I had the great honor of escorting two Nicaraguan friends/co-workers around the past few days. They were here for our fall board meeting and Gracias Luncheon. Nelson, our Nicaraguan National Director, has been to the US five times before, but Yader, one of our supervisors, has never been to the States. It was so fun taking them around to different church visits/presentations, restaurants, and tourist sites. Yader was especially fun because he was so overwhelmingly excited by the North American culture that he giggled like a little school girl. :) Keep in mind- this is a grown man with grandchildren laughing hysterically at the excitement of things that I take for granted every single day.
Each of my trips to Nicaragua, Nelson and Yader have treated me like royalty and it was only fair for them to be treated the same during their stay here. I even reluctantly followed their wishes of feeding them McDonald's on two different occasions. "Something fast that serves chicken" is what Nelson always said. After several options, McDonald's it was.
The best part of my time with them was a meeting I had with Yader regarding our student sponsorship program. In the past, there has not been enough man-power to put much time into this program and many sponsors have been expressing their complaints about lack of information about their student and lack of communication between the office and the donors. It is a top priority of mine to fix this, so I was discussing the concerns with Yader. He presented several different ideas of ways he could send more information about each student and create a stronger connection between the students and their sponsor. Each suggestion seemed like a lot of work to me and I expressed my concern of taking more of his time as he is already overwhelmed. His response- "No problem. It's my job."
His response made me speechless. How many times have I complained about having to do overtime or follow requests to add more to my workload? It was a humbling answer to receive from someone so thankful to simply have a job. The amazing thing is that I have received the same answer from multiple Nicaraguan co-workers. They work overwhelming hours in some of the roughest terrain in the world and yet they do everything they are asked (plus some!) because it is their job.
Days like today when I am completely exhausted from the last few day's non-stop chaos, I am reminded of Yader's words. When I want to slack off and rest or even consider taking some time off, I'm reminded that my friends and co-workers are sucking it up to continue our mission. I am so thankful for my Nicaraguan counterparts that push me each and every day to stretch farther than I could ever imagine in my commitment to help the poorest people in Nicaragua.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Ok With Daunting
It dawned on me today that the entire purpose of me starting this blog was to tell about all the amazing things that have taken place. Fail!
I have put an unbelievable amount of miles on my car these last couple weeks, great things have happened, and I have shared none of it.
I have been apart of a presentation put on by a group that traveled to Nicaragua this summer which was great. I have been apart of church visits that could develop into great church partners with Rainbow Network. I have toured the Personal Energy Transportation warehouse and eaten dinner with Mel and Barbara West, the founders of PET and many other missions organizations, which is always a delight.
All of these were great, but there were two recent things that really stick out to me.
First, I helped man the Rainbow Network booth at the Festival of Sharing. FOS was started by Mel and Barbara (of course!) decades ago. Missions groups from all over Missouri come together at the MO State Fairgrounds with two main purposes- to raise awareness and to better equip the organizations to serve. It has been turned into a youth weekend and at any given point throughout the day you will see several youth groups packaging up tons (literally tons) of rice and beans to send to food pantries through the state. There are livestock outside and quilts inside that are auctioned off to support the missions organizations financially. Several other states have mimicked this event in their own state. The amazing thing about this weekend is that while it is administered by the United Methodist Church, it welcomes all denominations. Over 30 different denominations came together with one purpose- to fight hunger. The small details of each denominations' beliefs do not matter when you are dealing with hungry stomachs. I once heard that hungry stomachs have no ears and I could not agree more.
The second big event was having the honor to speak at my home church for Laity Sunday. While I have done over 30 presentations for Rainbow Network, I have never done anything quite like this. Speaking about an organization- especially one you are passionate about- is easy. Talking about yourself- especially for me- not so much. I was asked to speak about what makes me so passionate about missions. While I made a few different points, the one that means the most is that this is what I have been called to. There is nothing more satisfying than serving the Lord through the poor. Knowing that my life is dedicated to a purpose and not a paycheck is extremely fulfilling. Each decision that I make at work and each conversation that I have with anyone no matter where I am could potentially lead to another mouth being fed, another sturdy home being built, another diploma being earned, another illness being treated, another job being developed. The list goes on and on. The more I think about it, the more daunting it seems. I could not ask for anything better.
I have put an unbelievable amount of miles on my car these last couple weeks, great things have happened, and I have shared none of it.
I have been apart of a presentation put on by a group that traveled to Nicaragua this summer which was great. I have been apart of church visits that could develop into great church partners with Rainbow Network. I have toured the Personal Energy Transportation warehouse and eaten dinner with Mel and Barbara West, the founders of PET and many other missions organizations, which is always a delight.
All of these were great, but there were two recent things that really stick out to me.
First, I helped man the Rainbow Network booth at the Festival of Sharing. FOS was started by Mel and Barbara (of course!) decades ago. Missions groups from all over Missouri come together at the MO State Fairgrounds with two main purposes- to raise awareness and to better equip the organizations to serve. It has been turned into a youth weekend and at any given point throughout the day you will see several youth groups packaging up tons (literally tons) of rice and beans to send to food pantries through the state. There are livestock outside and quilts inside that are auctioned off to support the missions organizations financially. Several other states have mimicked this event in their own state. The amazing thing about this weekend is that while it is administered by the United Methodist Church, it welcomes all denominations. Over 30 different denominations came together with one purpose- to fight hunger. The small details of each denominations' beliefs do not matter when you are dealing with hungry stomachs. I once heard that hungry stomachs have no ears and I could not agree more.
The second big event was having the honor to speak at my home church for Laity Sunday. While I have done over 30 presentations for Rainbow Network, I have never done anything quite like this. Speaking about an organization- especially one you are passionate about- is easy. Talking about yourself- especially for me- not so much. I was asked to speak about what makes me so passionate about missions. While I made a few different points, the one that means the most is that this is what I have been called to. There is nothing more satisfying than serving the Lord through the poor. Knowing that my life is dedicated to a purpose and not a paycheck is extremely fulfilling. Each decision that I make at work and each conversation that I have with anyone no matter where I am could potentially lead to another mouth being fed, another sturdy home being built, another diploma being earned, another illness being treated, another job being developed. The list goes on and on. The more I think about it, the more daunting it seems. I could not ask for anything better.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Praying for Miracles
I recently read an article where the writer stressed the idea of praying for miracles. He brought up the point that if we truly believe God can perform miracles, then why aren't we praying for miracles? "What you believe shapes how you pray. And what you pray shapes you."
This same writer challenged his own thoughts and changed his frustration from a nearby screaming baby to a half-hearted, selfish prayer for the baby to stop crying so that he no longer had to listen to it. The crying continued. He then got serious and said a sincere prayer for God to provide comfort for the baby. He even went as far as praying that the baby would smile. Low and behold, the baby stopped crying and after a couple seconds even started laughing.
This got me thinking. How many times do I mumble half-hearted prayers to God for immediate relief to a small problem? God, please make my head stop hurting. God, please give me the strength to get through this hard time. God, please help me find sponsors for some of the unsponsored students. If I take the writer's stance about praying what we believe, then I have very little faith in what God can do.
If I pray what I claim to believe, my prayers should be more like God, help me find sponsors for the remaining 103 unsponsored students. Not only them, but let me have people on the waiting list for next year's new students. God, please use this hard time to teach me what's needed to do something really great.
The information in the article presented a challenge not only to the writer, but to me as well. Consider this my vow to narrow my focus and be more specific in my prayers, each asking for miracles. If I don't, how can I say I believe in an Almighty God that can do incomprehensible things?
This same writer challenged his own thoughts and changed his frustration from a nearby screaming baby to a half-hearted, selfish prayer for the baby to stop crying so that he no longer had to listen to it. The crying continued. He then got serious and said a sincere prayer for God to provide comfort for the baby. He even went as far as praying that the baby would smile. Low and behold, the baby stopped crying and after a couple seconds even started laughing.
This got me thinking. How many times do I mumble half-hearted prayers to God for immediate relief to a small problem? God, please make my head stop hurting. God, please give me the strength to get through this hard time. God, please help me find sponsors for some of the unsponsored students. If I take the writer's stance about praying what we believe, then I have very little faith in what God can do.
If I pray what I claim to believe, my prayers should be more like God, help me find sponsors for the remaining 103 unsponsored students. Not only them, but let me have people on the waiting list for next year's new students. God, please use this hard time to teach me what's needed to do something really great.
The information in the article presented a challenge not only to the writer, but to me as well. Consider this my vow to narrow my focus and be more specific in my prayers, each asking for miracles. If I don't, how can I say I believe in an Almighty God that can do incomprehensible things?
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