Day 36.... and counting.....
Your loved ones are on their way home -- many may be there by now. I said goodbye to them all Saturday morning, and began to welcome new teams in their place just a few hours later.
The mission life-cycle is an on-going circle here. People arrive Saturday with all the gusto to accomplish anything, we train them, they get to know the area, they all learn a lot about the people of South Louisiana and then fall in love with them, and then they go home the following saturday.... Somewhere in the middle, God shows them so many things that life will never be the same. Hopefully there are people at home who want to listen to our life-changing stories. In turn, your lives will be changed as well..... in spite of who we are, God continues to do an abundance of amazing things!!
Yes, I was suppose to go home yesterday, ... That was 'my plan', however, it appears God had a better plan for me this week.
I was asked to stay here during a time of transition with the Compassion Staff. Most of the January, 90-day team is leaving this week -or has already left... This staff shortage will leave the EFCA-Compassion office very personnel short, going from 10 staff members to 5 full time staffers...
After hearing this I was still compelled to come straight home. (i really miss my wife!!) I thought it was God's timing to stretch their limits (or something silly like that..) The very same day I was asked to stay, I received a call from Dave Johnson (my present mentor & future boss in the Short-Term mission office of the EFCA-IM) telling me that he was going to come down here to see how I was doing, and that we could spend the entire 20 hr drive home debriefing me from this mission experience...
OKAY God.... if you made it any more clear, I guess I would have seen your back-side glory like Moses on the mountain.! (what an honor to be "mooned" by God!)
I praise God that He has made it abundantly clear to me (and Cathy) that I was suppose to stay an extra 6 days.
In the mean-time...... Friday's ministry went exceedingly well. The 100+ team members who were canvassing the streets did a marvelous job spreading the name of Jesus, and the hippie village ministry went equally as well.
God had me spend most of my day just hanging out with the young 'gypsies'. They are all doing an amazing amount of work, and their attitudes are all very good.
I find it hard to understand how they can do all this work without knowing Jesus. Their ultimate goal is to get people back on their feet without the help of the government, or - in spite of the government- yet as I get to know these young people I see a pure motive in their hearts.... To Help.......
Each one of them owns nothing where they now live, and it is all 'community-property' when they gain some posessions. It is very interesting indeed....
But when they are asked "WHY" they are doing this work, they fumble about in their answers, giving something between the fact there is 'nothing else to do' , and that 'doing this makes them feel good'. Some older guys are doing the good work for 'pennance' to make up their lives in Viet Nam, while the younger kids are just doing what is right to make 'mother-earth' feel better. Most of them are vegetarians until it is dark and the grill is smoking with burgers and dogs... :)
I wish I had photos, but I promised I would refrain, because they all feel that "tourism is profanity" down in this area, and that includes all cameras, even mine.
In the end, there are many young people asking questions, some acting righteous- some acting silly. Many have given me the nick-name "immaculate"... They know I am a Christian (who can hide it?) and because I come from the "Church of the Immaculate Grill". (these kids are great!)
That 'immaculate' statement itself says alot about the kids I am hanging with. (they are fun loving hippie kids who have virtually no direction, yet they are very open to hearing about someone who loves them no matter what).
I have grown to know many of them very good - I love them all, and I hope that many of them know Jesus before I am gone.
Praise the LORD,
-mj
Joel 2:32
And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved;
The mission life-cycle is an on-going circle here. People arrive Saturday with all the gusto to accomplish anything, we train them, they get to know the area, they all learn a lot about the people of South Louisiana and then fall in love with them, and then they go home the following saturday.... Somewhere in the middle, God shows them so many things that life will never be the same. Hopefully there are people at home who want to listen to our life-changing stories. In turn, your lives will be changed as well..... in spite of who we are, God continues to do an abundance of amazing things!!
Yes, I was suppose to go home yesterday, ... That was 'my plan', however, it appears God had a better plan for me this week.
I was asked to stay here during a time of transition with the Compassion Staff. Most of the January, 90-day team is leaving this week -or has already left... This staff shortage will leave the EFCA-Compassion office very personnel short, going from 10 staff members to 5 full time staffers...
After hearing this I was still compelled to come straight home. (i really miss my wife!!) I thought it was God's timing to stretch their limits (or something silly like that..) The very same day I was asked to stay, I received a call from Dave Johnson (my present mentor & future boss in the Short-Term mission office of the EFCA-IM) telling me that he was going to come down here to see how I was doing, and that we could spend the entire 20 hr drive home debriefing me from this mission experience...
OKAY God.... if you made it any more clear, I guess I would have seen your back-side glory like Moses on the mountain.! (what an honor to be "mooned" by God!)
I praise God that He has made it abundantly clear to me (and Cathy) that I was suppose to stay an extra 6 days.
In the mean-time...... Friday's ministry went exceedingly well. The 100+ team members who were canvassing the streets did a marvelous job spreading the name of Jesus, and the hippie village ministry went equally as well.
God had me spend most of my day just hanging out with the young 'gypsies'. They are all doing an amazing amount of work, and their attitudes are all very good.
I find it hard to understand how they can do all this work without knowing Jesus. Their ultimate goal is to get people back on their feet without the help of the government, or - in spite of the government- yet as I get to know these young people I see a pure motive in their hearts.... To Help.......
Each one of them owns nothing where they now live, and it is all 'community-property' when they gain some posessions. It is very interesting indeed....
But when they are asked "WHY" they are doing this work, they fumble about in their answers, giving something between the fact there is 'nothing else to do' , and that 'doing this makes them feel good'. Some older guys are doing the good work for 'pennance' to make up their lives in Viet Nam, while the younger kids are just doing what is right to make 'mother-earth' feel better. Most of them are vegetarians until it is dark and the grill is smoking with burgers and dogs... :)
I wish I had photos, but I promised I would refrain, because they all feel that "tourism is profanity" down in this area, and that includes all cameras, even mine.
In the end, there are many young people asking questions, some acting righteous- some acting silly. Many have given me the nick-name "immaculate"... They know I am a Christian (who can hide it?) and because I come from the "Church of the Immaculate Grill". (these kids are great!)
That 'immaculate' statement itself says alot about the kids I am hanging with. (they are fun loving hippie kids who have virtually no direction, yet they are very open to hearing about someone who loves them no matter what).
I have grown to know many of them very good - I love them all, and I hope that many of them know Jesus before I am gone.
Praise the LORD,
-mj
Joel 2:32
And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved;
posted by Mark Jensen | 1:01 PM
1 Comments:
Yes, we love hearing the life-changing stories.
We know that those 'hippies' who are down there to help are really down there at God's bidding to see Him at work. We will pray for them as well as for the victims of the disaster.
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