Heart Wounds

I am writing this as I head back home to Chicago after a week of training in Trauma Healing. It was both good and hard! We learned how to recognize a wound of the heart (it looks different in children and adults), how to help someone who is grieving, the importance of forgiveness, the healing that is offered at the cross of Jesus, and about self-care for caregivers. I'm now certified by the American Bible Society to facilitate healing groups, which would help people walk through their grief, but I do not replace a clinical psychologist. This will be very valuable in my practice as an occupational therapist because people with physical wounds or disabilities are often, if not always, also dealing with emotional wounds, and I now feel better equipped to lead them on the path to healing.

Part of our conflict resolution lesson

With a new friend, Karen

What a comprehensive training! And all in 4.5 days!! With such heavy topics, I took time each evening to do something for myself-- see a movie, watch "The Voice" on TV, read, work out, talk to a friend, get French fries, walk around a local nature preserve... and to top it all off, on Friday afternoon I went to the US National Whitewater Center!

Look at this place!!

It's this amazing public adventure park and training center for the US Olympic team, featuring rock climbing, kayaking, rafting, mountain biking, high ropes courses, and zip lining. I had never been zip lining before, so I did the novice course through the forest, over a small gorge. It was thrilling! Something to check off of the bucket list.  Then I kayaked on the Catawba River, which was beautiful. I couldn't take any action shots because they tell you to leave belongings in a locker, but trust me, it was a perfect afternoon! I saw a lot of wildlife on the river, including heron, a hawk, and tons of turtles--I counted 15 turtles crammed onto one log! I appreciated every aspect of God's creation as I allowed Him to continue the work of healing that He was (and is) doing in me.

Book review: "The 3D Gospel" by Jayson Georges

Here it is: the single most important book I've read over the last 3 years. And if you know how much I read, that's saying something. I've been steadily preparing for my long-term ministry since 2015. This includes reading A LOT of books--some required by my agency, some required by my church, some recommended by other global workers, and some assigned as homework in various classes--but if there is one that revolutionized the way I approach ministry, it's "The 3D Gospel."

The reason I enjoyed this book so much was that it changed the narrative of salvation for me. Does that sound blasphemous? Let me explain. The narrative of salvation in the western church revolves around individual guilt: I am sinful and I will be found guilty by God at the Judgment Day. But Jesus intercedes for us and, because of His righteousness, we are found innocent. This resonates with us in the West because our culture operates under a guilt-redemption paradigm. But the differences between cultures are rooted down at the heart level; instead of guilt-redemption, most of the rest of the world operates under either the shame-honor or fear-power paradigm. This is to say, their greatest human need is not necessarily salvation from guilt, but rather, restoration of honor or freedom from fear. If this sounds intriguing, there is a whole website of resources dedicated to the subject: honorshame.com. There you can find the background of the author's anthropological research, the ebook, videos, sermons, and alternative ways to present the Gospel. Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Eighteen Inches

In the middle of the river, between Chimney Rock and Bat Cave, NC

Last weekend was awfully rainy in North Carolina, but at least it didn't snow! :) I took the opportunity to drive through the towns of Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, and Bat Cave, which were picturesque mountain towns, on my way to the movie theater in Hendersonville (approx. 1 hour 20 min drive).

Appreciating nature always reminds me of God's creativity, supremacy, and glory, especially in the mountains. It speaks something to my heart. No matter how many books I read, classes I take, or sermons I listen to, most of that (maybe 90%) only connects with my brain, but doesn't fill up the God-shaped hole in my heart (to borrow the phrase from C.S. Lewis). Once in a while, however, there is something that travels from my brain down the eighteen inches to my heart. In today's vernacular, I get all the feels. So I'd say that 80% of what we've been discussing and practicing here at CIT is hitting me in the heart-hole, in the feels.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." -2 Corinthians 4:7 ...a picture of our treasures!

Here are other things that have finally traveled south eighteen inches and "sunk into" the heart-hole:

• God has adopted me as a favored child (1 Peter 1:1-5). I learned that after adopting a child, it is much more difficult to disown him/her than to disown your own flesh-and-blood child. This shows me that my relationship with my Father God is rock solid. 
• The protection of the Lord is multilayered, like a matryoshka doll--better known as Russian nesting dolls (above). Jesus said He is "in the Father," so the largest doll is the Father (John 10:38, 14:11), and the second is Jesus; He advised us to "abide in Him" (John 15:4-5), so we are the third doll, and He promised to send the Holy Spirit to reside in and empower us (John 14:16-17), so the little one is the Spirit that fills us up. What a powerful image! 

Found the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge, a worthwhile stop!

Now I'm on my way home to Chicago, and I look forward to connecting with those who are local before I go overseas! 

Pre-field Training at CIT

We have learned a lot in three full weeks at the Center for Intercultural Training (CIT)! It takes a lot of time to process everything, but I've been reviewing my top take-aways from the lessons. 

(Note: you'll notice that some friends' identities have been obscured for confidentiality reasons.)

1. Mindstyles: The Mindstyles website can explain better, but there are 4 different combinations of thinking patterns. I am Concrete Random. That means I am a risk-taker, competitor, independent problem-solver... and have a lot of fun :) It was interesting to learn about the differences between the styles and how to best work with people who are operating under each pattern.

2.  Contextualization: we learned that adopting the local customs/traditions of the culture helps us to speak to the hearts of the people. We should trust the Holy Spirit as He speaks through local believers, regarding which customs to keep and which to jettison. One of my favorite things about traveling is learning how and why people do the things they do, and I desire to see God's presence in each culture! One of the things I appreciated about the Pakistani women that we met at the Islamic Center of Asheville was their hospitality; they insisted that we share the delicious chicken-and-rice lunch they had prepared! 

My classmates and I with way too much food! :)

3. Confrontation: conflict is an opportunity to let God be glorified.

In case you don't believe me, the Chinese word for "conflict", seen above, includes the character for "opportunity"!

We have had some fun in our downtime, too... during our first weekend, several of us visited a church called Father's Vineyard, and were welcomed up front by the lead pastor (Pastor Terry). He invited the elders of the church to pray over us and the countries to which we are going--the 3 of us actually represented 3 different continents! The next weekend I made an excursion  into the nearby town of Black Mountain, which reminded me of downtown Geneva, IL, with tons of craftsy and antique stores and boutiques. It was gorgeous weather! Lots of people were out with families and dogs, which helped my puppy withdrawal :) Then it was Easter, and we held an egg hunt for the kiddos around the back lawn/playground. I kept my streak going... 31 years of participating in egg hunts! :)

This week we had a ladies' night (which was an act of faith, leaving all 11 kids with their dads...lol), so we went into the nearby town of Rutherfordton for Thai food and a CVS run. Yeah, I know, wild!!

Prayer Requests & Praises:
* I received my visa for Niger! Woohoo!
* A spot opened up for me to take the Trauma Healing workshop at the end of April, woohoo! Please pray that I can book tickets and reserve lodging ASAP.
* Stormy is having a rough time at home and I still have 1 more week at CIT... Pray for him & my parents to persevere without me...
* In addition to learning more about cross-cultural ministry and team dynamics, part of CIT is self-study. Please pray for my spiritual and emotional growth.
* I'm thankful for additional supporters that have joined my team in the past month!! I only need about $190/month (or another $7000) to be fully supported!!

Cardboard Carpentry & Church Commissioning!

From Feb. 26-28th I had the privilege to attend a class in NYC by Adaptive Design Association, Inc., which taught me the basics of working with cardboard and how to design and produce my own adaptive equipment. It was fabulous! Deb and I had lots of fun learning the tools of the trade and building our own projects, including a scaled-down model of an infant chair that we hope to reproduce in Niger. It will be a huge asset to be able to make things from our own hands in our resource-poor context.

Using power tools!

Our scaled-down model of a toddler seat

My project from conception to (almost) finish

Mom's new lap desk, in final stage- - she picked out the patterned paper to cover it (decoupage style) 

*******

Last Sunday, March 11th, I was commissioned by my home church, Tri-Village Church in Streamwood, IL (a campus of Wheaton Bible Church). TVC is only about 18 months old and I'm the first missionary to be sent overseas from this congregation. It was awesome to have Pastor Wil and everyone in attendance pray over me to send me out!

*******

This weekend I'm at the medical missionary training by the Christian Medical and Dental Association, in Abingdon, VA, and on Sunday I move on to the Center for Intercultural Training in Union Mills, NC. I won't be home again until April 14th. Please keep me in your prayers and come back for updates! 

"So how do you become a missionary?"

This is written mostly with medical workers in mind, because that is what I am, and because I struggled over many months to compile resources that apply to medical missions, and I'm hoping to pave the way for future workers! This is everything in my own experience that has been formational over the last several years in shaping my now-career as a missionary.

"So how do you become a missionary?"

1. Pray! Talk to the Lord about whether or not He wants you to serve in this capacity.

2. Talk to people in your church (leaders, others who have served overseas) about any opportunities, either to go somewhere short-term or to volunteer cross-culturally right in your own community.

3. Pray about each opportunity! When you pray, if you don't hear a clear "NO," then move forward with the next step (send the application, contact the agency, etc). Keep moving forward until God says, "STOP." **Feeling uncomfortable due to the anticipation of being pushed outside your comfort zone is NOT the same as God saying "STOP." Fear does not come from God, it comes from the enemy! (2 Timothy 1:7) If you are dithering and making excuses about not following through on the thing that scares you,  it's probably because it's going to be AWESOME and it's going to bring GLORY TO GOD, and Satan wants nothing more than to prevent you from doing that thing!!** Keep praying about it, and take it one step at a time! (P.S. I've found that God rarely says, "Stop completely"; it's more often, "wait" or, "let's take this detour!")

4. Get a mentor. Ask around your church for mentorship opportunities (ideally someone who has served overseas in the same capacity or the same area of the world) or use the website by Medical Missions to find an experienced worker, a mature Christian of the same gender. They should be willing to meet up to once a week, but at least once a month, to offer guidance and support.

5. Critically assess your finances. My greatest resource was Dave Ramsey's book, "The Total Money Makeover." Many churches offer his Financial Peace University seminars (for a fee) and you can check out Ramsey's website for advice and resources. Whether you're going to go on short-term trips or are considering long- term service, you need to assess your financial stewardship and pay off as many outstanding debts as possible Between my car loan, student loans, credit cards, medical/vet bills...when I added all of those together, I owed hundreds of thousands of dollars at one point. Imagine my dismay when ilearned that most mission agencies require you to repay your debts before you can depart overseas! But by sticking to a budget, taking baby steps, and working multiple jobs, I reduced my total debt to under $37,000, which is my student loan balance.

6. Speaking of student loans... MedSend is a non-profit organization that offers grants to medical missionaries in order to continue repaying their student loans while they are serving overseas. Once you are accepted with a mission agency, check out their website for the next application deadline (usually 4x/year).

7. Learn about missions. When I thought that maybe God was calling me to go overseas long-term, my two biggest influences, the things that confirmed I was on the right path, were the Global Missions Health Conference (held annually in Louisville, KY), and the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course (13 weeks long, ongoing basis).

8. Read about missions. Look for books on cross-cultural ministry, evangelism,  missiology, biographies of missionaries, books written by believers in your region of interest, etc. You can start with my recommendations, which are posted on Goodreads under the heading "Missions Resources," but your church, mission agency, and mentor probably have great ideas, too. If you prefer learning by listening, or if you spend a lot of time in your car, try audiobooks; check out christianaudio.com, audible.com, or ask your local library if they participate in hoopla emedia.

9. Study theology. You can't tell others what you believe if you don't know what you believe! My favorite authors are Liz Curtis Higgs, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Boenhoffer, Elyse Fitzpatrick, Priscilla Shirer, Brennan Manning, Lee Strobel, and Beth Moore. Read their books. Listen to good sermons online (in addition to attending church). Be a student of the Word. Enroll in the FREE Dimensions of the Faith program, a series of courses from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Make use of their study guides and stay on track with their quizzes.

10. GO!!! You'll never know until you try... so the best thing to do is to get experience in a new culture on a short-term trip, either with your church or one of hundreds of organizations that need medical workers. Go with open heart, open mind, and open hands, ready to serve and ready to learn. When you come back, debrief with your mentor or other cross-cultural workers.

11. Keep praying! 

Recovery Update

If you didn't hear, I injured my right knee on December 28th (subluxed patella, or dislocated kneecap). This is the 3rd time it has happened on the right knee (twice on the left). The doctor said that if it keeps happening, maybe we should consider surgery. Not the words a 31-year-old wants to hear. I've been resting it since then, to control pain and swelling, and wearing a brace as recommended by the doctor. I started physical therapy (PT) today. I found out that my anatomy is a little goofy, with both kneecaps tilted to the side instead of lying flat, and a tendency to hyperextend both legs, which is probably why I have a proclivity for this type of injury. I will continue PT for at least 4 weeks, 2x/week, in an attempt to compensate by strengthening different muscle groups in the core and legs, and to return to normal functioning. Please pray that surgery is not necessary. My next doctor appointment is January 29. If all goes well with recovery, I should be able to be on the field in Niger by May 1st.

Praise Report:
Thank you for praying with me about the need to reschedule my cross-cultural training in North Carolina. I notified the training center right away after my injury and they changed my registration to their spring session, March 18. Then I called American Airlines and a very nice customer service agent pulled all the strings to change my basic economy flights from January to March--what a blessing to not lose all that money! I am also looking on the bright side and enjoying additional "down time" to focus on theology classes, French language learning, support raising, and spending time with family. I've already talked to 2 friends who are prayerfully considering joining my support team! God will work it all out in His timing, for His glory!