Towards Reconciliation

our family's adventures in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

Tag: daily life

God’s Provision – remembering how God has taken care of us during our first year

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On November 2, 2015

In Chad

I have been consistently amazed at the way God has provided for us over this past year. Many things we prayed earnestly for. Some things we didn’t know we needed. A few things we didn’t even have the faith to ask for…

  • An organization in the States that specifically helps missionaries to ship containers overseas. We didn’t know this existed, and hadn’t plan to ship anything other than what we brought on the plane, but we found out about it while in France and were able to ship our solar power system from the U.S. We didn’t realize what a blessing this was until we got here.
  • Upon our arrival, there wasn’t anyone from our organization in the capital for a couple of weeks. A family we met in language school picked us up, took us to their house for lunch, let the kids play at their mission compound, and delivered us to our guesthouse. They introduced us to the director of their mission in Chad and his wife, who connected with a lady to help with the housework and cooking at our guesthouse. This was a life-saver in those crazy first few weeks.
  • The guest house we had reserved in the capital didn’t have much space for the kids to play, which we didn’t realize until we arrived. God provided two other compounds in the capital with lots of space, kids, and even a trampoline for the kids to burn some energy.
  • We arrived in Chad without having long-term visas lined up. We came on tourist visas, planning to arrange long-term visas through a contact Josh made through another worker with our organization. This worked out very well, and in addition to getting our long-term visas we have begun a relationship with a Chadian church that we think will provide many opportunities for ministry in the future.
  • When Josh went back to the capital to purchase a vehicle, he didn’t think about the difficulty of making the return trip alone. But God provided an English-speaking Chadian MBB who also needed a ride to Abeche to make the trip with Josh. Oh, and he also happened to be a mechanic.
  • The kids, especially Isaac, had a very difficult transition. He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming in his sleep with night terrors. After several nights of this we fell weeping to our knees, wondering what we’d done to our kids by bringing them here. We prayed, and Isaac calmed down almost immediately. From there on out his sleep patterns were much improved.
  • After a difficult month in the capital, we moved to Abeche and were blessed to have a comfortable house on a large mission compound. This provided some much needed rest and quiet space after the chaos of N’Djamena.
  • A Chadian friend who needed work and is experienced doing household maintenance and light construction. He has helped us since arriving in Abeche to make our house feel like home.
  • DANIELLE! We were struggling to figure out life in Chad while taking care of our family and learning the 2nd language in as many years when God intervened with a huge blessing. Through a series of circumstances Danielle, who was planning to join another team in Chad, joined us for a year to help with the kids while learning some Arabic herself. We honestly didn’t have the faith to even pray for someone like her to help, but God knew the need and provided for us.

We could list dozens more ways God has faithfully provided throughout this first year. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness!

Pleasing Man or Pleasing God? Thoughts on Galatians 1:10

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On March 24, 2015

In Bible, Ministry, Other thoughts

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10

In ministry and life, it is easy to muddy our motives. Even the best “works” for the Lord that we do are often tainted with the sin of pride or the desire to please others. This is no less true for the missionary on a foreign field. We give up a lot: family, friends, church, comforts, health, and many things that are familiar. In return, the majority of people back home who support our ministry can put us on a higher pedestal than is deserved. Many forget that we are normal people, struggling with normal sins and problems and temptations that every Christian struggles with. The only difference is we are doing it in a strange culture. Many times the sins and struggles become even more magnified: there is no cushion for hiding our sin problems when we are stripped of all that is familiar.

This verse in Galatians 1 has convicted me recently. At times when I have hard days and complain in my heart about the heat, the work load, the lack of conveniences, the lack of fellowship and deep friendship because of our chosen lifestyle, I am forgetting who I am living for. If my eyes and heart are focused consistently on the Lord, aiming to please Him, I am counted worthy to serving Him and am able to do so joyfully. When I look at my own problems or at my lack of worldly wants and needs, or even at the encouragement we receive from supporters, but forget Who it is I am serving, I quickly lose my joy and desire to serve. According to this verse, I also don’t deserve the privilege of being a servant of Christ. He has promised that following Him means losing much in the present life and gaining much in the life to come. How can I be His servant if my eyes remain on the things of this world? I am not worthy.

As one woman wrote me in a letter a few months ago, “You may be normal people with normal problems but at least you are serving.” This encouraged my heart. It is true for each of us who follows Jesus, no matter which country we are in. We are all normal people with normal sins and normal problems. There are two questions that must be answered. The first is: “Is Jesus enough? Is He worth it?” Is Jesus worth giving up, each day, my desires, my comforts, even those things I think are necessary to my well-being? The next question is, “Are we serving the Lord alone, or still seeking the approval of man?” Am I serving with a pure heart even when no one knows? Am I working wholeheartedly and with joy when no one says thank you? May it always be said of you and me that despite all, we are serving the Lord. He is enough for us.

I write this from my heart partly in attempt to encourage you to remain steadfast, keeping your eyes fixed on the prize which is Jesus, our joy. He is worth living for and dying for. I also write this as a plea for prayer. We need God’s grace daily, each moment, if we are going to thrive in life and ministry for the long term. If I am not seeking the approval of God alone in a place of ministry like Chad, then why am I here?! Your prayers and encouragement to us are important as God continues to sanctify us and prayerfully use us in this place, and we are grateful for you.

Blessings from the sun

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On February 20, 2015

In Chad

Home made granola!

Home made granola!

We are always thankful for the most noticeable blessing of the sun: it gives light and heat. Since moving to Chad, and especially since moving to our new house 10 days ago, we have many other reasons to be grateful for the sun:

  1. I can cook my yogurt in the sun and make goodies like granola and banana bread in my solar oven.
  2. The sun heats up the water that we use to shower with and wash our hands.
  3. The sun also makes it possible for me to have consistent refrigeration and even a freezer that never has to be turned off. This makes my life so much easier, because for the past four months, I haven’t been able to store food very well for my family – we had a generator to run several hours each morning and three hours in the evening. As hot season is approaching, things like yogurt, leftovers, and milk were turning bad quickly.
  4. In the very near future (read: as soon as Josh has time), we will also be thankful that the sun’s energy gives us constant lighting and even fans to keep us cool. For now, we use a generator during the hot part of the day and for a couple hours in the evening and it is not too bad, but we will be happy to be able to turn on lights and fans whenever we want.

What an amazing part of creation God chose to make!

First Sumaya

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On January 15, 2015

In Chad, Culture

Earlier this week, I was invited to my first baby naming ceremony by another friend who is here learning Arabic before moving to another town. This friend lives fairly close to me and the new baby’s family lives in between me and my friend. It was very similar to the ceremonies I have attended in Senegal. We arrived around 1pm and greeted the many women scattered throughout the compound who were cooking the large meal or socializing on mats in the shade. Then, we were taken into the mother’s bedroom where she was sitting with her 7 day old baby on the bed underneath a mosquito net. She will stay in her bedroom or the compound for 40 days, if I understand correctly. We greeted her and the few friends and sister who were there with her and gave her our gift (blanket, socks, etc). We had a small snack of cookies, candy, and Chadian tea. We chatted with the family and my friend introduced me as one of their neighbors. This family has four wives and 40, yes forty, children. The compound is huge and each wife has a house of her own with mud brick walls around. The lady we visited this day has seven living children but has lost six children. The husband is in his 70s and I would say this lady was my age or a little older. We visited with her sister also, who was a very friendly woman. She was nursing her baby and when she finished we noticed how thin the baby’s arms were. It looked just like the photos of malnourished children we all have seen. She said her daughter, now 8 months old, had been sick for some time but is now better. That sight was a shock for me and heartbreaking also, but truly, this is a reality here that I am sure we will face over and over again in ministry. We finished our visit with the mom and friends by praying for her and the baby to be healthy and strong and for God to bless her family. Then we were taken to the house of another wife where ladies were sitting on a mat chatting until the food arrived. We had rice, meat, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, and a host of other things that were all quite tasty. We sat around a common large plate and there were several small bowls with different dishes for the celebration. I had to leave a bit early unfortunately, because our first language lesson was starting at our house, but my friend was able to stay and help wash dishes with them.

Our Daily Rhythm (this month anyway)

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On January 15, 2015

In Chad, Family, Ministry

A few days ago, another worker told us that she feels like every few months she finds herself in a new daily rhythm of life and ministry. I am finding this to be true for us as well. As we meet more people and get more settled into our new life, our routine is changing. Because of this, I think maybe it is a good time to share what our daily life looks like this month. It is very likely to change next month, though! Our day starts when the sun comes up. We are no longer waking up with the 4am call to prayer, but the boys still wake up early, around 5:30. We start cooking breakfast (oatmeal, eggs, occasionally biscuits or Sudanese bread from the market), and we really need to be eating breakfast no later than 7. Josh has kindly started cooking breakfast several days each week just to give me a break from the kitchen…I am very thankful! Because we have a big breakfast early in the morning, I have started setting everything out the night before: counting the eggs so they can be bleached as soon as we walk into the kitchen in the morning; measuring water and oatmeal for cooking, setting out plates, bowls, forks, spoons, etc. Often at breakfast, we try to read 2-3 verses from Psalms or the NT to help the boys get acquainted with the language of Scripture. Also, Abd, the believer who is helping us work on the house, comes over and has breakfast or coffee with us before heading to work on our house with Josh. This has provided opportunities to discuss Scripture with him and it is so interesting to hear things from an African/Muslim background viewpoint. My house helper arrives between 8 – 8:30 to wash dishes and I usually sit down with the boys before she gets here to read books with them. Judah always runs and squeals excitedly when she arrives. They love having people come to our house – everyone here loves children and gives them lots of attention. She goes to the market most days for me around 9, when it opens. Some days I get to go with her – with or without the boys – and other days she goes by herself. When she gets home at 10, we all sit down and have a morning snack of peanuts, bread with peanut butter, yogurt, Chadian tea, coke, or whatever else we have available that day. This is a good opportunity to sit down with A and communicate to her that we value her for more than just the work she is doing for us. We also get to practice our Arabic with her. After that, she either cooks a “lunch” meal for us or washes clothes (by hand) or mops the floors. I am usually doing things like playing with the boys, doing the other household chores that are necessary, going with Josh to see the progress on the house, or making yogurt, etc. The boys usually get bucket baths in the warmest part of the day (before naptime) since it is too cold at night to bathe. They take a rest from around 12-2. We try to rest too, whether reading, dozing off, etc, but that is a little more challenging now because we have (finally!) started language lessons! N, our tutor, comes to our house around 1pm to start lessons with Josh. A little after 3, after our tutor does his ritual prayers and has a small break visiting with us, I begin lessons with him and Josh takes the kids outside to play. (Our lessons are in the front room, which is a screened in porch, so it is appropriate.) At some point between 1-5 we are eating the food that A cooked or some sort of substantial snack. We are still trying to figure out a meal schedule now that we have language in the afternoons. I am thankful for our big sit-down breakfast each morning, since our other meals are less formal. Usually for dinner, we eat grilled cheese, pb and j, fruit, yogurt, etc. We are doing our best to guard our evenings for family time before the kids go to bed. This could change once we get moved into our house, but we will see. So, for now, this is our daily “rythym.”

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