I'm Going to be A Missionary?

Well.... wow. First I just have to THANK anyone who responded to that last post in which wondering if this blog was being read by very many people. You don't know how blown away I was by those responses and I just have to tell you I'm grateful that you let me know. :) Super sweet of you ALL. I know the quantity of readers shouldn't really matter but when you write you can't help being a little curious about whose interested, if anyone. :)

Okay. Now I really need to admit, before this goes any farther, that the title of my post was a little cheeky. I had several people react with drama at the thought that I was possibly even praying about foreign missions work in my near future (not sheila going sheila to say sheila any names sheila...) so it kinda' humored me. (And made me feel very loved.) So I couldn't resist messing around with those unmentioned souls a little. And also, it's not a completely dishonest post title, because I'm determined to be involved in missions whether or not I live Stateside my whole life.

Forgiven?

Thanks.

I debated for a bit whether to post this post, and have finally decided that I will. Mainly, because I can use prayer, and mainly because this blog IS chronicling my life journey, in some ways, and I don't see any reason to keep this a secret because it's becoming a really big part of my life right now--taking up much of my thoughts and prayers. The reason I've hesitated to write about it--and I promise, I'll get to what "it" is in the next paragraph or so, but I'm the Queen of Disclaimers so bear with me!--is that I feel a little sheepish sounding like I have all these grandiose plans and ideas, and then in the back of my mind thinking, "Yikes, what if I never really get around to DOING anything? What if my life is going to consist of a bunch of scintillating ideas and visions that never quite get off the ground?"

That would be pretty lame.

But I'm starting to really, truly believe and trust that the God I serve does not have lame plans for me. I'm starting to see the power of prayer at work in my life. I'm starting to believe that it's okay to knock on doors and dream and have visions, as long as those dreams are held loosely and my plans are made with the full knowledge that at any moment, God could slam the door or wake me up from the dream or shatter the vision. He has the right, and I don't want to be afraid to let it happen. There's something really exciting about stepping out in faith, with no expectation other than that God will prove Himself faithful!

So.

Now to get down to what "it" is.

I'm praying about working with Wycliffe Bible Translators, in a 2-3 year project called the OneStory project. To be very brief in my description of it, OneStory takes a team of two or three people and places them in an area of the world where either:

1.) The Gospel has not yet been translated, or

2.) The translation is not yet complete.

During the course of two years, this team is almost completely immersed in the culture of the people group they're living with. They study the language, the traditions, the cultural expectations and understandings and framework of these people, and during this process begin to craft and record the stories of the Bible beginning in Genesis and ending in the New Testament. The "unengaged" or "unreached" people of the world do not learn by reading. They learn by oral storytelling. They pass on traditions and instruction and ancient culture through storytelling. So why not introduce them to Jesus by telling them His story? It's so simple, and yet so brilliant. All throughout the Old Testament there are beautiful analogies and paralells that prepare a people for the coming of a Messiah: the story of Adam's fall, the story of blood being required to cover a house before the death angel would pass over, the story of Abraham offering his only son Issac and God's provision of a lamb, the story of Noah and his family being saved from destruction by the ark.... God has placed in all these stories a beautifully woven thread that leads right to the feet of Jesus, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world!!!

Can you imagine being part of telling a person--or better yet an entire people group--for the first time that there is a Holy God who loves them and has reached down to befriend and forgive and save them from sin and destruction!? Wow! This has been a dream of mine for many, many years now.

When I was in Brazil I was able to visit this place:

Here, a ministry very much like OneStory is based. God's story is being recorded for remote Amazonian tribes to hear; tribes which have very few, if any readers....but many people who are hungry to HEAR the truth.

Here, a national missionary shows me the hand-crank and solar-powered tape players given to the tribe so they can hear the Gospel.

Shannon kindly interpreted for me as this woman showed me the computers and software used to record the Gospel.

What a cool "coinscidence!" These are indians who just happened to be at the station during the same time I was. They had come out of their tribe to record and help with this project. I was, admittedly, a little dissapointed by the lack of loin cloths, face paint, and feathers. Not even a bone through the nose!? Come on guys. You can be better "indians" than that, surely.

Here they sit listening as the recording is taking place, and checking for any mistakes.

It was a really incredible experience to learn more about this organization and to see what an awesome work they're doing. Since I returned home, I'm been doing a lot of talking to my parents, Internet searching, and--yesterday--talked with a representative from Wycliffe to find out more details about this ministry.

I have to be honest and say that the thought of leaving everything (particularly my parents) for 2-3 years in a remote area scares me stiff. It also makes me so excited. How can so many conflicting emotions, (caution and abandon, excitement and fright, hope and shrinking) wage inside of me? I don't know but I'm grateful that I'm not making this decision alone and God has promised clear guidance and direction.

I really have no idea if this is going to pan out or not. And really, I think I'm very okay with it if it doesn't. But I figure that it's time to start knocking on doors and see if this vision and desire I've had for over 10 years is from God! If He doesn't want me to GO, than I feel very strongly that I need to be seeking for more potent ways to support those who ARE going. Why is it that we expect the missionaries to sacrifice so much to GO, but we aren't willing to sacrifice much to SEND them? I'm talking about fasting and praying for their success... supporting them through letters and boxes and love...giving until we are actually having to forgo things WE WANT in order to provide for the work of the Kingdom.

God help me, for I'm preaching to myself.

So...now a funny little story from the pictures above. Michawn, don't kill me for telling this!

Michawn isn't in any of the pictures because she was taking them. But she was there helping to translate and shooting photos... and there didn't seem to be any English speaker other than the three of us Americans in the whole building. So when we first saw the indians all sitting there, quietly talking among themselves, I leaned over to Michawn and said (much too loudly mind you because it didn't enter my thick head that these people would know English)...

"Wow. Check that guy out over there in the purple shirt. He's taller than most indians usually are."

Michawn was like, "Yeah. And hey girl... he's pretty handsome, too."

We laughed.

And then I said,

"Yikes I hope they can't understand us!"

We laughed some more.

('Cuz that would just be really embarrassing.)

A moment later they all got up and passed us to enter the recording room, and as one of them passed (I think he was the one with the white shirt on,) he looked directly at us and said,

"Goot mooorrrrning."

Whelp, Danigirl--(you shameless stereotyper!)--put that one down on the ever-expanding list of very embarrassing moments.