I had the amazing opportunity to meet up with Anna Garriott who was a classmate in Community Development at Covenant and who is currently working in West Africa doing very similar work to me. It's been very encouraging to spend time with her, to bounce ideas off of each other, to discuss our experiences and challenges, to pray together and just to know that the struggles that we go through are, in fact, quite normal. (Above picture - Anna and I doing a little shopping in Kibera, Nairobi. For more pictures, click on the link to my albums).