Mission Safari: The Next Chapter(s)

Christian Carnival Part 6

Check out the latest entries to the Christian Carnival. Some neat articles!

A Sure Foundation

I am an impatient man. There I said it. This is not a surprise to most of you. But lately I have been finding it difficult to "contain" my impatience. I am so anxious to get to Kenya. I am ready to move forward. I want this itineration or "support raising" to be over.

Fortunately, I have learned my lessons in the past (at least I hope I have). I logically know that it is important to "lay a sure foundation." The Lord must have wanted me to be reminded again this weekend when I re-read 1 Corinthians 3:12-14. Jesus is the foundation. What I build on that foundation will be tested and this by fire.

The Peking Acrobats and Psalm 24

Last night, my family and I were delighted to see The Peking Acrobats at the Newberry Opera House. These performers were simply incredible. The stage exploded with their awesome strength, power, grace, and agility. As they moved from creative act to creative act, the audience (including the five of us) were sitting on the edge of our seats, our hearts pounding with wonder and anticipation of the next amazing feat! They continued to surprise the audience with precise, bold, and colorful displays of jumping, twirling, tumbling, and juggling acts. Both the men and women of the Peking Acrobats showed incredible control of whatever they were balancing, whether it was twirling tables, jugs, lighted candles, knives, or one another. It was surely one of the most incredible performances of the abilities of the human body.

But what in the world does this have to do with Psalm 24? Without trying to spiritual the performance, or trivialize the Bible, I kept mediating on this Psalm throughout the performance.

The Impact of Short Term Missions

Dear Volunteers in Medical Missions,

Every time I receive your newsletter, I keep thinking to myself, “I need to write VIMM and tell them my story.” I finally put it on my “to-do” list, and here I am writing this letter. I think it is a Thank You letter, but you can be the judge.

I had the happy opportunity to participate in VIMM trips while I was a resident in Greenwood, South Carolina – [don’t tell anyone, but the opportunities to participate in these trips were a major factor in my decision to go to Greenwood in the first place!] As a medical student I worked in a mission hospital in Kenya for two months and from this experience thought that maybe one day I might end up on the mission field. I knew that residency would be very busy and challenging and I wanted to make sure that the pressures didn’t crowd out my exposure and involvement to missions.

Important Missionary Stuff

Official birth certificates. Social Security Cards. Vaccinations. Passport applications and pictures. Electrical tape. Utility knife blades. Electrician needlenose pliers. 5 pound box of 6penny coated sinker nails.

What do all of these things have in common? They are the "things" I have been gathering the past couple of days in preparation for the mission field. I have commented in the past how "unglamorous" missions can be, but the juxtaposition of these items/tasks struck me funny last night.

My in-laws have been in town the past couple of days for a visit. I was glad to see them and wanted to learn from their experiences as missionaries to Kenya. We talked about support raising, emails, passports, travel plans, and housing. Their biggest suggestion? Go to Lowes. Why? From their experience, there were things that you just couldn't get in Kenya that would be inexpensive here and easy to take. So, while it is important to gather all those IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, it is even MORE important to take some things that will make life a bit more bearable. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn from others mistakes. Thanks Mom and Dad Burchel!

A Glimpse of Heaven and Racial Reconciliation

Have you ever been priviliged to catch a glimpse of heaven? I am not talking about a Paul-like or John-like experience of being "taken up into the heavens", but a real flesh-and-blood look at the kingdom on earth as it will be in heaven. Well this past weekend I had the opportunity to visibly see and experience what the writer in Revelations described in chapter 7, verses 9 and 10.

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Over the weekend I flew out to the St. Louis area to participate in the Installation and Particularization of New Life Presbyterian Church. The weekend celebration was just awesome. The church is a picture of what is being described in Revelations. It is a church comprised of about 50% white and 50% black members. It has an African American Pastor (only the 9th African American led church in the PCA) and the session (group of elders) is made of of two whites and one black. The worship time was special too. It had a wonderful blend of traditional hymns as well as more "soulful" music, along with very solid Biblical teaching.

A Memo from Marti: What's My Address?

What is my permanent address? Now, that’s an interesting question. In my 37 years of life, I have had exactly 19 different addresses. For a girl who resists change and longs for sameness that is about 18 addresses too many! Many of you have asked to hear my point of view; what am I thinking throughout this whole “going to the mission field” process. Well, I’ll tell you that trying to figure out the answer to that “permanent address” question is among the top of the list of Marti’s quandaries this year.

I have enjoyed all of my addresses; well, most of them. But our 1212 Calhoun St. Newberry S.C. address was among the top 2. I had an especially difficult time saying goodbye to that house last summer. It wasn’t just that I lived there longer than about anywhere else, or that it was a beautiful, old Southern house in a beautiful, old Southern town. It was more than that. It was hard to say good-bye to the memories: remembrances of laughter (and losses), of meals around the table with family and friends, of birthday parties and tea parties and Easter egg hunts, of holidays and bath-tub time and Bible studies and countless hours of reading to the children and baby-rocking. I obviously made it through the summer, but not without crying a bucketful of tears and doing some serious soul-searching.

I am now happily residing at my new 1106 Main Street, Apt. B, Newberry, S.C. address, and honestly, I’m beginning to like it quite well. We’re real cozy here, and it’s kind of nice to be free of some of the burdens that accompany home-ownership (like weeding). But, as the year moves along and God faithfully raises up our needed support to go to Kenya, I realize that this too will only be a very temporary address.

I’m learning several things in Apt. B. I’m praying that (as Chris Rice sings) He will teach me to count the days and make the days count. I’m learning that His grace is, has always been, and will always be sufficient for me. But, mostly I’m learning that Jesus is my only real permanent address. He has promised to never leave me or forsake me, and He has promised that He will always be the same; just like He was yesterday, and just like He will be next year at my new Nairobi address.

“ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” II Corinthians 4:18
In Him, permanently,
Marti

My Crazy Imperfect Christian Family

This is the title of a new book by Glenn Stanton, a Senior Analyst at Focus on the Family. I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Glenn speak at our Men’s Retreat last weekend. Glenn’s words were timely for all of us, but especially for me as I can get caught up in doing such “important” missionary work that I fail to see the importance of doing “mundane” tasks. Glenn’s message is that everything we do is sacred and important because God is Creator and Lord of ALL.

Glenn introduces his book, My Crazy Imperfect Christian Family, with these words:

Let’s start out by understanding something important: The key to loving Christ in your family is not by living out “five easy steps to victorious Christian living” or “seven sure-fire principles to a godly family.” It’s not “for dummies” and there’s no “idiot’s guide.” Fads and formulas will fail you because Christianity is so much more than tips for a successful life.

Instead, the key to loving Christ in your family is having a colorful understanding of and appreciation for Christ’s interest in your family and why it matters in a real flesh-and-blood home. This understanding will serve you well as you seek to serve Christ in the rest of the years that make up your life. It will reveal both the why and the how of being Christian in your family life.

Think of Christ’s teachings. People clamored for rules – specifics to live by – so they could know whether or not they were pleasing God. However, Christ taught us that life isn’t about following rules or mere behavior. It’s about something much bigger: living in the spirit behind the rules.

I encourage you to pick up a copy (click on the title of the book above to be redirected to a site to buy the book). The Christian life is more than rules. It is more than just doing “important” things. It is about becoming like Christ in everything we do, and learning to be content in everything we do.

Life in the Slum

I received an email from one of the pastors we will be working with in Kenya. He has a difficult ministry - he works with the poorest of the poor in Kenya. Read the following to get an idea of the work that he is doing in one of the slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Pray for him in this task. Pray for us to figure out ways to effectively help serve with him.

Greetings in His precious name. I thought that it would be better this time to go through a week in Kibera with you rather than write a regular letter. Monday: Visited a family with five kids. One is sponsored by our church in school. The whole family used to attend a middle class church half an hours walk from Kibera. The walk was too long for the kids and they discovered our church and began attending. The mother followed soon. Husband finally joined after some months. The father is a tinsmith repairing kerosene stoves as a way of making a living. Family real destitute as both parents are HIV+ though in denial. The husband claims sickness a result of the flooding of his former room that is next to the Nairobi dam. MTW medical team came across him in June 2003 when bedridden and forsaken by his siblings as thought that about to die. To the family, that was a tangible expression of love. We pray together and commit the welfare of the family into the hands of the Lord. P.S. Celestine, their 14 year old daughter will start attending a boarding school as she has great aptitude for academics. She will be with two other girls from the church who will join her this Friday. As a church, we prayed for the trio on Sunday with great joy in what the Lord is doing. A ministry to reach girls at risk has begun and we hope through this to have many complete school and not become mothers at the ages of 14-16.

Just Say No

Yet another confirmation for the work God is calling us to comes from the East African Standard newspaper. This article highlights the battle beginning to brew in Kenya over the issue of abortion. I am afraid that they are headed for the same slippery slope that our country shamefully lunged for in the early 1970s. The Church, both in Kenya and the world, must be awake and take leadership in averting another human rights abuse in Africa. We need to be praying for and encouraging our physician brothers and sisters in Kenya to stand up for the sanctity of life.

INFA-MED

Many of you have asked us, "Who will you be working with in Kenya?" That answer is a bit complicated. Our sending agency is Mission to the World, so we will be working with them, the MTW missionaries in Kenya, and the national pastors there in Kenya. However, in regards to medical education, we will also be working with an organization called the Institute for Family Medicine (INFA-MED). To learn more about this organization, check out this link: INFAMED.

A United Nations Confirmation

Although we did not seek the United Nation’s approval for going to Kenya, we have discovered that they have indeed confirmed our call. An article published by the United Nations explains in detail the problem of “brain drain” in Africa. Almost weekly as we do our presentation, we speak of this problem and how it further leads to the poverty in Africa. In fact, we discuss this issue and our calling to address it on our website, The Mission Safari.

Brain drain can be devastating.

Top 10 Missionary Moments for January

Dear Friends,

Wow, it has been an incredible month. So much has happened I don't even know where to begin. So, instead of my usual commentary, let me get right to the highlights. We will do a David Letterman-like Top Ten Missionary Moments for the month of January.

10. Tim attended and passed two medical instructor’s courses – ATLS and ALSO.
9. We made over 100 phone calls this month that were missions related. A new record.
8. Ben and Tim survived an over-night low of 20 degrees at Ben’s Birthday Camp-Out. I know it shouldn’t count as anything big as I did PURPOSELY go out in those conditions.
7. We sent over 200 mission related emails. Again, a new record.
6. We made plans for a vacation in April. Again, not that big of a deal, but at least we set
aside some family time soon.
5. We cut Sam’s hair. He turned 3 this year, and he had never had a haircut. I hope to get a picture out soon.
4. Marti and Tim sat down and planned a family budget for 2004 without a single argument. This was done in less than 2 hours! This has never been accomplished in our near 15 years of marriage!
3. We started a website. Check it out at: www.missionsafari.net.
2. We started a blog. This is an ongoing commentary on our missionary experience. Check it out at http://missionsafari.typepad.com.

And finally,

1. We had over $1000/month in new commitments bringing our support to almost 65%. Yeah!!!!!