Taiwan

I'm here in Taiwan working at a children's orphanage called, The Home of God's Love, for 3 months and I absolutely love it so far! I've officially been here for 2 weeks now and am experiencing so much! I've already learned a lot from living in a completely different culture than what I'm used to in America. We have 17 babies right now and are expecting about 5-7 more in October! God has been teaching me a lot about depending on Him for everything (strength, patience, etc.). I've learned to not think too much about what's going on back home or my future after this because it's out of my control. I want to be completely here as much as I can, mentally, and not just go through the motions and daily routines because I know that I will miss this when it's all over. Below are a couple pictures of a mountain we hiked the other day! Kelsey and Rebekah (pictured below) are the other 2 girls that I came with from MCC. I don't know what I would do without them. This is Kelsey's 3rd time here so she knows what she is doing and we would be completely lost without her! Rebekah and I are both new to all of this so it is so encouraging to have her here with me in the same boat going through everything together.

 

As One Chapter Ends, Another Begins

I have just finished my summer internship in Indianapolis with Mission Indy. Going into the summer, I had a lot of things that needed improvement in my life. I wanted to work on my pride, selfishness, perfectionist, people-pleasing, negativity, gossiping, complaining, etc. Usually, I find a weakness of mine and try to work on that one thing all by myself. This summer, I decided to give it all to God and not focus on any one of those things, but focus on my relationship with Him. At the end of the summer, I looked back at a list of all those things I wanted to work on and I realized that I no longer was doing them. The only way I can explain how I got to that point was with God. I obviously had done nothing but focus everything on Him and somehow everything else fell into place. When I learned who Christ was and my identity in Him, God was able to break me down and purify my heart to be more like His and not desire those sins anymore. I am still FAR from perfect and still struggle with those things from time to time, but they no longer have control over me like they used to and that is such a great feeling.

This summer was the hardest I had ever worked in my life physically. I learned how to use power tools, demo a house, paint, put up dry wall, kitchen floors, sidewalks, patios, etc. Many times this work was done in 90-110 degree heat. I feel a lot stronger now and more knowledgable on things that girls dont usually know about :) I think this is what helped me with my complaining and negativity, because I knew that I had done something harder earlier in the summer and this was nothing compared to that. Or I saw other people complaining or being negative and I got annoyed by it and just kept working harder.

Working at Wheeler Higher Ground with the Women's Addiction Center was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. This is where my heart and passion was. These women had come so far and had been through so much. I loved hearing their stories, learning about who they were and how they had gotten to where they were today. I enjoyed spending every day with them just being a mentor and a person to help them through every day life. Going into this, I thought that they would they would think I was some young middle-class white girl from the city trying to come in and be in charge. I thought I would get no respect and they would not see me as an authority figure or someone who they could talk to. Man, was I wrong. These women called me, Miss Amanda (along with the other bosses), and were so open and honest with me. They took me in as their own daughter, their own family. They treated me with kindness, respect and love.  I cannot wait to see them again someday in their new lives out of the house and into the world again for a second chance at life. These women changed me and had a HUGE impact on my life.

Some things I learned throughout the summer:

• God hasnt told the world to go to the church, but for the church to go to the world.
• Wherever you are, do what you can with what you have.
• What you worship is what you idolize. What you idolize is what you become. What you become is what you become a slave to. Why do we get so excited to watch our favorite football team that we show up 5 hours early to tailgate in the cold, but we dont get that excited about worshipping our Lord and Savior and changing lives?
• Redemption - the theme of God's Word as a whole - 4 broken relationships in Genesis - with themselves, God, creation and others. The entire rest of Scripture is trying to regain those relationships.
• Steak and Shake theology - A guy at Steak and Shake jumps in front of a bullet for you and dies because of it. Would you ever forget about that?? No! You would live the rest of your life remembering that and living a life to honor him, that he would be proud of. Then why do we forget about Christ even though He died for us?
• Identity: the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions. The condition of being oneself, not another. A condition concerning "who" the person is, not "what" a person does. What is your identity??
• With all the falsehoods and fake people found in our culture, we must understand that we cannot live life to the fullest as Jesus wants us to without knowing who we are. The more you agree with God about your identity in Christ, the more your behavior will reflect your God-given identity.
• We belong to God. The evidence is that we do not continually live in sin.
• Jesus used the slave language to define what it meant to follow Him. Being a slave of Christ is not bad because we are either a slave to Him or to sin (2 options). We must give up our life in order to follow Him. Kurios (Greek word for Lord) means "owner/master of slaves" so if we call Jesus, Lord, then we must assume the role of a slave.
• In the Andes mountains in Peru, the ice melts and a single drop of water begins a trip down the mountain joining other drops. One drop does not make a difference, but when joined with all the other drops, they form the Amazon river- the largest river on earth. This is how we work together as the body of Christ!
• Our identity: We are chosen, adopted, slaves, ambassadors and the body of Christ.

Now that the summer is over, I am Taiwan Bound. I will be working in an orphanage called, The Home of God's Love, for 3 months with 2 of my friends from college! Let the next adventure begin!

A Summer In Indy

I've started a new internship this summer with a Christian-based non-profit organization called, Mission Indy. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The internship consists of a weekend retreat at a camp getting to know the other 11 interns, 2 weeks of training, 4 weeks of Mission Indy and 4 weeks of partnering and working with another organization that Mission Indy pairs you with based on your major/interests. Mission Indy weeks are when youth groups come in to serve in the community. This consists of hard labor at work cites (working outside on houses and organizations doing demolition, building, painting, etc.) and doing VBS at different churches in the community. My 4 ministry weeks will be at Wheeler Higher Ground where I will be working with homeless women dealing with addictions. I will get to know the women and their stories in order to counsel them and help them get out of their addiction and into the life they want. So far, we have completed the weekend retreat and the 1st week of training. I have already learned so much in the little time I have been here in the urban city. Here are some things I have learned so far:

• My behavior reveals my convictions and sometimes these 2 things do not match up. Things to work on for the summer: humility, being in the Word daily, learning to work hard and serve continually, being more generous and to see the positive things in people (instead of judging them and thinking they are weird or different, seeing what God has gifted them with).
• Enabling others to enable themselves and others. The goal is to not just give to people and keep them a needy individual.
• Community: what being the church actually means. Coming together as individuals with 1 focus and 1 goal and seeing past someone's needs in order to see what they have to offer in return. We feel like we are contributing and have purpose when we serve; we need to enable others to work and serve so that they can think and feel this way as well.
• ABCD (Asset Based Community Developtment) - Figuring out other's gifts and how they can serve. They will find life by losing it (Matthew 16:24-28), just like we did when we found Christ. If we do not give them a chance to lose it, then we are cutting off the very key that will unlock the door to them finding life, hope and Jesus.
• Pawn shops (need ID, sign 3 papers, thumbprint to sell anything - really long bargaining process), Rent-To-Own (end up paying more because we have a mentality that we need this right now - tv, couch, etc.), Grocery Stores (people pay double the price when shopping at convinient stores which keeps them in poverty because they cannot get to Kroger/Walmart) and Check Cashing (living day by day - poverty menality, end up losing money)
• About the city - 800,000 people in Indianapolis, trying to renovate city because everyone is leaving, 30% of population is under poverty level and 18% of those are teenageres, etc.)
• We should not just look at the physically poor and their needs, but the spiritually poor and their needs. Often we look at others and see physical poverty, but when truly evaluate ourselves, we will see spiritual poverty.
• Incarnational - we need to live in the community with the people we are serving!
• DONT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT PEOPLE!
• Everyone is responsible for poverty - family, state (government) and the church.
• Ask the poor what they need! Empower the leaders in the community and empower the people so they can lead others out of poverty and we are not just "heroes" coming in and working.
• It takes years to see the poor change and get out of poverty. It takes so much time and I am just a part of the plan, not the whole because I am only here for 1 summer. It takes time to learn the culture and know where people are coming from.
• Scaffolding (working on houses - demolition, scraping, painting, etc.)
• Racing (went to the Indy 500 and learned all about racing - 33 racers, 500 miles, 200 laps, caution flags, pit stops, the stories behing the racers, etc.). What an amazing experience this was to attend the largest sporting event of the year with500,000 other people!!
• How to teach VBS lessons and lead the youth groups that come in for the Mission Indy weeks.

I've only been here 1 week and learned a ton. I am excited to continue growing in my relationship with God, the other interns, the staff and the people in the community. I will continue to learn more and more throughout the summer about multiple things in a variety of areas. I cannot wait to see what else God has in store for this internship at Mission Indy :)

I'm Sorry For Passing Judgment Instead Of Love

This is what one student, Emily, wrote on a piece of cardboard this past week when we were "homeless" for a day. When I saw this, I could not help but know that I was that person coming into this summer. I was that person that judged based on appearance and status. I was that person that chose to ignore what or who I did not want to see. I somehow thought that maybe if I just ignored reality, the situation would go away. The problem with that is if everyone ignores situations such as, someone being homeless, then nothing ever changes and no one gets the help they need. I just finished reading a book called, Under the Overpass, and when Mike and Sam (2 college students) decide to be homeless for 5 months. They realize that the kids that walk by them on the street notice the homeless men because they are at their level. These kids have not learned to only see what we want to see and judge or disregard what we do not want to deal with. We judge before we know and that makes us begin to go with the flow and never step out and actually question what we know or how we act. We just do what is normal and routine without checking it with Scripture to see if this is what we are called to do as Christians. Jesus says this in Matthew 25:37-40:

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

The opportunity is right in front of us to love instead of pass judgment or ignore the situation. We can share Christ's love by just being relational and loving one another. In John 13:35 Jesus says, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This past week before leaving for Btown Kids (we go to a park and play with kids, eat hamburgers/hot dogs, snow cones, do face paint, bubbles, play games, have a lesson, etc.), a woman named, Nike, said, "If you are going into this with the mindset of, 'Oh, I'm just here to love on these little poor kids', then that is the worst mindset you could possibly have going into this." I couldn't help but realize that was my mindset coming into interning at Bridgetown. I had a major pride issue in thinking that I had more than the people I would encounter this summer and that I could give them something that they've never had or experienced. Little did I know that God would completely break me down and make me realize that I have nothing compared to these urban city kids, homeless people and lower income families because these people have real love. Whether that's them watching each others' backs on the street, welcoming you into their home or having a little girl hold your hand that you just met. I am not better than any of these people. We are all on the same level and are no different from each other. We may look different, talk different and maybe even act different, but we all have one thing in common...we are children of God. We were all made by the same Creator and therefore are all of equal importance. I have learned this before, but it is just now becoming true for me in my life and perspective. Everyone deserves a chance to love, dream, hope and live their life for Christ. The question is, are you going to step out of your self-centered routine life and actually do something to make that happen for someone else?

Starfish Story - There was a little boy walking along the beach who saw all of these starfish drying up on the sand and dying from the sun. He started throwing them back into the ocean one by one. The little boy was holding up a starfish and an older man came up to him and said, "Why are you trowing these starfish back into the ocean? Can't you see that there are thousands of starfish out here?! You will never be able to save them all. Just stop, it doesn't even matter." The little boy threw the starfish he was holding back into the ocean and replied, "It mattered to that one."

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do." – Edward Everett Hale

A Summer In Portland

I never knew just one week would completely change my outlook on people. This week has been crazy busy and we got to spend it with a youth group from Boise, Idaho coming for a Transformation Trip at Bridgetown Inc. in Portland, Oregon. We were immersed into a totally different culture than Wichita, Kansas. We partook in a service project, prepared a love feast (fancy dinner) for those in need, did walkabouts where we provided pb & j's and socks to those in need, did a home visit, were 'homeless' for a day, fed and washed people's feet at Night Strike, fed and played with urban city kids (face paint, bubbles, soccer) during Btown Kids, etc.

This week I learned that true compassion is loving so much that you actually do something about it. Since I have been here, I have seen generosity like I have never seen it before. I have seen people give everything they have, not only materialistically, but of themselves. This is something that I have always struggled with. Some may say it's because I am an only child, but I think it is more of a pride issue. I'm prideful because of what I have done in my life and the things that I have to show for it. This week has broken my pride down into humility realizing that I have nothing without Christ. So often I find myself complaining about what I have not being enough. This week I met people that literally had nothing but the clothes on their back and they had a joy inside of them that I didn't even know if I had ever really seen in myself before. Bridgetown's slogan is "Loving people because people matter." I cannot wait to learn what love really means.