High on a Mountaintop

Before I write today, I want to emphasize again that
this is my personal blog, and my stories and
experiences have often been different from everyone
else’s. For example, yesterday when I was mainly
meeting existing Christians, the others were making
huge amounts of progress leading people to new
decisions. Today, we seem to be flip-flopped. I may
forget things, not know things, or whatever. But I
hope you’ve enjoyed my own perspective. Maybe next
time we’ll do a group blog from different people
while we’re here.
 
Today we went to (another village mission church) for
our medical activities. The setup was similar to our
other medical missions, but it was a smaller village
in a more remote, mountainous location. We drove over
an hour waaay up some absolutely beautiful, curvy
roads. Plus a few really bumpy dirt ones where there
was construction on the highway. I loved the village. The scenery was beautiful! It
was a really strange mix still of third world and
modern living, with shacks and dirt floors with cell
phones and electricity.
 
Mark and I paired up during the evangelism
activities, with three or four translators with us. I
watched Mark do a few presentations, which were a lot
different from mine. I was a little nervous that I
was doing it wrong! The first batch were mostly already Christians, and
most were willing to learn the story and help us
disciple others.
 
Honestly I wasn’t so fired up after that, as we
walked back to the church for lunch. I was really
tired. And although people had been receptive, the
looks on their faces were ambivalent, although that
may just be my interpretation based on my own culture.
 
After lunch, we went back out, and Mark said he would
like me to share this time. God really knew what I
needed to experience.
 
One interaction in particular made the day for me.
Here we were walking through dirt alleys, shanty
homes and bare concrete buildings. But they were
often painted and beautiful, like something out of a
National Geographic magazine. As with yesterday’s location, we asked permission to
share. This time it was with an older, beautiful,
colorfully dressed woman standing on her porch steps,
as well as others standing around. I did the
presentation while one of our translators explained
what I was saying in Ewe. I assumed the woman was a
believer because of the spell she and the translator
seemed to be having together. She would anticipate
his words and say them excitedly at the same time,
drawing them out. Then when they were done, our
helper says that the woman is ready to receive Christ! I put a hand on her and prayed with her, and she was
very excited. She thanked us and told us she would be
committed to helping us share the word. (On a side note, I have noticed that everyone in this
village said something like that with absolutely no
prompting… “you can count on me to share the Word” or
“I will be a pillar in the church.” )
 
Immediately, she called out a woman who was watching
sheepishly from a distance. Her face was dirty as if
she had been lying on the ground. (Most women here
are very clean and put together, and dressed very
well.) She had heard the story and also wanted to
receive Christ. I saw that she was hiding a bottle of
alcohol under her shawl. (We have learned alcohol is
a major problem here among both the lost and
believers.) As we prayed together, I added more than
I had before about turning from sin in her life and
being set free from it. Afterward she thanked us and
we went on our way back to the mission.
 
I saw these two ladies again later at the clinic, as
they had come to receive medical treatment. (Our
translators invited each person who heard the
presentation to come for medical assistance.) This
time I was more joking and casual, and I hugged them
some more. I looked at the woman who had the bottle
earlier with a sly smile. She didn’t understand much
English, so I motioned with my hands and said,
“Bottle gone?” She smiled really big and motioned
with her hands, “Gone, no more!”
 
We left the mission with their pastor and workers and
visited their future church site not far away. They
have purchased land on faith that they will be able
to build a new building, which is not a simple task
here. We actually spent quite a little while here,
praying for the work in this area and asking for
blessing on this site and the pastor. A really cool
moment was when the leader from the main church,
leading the discussion, asked us to all sing “To God
Be the Glory” right there, on top of the future site
of the mission. Once again I’m up too late to write, blog, and visit
with the team, but I’m glad I did. What a fun team!
Our trip on the bus was hard but also fun because of
how much we cut up. We will be forever friends and
will have a special bond from now on. Not to mention a secret handshake. ;)

Posted via email from Christie's posterous