A Week in My Life

It is amazing how much my life has changed. In the States, my life consisted of work, sleep, and church on Sundays. I always worked during the weekly church meeting or devotionals and literally gathered with the saints for a maximum of 3 hours a week. Of course, I continued my own personal studies throughout the week, but I really missed Wednesday night services and Tuesday night Bible studies at the Thompson’s or the Martin’s homes. Evangelism was something I worked into my routine- showing my Christian light at work or giving an encouraging word to a resident or coworker.

My life has drastically changed since then. Now my entire life, focus, and job is about God. Working on a mission has been every bit as liberating as I imagined it would.

Three times a week, I go to a different village to teach children about the Bible. I have never taught a children’s class in my life, and I enjoy it immensely. It is amazing how little focus the church here gives to children. After all, they are the future of God’s church. My goal is to eventually teach all the children in every village I visit the entire Bible. I’m having a lot of fun creating my lesson plans and trying to find inexpensive activities for the children to do. One Sunday, I was able to bring coloring sheets for a class of 33 children. They shared the crayons and had a wonderful time coloring- an activity many of them had probably never done.

During the week, my days are spent working at CBI (Chimala Bible Institute). At 7:30 every morning, every student and faculty member meets for chapel (actually everyone at the mission meets at their respective places of work for a chapel service). I thoroughly enjoy starting off every morning singing praises and praying to my Creator and listening to one of the students or teachers give a lesson.

After chapel, I work around the school. Sometimes I perform administrative tasks like creating schedules or typing letters for Garry. Sometimes I work on organizing the library. One of my tasks has also been to tutor the students in library research. Every Wednesday morning (Wednesday being Library Day), I meet with the English students and teach them about grammar, writing skills, and research. I enjoy passing on what I’ve learned from my past English teachers to the students.

When I’m not teaching children or working at CBI, I work in my home to prepare lessons, do my own personal devotions, or just relax by crocheting or playing on my computer (I will be forever grateful to my Mom for giving me this laptop!). I also enjoy walking around the mission, taking pictures, and observing God’s wonderful creation around me.

I am glad I have this opportunity to serve God here in Chimala. I am glad my life revolves around working for God’s kingdom. I hope and pray my work may be lifted up as a pleasing aroma to Him.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Mission trips are about sacrifice. Missionaries leave their families, their friends, most of their possessions, and they strike out to live in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Many times, the only friends they have in a foreign country is God and the Bible. It is a time of great spiritual growth for the missionary. It is a time of great sacrifice.

In John 12:1-8, Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of very costly perfume. Judas Iscariot objects to her actions. He reasons the perfume could have been sold to serve the poor. Jesus chastises Judas, saying, “Let her alone, in order that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me” (verse 8).

Mary sacrificed almost a year’s worth of wages to serve her Lord. Imagine taking almost $50,000 (the average American salary) and laying it all at the Lord’s feet. In her day, Mary had the opportunity to personally serve our Lord and Savior. Today, we have many other ways to serve God that require sacrifice. We can give to the church, to the poor, to missionaries, any cause that will advance the gospel of Christ.

But what do we do with the money God has blessed us with? Some Christians sacrifice generously to be able to give back to God. Honestly, though, many of us are like Judas Iscariot. John 12:6 says Judas was the treasurer among Jesus’ disciples and he used to steal from the money box. God has given us all a money box. Everything we earn goes into it. But we spend most of it on ourselves. We pilfer God’s blessings and throw a little back to the church to satisfy our conscience.

Do we really need new furniture? If we do, does it have to be that expensive? Is a big screen television or the latest electronic gadget necessary or do we just want it because it looks nice? Do we really need that gigantic nest egg for retirement? After all, we are “a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). We don’t even know if we will live past tomorrow! Is a cushioned retirement worth a lost soul?

Sacrifices don't have to be about material wealth. Are you in an ungodly marriage? Do you have the courage to give up your marriage for Christ? Do you tell others about Christ? Or do you only talk about Him when others bring Him up? Do you have the courage to stand up against abortion, against drugs, against peer pressure? Or do you sit back and watch it happen?

Jesus gave up everything for you. He had more wealth than any of us could dream of, but He chose to come down to this earth and sacrifice His blameless life for your sake. He who had never experienced so much as a paper cut allowed Himself to be beaten and nailed to that rugged old cross. In the end, He had no friends, none that would step forward and claim Him. It was the ultimate mission trip and He did it for you.

How much have you sacrificed for Christ today?

The Power of Water

In the States, they say the only sure things are death and taxes. Here in Tanzania, the only sure things are death and the electricity going out.

For the past few weeks, the electricity has been turning off anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours every evening. They call it a ‘rolling blackout’ (I’ve heard California has been having some recently as well). But for the past three days, the electricity has been going off anywhere from 30 minutes to seven hours. This morning when I woke up, the electricity was off so I took a cold shower. (Believe or not, this cold shower was not refreshing because the mornings are very cool). I opened all the curtains to let in the early morning light so I could see what I was doing.

Today we discovered the reason for the frequent shortage in electricity: there is not enough water to power the generators that produce electricity across the country. I have never been so affected by a shortage of water. In Colorado, we usually had restrictions on water usage in the summer, especially when it came to watering the lawns. But ‘water shortages’ in Colorado never prevented me from taking a hot shower, or reading a book, or working on my computer, or doing any other activity at night.

I consider myself a night owl. I will stay up half the night working on whatever project I want to finish. I took it for granted that I could do any activity I wanted because of electricity. The past three nights I have gone to bed early with a flashlight because the only activity I could really do was read a book. It’s not fun working on a puzzle with a flashlight. I can’t crochet holding a flashlight. And my laptop’s battery only lasts four hours so I can’t complete all my little projects. Last night, I couldn’t even read in my living room because all the bugs came flying at the only light around for miles. I have never so appreciated the preciousness of water.

In John chapter four, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman about the gift of God: living water. This water never runs out or dries up. It lasts forever. To the Samaritan woman, such a thing was desirable because she wouldn’t have to trek back and forth to the well everyday, hauling gallons of water. In fact, she would never thirst again! To me, living water is desirable because it can produce as much electricity as I need. I could have as many hot showers as I want, work on my puzzle as late into the night as I desire, crochet until my fingers fall off, and work on my laptop until my eyes burn out. Jesus’ living water is so powerful I wouldn’t even need to flip a switch or plug in my computer.

But Jesus’ living water is much better than anything electricity can do for me. Jesus’ living water provides everlasting life. In John 4:14, Jesus says, “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” Jesus’ water is truly the fountain of youth! If one partakes of it, one will live forever, never growing old, and never witnessing the curse of spiritual death.

Eventually my laptop will die forever. My puzzle will crumble into oblivion. The pages in my books will fall out. My body will become so old and decrepit that no amount of showering, hot or cold, could revive it. But the living water I receive through Jesus Christ will allow my soul to live with Him in eternity. Nothing else above the earth, on it, or under it is that powerful.

Have you got the power today?

My First Week at the Chimala Mission in Tanzania

I have always been drawn to Africa as a mission field. This past year I was given the opportunity to visit the Chimala Mission just outside of Tanzania, East Africa. Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver was in the midst of negotiating with the New York Avenue church of Christ (the overseeing congregation of the Mission) about taking over the preaching school aspect of the Chimala Mission. The merger would take place in January 2011.

At the time of my visit I was volunteering in the hospital delivering babies. I stayed with Mary and Howell Ferguson, who work as the Stateside Coordinator for the BVBID extension schools in Chimala and the Ukraine. Howell was busy arranging the merger of the Chimala Bible College (Bear Valley’s extension school) and the Chimala School of Preaching (the original preaching school at the Mission). During his discussions, he brought up the need for a new secretary and a librarian. I turned around and said, “Well, I could do that!”

I moved to the Chimala Mission Saturday, January 15^th to contribute to the work of the new Chimala Bible Institute. The school began its first day on January 17^th. What a wonderful day that was! The faculty and students are fully excited about the improvements in both the academics and the welfare of the students that will be coming. It was also wonderful to see the two different schools, now the English and Swahili Departments, worshipping together in the first ever combined chapel.

At the end of my first week, however, I finally realized just how much responsibility I have taken on. I am not only the Librarian and Administrative Assistant to Garry Hill, but I have also been designated the Dean of Women. I will furthermore be teaching a Library Research class and tutoring some of the students in English. On top of all that, I am determined to finish my Bachelors in Biblical Studies this November. I think I can do it. Not only that, but I am determined to do it. I know God will give me the strength to help these 25 men and two women graduate so they can return to their hometowns and spread the gospel throughout the land.