Going by Serving

Back in town; Background

2014-08-19T09:20:00.001-04:00

We're back. We're invigorated. We're stretched. And we're excited to debrief with you.

My hope is that you were able to follow along with us during our adventure in Poland through the team blog. If not, then click that link to check it out and at least get a snippet. We had such a fun yet draining time. In the most recent post I pointed something out.

I mentioned and admitted that while telling you all about the who, what, when, and where, we forgot to tell you WHY. It will take me a couple posts, but I'd like to take some time to do that now, over here, on this blog. You can still read about more of our experiences in Poland at polandbacc.blogspot.com and hear about polish food, communicating across a language barrier, Catholic cathedrals, and how to stay involved with the Otrembas through our future posts.

To understand WHY we did what we did, we need to first paint the landscape of where.

The country of Poland we know today was only established in 1989. Before that there was Russian communist rule and before that there was a LOT of different borders, rulers, wars, and partitions. The people of Poland (generally of Slavic decent) have a history of living there for the last 1,500 years. One thousand five hundred years! That makes us here in the U.S. look so young...

Over the course of those 1500 years, Cieszyn, the town where Tomek and Damaris Otremba reside, was established. Around 810, actually. About a hundred years after that, Catholicism found a foothold throughout Poland. And since then, the only thing that has remained constant besides the people is the Catholic Church. So as the saying goes, "to be Polish is to be Catholic."

Well I'm Dutch. Never been there, but I bleed orange, so that makes me Dutch. Of course when someone asks where I'm from, I tell them I'm from the United States. If they inquire more (like "where is Hoekzema from?!"), then I tell them about the Netherlands. To be American is to simply live here. We all have many different origins.

Here's some hypothetical (yet historical) questions:
If you're Slavic, your ancestors have been there for over a thousand years, and the Poland you live in is no longer a country, then what are you? Or if the Poland you live in is ruled by an oppressive force and you don't want to associate with them, then what are you? OR if you've been displaced from your Poland and your country no longer exists, then what are you?

You are what you've always been: Catholic (or Jewish...)

We went to Poland. A country where today 95% of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. That means of the 38.5 million Pols, 36.5 million of them are Catholic. Poland used to have a large Jewish population but due to the Nazi movement, many of them were killed.

So why did we go to Poland?

Being Catholic in Poland is simply what you do. It does not necessarily mean that you believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Tomek and Damaris wake up every morning hoping to have the opportunity to introduce people to Jesus as someone they can have a personal relationship with.

We prayed for those people. We invited those people to parties. We went to Poland to simply help Tomek and Damaris in their mission to share Jesus. A mission that we strive for everyday in our lives as well.

Please turn off all electronics.

2014-07-20T15:09:00.001-04:00

The countdown til they make us turn off our only hope for communicating with the world outside this aluminum tube has started. We're in out seats on Lufthansa's flight 417 and waiting for the captain to pull away from the gate.

We are headed to Cieszyn, Poland where we will serve with a missionary couple that out church supports. Our team of 7 is so excited!

We will post an update daily from our team blog: polandbacc.blogspot.com. Please tune in there to stay uptodate on what we're doing.

This is mine and Clancy's first missions trip together and we're humbled to be leading it. Pray for us!

We're going to Poland!

2014-05-12T13:18:00.000-04:00

Clancy and I are headed to Cieszyn, Poland July 20th. We are leading a team of 9 people and cannot be more excited about it.

Please read our latest letter to get an update on our lives and find out what we will be doing in Poland. Also please consider praying for us and helping us get there.

2014 Support Letter

Engaged, Settled, and Searching

2012-09-20T16:34:00.000-04:00

It has already been more than 40 days since I returned from Ghana and I cannot believe how much has happened since then. Literally two days after I walked off the plane in NYC, I was kneeling in front of Clancy in Columbia, asking for her hand in marriage. And she said yes! (Thankfully.) You can read our engagement story as told by Clancy here and view some of the pictures from our photographer here. It truly was the best day of my life to date. If this is the first time you are hearing of this news, I apologize for not telling you sooner! Please comment below so we can plan to catch up more personally.

Well that was fast...

2012-08-03T05:38:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here in Accra in a lazy boy, watching the women's badminton semifinal, eating Frosted Flakes, wondering where the last six weeks went. It has truly been an amazing experience here in Ghana. Unfortunately, I have not posted much in the last two weeks and I apologize. We got super busy with building a grain dryer, engaging the community, and planting a garden. Below are pictures from my last days on the farm. Enjoy and let me know if you have questions! I'll see those at home in two days!

Video, Awards, and More

2012-07-20T08:20:00.002-04:00

First, congratulations needs to be had for my dad and Deanna Sheng. They won this past week's "What is this?" Although they technically got none of them right, they were the only two to guess and were equally close! For the first picture from the last post they were mostly right. Her name is Awusi and she is carrying a metallic bowl on her head, containing heavy pieces of wood. This 22-year-old girl easily carries 50lbs on her head. Using your head to transport things is definitely the preferred vehicle. I've seen everything from water to wood to candy to a slingshot carried on the head. Below is a lady in the village carrying the most interesting piece on her head that I think I've seen. The next picture below her is an attempt at showing the most common place people are seen carrying things. Along any busy road, people are carrying goods around trying to sell them to people in cars. I could easily buy toilet paper, a DVD, phone credit, and lunch while waiting in the dense traffic. The last picture was Hamza and my attempts at joining our Ghanaian friends. We could only last a couple minutes (and with no added weight).

The next picture in the last post was a close up of the side of a mud hut. To the right is a pan-backed view of this typical form of housing for rural Ghanaians. I have not lived or slept in one of these huts yet, but I plan to do so before I leave. My new American friends who spent the last 2 months living in a different village said that I definitely need to experience this part of the culture. Lizards, mice, and bugs (apparently) often find their way into the living quarters. Although I am blessed to easily avoid this issue, I want to at least get a taste for what my neighbors in the village deal with each night.

The last picture is actually the irrigation control panel. I know that the majority of you have never seen an irrigation panel, but if you look closely, you'll notice some of the buttons are specific for something big turning and pumping water. If it has not rained in three days, then they turn on the system. It takes about 30hrs of run time for the system to make a complete circle around the crop. Water is the most essential part of farming here so there is a constant checking and rechecking of oil levels in generators, assessment of wearing on parts, and a watchful eye on the whole system.

Video "Monday"

So this new video is actually clips from this past Monday and Tuesday. On Sunday we were joined by three ladies on the farm! This was a historical moment, I can assure you. There aren't too many women that have visited the farm besides John's family. Michelle, the woman in the first scene, is a doctor from the United States that has spent the last year training women to be midwives in Afghanistan. She did a small survey of the women who work on the farm to get some sort of grasp on the health issues in the village, how the sick are treated, and how many survive common illnesses. The next clip with the white board was one of her methods of asking the questions. Each woman had five stones and were asked to rate which issue they felt has the most effect on people's well-being. I will definitely post about the results of that conversation later.

On Monday, a team from MEDEEM came to the farm as well. I traveled across the lake to pick them up since I had met them earlier in my time here during a business meeting. Straight from their homepage they say, "MEDEEM provides an innovative and affordable, private-sector driven solution to formalizing land rights for the world’s poor. MEDEEM’s mission is to bridge the legal empowerment gap between informal land holding and formal land registration." They are a great group of guys who also gave us some excellent insight into how to better address the communication gaps with the locals. We took all the girls and MEDEEM to the village to show them around. Once in the village, a smiling Robert and Prosper showed me the machine they use to process and grind down casava and corn. This is the main source of calories for the village.

About the same time MEDEEM and Michelle left, the children got out of school and immediately surrounded Taylor and Abby. The girls quickly taught them some cool hand shakes and were instantly loved by all the kids. Taylor and Abby have spent the last two and a half months here in Ghana teaching teachers and students how to use computers in rural villages. They brought 30 computers over from the US to donate between the three schools they were teaching at. Its amazing because they fundraised for the entire project- almost $30,000! As followers of Jesus Christ, they give all of the success of their program to God and humbly accepted the praise that I gave.

Then on Tuesday we spent some time planting a new vegetable garden. Kris also took time to teach us the proper way to plant, the timeframe behind growing, and other necessities for a productive crop. By the end of the day we were all tired but still had a little energy left to have a Ghana-inspired dance-off.

A Broken Heart... Twice Over

2012-07-15T19:37:00.004-04:00

Below is a quick recap on what happened during 4H last week, brief description of what we did on the farm, and how 4H and soccer went today. My heart wasn't broken until today, so read through to understand why:

4H 7/8: A Week of Answered Prayer

Last Sunday, I arrived at the school 10 minutes early to meet with the 4H club members. I wanted to take time to get things set up before the students showed up at 2pm and set an example for the students. I figured they'd all be late despite my asking they be there early. I must say I was completely shocked and super excited when I saw the 4H student leaders at the school when I got there. They arrived early just as I had asked of them! This, I felt, was a huge step in the right direction for maintaining a standard in the organization of the club.

Jon and I spent some time dreaming and labeling the necessary values that need to be instilled in this group of students. Timeliness is one of them. We also thought that a constructive form of competition would be extremely beneficial as well. I realized how much I have taken for granted the level of competition that is instilled in us as Americans. Not only do we experience it in the early years with trying out different recreational sports, we also see it everyday when we get older- our capitalist economy thrives off of competition. The other key value that I realized we need to implement is creativity. Creativity is not something that can be taught; it must be experienced. I thought a day coloring would be a great way to gauge the level of creativity in the group, so I brought paper and crayons with me last week.

My excitement during last week's meeting was sustained for most of the time there. The students were responsive to my teaching on what is corn, how does it grow, what does it need to flourish, etc. When it came time to color, I gave simple guidelines: write the 4 H's (head, heart, hands, health) and be free to decorate as you like. Wow was that tough. I had to quickly color several examples to give them the understanding that the only instruction was to have the 4 H's. Some of them got it, others just copied one of my examples. But it was a great exercise! They eventually had fun with it, using different colors, looking at each others' drawings of heads and hearts, and talking amongst themselves. It was a step towards encouraging creativity. Below is a collage of some of their work:

I left the meeting feeling energized and encouraged by our time together. Over 30 students came and most of them were on time. That was a win in my book!

The Past Week on the Farm

Hamza and I helped out on the farm again for the week. Much of our involvement is learning, watching, and providing "professional" insight into how that piece of dirt should be placed (I'm probably being facetious). We have a great time doing it and always end the day with a smile. Ghanaians love to laugh! And I'm so thankful for that.

We planted more corn this week and realized that birds have figured out how to pluck the planted seeds out of the ground and consume them. This, obviously, is not ok since we're trying to grow those seeds. While trying to discourage their eating habits, quickly learned that slingshots are not accurate, a bow and arrow is not effective, and there was only one shot gun shell in the ammo box. So we decided to "hire" two more employees for the farm to stand guard night and day. The best part is they don't require pay! Below is a series of how we managed to find these amazing employees:

Step 1: Cut grass and get clothes

Step 2: Stuff clothes with grass. Remember to smile.

Step 3: Sew shirt to pants with dental floss

Step 4: Assemble employees for Afram Gothic photo shoot

Step 5: Pose with Elvis

Step 5.5: Pose with JLo

Hopefully you can tell the different level of scarecrow creation abilities between Hamza and I. We spent about the same amount of time on them and his looks amazing! I decided to leave the bottom half of Elvis out of picture since he is fairly self conscious about his image...

4H 7/13: A 34% Attendance Rate

Man was I excited for 4H earlier today! We had a fun week on the farm (as you can tell) and I had a plan that would set the ball rolling for the weeks to come. Since it is our goal to empower the students to create their own school garden, several steps must be taken before we start planting. For starters, we need to find a place to create the garden. That was the plan for today until I got there. I was four minutes late for our 2 o'clock start time and was not happy with myself. (How can I demand timeliness when I'm late?) Much to my surprise, the crowd from last week was not present. Only three students and Francis, the teacher, were there. By 2:30, ten students had shown up. I was not only annoyed, confused, and frustrated, but I was sad, too. I have quickly grown to care for this project and get excited during the "wins." I was not expecting a loss so soon after last week.

My heart broke as I allowed myself to examine the growing cycle before me. These children are not instilled with a culture of commitment. It will carry the men to the point of abandoning their pregnant girlfriends and cause the women to drop out of school. As I focused back on the students before me, I realized how quickly the innocent faces will change when they are asked to commit to something far more serious than a school club. Trying not to lose a grip on myself, I channeled my emotions into creating a new plan for the day.

I decided it was important to stick to the 2pm to 3pm timeframe, so I shortened the plan. Instead of a recap of last week, garden description, garden location choosing, then net ball, we would only do the garden description. I took some time to explain to the students why I was there. I told them (in broken English since they understand it better), "I come from America to do 4H with you. I am here today for 4H with ALL of you. If you do not want to be here, that is fine- I will return to America." I told the president of the club that it is his job to encourage the other students to come each week and to be on time- that without their attendance, we won't get anything done. I let it sink in for a minute and then proceeded to conjure up a laugh by promising "spankings" the next time they do not show and told them I would bring something special for those that came this week.

We had a productive rest of the meeting during which I explained in full what our plan is for the school garden. The students and I brainstormed what kind of seeds we want to plant in our half-acre garden plot. Our ideas ranged from pineapple to tomatoes to casava- all great things to plant here. The students were also able to wrap their heads around the big picture: the plan to cultivate, plant, grow, harvest, sell, repeat (emphasis on the sell). We want to expose them to the farming market cycle beyond what they are used to seeing (grow, harvest, eat, repeat). We stopped at 3 since several of us had a match to attend!

Football in Agbokpa (sp?)

First off- I am SO mad at myself. I forgot to put my battery in my camera after charging it! Today was not the day! With that, I will only have one picture to share of my experience on the field (no videos today, dad)...

The match was set to begin at 3:30pm. I arrived at 3, thinking I would miss the warm-ups and such but was surprised to find no one was there yet. (Why do I keep expecting some level of timeliness?!?) By 4 some people started to show up and by 5 a crowd had formed. I had an awkward encounter when trying to find out if I was for sure playing or not. Through the language barrier I found out that they did not know I was on the team but wanted me to play anyway. By 6, I was in full uniform on the field, starting at striker.

I quickly evolved my position to an attacking midfielder since there seemed to be a constant gap between the offense and defense. The opposing team was strong, fast, and united. They were from Kotoso, the major village across the lake that I have talked about before. After about 20 minutes, we were down 1-0 and only had one or two looks on the net. The coach's words kept playing through my head, "You will staht at strikah. You can score fast and they will be no good to win."

I did not touch the ball often, but when I did, I made sure to do something with it. Whether it was a through ball to a striker, a driven pass to a wing, or a simple pass, I tried my best to prove myself on the field so that the other players would trust me with that scoring opportunity. I never received that perfect pass despite my efforts to stay open, so I decided to create the opportunity.

My right wing was racing down the sideline, passing each defender. He makes a move for the inside and stumbles, misplacing the ball. It bounces high enough for him to head it to the middle. I receive it on my right thigh and drop it to my foot. I can hear the women screaming on the end line- they want a goal! The defender behind me slashes at my ankle as I keep the ball in the air. I chest the ball forward to play a volley, but the ensuing defender pushes me from behind. The ball moves too quickly and I swing in desperation. I hope to connect and send the ball to the back of the net but my foot only finds dust-filled air and I fall to the ground. So much for that all-star white kid on the field...

They subbed me off shortly before half to "give me a break." As I sought water, the Kotoso team scored again and the sidelines turned into a mess. Fingers pointing, faces sweating, the men next to me screamed orders. Before I knew it, it was halftime and I was waiting for the coach to bring us in a huddle. My scattered teammates stayed scattered and I stood back to watch and wait for someone to take charge. Random (random to me at least) men from the sidelines sought out specific players and recommenced the yelling. I turned to my new friend George and asked him what they were saying. He answered, "They tell the players what they do wrong." I turned back to the small pockets of my teammates faced by yelling men and my heart broke for the second time today.

I realized that the focus of the game was on how each individual played. The men from the sidelines had a stockpile of the specific plays that each individual failed to make the best decision or failed to perform correctly. I still stood waiting for the coach to bring the team together and address them as a whole. He never did.

Engrained in this African culture is the value of self. It is an excellent value to maintain and strengthen but it is debilitating if it is not accompanied with the value of a team. My "team" never played as a team the way I define it: a group working together to achieve a desired goal. Yes, each player worked towards the desired goal (winning) and at times we experienced seamless spurts of collaboration, but at the end of the day we were never addressed as a team and never played as a team.

I'm not talking through this to make a point about soccer nor did my heart break from the outcome of the meaningless game. I saw how this inability to work together is arguably a learned trait from their prominent and political leaders. A nation with potentially endless resources is stuck in a state of underdevelopment because influential leaders, entrenched in the value of self, find corruption as a means to benefit themselves.

While all of this raced through my head on the side of the field, I felt a tug on my shorts. Innocence (yes that is his name), the son of one of the women that works on the farm, was looking up at me with a blank stare. I realized that not only was Innocence looking at me but innocence was, too. The mind behind the eyes of each one of these children here is constantly observing, listening, reflecting, and mimicking. Innocence will be lost in this world all too quickly as the values of the surrounding culture mold the mind. I can't help but look into each one of their eyes and wonder what they see, how they perceive it, and whether they will decide it will be good to model or not...

We Made the Cut!

2012-07-15T09:36:00.002-04:00

After playing every day after work this week, Hamza and I made the local team! The best part is that at first we did not even realize that there was a local team. Once we found out they had a team and that they were to have a match on Sunday (tomorrow), we knew we wanted to watch. We certainly did not think they would want us to play on the team with them. But sure enough, they asked us to join the squad at the end of yesterday's scrimmage. The guy told me, "Hello will you please play with us tomorrow. We saw your skill this week and we will like you to play. You will play first half and your brotha will play second half." (Be sure to read that in an African accent.)

So after the 4H meeting today, we'll be warming up for the soccer match! I'll be sure to tell you about all of my goals... ha... right. I will have to share about last week's 4H and this week's later today. Hamza and I spent the morning cleaning the house because we have guests coming later today. Two American ladies that are interning with a Ghanaian Christian organization are joining us this evening. Kris picked up his cousin yesterday from the airport and is coming with her later today as well. His cousin is a doctor that has worked in Afghanistan on medical missions for some years now and is taking a hiatus due to heightened violence in the area. We are excited to host all three women on the farm and gain their insight into ideas and issues associated with our friends in the local villages.

For now, I'll leave you with a taste of what Hamza and I focused on on the farm this past week:

Pictures and Kotoso

2012-07-12T03:48:00.000-04:00

I'll just cut to the chase- here is this week's "What is this?" Just remember you need to guess in complete sentences!

Picture 1: What is this?

Picture 2: What is this?

Picture 3: What is this?

Going back to one of last week's pictures, the boats give us a bit of insight into what life on Lake Volta is like. The town of Kotoso (some of it pictured right) does not show up on any map- not even Google! The town popped up as a result of Ghana's growing population and the opportunities for income close-by. Kotoso is the send off point for many of southern Lake Volta's fishermen as well as ours. Below we are packing all of our suitcases, food, water, and supplies into the AAF boat. Made entirely out of wood, this boat can carry upwards of 5 tons! Seemed like a lot to me...

Really the only way to reach the people on the other side is by boat (or drive 4 hours around the south-eastern tip). The boats are also the main source of income for many of the villages that sit on the lake (right). Most of the boats (or canoes?) head out early in the morning filled with a couple men and fishing nets. They run the nets through the water hoping to pull out Tilapia or other fish to sell (below right). They typically smoke the fish so as to preserve them until market day. Market day is every Tuesday and Friday in Kotoso. I will definitely be going sometime in the next week! We walked through market day two weeks ago on our way back to Accra. I had to turn down every, "Here Ububini! Here!" Ububini means white man.

As we cross the lake to get to the farm, we pass hundreds of stationary nets, traps, floating plastic bottle markers, discarded waste, and dried up trees. These pieces speak to a practice of overfishing, pollution, and lack of resources. People are so focused on making money, they lose sight on how their fishing is hurting the fish population. Since there is no waste removal system in place trash is either burned or forgotten about as soon as it leaves your hand, much of it eventually landing in the lake. And the lack of resources on all levels keeps boating on the lake a hazardous endeavor. If you can dodge the fish nets and debris, you have to sense where the ancient trees still stand beneath you. The long forgotten valley that is now Lake Volta was not removed of its trees before the damn was built. With no funds available or ability to remove the trees, they merely stand firm, waiting to tear the bottom of boat apart and send people overboard. The majority of the people around the lake do not know how to swim and life preservers are for people with disposable income.

And all we can do right now is look at all of this, smile, take a picture, and build a strong community with the people we are quickly learning to care deeply and passionately for. So thumbs up! Everything is OK for now, we'll keep encouraging development and you keep praying!

I must sidebar and say that I had this entire post written this morning and ready to hit "Publish" but I wanted to upload this last picture. Running on battery since the generator was off, the upload bar hit 99% while my battery hit 1% and right in synch the picture uploaded and my computer shut off. I had to wait until now to finish!

Award Winning Monday

2012-07-09T19:28:00.002-04:00

In an another attempt to make Monday less dreary (I've seen a lot of Facebook complaints about today marking the beginning of another work week), I decided to announce the "What is this?" winner today.

I have to say it is a tie between my parents and Joyce Sabin for getting the most/closest to being right on the pictures. Both of them were right about pictures 2 and 3, but, like everyone else, did not get picture 1 correct. If you need a refresher, check out that post here. So picture 1 was actually drinking water! Picture 2 was boats tied up on shore and picture 3 was the seed planter. Thanks for playing everyone! I'll put up another set of 3 pictures on Wednesday.

If you're still confused about picture 1, when I first saw the plastic pouches of water, I was baffled too. It has taken some getting used to, but as long as you store them in an area that doesn't smell bad, they work just fine. You simply nip one of the corners with your teeth and sip away. Apparently the guys hear learned the hard way that the plastic does not keep out odors. They had the big bag of waters near the diesel fuel and soon found that their water had taken on the taste of diesel. Yum!

Now here's the moment you've all been waiting for! (Yeah right, Trevin...)

Just to briefly walk you through the video- the first two shots we were taking a walk around the corn crop, checking the status, assessing the weed situation, and planning out how to best deal with issues. We walk into the "elephant grass" to get a better look at the loud noise that was coming from there. Hundreds of birds have nested in the grass, stringing their nests between two grasses, hanging about 6ft from the ground. It was amazing to see and hear! The first one on the right is a shot from between the grasses of the nests and the birds. The one below is a close up of the nests. Not long after that we went to replace the oil in the generators and found a massive beetle. I tried my best to show it off, but some of the pictures may be better suited for that. The bottom picture shows the beetle in a bit more of a ferocious view. We were able to change the oil and then get out of the heat to do some work in the office that we just set up. Then I prepared the English lesson for today and had some fun with my Ghanaian coworkers. Hamza and I sealed off the day with some soccer in the village. The last video shot is my attempt to show you the level of gnat activity at night. It's insane! Even now there's about an inch layer of dead gnats in between the window and the screen. So crazy... Anyways, hope you've enjoyed the video! Let me know if there is anything you would like to see/know more about (people, culture, wildlife, farming, myself, etc). You ask and I'll deliver! I hope...

As a side note: Please be advised that the mustache shown in the video is real. It is potentially temporary so those that are possibly disturbed can hopefully rest easy.

Farm and 4H Friday

2012-07-06T19:05:00.003-04:00

This is the first of many Fridays that I will be posting about the Farm and 4H. It is a great opportunity for me to share what has happened this week and keep me organized while doing so. First up is the farm.

Africa Atlantic Farms

It is important to know the players at the farm before diving too deep into what we do. In short, Hamza and I have been at the farm by ourselves this week, helping Prosper, George, and Kwasi (the full-time local employees) transplant sunflowers to a smaller area. It has been a hot couple of days doing this, but we're had some fun. These guys make a great team.

Prosper is pictured first, standing outside his home with his mother. Prosper has worked for AAF from the beginning- starting his job by clearing a small patch of grass for Jon's first night in the area. Now Prosper basically runs the show as the lead farm hand. He manages a group of women that work on the farm as needed. Due to his job, Prosper is one of the wealthiest men in the village. He has a tin roof and satellite TV, unlike most who have grass roofs and no generators to run electricity. Sadly, Prosper lost his fiance this past Spring due to an untreated ear infection. (I will be sure to give more background story on that later.) I have seriously enjoyed getting to know this man! He is truly a blessing to the farm here. He has persevered through so much of his 27 years of life.

Next is George. Father of four, George is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen. His fluency in English has made him a huge asset to my English teaching lessons. He often ends up taking control when the others are unable to understand some of the more basic questions. This sense of leadership is certainly making his time here on the farm impactful. If he is not leading through guidance, he is doing so through his actions- setting the pace for those to follow during the work day. I'd like all of you to guess how old he is! I first heard he was 37, when I asked him one day, he said he was 27. When I brought this up the next day, he was 25. His serious sense of humor has got me still wondering his age...

Kwasi is the youngest of the crew but definitely the strongest. His role on the farm definitely favors his youth and strength. He has a very difficult time understanding English though, so I have tried my best each day to encourage and teach him in this. I long for the day when I can have a decent conversation with him- either in English or Ewe! As a 20-year-old with a steady job, he has many of the local ladies watching him carefully. I wouldn't be surprised if he got married soon! Although I haven't caught wind of any steady girlfriend.

The other women that work on the farm range in age from 15 to 50- all equally capable. They are posing for a picture with Kwasi below and I am giving them a ride back for lunch far below.

4H: Head, Hands, Heart, Health

Last Sunday I had the first 4H meeting with the students and teachers. Well... I scheduled the first meeting for last Sunday with all the students and teachers... About half the students showed up by 2:30 when we had planned to start at 2 and one of the five teachers came at 2:45. We had a meeting despite the low turn out and had a great time. A simple "Whats you name, favorite food, and age" ice breaker, some talk on 4H, and a soccer match put us all in a fun mood. I set up the day to be very low on the group talk time so that I could 1) get a quick idea as to what level of communication and respect I am working with and 2) get us all playing a sport we love together to start building some of that community. My team's name during the game was "ajata" or lion. We would huddle together and yell "AJATA!" and then proceed to roar. It didn't help us score and the game ended 0-0, but it did bring a sense of community and now they yell ajata whenever they see me.

This past Wednesday, I was set to meet with the four student leaders and teachers to discuss some of the planning at the school. School lets out (or is supposed to) at 2:15. When I arrived at 2:15, no one was there. The construction workers that are working on the school told me that everyone had left 30 minutes earlier. Splendid!

I showed up yesterday at 1:45 just in time to see the children get dismissed. I met with the student leaders and the teacher and was able to spell out each of their job responsibilities as president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary. Unfortunately, I found out that the secretary is unable to write her name. I decided to reduce her responsibilities to just keeping track of when we start and end each meeting for now. To the right are the four leaders (the kid in the white shirt photo-bombed). I'd be interested to know who you think has what title! I think their personalities fit quite well with each.

The next 4H meeting is this Sunday. I definitely need your prayers as I may find myself losing patience. I asked these four students to set an example by being there early. I'm just hoping they show up!

With that, I leave you with how Hamza, Prosper, and I ended our day:

"What is this?" Wednesday

2012-07-04T17:49:00.001-04:00

First off- happy 4th of July! I don't thank God enough for our freedoms and blessings as Americans. We truly have amazing opportunities in our country.

With that, I'd like to show you a different country and possibly some new things. Since I've been asking my "students" during the ESL (English as a second language) hours each day, "What is this?" I decided I could do the same for those of your reading back home. The following are three pictures. They're either a snippet of a bigger picture or just something not seen outside of Ghana. I will show three pictures, asking the question, "What is this?" I welcome you to guess what you think the item is in the picture. The person who gets the most right (or is the closest) will get something special from Ghana, but you must answer in a complete sentence (since I require the same for those here in Ghana during our teaching lessons).

Before I show the pictures, I need to congratulate Clancy for getting the last one right (mostly)! I showed a picture of what I saw from the airport terminal in Dubai and she guessed the biggest building in the world. I saw the rough outline of the Burj Khalifa and felt like I at least experienced some of Dubai. Now that I've experienced lots of Ghana, below are three things I have found most interesting:

Picture 1: What is this?

Picture 2: What are these?

Picture 3: What is this?

Happy Wednesday!

Video Monday

2012-07-02T18:58:00.001-04:00

While doing some strenuous tasks today, I fell into a rhythm that allowed me to zone out and think about some things. I've been trying to figure out a way to best share my experiences here with all of you back home. I think about so many of you everyday and want to share these new things with you in the most informative, most efficient way possible. I decided I would post something every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (and a bonus on the weekend if it happens). Mondays (like today) will be video day- just to make the typically terribly Monday a little more fun. "24 in 24" is the format I'm going to follow: my last 24 hours in 24 seconds. The first of these is here for you to view:

Now you may be wondering what exactly I was doing today (or maybe not, that's fine too). We started off the day with a walk through the corn field, checking out the quality of the corn and documenting along the way. To the right here, you can see where some birds got to the corn. This is not always typical, so we took a picture to document. We actually spent quite a bit of time in the field; if you can see in the video, the corn is well above our heads, making it difficult to navigate your way out after awhile. Eventually we found our way out and decided to start making preparations to plant sweet corn next to the feed corn as a test to see how it would grow.

We ran into some problems, though, and had to do some major fixing of the roto-tiller. One of the local village boys dropped by during the process to give Prosper (the lead farm hand from the village) his lunch. He's pictured below while watching part of the overhall. Kris, the farm manager, is teaching all of us everything. I'll be sure to write more about him later!

While Kris took some more time to teach the other workers, he put one of the other guys, Hamza, and I in charge of cleaning the house. We scrubbed, squeegeed, and mopped a large part of the house, leaving behind the lemony scent of Pine Sol. We finished just in time to have Kris and Prosper teach us how the planter works and see it in action. Kwasi and Prosper are standing behind the planter in this picture (right). Kris had them ride on it to make sure the seeds were falling into the planter correctly (video). They only planted 1/4 of an acre to see how the sweet corn would grow in the conditions.

As they put everything away, I set off to prepare some notebooks and pens for the English lesson I will be teaching each day. George and Prosper, two of the full-time workers on the farm, speak English quite well. They helped me teach the other farm employees some English basics (right). We went through the ABC's, each wrote our names out several times, and walked around the farm. As we walked, I would point at something and say, "Naomi, what is this?" And she would reply, "That is a mango tree." "Kwasi, what is this?" "That is a rubber bowl." (He eventually got that it was a bucket.) They did not always know what the object was at first or might say, "That is the mango tree..." when that was not the article needed for that question. These exercises were fairly elementary for Prosper and George and so I apologized for not doing something geared for them. They only insisted that this was helping them too and said it was good practice to learn particular words. At this, I thought it would be a great opportunity to teach the use of articles and the difference between "a" and "the." As I tried to explain, I realized I didn't even have a good grasp! If you have any ESL (English as a Second Language) resources that I could access online, I would very much appreciate it!

Wednesdays will be "Americans, what is this?" So be prepared to see some different things!

Me and AAFF

2012-06-29T11:32:00.000-04:00

To start, I thought I should show some more pictures and background from my first couple days here in Ghana. I arrived on Saturday, June 23rd. By Sunday, Jon and I were headed to the farm. Our method of transportation was shown in the last post. To the left is one of the first things I saw on the farm- the irrigation. It rests in a clearing that allows us to perform any needed maintenance. Since the system is on a pivot, it rolls in a circle, not allowing you to really ever move it out of the corn field, unless you have a clearing like this. Jon and I drove up the clearing and had a climb up to the top (below left). It was actually a great view. From there we could see the path down to the lake to the south, the farm off to the south west, and the rest of the impressive crop (below right). The corn stands about 8ft after having been planted in late April. Jon and the rest of the crew are super excited at the current status of the crop and after hearing all their stories of bad luck and tough work in Africa, I can't help but get excited with them. I uploaded a 360 view that I took the day after this. Since it's a video, it's on YouTube here.

While atop the irrigation system, we stopped for a photo-op. I thought I could take this time while I have Jon’s face here to give you a little bit of his background. Jon started his professional career on Capitol Hill after graduating from Hope University. He spent 15 years on the Hill in different roles, ultimately ending as a consultant for African countries. He decided that that wasn’t enough for him. So in 2009, after making several trips to Ghana, he moved his family out here for a year. He now travels back and forth at least once a month to check up on the farm status and to move the business forward with different organizations, Ghanaian government agencies, and other corporations.

To the right, Jon returned the photo-op favor. Here's proof I'm still alive, mom! Our common mode of transportation sits below me as the sun sets to the west. A setting sun means it's time to go indoors. Gnats, mosquitoes, and the like come out in swarms at night. I'll be sure to share some proof of their intense existence on the farm.

The next day we got up early to decrease the length of the hoses on the irrigation. Since the corn grew so high, the hoses were sitting in the leaves, not allowing water to be dispersed efficiently. Jon sits in the front loader (left) while Andrew drives him to each hose. (Jon and I switched after awhile, so don't think I only take pictures!) This process took a great deal of time, but luckily it really only needed to be done this once. At this point, on a farm in America, we would flip a switch and the irrigation system would start pumping. But since we're in Africa, several water pumps, generators, and precious time are needed to start the system. I will share the precise process later, but just know it's very involved. Instead, below, you see the finished product of our time- a working, running irrigation system. However, we weren't done here. The nozzles were not spinning correctly, so Jon hopped in the loader again and had to manually adjust each one- getting him quite wet.

I suggest clicking the picture to see it larger,
you will see puddles and water drops

Jon and Andrew are searching for other
messed up nozzles below right.

Throughout the rest of the day, we walked the grounds with Andrew. He showed us the watermelon patch he planted a couple days ago (first below). At the end of the day, the sunset was more than spectacular (second below). There isn't much like an African sunset!

African Style

2012-06-29T02:22:00.001-04:00

This blog post comes to you "African style"- aka late, aka "Trevin time" (for those who know me before my time management skills matured). It has been an absolutely packed week! I keep forgetting which day of the week it is and how long I have been here. I haven't even been here a week yet and I feel like its been three. Anyways- since I posted last I actually got to visit the farm! It was everything and nothing I expected all at once.

For starters, the trip to the farm did not take two hours as I had originally thought and did not take four hours as I was later told. It took 4.5 to drive to a town called Kotoso- a town that does not show up on any map, and if you asked someone for directions, they'd point in a direction. Then it took 30 minutes by boat to finally reach the farm.

In the first picture, Jon and I had just come to the top of the mountain that you must drive over to get to Kotoso. He pointed across the lake and said we could see the farm from there. I snapped a picture in hopes of circling the farm to show you, but I can't actually see it myself. This should just give an idea of the size of Lake Volta. As the road veers slightly to the right, Kotoso lies down there. (As a side note, I apologize for the picture quality- something happened in the upload process. Good ol Africa...) I will post more pictures of Kotoso and give some background in the future!

This next picture, we are riding in one of the only forms of transportation to the farm- boat. The boats that are used on Lake Volta are anywhere from 10 to 40 feet long and are hand-made out of wood. I was sitting on a plank that laid across the width of the boat, similar to the one in front of me. The boy at the bow sits as far up as possible so he can signal to the "captain" where the fishing lines, debris, and tree stumps are. Running a wood boat into a petrified stump isn't my kind of fun on Lake Volta, so I'm happy for the system!

Lake Volta was once a plain that had a large river running through it. In the 70's, the British government decided to put a damn at the southern end of the valley to create a hydropower plant. The plant powers most of the southern region- including Accra. Meanwhile, the lake provides precious Tilapia and Baracuda for the fishing villages and a means for irrigation for farmers like Africa Atlantic. To the right, here, a tree still stand mostly intact- loaded up with fishing nets.

When we finally reached the other side, we hopped in the farm Gator and buzzed up to the farm. Since the photos were not loading correctly, I decided to leave you with a taste of the farm. This is the first thing you see as you come up the hill from the lake. The white spots on the right are the old and new farm houses. The green line that stretches the majority of the horizon is the crop. They are growing feed corn currently as a pilot run to see if an irrigated system can produce a worthy crop. Once this pilot run of 15 acres is completed in September (and is a success), they will have the motivation and the investments needed to push the farm to scale. "To scale" is somewhere roughly between 2,500 and 5,000 acres. They have the right to this much land- they just need the right equipment to farm it.

A Lot of Firsts

2012-06-24T18:31:00.000-04:00

Before I describe my first day in Ghana, I wanted to share the other couple of firsts I had in Dubai. To the right is a bathroom in one of the restaurants in the airport that I decided would be a great place to take a dry shower and change. That was definitely a first for me! It felt great to get somewhat clean halfway through the trip. I had quite a bit of time before my flight left in the morning, so I posted up at my gate and started reading the Hunger Games (thanks for letting me borrow your book, mom!). When the sun finally came up, I looked to my left out the window and saw the faint silhouette of something (below). The first person to comment below and tell me what it is wins something sweet!

The guest house (right) was a little oasis after the long flight. I was able to drop all my stuff in an air conditioned room and relax a little. A shower was definitely needed! I turned the knob on the shower and nothing came out. I tried turning the sink faucet on and nothing came out of there either. I couldn't believe it! But when I told Jon he just said, "Oh that makes sense- the tank must be out." At this point I'm thinking I'll never get a shower, but he has me follow him outside to these two big black tanks (below left). So apparently in Accra, Ghana, the public water is only turned on about once a week. During that time, each house owner must fill up their tanks if they want to have water. A third tank is not in the picture because its on top of the roof. I couldn't shower because the one on the roof had run dry. When that happens, Jon comes out to these two tanks and turns on the pump (below right). It sends the water up to the top tank (as expected) and also allows you to take a hot shower! It's the only time when the pressure is high enough to get the water through the heater. So on my first day I had my first and probably last hot shower in Ghana. It was magnificent.

I decided to throw this little guy in here as an added bonus. They're all over the place in Accra! If I had more time, I probably would have tried to catch one but I'm already at the farm, located four hours north. I'll share more about the farm tomorrow. For now it's bed time. We have a 6:30am wake-up call to start watering the crops.

I Made It!

2012-06-24T03:52:00.001-04:00

Jon snapped a picture of me right as I arrived in the Accra airport (below). It's a little blurry because I didn't stop moving- I was just too excited to get out of the airport! From there, he took me back to their guest house where I was able to shower and change. I'll share more about my first day later today, but I wanted to let you all know I'm here safe and sound! Off to church we go!

Alive in Dubai

2012-06-22T15:25:00.002-04:00

After 13 wonderful hours on the Emirates' A380, I am safely in Dubai. I will be here in the airport for the next 10 hours until the last leg of my trek takes off. The flight was surprisingly pleasant due to the wonderful service and amenities Emirates and the newest airplane in the world had to offer. Even sitting in the back of the economy section, I felt like a king. And luckily, I got to see what the actual kings live like on international flights! As I was leaving the plane, I asked the head steward if I could walk to the upper deck (yes, the biggest plane in the world has two stories). With a camera in hand, I got denied at first. He wanted to make sure that Emirates would be represented in its best form. I appreciated his request and promised not to take pictures. He took me upstairs and showed me the private "rooms" that each first class member gets. They also have two full bathrooms with showers! I could really go for a shower right about now!

I've spent the majority of my time at a restaurant in the departures area, wasting time and money on food and drink (right). Its a shame I couldn't go and explore Dubai!

But I've enjoyed myself here and am scoping out a place to take a nap from the balcony view (shown below). You can see the wine bar below me, the lounge chairs to the right, and the magnificent architecture of the airport. With all the "Somebody I Used to Know," "Call Me Maybe," and "We Are Young" playing in the background, I don't feel too far from home.

I also decided to eat internationally internationally. Nachos in Dubai just seemed right after I did the conversion and didn't want to spend $13 on a sandwich. With free internat and a Heineken, I know I'll be able to rest easy with a filled belly and my loved ones at home feeling secure with my status! And to all you loved ones- comment below on any questions or reactions you might have! I'd love to post things that you are most interested in. God Bless! Here's to hoping I can nap and talk to Clancy soon.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

2012-06-21T17:00:00.002-04:00

Debatably one of the funniest movies to date, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is about two guys who are trying to get home for Christmas. If you haven't seen it- look it up and watch it, you won't regret it. If you have seen it- you'll agree with me in saying that although their trek home is comical to watch, it would in no way be comical to experience. With that in mind, I am praying that my multiple modes of transportation all go according to plan. My itinerary is as follows (all times are in local times):

6/21/12, 15:29 - Depart BWI on Amtrak
6/21/12, 18:00 - Arrive Penn Station, NYC
6/21/12, 23:00 - Depart JFK on Emirates
6/22/12, 19:45 - Arrive Dubai Int. Airport
6/23/12, 07:30 - Depart Dubai Int. Airport
6/23/12, 12:00 - Arrive Accra, Ghana

If you were able to follow all of that, you realized that I am going to NYC by train (getting to the airport from there by metro), landing in Dubai after a 14-hour flight, leaving Dubai after a 12-hour overnight layover, and finally arriving at noon in Ghana after an 8.5-hour flight. With the four hour time difference between home and Ghana, I will arrive at 8am EST on Saturday. After doing the math, I realized that's over 40 hours of travel time!

Please join me in praying for safe and smooth travels! (And that I won't relive some of my more unfortunate travel experiences.) God has watched over me so much already during the preparation stage of this trip, bringing all of my paperwork together on time and without hiccups. Below, Clancy and I halt our goodbyes to smile for the camera:

I miss you already, Clancy!

Ghana Bound

2012-06-21T15:58:00.001-04:00

My phone rang three weeks ago. It was a Tuesday. I didn't recognize the number, so I ignored it and waited to see if they would leave a voicemail. I listened to it the next day and realized the phone call was from Jon Vandenheuvel, a business owner and acquaintence I had been talking to since spring break. He called me back that day and after a 30 minute conversation, I staggered downstairs to debrief with my dad:

Jon was leaving for Ghana in a couple days and wanted me to join him there. He needed my skills and experience in community development to help get the local villages more involved with the commercial farm he started. A new partnership with the Ghana 4H club would be a perfect platform to strengthen this relationship with the locals. I could feel my heart start to race as he offered this opportunity to me- this is exactly what I have seen myself doing as a career. After I told my dad, I was expecting a bombardment of questions that would help me turn down the offer (I mean did I really want to go to Ghana?). Instead, my dad quickly replied, "Well we need to renew your passport quick!"

The next couple days I spent asking the opinion of most of the people I came in contact with, gaining some good insight on the opportunity at hand. By Saturday night of that week, I had talked in depth with everyone except Clancy (my girlfriend of 3.5 years). We sat down over dinner and discussed every angle of the scenario. The bulk of our conversation focused on the second piece of Jon's proposition. Yes, he had invited me to join him for six weeks this summer, but he also asked me to consider coming back to Ghana for a year after I got a feel for the type of work I would be doing.

A year is a long time! But it is also the length of stay and the scope of work that many of the jobs I have been applying for require as prior experience. Clancy and I decided we could handle another six week African interruption to our relationship after that conversation. We also discussed the possibility of me returning there for a year. Although we are both somewhat open to the idea, it is an endeavor we would much rather experience together, as a team.

So the next day, Sunday, I sat down with Jon after church and talked about the opportunity in more depth. I accepted his six week proposal and talked through the logistics to come. I had quite a few things to do before I could leave- renewing my passport being one of them! Below (picture to come) is the Vandenheuvel family and I after I accepted the short-term position. The whole family has actually been staying in Ghana this month and I am set to join them shortly.

Vote!

2012-05-10T02:36:00.001-04:00

Hello all! Please vote on the poll to the right, here. It is just an open question that will allow me to know what people are interested in reading! I only want to post things out here if people are reading, and I only want people to be reading something they're interested in. It's a great way to know there's a couple of you out there that are checking up, too. Feel free to comment below on any specific things you want me to write about.

Thanks for the feedback!

Baltimore and Beyond

2012-03-29T14:05:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, the Ember Cast team participated in Serve the City Baltimore's (STC) one day service event (unfortunately, the project we served with is not listed on the link because it was organized very last minute). Patrick Donohue, executive director of STC, intentionally put the project together for our team to expose us to relational Christian community development. He connected us with Don Campbell, pastor at Moravia Assembly of God. Don, as he prefers to be called, has lived in Baltimore for almost his entire life, first as a pastor's kid, then as a pastor. God has used him to build up an amazing network in the community of Darley Park.

View Darley Park in a larger map with more descriptions

Darley Park does not look too harmless from this top view. The community is well organized, in a central location, and used to be a nice place to live. After years of spiritual darkness, the community is extremely dangerous to live in and has one of the highest incidences of murder. One of the indigenous leaders and our local contact, Ms. Dorothy, has lived there her whole life. She told us of a time when her community was safe, a time long forgotten by the aesthetics of the community. Below is a Google street view of Normal Ave:

Click here to take a virtual walk down Normal Ave

The picture shows grates on windows, boarded up homes, and people sitting on porches in the middle of the day. These are signs of a crime-filled, poor community. The grates are a response from homeowners with disposable income who want to deter theft and vandalism. Boarded up homes are an affect of foreclosures and tenants who chose not to or were unable to upkeep the home. People on porches during normal working hours generally show an area of welfare and unemployment. But Ms. Dorothy said it didn't always used to be like this...

Ms. Dorothy is probably 70 years old (I didn't have the guts to ask). She explained how as a child, she felt safe in Darley Park, often playing outside and not worrying about what "might" happen. As she grew up, the community did too. A group called the "Uptown Boys" moved in at the top of the neighborhood and brought their drug distribution ring with them. The community quickly became engulfed in buying and selling crack-cocaine, ultimately reducing the living standard of the area. Welfare, waste, and crime followed suit and the community evolved into the Darley Park we see today.

Amazingly, this change didn't scare Ms. Dorothy or five of her friends away. Although her children have all grown up and moved out, she still lives in Darley Park, praying, searching, and crying out for an opportunity to transform her community back to its original state. Ms. Dorothy and her friends are Don's primary point of contacts in the community, his people of peace (although they are already Christian, the idea still fits). Ms. Dorothy and Don are fighting the darkness in Darley Park with devotion to prayer, walking around the community praying that God will again have a stronghold there.

In an effort to also fight the for the physical redemption of the community, Ms. Dorothy asked us (about 15 volunteers from Ember and the Salisbury Cru) to help her clean the ally-way that runs adjacent to the main road. After merely 3 hours we had filled over 40 trash bags with waste. Below is a series of pictures I snagged from Tony's blog post.

Tony's youngest (11) is second in from the left

Ms. Dorothy is on the left

Our team! Don is in the blue, farthest from the camera

This is just one account of community development in Baltimore. As my involvement with Ember and STC continues, I will be exposed to more and more opportunities for investment. Already we are pursuing a more intentional relationship with Don to encourage even more proactive programs in Darley Park. At the same time, Ember is looking beyond Baltimore and the United States and is sending myself and several college students to invest in some of the programs created by STC Stellenbosch in South Africa. Keep a look out for an official document on that!

Here's to community development in Baltimore and beyond.

It's been a busy while.

2012-02-19T12:05:00.002-05:00

Somehow I managed to miss posting anything the entire fall semester despite many experiences and learnings worth posting about. Even now, I am having a difficult time deciding what to write about.

My heart and passion are still geared towards the diverse country of South Africa. Many of you already know the plan of my return there this summer. For those that do not, stay tuned for a formal update of what I/we will be doing there. I encourage you to scroll through some of my old posts from my time there, check out "God Uses Ghost" for a great post on how God worked through the team I served with and look through "White Boy Just Scored?!" for a quick idea of South African culture. I came across this picture the other day and got a flood of memories from that trip:

As for now, here is an analysis of challenges South Africa is facing and a list of suggestions that I came up with after a semester of learning about international development in one of my major courses.

South Africa Country Profile

Saying Goodbye

2011-07-18T18:30:00.001-04:00

As everyone says, "Saying goodbye is never easy."

I had to say farewell to a close friend today as we met for the last time before he leaves for the Middle East. He has been mentoring me over the years, challenging me in my faith and encouraging me in many ways. Today was certainly a bittersweet time as we reminisced on all of our conversations over the years and then talked about our futures as they physically grow apart. We both know that although he will be living across the ocean and getting together for breakfast at Panera will be exponentially more difficult, we will be together in Christ as we labor for Him. He is moving his family overseas in a direct response to the Bible verse above: "Therefore, GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).

I want to take a brief moment here to share with you some of the things my mentor and I discussed. We talked about the Christian Wheel, a diagram representation of how to live an obedient Christian life, centered on Jesus Christ.

via: http://bible.org/seriespage/wheel-general-presentation-session-14

This diagram is such an excellent reminder of how to focus our lives because in order for a wheel to roll smoothly and effectively, all of the spokes must be an equal size. Likewise, in our lives as Christians, we must spend equal amounts of time in the Bible, in prayer with God, in fellowship with other Christians, and in conversation and relationship with non-believers.

This leads in to another one of our major conversations: memorizing scripture. We took a lot of our time together to talk about and unfold the benefits of memorizing scripture. Two major reasons we focused on were: 1) we are commanded to do so in Joshua 1:8 and 2) we are promised love through our obedience in John 14:21. In this knowledge, he encouraged me to walk through the Topical Memory System, which I am still in the process of doing.

He left me with a book that a mentor of his passed one to him. Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper challenges Christians across the globe to live intentionally and passionately for God. I am excited to take the time to read this book, especially since it has challenged two men to move from their comfortable lives in America to share the story of Jesus to the unreached. My mentor leaves for the Middle East soon, his mentor is currently sharing the gospel in Indonesia.

Let me know if you would like more information or resources on any of these things, and join me in praying for my mentor. I'm sorry for not giving a name or destination for him, but seeing as he is moving to a muslim nation, security of his name and intentions for going are vital.

Baltimore Street Church

2011-07-06T17:12:00.001-04:00

The past couple of Sundays, I have been going to the Baltimore Street Church with some friends. It started with Brian and I fulfilling our jobs as interns with Serve Greater Baltimore. We were asked to check out this movement at Old Town Mall that's been creating quite a stir in the Christian circle in Baltimore. Before we knew it, we were worshipping with the church community (above) and serving breakfast (below). The job responsibility quickly became a personal desire.

I missed the past two Sundays and am not liking it! The community there is extremely deep. Members of the street church open up about their personal relationships with Jesus every morning, crying out for support from God and their brothers and sisters in Christ. As many of the people there support each other through their struggles as Christ followers, they also help each other through their struggles with addiction, homelessness, and poverty.

The Old Town Mall area was once a lively location, full of businesses ranging from hair cutteries to grocery stores and customers ranging from old to young. As time progressed, the surrounding area changed. An apartment complex was built at one end and a methadone clinic was built at the other. This created unwanted traffic and eventually the strip was deserted.

(click to get directions)

Every Sunday, rain, sleet, snow, or shine, the Baltimore Street Church is there speaking truth about the redemptive spirit of Jesus Christ up and down the strip. Passer-byes either avoid the group, walk past the group, or join the group, looking forward to the occasionally served breakfast after a 20 to 30 minute sermon. Several times I witnessed the ones that hung around for food get a lot more than a full stomach- they left spiritually filled as well.