Acronyms Galore!

I am SO proud of myself for updating twice in a week. But, as I don't want to revisit the IMB's medical process, I'm trying to be a little careful not to strain my shoulder patting myself on the back. :)

Field Update (Prayer Necessities for the Skimmers):

1. Please pray for Gabino, a Quechua believer in the Ayuma community. When our missionaries recently came to his area, he felt the call of God to go and preach the Gospel to others in his vicinity. This is awesome news! As you might imagine, having indigenous believers share the Gospel with those of the same culture and language is far more effective and efficient than an American missionary doing the same. Praise the Lord, and pray that Gabino would remain faithful to the call and that he would resist the devil, who is no doubt highly displeased with his decision.

2. Pray that God would begin a great church-planting movement among the Quechua in this area of Bolivia. (See below for the definition of a church-planting movement.)

3. Please pray for me, that I would remain encouraged during this orientation period. It is truly an incredible blessing to be here but, unsurprisingly, there have been moments of great spiritual warfare. Pray that I would learn every lesson God has for me here and that I would be thoroughly equipped for the task to which He has called me.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know (Bonus for the Readers):

So I've been here at orientation for four weeks and haven't really told you what we're learning. I thought I'd start with explaining that this organization has more acronyms than the federal government! Well, that's probably an exaggeration, but it's gotta be close. :) Let me just start with a few:

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" (Matt. 28:18-20)

The Great Commission. Admittedly, that's not an acronym, though I guess we could call it GC if we really wanted. :) But it does underscore everything mentioned below and should be kept in mind as you read. It is the ultimate goal behind every acronym listed.

IMB = International Mission Board. I hope most of you recognize that as the sending organization who will be paying my salary. :) The home equivalent, which sends missionaries within the United States and Canada, is the North American Mission Board, or NAMB.

SBC = Southern Baptist Convention. The organization to which churches of the Southern Baptist denomination can voluntarily belong... and most choose to do so. The SBC governs both the IMB and the NAMB.

LMCO = Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This is a big one, so I want to explain it accurately. If you are a member of a Southern Baptist church, you typically have the opportunity to contribute to this offering every December. Named for a former Southern Baptist missionary to China, every cent goes to support missionaries on the foreign field. It funds different projects on the field, as well as provides food and housing support for the missionaries, education for their children, and medical care for the entire family. If you've ever given to the LMCO, I would like to say thank you! And, if you haven't, I hope you'll consider it. The mission board truly does an excellent job of being a good steward of the finances, and those funds enable the missionaries to focus on the Lord's work on the field rather than having to be concerned with meeting the basic needs of life. By the way, the home mission equivalent is the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, an equally worthy cause! (FYI, Lottie Moon gave her life in mission work. During a time of severe famine in China, she died of starvation giving her own food and money to feed the starving Chinese around her. A great heroine of the faith, I can assure you!)

SAM = South America region. In case you were unaware, that's where I'm going. :) But each area of the world has its own acronym. Among others, there's CESA (central, eastern, and southern Africa), CEE or CE2 (central and eastern Europe), and my personal favorite, NAME (north Africa and the Middle East). Does that make me a no-NAME? :)

FPO = Field Personnel Orientation. This is the eight-week training I am currently receiving. Performed at the IMB's training center, there are classes on language learning, on how to share the Gospel in various contexts (environments of persecution, tribal cultures, and many others), on the Biblical missionary model (better known to us as the book of Acts :)). We have house church in small groups every Sunday because that is what most of us will have on the field. In general, the goal is to prepare you as much as possible for what you will experience overseas.

MIR = Missionary-in-Residence. These are missionaries who have come from the field to live on campus with us during FPO. They are fantastic resources with a wealth of knowledge and experience. We have eight couples on campus now, and I am particularly close to one who spent many years in Argentina and Ecuador. I have picked their brains many times!

MK = Missionary Kid. The child of a missionary. They are now also called third-culture kids (TCKs), because they are often caught between their American home culture and their mission field culture. They don't fully belong to either one, although they can feel pretty comfortable in both. We have lots of them roaming around campus right now. Come to think of it, I'm technically an MK myself! :)

GCC = Great Commission Christian. Any evangelical believer looking to complete Christ's Great Commission mandate from Matt. 28:18-20, regardless of denomination. IMB missionaries work closely with other GCCs on the field to accomplish the task set before us. We should all be GCCs! Since your prayers are the most vital part of completing this work, that makes my prayer supporters GCC partners with me. Thank you!

CPM = church-planting movement. The primary missionary goal: To plant new churches and see them multiply. The concept of a CPM is based on 2 Tim. 2:2, where Paul instructs Timothy, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." The idea is that the missionary is used of God to lead a new believer to Christ and to disciple him or her. That new follower will then go and make disciples, who will go and make disciples, etc. This results in the rapid multiplication of churches and is referred to as a CPM. If we are all faithful to complete our Great Commission task, churches will multiply in such a way that every person in the world can hear the Gospel. And when that happens...

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matt. 24:14)

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

For those of you who don't get the title, go watch "The Sound of Music." It's a great movie. You'll love it. :)

I do apologize for how long it’s been since my last blog. Time has really gotten away from me, and I’m sorry! But I do plan to make up for it with some quick updates in the next few weeks. So let’s get right to the prayer requests:

Field Update (Prayer Necessities for the Skimmers):

1. Graham, Javier, and Jeff are the current members of the men’s Xtreme Team in Bolivia, and they have recently begun going into two communities of Chayanta Quechua people. The goal is to build relationships with the people and to begin to learn the language with the eventual intention of sharing Bible stories with them. Pray that the guys will learn the language quickly and that the people would have “ears to hear” (Lk. 14:35).

2. Don is the “man of peace” (see Lk. 10:1-12) in the Quchimi community. When he was told the parable of the lost sheep, he recognized that he felt like one of those lost sheep. He is excited about hearing more stories. Pray that God would reveal Himself to Don as “that great Shepherd of the sheep” (Heb. 13:20).

3. “Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you” (2 Thess. 3:1). Please pray that the Gospel message would spread rapidly among the Quechua of southern Bolivia. So many of these people – a people who are every bit as precious in God’s sight as your children are to you – have died never having heard that there is a Savior Who lives to give them hope. I beg you to intercede on their behalf before the God of all hope.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know (Bonus for the Readers):

“‘Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.’” (Matt. 10:37-38)

This passage has taken on an especially poignant meaning to me of late. The end of July and the early part of August were filled with farewells for me, and it seemed that each one got progressively more difficult. Here’s a quick rundown (click here for pictures):

I quit work on July 25, which was also my seventh anniversary there. I will and already do miss the people that I worked with and the patients I got to know. God richly blessed me with that job and, in particular, with the people He allowed me to know there. I have such great friends that I am leaving behind there, and walking out the door for the last time that day was much harder than I had hoped. Thanks for the memories, CHKD crew!

From there, I flew home to visit family in Alabama, and I said goodbye to them on July 30. My parents moved overseas themselves in early June, so I’m thankful that the most traumatic of my farewells was already complete. But it still wasn’t easy to leave my only living grandmother, a variety of aunts and uncles, cousins with whom I’m very close. Getting on that plane was especially hard after saying goodbye to my precious baby cousin, Gabriel. Knowing that he won’t even know who I am the next time I see him is a little hard on the psyche. (Wess, I know you’ll show him my picture on a regular basis. Just don’t scare the little guy by doing too much of that! :))

Then, finally, I returned to Virginia Beach to say goodbye to my church in early August. This blog isn’t long enough to relate how much I will miss the body of believers at London Bridge Baptist. I have learned from them the real meaning of “brothers and sisters” and have seen in them a small snippet of what eternity in the presence of God and His followers will be like. They are truly my brothers and sisters, and I already miss them desperately.

There’s no denying that it’s difficult to say goodbye to family and friends knowing you won’t see them again for a year or even more. I’ve had to face the reality that I may not see some of these people again on this earth. Yes, the cost of being His disciple is high. Jesus never tried to sugar-coat this for us. He demands nothing less than that we surrender our very lives to Him. Through this process, I’ve had to ask myself many times whether I’m willing to do that.

But, despite appearances, this post is not meant to be a downer, and here’s why:

“‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.’” (Luke 18:29-30)

Whoa. Sweet! Look at the rewards you get in exchange for what you have willingly surrendered. Following Christ will never – and let me reiterate: never, NEVER, NEVER! – disappoint.

My human mind tells me that I am giving up a lot, but the Word of God says I will be rewarded many times over in exchange for the sacrifice. Whether I believe my fallible human thoughts or the completely infallible Word of the Living God is up to me.

I choose to believe Him, even if that takes me to the ends of the earth.

Especially if it takes me to the ends of the earth.

“From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.” (Ps. 113:3)