The Village

Yabelewa nanimama anya namale.

Five points for anyone who can correctly guess what that says. I'm guessing you won't be able to...unless you have been to New Tribes Wayumi program or you can speak the Malaumanda tribal language of Papua New Guinea. I learned this sentence today when I went into what they call "the village." Sounds intimidating, huh? Well....it kind of is. Let me set the scene for you.

You walk through two double doors into a dark, smoky room. Lots of high-pitched noises come from all around you, all words that you do not understand. You're in some sort of a grass hut and there's a tribal man in traditional headdress and facepaint sitting on the floor sharpening his machete. Is it safe to sit? If you do, you're sitting close to this tribal man who, mind you, is SHARPENING his machete (cannibal???) and the only place to sit is close to the fire on the floor. Not really typical American greeting. The only phrase you know is "How are you?" and that won't really get you too far learning the language or building a relationship with this unusual fellow sitting by his fire. He looks up, sees you, and mumbles something in a language you don't understand. You sit down and he goes about his business as if you weren't even there. How do you build a relationship? How do you learn his language? How do you learn his culture? What are you supposed to do?

Thankfully we were given the phrase "What is it" so we could correctly elicit a list of words from this man. But today when we went to visit the village, we had to elicit sentences. The tribal man played pretend for a bit and actually understood some of our english for a bit, and so we were able to write down some sentences (mind you, this is all phontetically....so they looked like this "Yah-bey-leh-wah nahn-bah-mah ahnya no-wah-ley"). After we had sentences, we then were given the correct spelling of the sentences (so no longer phonetic) and then we set to the task of breaking apart the sentences, identifying words, phrases, tenses, pronouns, question markers, and other parts of speech. This is something I found out I LOVE! I love being able to break apart language and find patterns. I love figuring it out. It's really enjoyable for me. Challenging, but enjoyable. Phonetics and linguistics is really a cool thing. God constantly amazes me the more I learn about different cultures and different people. The fact that we are all so different and that we all speak such different, complex languages is totally a sign of God to me. How incredible is the God we serve!!

Wayumi Day 1

Why did Jesus have to die? Why can't I merit goodness? What does God require as a payment for sin? Does God require a payment for ALL sin? Why are we on earth? What purpose were we created for? How can one man's death pay for ALL man's sins? Why can't my good and bad works even out? Is God more pleased with me when I go to church?

Imagine going into a group of people who have no clue who Jesus is, no clue who the true God is, no clue that there is a heaven and a hell. Where would you start? How would you answer the above questions? This week I am studying at Wayumi, which is a program here in Jersey Shore, PA put on by New Tribes Mission. The staff here are all missionaries who have spent time on the field and are here to give people a taste of what cross-cultural missions looks like. Their goal is for us to leave here with a better understanding of what some of us will be doing. Today we talked about language and culture and how important they both are. We also talked about what God is doing on earth. And what is He doing? He's calling out a people for His name. Hey, that's us. That's the church. How cool is that? :) And He has specified previously that it will be from every ethnic-linguistic group. We're not there yet, but we will be. Why? Cuz God said so. Awesome stuff. :)

So what's with the questions I started out with? Well, our textbook for our time here is on how to plant a cross-cultural church and it was telling stories about how many countries (and honestly, we could probably say this about some American churches as well) have churches established and when people (missionaries) go in and talk to them about what they believe, they find that the people professing faith in Christ are confused about what actually gets them saved! Many people in so-called "reached" areas are not reached at all...they didn't understand the Gospel message. And so the missionaries had to ask questions and figure out where their understanding was at. Over time they realized that the foundation for the Gospel had not been properly built. The people didn't understand God's character and based it on what they knew of their previous gods, but not the one TRUE God. And so this caused false facts and ideas to be mixed into their ideas of God. They couldn't answer the questions written above according to Biblical truth. They simply believed the "white man" and trusted his friendship. So the missionaries started at the beginning. They began with Genesis 1:1 and taught about God's character and His goals for creation from the beginning on. They showed the people WHY blood was required and WHY no one can merit goodness so that by the time they presented Christ, they understood WHY He had to die and why it was the only way to take care of their sin. They knew that they were sinners from Genesis and that they needed a Savior from that. They saw their need all through the Old Testament and understood the Law for what it really was. With the proper foundations laid, they were able to understand the Gospel message as truth. And the missionaries were able to see how important foundations from the Old Testament were. So now New Tribes presents the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation and that is how we have learned at school. I've seen the benefit of that style of teaching in my own life and I'm so excited as I hear stories of my brothers and sisters in Christ from tribes as they learn the truth that God laid out for us to hear! What a great God we serve!!

Grace and Renewing our Minds

Over break I was able to do a book chart of Galatians and spent a lot of time just reading the text. It was extremely impactful to me. It's interesting how many times I feel like I have been just like the Galatians, understanding that they are saved by faith but expect to become sanctified through self-effort and conforming to a set of rules. We want to perfect our faith on our own. We thank God for saving us and then want to take over, take it from here. How silly we are! We were in chapel today and Shirley was taking us through Philippians and showing us how God is the one who started a good work in us and how that good work God started is to conform us to the image of His son. It's GOD'S WORK though, not ours!! His Work...challenging. And yet we do have responsibility to allow God's Word to renew our minds and transform our thinking, but ultimately HE is the one doing it. We cannot force ourselves into being like Christ....because we won't be even if we outwardly look it. Outward conformity isn't what God desires. That was Israel's problem. God told Israel in the Old Testament that he HATED their sacrifices....sacrifices HE instituted! He hated them because they were ritual, done without heart change and just for the sake of doing the right thing. God doesn't want us to outwardly conform to what His Word says. He wants our hearts to be changed and our actions to change as a result of our heart change. The change is INWARD first and the natural outflow of that is an outward change. So many times I think we focus on making someone, especially ourselves, look a certain way and behave correctly without addressing the real problem, our wicked hearts. It's been such a challenge to me as I evaluate the WHY behind what I do. Am I looking for a list to conform to like the Galatians were? Am I trying to perfect myself without God or am I allowing His Word to transform my thinking and acting according to the truth that I know, depending upon His power? Really challenging.

We have also been talking in 2 Corinthians a lot about grace vs. performance. It's interesting to see how many times I treat people based on performance without even realizing it. I think it's definitely a cultural thing, but definitely a WRONG thing. We have been looking at Godly, Biblical discipline verses social justice as well and that's been super convicting too. Discipline should come from a heart of seeing that person as part of the body of Christ and wanting to do whats best for them in order to restore them in fellowship and do it in a loving, gracious manner. Most of the time I don't even know what that would look like. But it's been good to ponder it, to look to His Word for answers, to study. I feel like I'm just beginning to scratch the surface of it. I feel like that a lot...

Thank God that He is faithful!

Spring Break

This past week was my spring break. For those of you who don't know, I went to Texas to spend some time with Alex. Unfortunately, he wasn't on spring break and still had to go to classes (he attends LeTourneau University), so that meant lots of relaxing sleeping in time for me! Well, I didn't just sleep in....I did some homework too. I even went to a couple of classes, but since airplanes really aren't my cup of tea, I just did my own homework while he learned about avionics and fuel pumps. :) But I did learn a lot while I was in Texas. It was really good to just be able to be there and see Alex in his element. He's a great teacher and a great pilot and is going to be such an asset to the mission someday (so long as he continues looking and depending on Him of course). I'm so thankful for the time that we had to learn more about each other. I learned a lot about myself too, in all honesty, and how selfish and rude I can be. I am beginning to more clearly be able to see and distinguish opportunities to walk in the Spirit...and learning the effects of when I choose not to and when I choose to do so. It's funny how prideful we can be and not wanting to humble ourselves before Him sometimes. God's been working on my heart and showing me the depths of my sinful nature and how important it is for me to be constantly in fellowship with Him, walking in the Spirit and depending upon Him in ALL things because when I'm not....I am embarrassed of myself and my selfish choices. All in all a very growing spring break. :) I even got to book chart Galatians in preparation for the class in a week! I'm excited! But for your viewing pleasure, I thought I would post a few pictures. :)

First, on the motorcycle...about to take a drive to the lake. I told him he had to get used to making funny faces in pictures. :) Aviators. Stereotypical pilot...


This is me "flying" an airplane. It's harder than it looks, let me just say that. I have a whole new level of respect for him...

Learning

There once was a spunky little girl who grew up without a care in the world. And then one day, she learned of God's call to take the Gospel to those who had never heard. At first, she rejected that thought. Why would she want to sacrifice all of that to live in a place of no glory and serve amongst smelly people who probably wouldn't listen anyways? What would ever possess her to do such a thing? You see...at the time, she cared much more about herself then listening to God. And He allowed that for a time. He didn't force her, but continued to show her through His word the importance of ALL people knowing His glory, His salvation, His story. And so, at the age of 13, she began to look for a mission trip to go on. And she went.....to Quito, Ecuador with a group of about 200 other students. She saw sights she never thought she would see, such poverty, such need. She smelled things she never wished to smell again...but smells that were all too common in this world. Her world was rocked. The name of the trip was "Never the Same" and it held true; she came back different. She came back passionate. At this time, her passion was for the people and their physical needs. Oh how blessed she was. Oh how unfortunate the people she saw were. She wanted to help. She wanted to be His hands and feet. But alas, she was 13 and had to return home to her nice suburban house and go to high school. But there was always next year.

That little girl lived for the summers. It was then that she truly felt alive. Ecuador. Bolivia. Brasil. She waited to be overseas, to get to see and experience different cultures and helping those less fortunate. She was almost blinded to those around her when she was at home and at school; her focus was completely on those overseas. She couldn't wait to leave everyone behind and move over there. She was going to change the world. Graduation was so close she could feel it. But her plans changed. She ended up going to a four-year college, not jumping into a Bible program to get trained to go overseas. After a year of college, she quit, knowing that she needed to pay off her debt so she could go into training. And then she got sidetracked. She became caught up in romance and things of this world. She was scared to go overseas, even more scared to go alone. Part of her just wanted to run away and forget people overseas. She just wanted to live her life with her family and her friends and get married and stay here. But then her romance ended. Tragically, in fact, and she hit rock bottom. She struggled for a long time trying to find out who she was and where her worth was found. She realized she had been focused on the wrong things for a long time and had lost her identity. Basing her worth on other's opinions and the way others treated her had landed her distraught. You see, this girl didn't understand what it meant to be a Christian. She didn't understand all that Christ had done for her. And I don't mean she didn't fully grasp it; she didn't grasp it at all! She didn't get her new identity in Christ and what that meant. She didn't understand the truths of Ephesians 1-3 and all the things that God had blessed her with simply because HE chose to do so. But she did understand that her walk with God was missing something. So she signed up to start the first part of training with New Tribes Mission; their Bible Institute in Jackson, MI. She figured she wasn't giving up enough for God and she knew that God wanted all to be saved and was running from it, so maybe she'd make God happy by actually becoming a missionary. That and she really did want to help people. But mostly this was a desperate attempt to find some sort of meaning in the Christian life. She was at rock bottom.

Arriving at Bible school in January of 2009 and beginning classes that started in Genesis, she felt a bit elementary. Why were these teachers trying to talk down to her? She didn't need help learning Old Testament Bible stories! She knew them! She just wanted to learn the answers to all the big questions, all the hot topics. She wanted to have an answer. She wanted to learn what she was missing...because she knew she was missing something. Over the past year, she has been learning the Bible. She has been learning God's story in a way she never knew before. She has seen the importance of understanding the Bible from the beginning to end, as a unit, as all part of God's progressive revelation. She has been learning about the Spirit and how to walk in the Spirit. She has been learning about who Christ made her once she first believed. She has been learning she will never quit learning. There are so many things, so many truths that have been brought to life for her. God has changed her mind on so many issues...even missions. She is passionate about missions, not because she wants to help people, not because it will make her more acceptable to God (she is already as accepted as she can get because she is in CHRIST!), but because God wants that none should perish. Because God commanded us to GO. Because they cannot truly live without the truth of His Word. Because they NEED to hear His truth. Because they cannot believe if they do not hear. Because the Christian life isn't about what's easiest, but about HIM.

Looking back, she is grateful for the hard times that have brought her closer to Him. She is grateful for the pit of despair, because it was only when she was at the end of herself, when she had tried everything she possibly knew how to do and seen it fail, that she could try rest in His finished work on the cross....or begin to learn how to. Life is not perfect. Her walk with God is not perfect. But she has a faith unlike one she has had before because it is built upon a foundation of TRUTH found ONLY in HIS word. She is learning that a life of sacrifice isn't to be feared because as she learns to allow the Word to renew her mind (through studying it) and to set her mind on things eternal, on things above, the circumstances and things on the earth are only opportunities to allow Christ's life to live through her and glory to be brought to HIS name. She is learning....

Identity

When I was little, I lived in the beautiful state of North Carolina. We lived on an enormous plot of land that was covered in trees and wildlife and anything green. I grew up away from the hustle and bustle of the city or the suburbs. I didn't have friends around the corner to play with, just me and my brother. And it was fun. Most days I spent an adequate amount of time playing by myself...no one wants to play basketball for 12 hours a day unless your name is Chad. (Possibly an overstatement, but still.) I read books, collected rocks, played with my kitchen, and just walked around the outdoors. It was a great childhood.

As I got older, I learned more about who I was and I changed. We moved to the suburbs of Columbus and the things I used to do weren't really done in the city so much. No more walks in the fields because they were non-existent. I had to adjust to having neighbor kids to play with all the time and not having all that much alone time. At first it was great. But I came to miss the times I had in North Carolina. Different experiences impacted me in different ways and I spent a lot of time figuring out who I was. I had been thrown into an unfamiliar environment and I had to find myself in it. I'm not sure I'll ever completely understand myself, to be honest, but it's interesting to see how I struggled with my identity growing up. Put in different circumstances, sometimes I would lose sight of myself because I just didn't fit there. Sometimes I would try to act a certain way because it was expected, but it wasn't true to me and I always knew that. You can try to change who you are all you want, but you always know when you aren't being true to yourself.

I've been thinking a lot about identity lately. In fact, I recently gave a speech on the topic in speech class. I used Miss Ohio as an example. You see, when you're crowned Miss Ohio, you begin to act like Miss Ohio. Miss Ohio says certain things, has certain opinions, wears certain types of clothes....and all this may be different from what you did before, but since you have become Miss Ohio, you must change to ACT like Miss Ohio. You take on the identity that you have been given. It's the same for Christians. As human beings I think we struggle with this issue a lot, and I think as believers in Christ, we may at times struggle more than most. We have a new identity in Christ. At first, it was a nice phrase and a nice thought, but I didn't get what that meant. And....I'm still learning what it means. But Christ is now my life. He is now who I am. He is my true identity. But my life doesn't line up with that. My thinking doesn't always show that to be true. My actions are often not HIS actions, but my own. I've been learning a lot lately about identity...what it means, what the implications from it are, how it should be changing my thinking and my actions. A true understanding of who I am in Him will cause change. The more that I focus on those truths, the more I see how far I fall short of truly seeing myself as God sees me. I don't live in those truths very often. I'm learning. I'm learning what it means and I'm learning who I am...but I'm still figuring it out. It's clearly defined in the Word of God....so I have the tools necessary to understand, but it's a process. Just as when I was younger I had to figure out who I was, I am having to do the same thing now....only with my TRUE identity in Him. Who am I? How should that impact the decisions that I make? The Lord is in the process of transforming me to His image. How cool is that. But right now, I have every heavenly blessing. Right now, I have the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. I am God's daughter! My goodness! The things that are true as a natural result of who I am are astounding. And to think that who I am in Him is all for HIS GLORY, not because of anything I have done...it's all so amazing. And elementary....yet I'm still grasping these things. And I will continue to grasp them. I want to grasp them. I want to understand who I am in Him.

The other cool thing about identity is that ALL believers have the same identity. We all have the same blessings in Him. We are all found IN HIM. All that we have been given is because we are IN HIM. How cool is that? Yet do I see other believers like this? Do I treat them like that? Am I unified with them or do I just sit here and judge them, condemn them when they fail? God doesn't. Why would I? So many thoughts. So many things to ponder. So many things to learn as I simply behold who He is, my Savior, my King, my eternal Father. He is my life.

Update

It's been a CRAZY busy week and I thought it would be good for me to take some time to reflect on things. With the fast-pace here, it's easy to just get caught up in things and not take the time to sit down and really mull over things.

I have been talking to a lot of people lately about walking in the Spirit. Okay, and honestly, I feel kind of dumb. Here's the thing....I've been gaining understanding in this matter for....the past year really (before that, I had little understanding and my understanding wasn't growing) and was starting to think "Hey, I'm getting this!" Any red flags going up? Yeah, that can be a dangerous place to be sometimes. Especially if you're me. Anyways, so we actually were in Romans small group over chapter 8 and we were drawing diagrams up on the board and I sat there the entire time thinking "That's not right. That's not what I thought. That can't be right. NOOOOOO!" Seriously....I did. And so, I decided to take a look at what the Word of God had to say and then talk to older, wiser, more mature Christians about the matter. And that's what I did. Three days in a row I had an hour long conversation with three different people and it was really neat to just see how God was at work. I don't understand fully what walking in the Spirit is. But after my first conversation with one of the guys on staff, God had me at a point where I could pray "I don't fully understand, but I trust You to grow me in it and I will walk in the truth that I DO know." I went into the conversation thinking "This can't be what walking in the Spirit really is because I don't want this to be the answer" and came away thinking "I don't understand it, but I see it as truth in the Word of God." Well, actually, I was thinking a lot more than that. I was thinking "Well, how does walking in the Spirit connect with walking in the truth that you have?" and "Does that mean God always has one choice for you to make in moral issues?" and many other questions. But I have been able to discuss them with others and been challenged to take it back to the Word and it's just been really neat to see God growing me in His truth. And it's been neat because at times I almost feel like light bulbs really are coming on. I find myself realizing the lies I've been thinking or believing or the truths that I know in my head or true, but I don't actually think are true based on my actions. They aren't experiencially true for me. I'm so thankful for a God who is faithful to conform me to His image. :) And let me say this: After a week of mulling over what walking in the Spirit is, I feel like I DO have a better understanding. BUT I feel like I'm only scratching the surface....but at least I KNOW it's the surface of truth.

P.S. Evaluating your thoughts is hard work! And rather draining....but yet so rewarding!

We just started Ephesians class and our speech class, meaning we just FINISHED James/Jude and Dan/Rev. Which also means I just finished my Dan/Rev timeline.....let me tell you that was a stressful assignment. We had to take pretty much all the events of Daniel(the visions) and Revelation and put them all in a concise timeline of end times events. That's right, a complete description of the Church Age, Rapture, Tribulation (including all the judgments and information about the 7-headed beast....mine looked like a body with 7 balloon heads....i'm not an artist...), Armageddon, the Millennium, Gog and Magog, The Great White Throne, the Eternal State, and much much more. It was crazy....I learned a lot, but it took a while to compile a timeline on all of that. :)
But back to what I was saying....we just started Ephesians and speech class. So far I really like Ephesians. It's been neat to see how I've read Ephesians 1 before and how I thought it was all about us and now how I can see it's all about GOD! I apparently didn't read it too closely. I mean, it has us in it, don't get me wrong, but the main point of the passage is what GOD has done FOR US! Somehow I was too consumed with what I had that I completely missed what GOD had done before. Go figure. So that's been really neat. We are only on chapter one and its amazing, so I'm looking forward to more of it!
Speech class....well....if you know anything about me, then you know this isn't my favorite thing in the world. I mean, I will do it, but I get really nervous, as I'm sure is normal. Anyways, my first speech is on Friday. And I'm really excited about my introduction...haha. Somehow I feel like if I can find a good introduction, that makes everything else easier....I'm more comfortable and it's all around better. :) So let's hope that I actually do okay when it comes time to giving this speech. Perhaps I'll post my outline on here when I'm done with it. :)

And now I'm off to hear a speaker...a really cool speaker named Lane Sanford. He's kind of a "special emphasis" speaker...but really he's a missionary who's fresh off the field on furlough and he's here to tell us all about Papua New Guinea and his experiences in a tribe there. I'm really excited to hear him speak!!