After much prayer and contemplation, the Lord has shown me where He wants me to serve next term: In south Asia in an enormous city! Read on to find out more.
Prayer Necessities:
1. Please begin praying now that God will fulfill my new team's vision, which I believe is His as well: A church in every neighborhood of the city. Approximately 2% of the people in this city know Christ as Lord of all.
2. Please pray that I will get the required medical clearance from the mission board to be able to return overseas in January. This is often the most difficult part of the process, and it usually takes the most time.
3. Pray that I would use my remaining time in the States wisely. Pray that I would learn to prioritize that which is truly important and would distribute my time accordingly.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:
Wow, how time does fly in the United States! I have now been home for more than four months, and it really amazes me that it's gone by so fast. I have spent time in Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, and Mississippi, and still have short trips to Georgia and Tennessee and a return trip to Virginia planned for the upcoming months. It has been so wonderful to get to see so many of you in person during this time! Here are a couple of pictures from my time in Virginia and Mississippi:
Leah and me sharing at my home church in Virginia Beach in June
Women's Xtreme Team reunion: Amy, Misty, me, and Leah in August in my old college town of Starkville, MS
I am in the midst of finishing up some required seminary hours and have taken courses during the summer and this fall towards meeting that goal. Those classes have ranged from Biblical counseling to theology to Greek to missions, and I have enjoyed almost all of them - except for writing papers. :) They have certainly kept me busy, though, and I have a sneaking suspicion they are the reason the time has gone by so quickly!
Women's Xtreme Team reunion: Amy, Misty, me, and Leah in August in my old college town of Starkville, MSI've also been busy talking with different people on the field about job possibilities for next term, and I'm very excited about where the Lord is sending me next. With a population of more than 15 million, my new south Asian home will be the largest city in which I've ever even set foot, let alone lived! But it's easy for me to see how God has prepared me for this work, and that has been the greatest confirmation of all that I'm taking this step at His direction.
My new team works primarily among the poverty-stricken of that city, and the main focus of my job will be to disciple national believers to work with prostituted women in the red light districts. The team also works with a women's shelter that is specifically for women who have come out of the life of prostitution, and this shelter comes from the vision of a local pastor who has a heart to reach out to these women. There are a number of short-term volunteer teams that come to work with the shelter, and thus part of my job description includes helping with American volunteers who are coming in to do this type of work. In addition, the team does a lot of medical mission work in the slums because of the great lack of access to health care, so my pharmacy background will be useful. And, finally, the team is seeking to mobilize believers from South America to come to work alongside us, so my background in my former part of the world will also be highly useful. I'm just amazed at the preparation the Lord has given me for this job!
The one downside, of course, is having to learn a new language. :) I will be learning one of the main languages of my new country, and it is one that uses an entirely different alphabet from our "ABCs." I have to start by learning this new alphabet, but I have been told that, once I have mastered that, it gets a little easier. I hope so because I'm not getting any younger, and the last language I learned wasn't all that easy for me! :)
One final thing in regards to my new assignment: If you've noticed, I haven't told you the name of the country or the city where I'll be headed next. That's because this particular country is closed to foreign missionaries. Please don't be concerned for my safety, but do understand that there are some necessary security precautions that I will have to put in place in order to protect the Lord's ongoing work there.
Beginning to implement those precautions means that I will have to abandon this blog. If you're wondering how you'll keep up with me then - and I do hope you ARE wondering that! :) - I have the answer: I'm switching over to a newsletter format. To receive this monthly update, you'll have to opt in to a future e-mail you'll receive from me. I'll send each of you who are currently on my subscriber list an e-mail about this. If you aren't currently receiving my e-mail reminders about the blog but would like to be added to my subscriber list in order to receive the newsletter, send me an e-mail to dr_akj@yahoo.com. For obvious reasons, you'll need to be someone that I already know or must be recommended by someone that I know. :)
I have so appreciated your support through the first phase of this journey with the Lord, and I hope that you'll be there with me through the next part of it. Regardless, thank you so much for your faithful prayers and for your support and encouragement. We're in this together, and I'm so grateful for each one of you!
