This is the most difficult update to give so far, for a few reasons. I have a few things to address as I remember them. Hopefully I will remember them all. This is pretty long, so take it when you have a few minutes.
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Yesterday, Thursday 18 June, marked the T-minus one week point. We are now leaving in less than a week for South Africa (and most of the PhotoGenX team for Panamá). I can scarcely believe the time to leave for outreach is upon me already. I’m ready to go, but I don’t feel prepared yet. There are a few things I would prefer to go with that I don’t have. I have to figure out how to pack, what to buy here in Hawaii verses in Cape Town in a week. And I especially have to consider weight. I want to buy books by previous PhotoGenX groups to send back home, and I have to figure out the cost for mailing the books. I have a number of tasks and I cannot imagine when I will be able to accomplish them all.
So yeah, my time of “suffering for Jesus in Hawaii” will end in under a week. I’m excited to head out.
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WednesdayThis week we’ve had speakers lecturing on missions as a lifestyle. On Wednesday our speaker, Laura, was talking about being a living sacrifice, about leaving things behind to follow Jesus. The whole morning my laptop computer was on my mind. I felt God beginning to nudge me about giving it away in my willingness and desire to follow him. Then Laura decided we should have time as a class to pray whether God was calling us to leave anything or give anything to others in the group.
Knowing my computer had been on my mind all morning, I prayed about it quickly and asked God to confirm that it was from him. He did. I know I had to give away/leave behind my computer. I didn’t feel him leading me to anyone in particular. So then I heard God challenging me about the external hard drive I just bought. I knew exactly who he wanted me to give it too right away, I tried to think and find some way of keeping either the computer or the hard drive. Not both, God! I need these for my photography, and I’m really in a bad spot if I give away both! I know enough by now that the best choice for myself and anyone else involved is to just be obedient. Which is hard. And I have a better appreciation now for how difficult it can become. But I want to choose In for the est of my life. That means a life of obedience. So I gave away my computer and external hard drive. They are both in very good hands now.
So then in addition to all this, I had $500 come in from a friend I love to death and would die for; I have not adequately expressed that to her. (Stacey, you mean a great deal to you, and we need to talk before I fall off the face of the world.) There were a lot of people who still had a lot of money to finish paying (and there still are a few people with needed money…), and I was praying about whether God wanted me to help anyone financially. I thought right away of my S. Africa team members who still have money to pay. But for some reason God made it clear I wasn’t supposed to give to any of them. I have a lot of friends I wanted to give money to for them to knock out the remainder. All the people I would have chosen on my own God shot down. He directed my attention to someone I wouldn’t have thought of immediately. I had prayed for her a day or two before that she would get all the money she needed, which was nearly $2000. I have made a point of never praying anything if I am not willing to be the answer to my own prayer. So God brought me full circle and said, “Give to Tina.” $500 was about the exact amount she needed. Her balance is at $0 now, and she is going to Panamá.
The people in the South Africa team, whom God said not to give to, they were all provided for when someone in our group heard God asking her to give her savings to pay for the rest of the fees our team owed. And the other couple I wanted to give to, the rest of their fees where covered on Wednesday too. God clearly had his strong and providing hand in our midst on Wednesday, and I was so blessed to hear him and be obedient and give. This was only possible because of the generosity and care and love you all, my Family, have shown me these last three months. Thank you.
So, I left behind my computer and hard drive and $550 at God’s calling, and in his holy, perfect sense of ironic humour, on Wednesday asked two people to give their iPods to me. I don’t have a computer or a way to easily use iPods anymore… so God saw fit to give me two. Hilarious. =] Thank you, Daddy. So I found out that my friend’s iPod broke last week, and promptly gave him one of mine. Thank God I only have one now. I’m just praying for a laptop when I get home.
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South Africa ItineraryWe leave in a little less than a week now, on 25 June. I will fly from Honolulu to Atlanta, and arrive in Atlanta at 5:30am. Our layover is almost 12 hours. That should be fun. Hopefully we’ll have somewhere to crash during that layover. From Atlanta on 26 June I fly to Cape Town, with a stopover in Dakar. We arrive in Cape Town 26 hours after we leave Atlanta, on 27 June. We have four days of rest and orientation after we get to Cape Town. On 2 July we leave for an overland trip, kind of a tour through S. Africa. We’ll be doing all kinds of different ministries and work while we’re traveling. The overland trip will go until 24 July. We will have a group blog that will be updated about once a week during that time, so I will have you all go there to see what we’re doing. I’ll give the URL as soon as I know it. Ask me if you want to know more, and I’ll hopefully have details. I do know we will be listening to many peoples’ stories, and sharing our own stories, and photographing people as we build relationships.
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I have so many thoughts rolling around in my mind, and I want desperately to get them out, to reflect, to process, and to share. But I’ve already written a lot, and you must be tired from reading it. I will not be able to write and update as often without a personal computer, but I will at least post something before my departure next week.
Indebted to your love, more than I can say,
Grace and peace,
Christopher
