I Sold the Soap Dispenser!

Can you believe it?! My first item sold on Ebay- hurray! Thank you, Paulette in Tennesee. I can't wait to send my $20 to our friend going overseas. And on a side note about our friend, those of you who know him know that he is quite the world-traveler. I am very gracious for the pictures he gave me when we saw him last time that I hope to get up on the Orphan & Widow website sometime soon. In the meantime, here is a sneak preview from some of his travels over the past few years. Contact me if you would like more information on supporting him.

Ethiopia

Morocco

Phillipines

Phillipines
(side note: this girl's mother tried to have a late abortion. She survived, but has had no use of her legs since birth. Just recently, she received her first set of crutches to help her get around. Until then, she had to crawl around in the streets.)

Phillipines

(an obviously sanitary water well)

someone's home in the Phillipines

Mauritania

Proverbs 3:27

"Do not withold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it."

Reasons Why I Love Fall

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Fall Photoshoot Fundraiser Day and the fun "Crafternoon" afterward!

Worth It

So, today I was thinking....maybe I could make that soap dispenser worth it (Check out previous post if you are not sure what I am referring to). And here is how: I looked over my list of ten things that I could do with $20, decided I would choose #10, to help make a difference in the life of a prostitute, and listed my nice, elegant, sophisticated soap dispenser on Ebay. If you are interested in partnering with me in this endeavor, please go bid on my listing at the following link (only 5 more days I think!):

http://cgi.ebay.com/Southern-Living-At-Home-Astoria-Soap-Dispenser_W0QQitemZ110446315222QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b71d06d6&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

"How are you going to send $20 to a prostitute living in a slum all the way across the world?" you might ask. Well, I have decided to use the money to support a friend who is leaving soon to live in one of those slums for the sole purpose of identifying with the poor and building relationships that might one day lead to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. When he was telling us of this particular young girl who was selling her body to support her three children, he said they had the unique opportunity to pray with her at the end of their conversation with her. Even as they were surrounding her in prayer, her pimp was in the shadows arranging her deal for the evening. Talk about spiritual warfare! And a realistic picture of how Satan fights tooth and nail for our souls. So, no, maybe the $20 will not go directly into the hands of that young mother, but it will go towards giving others just like her bread and Life that continues giving past the end of Twenty Dollars.

Any other ideas on how to make it worth it? Send them my way! I would love to find creative ways to give toward every single item on the list.

PS- Pictures to come soon! I promise I have been taking some (even though I haven't posted), and today was Fall Photoshoot Day, so there will be plenty of adorable ones coming soon.

Twenty Dollars

I just purchased a soap dispenser for $20. That's right. It wasn't even in that little caddy thing shown above. It was just the one on the left with the blue liquid in it. It was from a friend who is trying to make some extra income through Southern Living At Home. But $20. I can't allow myself to think about it too much, but this is just the short list I have compiled of some things I could have done with that same $20:

1. For one month provided an entire village population of infants and children with:
- nutritious food supplements
- MMR immunizations
- basic healthcare

2. And for their mamas (same $20):
- prenatal and postnatal healthcare
- nutritional training
- parenting education

3. Purchase 2 mosquito nets for individuals living in high-risk malarial regions

4. Feed a family of 4 in India for an entire month

5. Purchase a phone card and send it to a missionary

6. Purchase Bibles to be distributed in an unreached people group

7. Fill an Action Pack to send to Sudan through Voice of the Martyrs (blanket, sweater, flip-flops, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, towels, t-shirts. I would get these things myself, but the donation to send it can be of any amount)

8. Purchase 3 meals for the homeless guy on the side of the street with the sign that says "God Bless You"

9. Send a donation to Jeff Jackson, who is church planting and doing community development work with Karen refugees (displaced people group near Laos/Burma)who have been freshly "deposited" in Phoenix, AZ.

10. For the 22-year old Filipino mother I heard about last night who, out of desperation to feed her 3 children, has been forced to resort to prostitution (which pays about $4/hour). My $20 could have potentially saved her from 5 humiliating and degrading "sessions".

Wow. I hope that soap dispenser is worth it.

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:34-30

Orphan Sunday

I thought I would make this video available for everyone. Very good in displaying the needs of the orphans, and our need for them. Just remember to TURN OFF BLOG MUSIC before playing the video, or they will overlap and not sound pretty :) Be sure to visit the Orphan Sunday link below after viewing.

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Good Article

Good article I just found...that sort of reiterates a point I was making in my last post. Again, when done appropriately, short term missions can have a lasting impact for the kingdom. We just need to realize our own poverty and open our minds to learning from the poor.

Short-Term Missions Can Create a Long-Term Mess

Almost twenty years ago, I went on my first short-term missions trip to Jamaica. I do not remember the people I met there, nor much of what we did besides running a vacation Bible School, painting something, and going to the beach. However, I do remember that this trip was part of what the Lord used in my life to shape my passion for helping the poor in the Two-Thirds world. I now live in a poor country in the Global South and work full-time with an organization here that is trying to alleviate poverty. Short-terms mission trips can play a significant role in giving people a vision for God’s work. I am proof of that.

Most Christian organizations working in this country receive at least a dozen short-terms mission groups a year. These groups usually engage in building projects and conduct vacation Bible schools. Their passion for the Lord’s work is admirable. Unfortunately, most of these groups are doing “relief” in a context in which “development” is the appropriate intervention. Relief is a handout to the poor, and it is the appropriate intervention when the poor cannot help themselves. But the poor in my country are not helpless! They are capable of working to improve their lives. The appropriate intervention in such a context is “development,” walking with the poor in such a way that they are empowered to enjoy proper relationships with God, themselves, others, and creation.

An important part of development work is to build the esteem and capacity of the poor by including them in the planning and design of any intervention. This does not seem to be the approach of most of the short-term teams, and this can have very negative effects. For example, one team came here to build the house of a low-income pastor of a local church. In the design of the house, the team put the bathroom in the middle of the house, which runs counter to local culture in which bathrooms are located in the back of the house. The pastor had not seen the plans of the house in advance. When he discovered this mistake while the team was building the house, he objected to the team leaders to no avail. The short-term team felt happy that they gave the pastor a much needed house, but the pastor is ashamed of his house and is not sure he wants to live in it.

The approach of most short-term mission teams seems to be to do things to the people instead of with the people. This approach exacerbates the feelings of inferiority that already paralyze the poor in my country and the feelings of superiority that often characterize those of us from wealthy countries. This dynamic is particularly problematic here. The government and the church have such a long history of paternalism that the people often believe they cannot do anything without the help of money and resources from others. For example, at the end of one meeting I facilitated in a poor community, an elderly farmer told me that he and the other participants were like kids who were just beginning to learn. He said that they needed people like me to come help them. I was ashamed that his poverty had been deepened to such an extent that he felt it necessary to have a young, American woman like me to help him when I know that there is so much more that he could give and teach me.

Local organizations can also be damaged by the relief efforts of short-term teams. The indigenous staff in my organization lead weekly Bible studies with children in low-income communities. These Bible studies are just one aspect of my organization’s overall attempts to bring long-lasting development in these broken communities. After a short-term team conducts a Bible study in one of these communities, the children stop attending the Bible studies of my organization. Our indigenous staff tell me that the children stop coming because we do not have all the fancy materials and crafts that the short-term teams have, and we do not give away things like these teams do. The children have also come to believe that our staff are not as interesting or as creative as the Americans that come on these teams. Short-term relief is undermining our organization as we attempt to bring long-lasting change to these communities.
After spending four years building relationships with people in one community where I live, I have learned more than anything that the development process is slow, takes time and patience, and is highly relational. My primary work here is in helping churches to help the poor to own and manage their own savings and loan groups. Even after three years of training one particular group, they still need assistance in calculating loan interest. And the feelings of inferiority on the part of the illiterate, elderly members of this group still prevent them from sharing their knowledge with others. It would be much easier for me to just give out money to these people, but that short-term “solution” would not build these people’s capacity to help themselves, and it would only exacerbate the feelings of inferiority that are so rampant here.

Despite the struggles in my development work, I have seen small steps towards positive change. Some of the group members who never wanted to speak at group meetings now feel more confident to share their opinions. Many of them have been able to save money in order to purchase things that they would have earlier wanted others to just give them for free. One member of a group said, “I could not save before joining the group, because whenever I had it I would spend it. This group has taught me how to save.” Another elderly group member said that she would have had even more severe health problems if she had not been able to save her own money to purchase medicines and to pay for doctors’ visits. All of the groups say that they feel that they have better relationships with people in the church after coming together in the savings group. One woman said, “I did not really talk to or share with people in the church before being a part of this group.” She went on to say that she knows she can look to the other group members for any need that arises. Two of the groups have expressed to me that they are confident that if I were to leave tomorrow that they could function without me. One group said that they could even help start groups in other churches. These glimpses of God’s restoration of people give me hope that—despite the struggles—a developmental approach to the poor does work.

As discussed earlier, the relief approach of short-term teams has undermined my host organization. In contrast, by God’s grace alone, the developmental approach used in these savings and loan groups has built the capacity of my organization. The staff have been empowered to start savings and loan groups in their own churches, and the majority of the staff have told me that they did not know how much they could do with their own savings. In one field office, the staff even started a small savings group for themselves, and in the central office the management opened a small credit union for the staff of the organization.
My primary role through this process has been as a facilitator and encourager. Although I have offered many formal and informal training sessions, I have spent even more time just being with people, visiting them in their homes, and allowing them to teach me. Through my time with them, I have been able to see so much of my own poverty and my need for the comprehensive healing that the Lord brings to us, especially through the people we want to serve.

For more info, visit www.chalmers.org

Gospel Savings, Ya'll

There is a church nearby that always puts up the most RIDICULOUS phrases on their signs that I just have to laugh whenever I read them. This week's phrase is the following:

WAL-MART IS NOT THE ONLY SAVING PLACE.

Wow. That is profound. Comparing the cross to a place that prides itself on having the lowest sale prices. I think we have hit a new low. So, what is the sale price on salvation, I wonder?

Thinking more deeply about this, though, I have to admit that a cord of conviction is struck in my own heart. I mean, I shop at Wal-Mart. Why? For the "falling prices" of course! But, does our Bible-belt culture not raise us to apply the same frugal sense when "shopping for a religion or denomination"? In the South, most of us are told at an early age that we are sinful (TRUE) and in need of some sort of salvation from this "sin problem" (TRUE). At this point, our culture instructs us to "browse the aisles" of all the different religions and/or denominations out there until we {subconsciously} come to the conclusion, "Well, Christianity does seem the easiest means of pacifying this guilt I feel. They say someone has already paid the price for me, therefore I don't really have to do anything else or change who I am. That sure seems like a good sale price to me!" Yikes. How different the lies our culture teaches us from the truth of God's Word:

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the world yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." ~ Mark 8:35-38

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you let him be eternally condemned! ...Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." ~ Galatians 1:6-10

"And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood. Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come." ~ Hebrews 13:12

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him..." ~ Philippians 2:12

"...Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." ~ Philippians 2:12-13

Secondly, I am also convicted with how quick the American "church" is to sell this cheap gospel to those in need around the world. Follow me for a second...If you think about it, Wal-Mart is a true American icon. It is ingenious to have a one-stop shop for all your unimaginable needs (... and a little ironic that more and more people I see in there ride around on motorized scooters...but I'll save that for another post! haha) How often do we see the impoverished {on TV, radio, or in some charity advertisement}, have pity on "them", and then feel the need to "rush in and play superhero"? The message that is often sent is, "We'll build you a house, we'll build you a well, will give you food and medicine and a satellite to hook up outside your thatched roof house...Oh! And before we leave, we'll even build a church- here's one of those, too! Nicer than any one you could ever build for yourself." {Side Note: I am not condemning short-term missions. They absolutely have a strong place in promoting the Gospel, when accomplished appropriately. The Lord used short-term missions to call me to the field long-term. Unfortunately, a lot of times they are not done appropriately, and this is the message we end up sending the poor} It inevitably sets up the situation that if you are a poor person in a third-world country and you can hook up with an American, you've got it made. One-stop shopping, people. It's one-stop shopping. And we wonder how these people get so dependent on America- why they are not "thriving" after all we have done to pick them up out of the depths of despair...why the Gospel just isn't "working" in their culture. Well, I can tell you why: Because it isn't working in ours. We want a fix for our broken condition, and we want it now, and we want it cheap. I hate bursting my own bubble, but this is what I am daily realizing through God's Word- THE GOSPEL IS NOT CHEAP. AND IT IS NOT QUICK. It demands all of me, my entire life, entirely surrendered, poured out, emptied of self until there is nothing left. To that end, Jesus saves us...and to that end, He will sustain us until the day of glory.

"This is the gate of the Lord;the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!" ~Psalm 118:20-24