Saturday, February 27, 2010

Summer Missions Retreat

The Summer Missions Retreat was this weekend. It is designed to help teams bond and prepare before going on the trip, as well as give some helpful tips about mission work in different cultures. We had Chris Flanders come speak on Friday night and again on Saturday morning. I introduced myself to him this weekend and he didn't recognize me at first, which I didn't expect since it has been several years, so I gave him a reminder. We started talking about David, Kristen, and Ava, and how David will be taking some of his classes in grad school. It was neat to talk to him and catch up. We didn't get to talk long before he started speaking in front of the group. Wow, what a blessing to have him speak to us! Some of the topics he hit on are:

  • Mission work is very dangerous... spiritually. It will challenge you in many ways, so be prepared for that.
  • Jesus is the message, it's not about materialistic stuff, the church, sin management, and it's not all about me. While some of these things may follow, we must remember that the gospel is about Jesus.
  • Jesus is the way that we engage the world, not by promising a better life or simply inviting people to churchy things, but by sharing his story.
  • He used Phillipians 2:1-11 to illustrate what our goal is in mission work.
  • Jesus becomes downwardly mobile and empties himself completely, he does not grasp onto the idea of being equal with God, but rather lets go of that to become nothing.
  • As missionaries, we must give up those things we cling to that keep us from immerseing ourselves in the culture so that we may be effective in the mission field.

Here are some of the topics Chris Flanders, Kelly Davidson, and Tracy Wilson presented to us to better prepare us for our work.

  • God is already in the places we are going; we are not bringing God to these places, but rather letting Him use us to spread the good news.
  • Have realistic expectations; don't expect people to be baptized after two weeks of you being a missionary in that place. Being overzealous can be very dangerous and can push people away from Christianity. Short term missions only work if they are in support of a bigger picture or a long term ministries.
  • Use the gifts God has given you.
  • Seek to understand the culture. Americans like to see how fast and efficiently we can get tasks done. Other cultures may do something "the hard way," but it may be very important to their social lives or the traditions of their culture, and not done solely because the task needs to be done.
  • Missionaries like to teach, but learning should be their first priority. Learn the culture and the way things are done. Don't make judgements or assume that the "American" way is the right way.
  • Enjoy the time that you are there and immerse yourself in the culture. Don't shy away from opportunities to spend time learning the culture.
  • Our actions should reflect christianity. Practice what you preach. Be a servant. Don't complain. What we do is what people remember.
  • Do now what you will be doing there. Let your faith be continuous, not selective.
  • Approach everything with God first, and the rest will fall into place.

I really appreciated the time Chris Flanders, Kelly Davidson, and Traci Wilson took to present this information to us. I feel that everyone who ever considers mission work should take the time to learn these fundamental topics so they can prepare for the cultural differences and realize what it is we are doing. After looking back, I'm afraid I made several mistakes while in Kenya last summer because it was never taught to me. I am very thankful to have had this opportunity to learn these fundamentals.

It seems like ACU keeps coming up in different ways, like God keeps putting that option in front of me. I have decided that if I do get a bachelor's degree, I want to get it from ACU. I feel like the foundation in Bible that I would recieve there is a necessity if I desire to be a servant and share the good news with people. We will see what God's plan has in store for me.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Work

So today had to be the worst start to a day ever! I woke up late and had to rush to work. Well despite my efforts, the traffic signals kept me from getting to work on time (No, Mom and Dad, I didn't speed). I was only three minutes late, but one minute past the clock in time is late. So I clock in at 8:48 as opposed to 8:45 and get my passenger count sheet from Dispatch. So I run out to the bus, which happens to be the furthest away on the lot, and get it cranked up. It is now 8:50 and I still have to drive off campus for my first stop at 8:59. I immediately pull out of the lot, but someone in management had the bright idea to have all of the buses from every route leave at the same time. So I didn't get out of the lot until 9:00 because of the back up to get out of the gate. So I finally arrive at my first stop 6 minutes late. Well, another route 36 bus is right in front of me, and I tell him to go ahead and I'll get the next few stops. Well, he says that he's on schedule, and that I should go around him to get back on my schedule, so I do. Well I'm so anxious to get caught back up on schedule that when I do get back on schedule, I accidentally leave early from the main campus stop. Once again I get behind another route 36 bus. Thinking that I'm on schedule, I tell her to go out of service and get back on schedule. She then replies that she is on schedule, that I'm early. So I make a fool out of myself all morning. We'll see how the rest of the day goes!

SNOWMAN

Micah, Tori, Christina, and I went to Starbucks tonight for coffee to warm us up from the freezing weather. We walked Christina back to her apartment and while we were dropping Tori off at her dorm, we saw a huge snowman so we stopped to take pictures.



























Tuesday, February 23, 2010

SNOW!!!!

It's snowing in College Station today! It just started snowing at about 1pm and it's supposed to keep snowing until 3am tomorrow morning. I just got a call from Blinn College; my Fire and Arson Investigation class at 6pm got cancelled. I'm kind of hoping that work will be cancelled tomorrow morning.

Here's a video of the snow



On the way back from Abilene, Micah, Tori, and I stopped at a barn on Highway 6. Here are some pictures of the "Aggie Barn"



Monday, February 22, 2010

Blogging

I just added blogger to my phone. Maybe that will help me post more often, plus it really easy to add pictures.

Today was uneventful. I drove the bus from 7 to 11, slept in my car in the transit parking lot from 11 to 1, slept again at my house from 1 to 5 because I didn't really get comfortable in my car, and now I'm about to go to class until 9. All of this driving over the weekend going to and from Abilene and driving for work wore me out! At least I have Freshman Devo tonight after class to look forward to.


- Paul

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Trip to Abilene

I went to Abilene this weekend and got in trouble (again) for not posting on my blog, so I figure I had better start posting. This weekend was a lot of fun. I got to see David, Kristen, and Ava, as well as some friends. Ava is getting really big! I'm beginning to wish I had gone to ACU so I could be around all the time and not miss out on anything exciting like Ava mocking her Daddy making fart sounds! haha. I also got to go to Sing Song with Micah on Saturday night. It was really good! That made me want to go to ACU even more.

I have reached a dilemma. If you know me, you know that I like to make plans well in advance so I have enough time to change my mind at the last minute. I know I made the right decision by going to Blinn and getting all of my firefighter/paramedic certifications, but I don't know what to do after I finish my associate's degree. I'll be done with the degree in Fall 2010, and want to go to paramedic school in Spring 2011. Here's the problem: I need a bachelor's degree to move up in the ranks in the fire department. I've been thinking about going to ACU in Fall 2011 to do a degree in either Communications or Social Work. I would like to use a career in the fire service to ultimately glorify God, and I believe that going to ACU and obtaining the education to help people find the resources they need would be very benificial. Another option is getting hired on with a fire department and getting a Fire and Emergency Management degree online while I work. The good thing about this option is that my course work from Blinn would supplement the degree plan for the bachelor's degree. I also realize that I do not need to have a degree from ACU to be a servant in God's kingdom. We will see where God takes me.