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| To the men who are members of Teruwach, HA 06’: Gentlemen, it’s been over two years since the last time I had the honor of being with you all together as a core. I still vividly remember our first meeting in the Sand Pit when the fire of God fell (and burnt Joe’s hand J), and likewise I remember our last meeting when we made our lives an offering to the Lord. A lot of time has passed since then and we’ve all gone our separate ways and are doing different things, but I’m sure you’ll all agree that while times change, God does not change. He is still the same yesterday today and forever. I would hope that you can all still remember what the cry of my heart was in leading you for that year. That your lives would be a display of the power of God for all to see, and that you would take that power and serve people, and love people and show them the love of Christ and so make the name of our Lord glorious. As you are probably all aware, Janna and I are living in Belize, Central America as missionaries. I just got home from an evening meeting with a family in their home. The pastor of our church, Pastor Raphael, was the guest speaker and we came along as his guests. I was offered a chance for a brief testimony so I stood up and shared this thought: why do we serve God? Why do we do what we do? Why did my wife and I leave our home, our families and our country to come to Belize? The answer was simple – because God told us to and He has that right because he is the owner of our lives. We came to preach Christ because we love Him, and it’s our love for Him that makes us obey. When I was finished speaking and sat down again, I couldn’t help but spend the majority of that meeting thinking about all of you. I sat looking at where I was, in a big thatched roof hut with a dirt floor surrounded by people who didn’t speak much of my language or know my customs. As I took it all in I asked myself; “I wonder if my guys are still doing what God has called them to be doing right now?” Are they still loving Jesus from the bottom of their hearts and seeking and desiring his presence? Is their love for Jesus producing holy living? I don’t know where all of you are right now or what you’re doing in life, but I guess what I’m mainly trying to say, is that I still love you and pray for you. I want to remind you of something I said in one of our meetings. That night when we were walking through the cemetery, thinking about eternity and visiting the resting place of Keith Green and Leonard Ravenhill. I said this, “The only reason anyone would ever backslide and fall into sin is because they’re not living for the Great Commission.” I still believe that, but even I need to be reminded of that at times. Missions is hard work and at times I don’t always feel very spiritual. I’ve spent the majority of our time here working on the ministry property and our house. I didn’t think that I was coming to Belize to mow grass, do drywall and fix toilets, but work like that has been our lot and sometimes I get frustrated thinking “this isn’t what I came here to do. This isn’t what I thought it would be. I came here to minister, not be a handyman.” And so with those thoughts and feelings in my heart, I’ve done a lot of soul searching and spent a lot of time basically arguing with God and I’ve come to this conclusion: I thought I was coming here for people, to preach to people and get them saved and see wonders and miracles happen, but God didn’t send us here for their sake. He sent us here for Him. I heard a teaching a while ago that said “Where you’re going is not as important as who you’re becoming.” Man, let me tell ya, that has been both very encouraging and very frustrating at the same time because it’s so easy for me to get distracted by where I’m going instead of paying attention to who God wants me to be where I am NOW. I’ve been very convicted in all of my work here that no matter how small the task or unpleasant or seemingly unimportant, to do it all with absolute excellence. For two reasons. One, because I’m not working for men, my work is an expression of worship and I want the Lord to be pleased to see that I have not been lazy or negligent. Second, because we are working for men. Even though I’m not going to be here for years to enjoy the fruits of my labors, someone else will be and my reputation is at stake. Proverbs says “a good name is more desirable than riches,” so the Lord has really put it on my heart that every bit of work I do here is like signing my name on it saying “Bradley did this.” How will my work be revered by those who come after me? I have to say that some of the work of those who came before me was less than impressive. Straight up jacked up. I would be embarrassed to show that to others if it was my work. And so I have been convicted that the Lord wants excellence especially in things that will only affects others and not ourselves. It’s easy to work hard for yourself; not so much to work hard for others. It looks and sounds really “spiritual” to go and be a missionary in some foreign country, but God’s not interested in us looking or sounding spiritual. He wants us to be obedient, faithful sons whom he can trust to do his will regardless of our feelings about it. This has been a very hard lesson for me here. That’s not to say that God doesn’t care about our feelings, but that he wants us to be in control of them and make them obedient. It’s ESOAL in real life. He puts you in a situation where you are not in control of anything except your own responses and that’s where we begin to identify with the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” The last several months of my life has not been about bringing the power God for others to see, but for myself in my own life. I hope that something I’ve said here has been an encouragement to any of you. Be God’s man wherever you are – right now. It would be a great blessing to me if all of you who read this would respond and fill me in on where you’re at in life right now. I love you, may God’s grace be with you all. Daril, Justin, Nick, Jonathan, Nate, Jimmy, Chris, Blake, David, Jon, Tanner, Elisha, Matt, Danny, Jason, Brad, Nathan, Garrett, Devin, Cory. (In order of where you slept as best as I could remember) Shalom, Bradley | | |
| Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.” Psalms 8:3 (CJB) “When I look at the Heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you set in place - what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them; humans that you watch over them with such care?” Someone once said, “If God being who and what he is, and man being who and what he is, then the only thinkable relationship between the two is one of absolute Lordship on his part, and absolute submission on ours.” With those three statements in mind, what should our opinion of other people be? How should we view the people whom we encounter in our daily lives with whom we live and work and play? I believe that we should see them as no less than the treasure for whom Christ laid down his life to obtain. Regardless of how unseemly, or unkind, or unholy, or uncharitable, they may be, they are still made in Gods image. He loves them and he endured the agony of the cross for them; so then shall we not also bear our own cross to love people? Is that not the one and only commandment which Christ himself said was equal to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart?” I recently heard a father say, “I hate kids, I can’t stand teenagers.” He may as well have said, “Let them die and burn in hell,” because that’s very well what may happen to those kids and teenagers who were supposed to be shown the love of God through that man. People are people made in Gods image…no matter their age and we are COMMANDED to love them! People are not a means to our own ends. Relationships are not meant to be evaluated for what we can benefit from them. Quite the opposite! Relationships with people exist as an opportunity to give to them. John 3:16 is most likely the most commonly memorized passage in scripture, but in my opinion the main emphasis of that passage is not salvation. It begins with the statement, “For God so loved that world, that he GAVE…” Immediately love becomes an outward action and expression. Not some pseudo-spiritual statement that I’ve heard many people say, “I love people, I just don’t like them.” That is a self-deceiving lie straight from the pit of hell. As I am writing this at 7:17pm on October 11th, 2008, I find in myself a contradiction because while this is what I believe to be a true biblical perspective on people and relationships, I also acknowledge that this is something which I am seriously struggling to practice. I find that the two most important commands of God also carry with them the most difficult challenges to fulfillment. In other words, there are some people who I would rather not choose to love because of how they have treated me. I may not wish them harm or misfortune, but I don’t go beyond myself to show them kindness and instead simply avoid interaction with them. However, if we remove the masks that we Christians like to put on our words, and re-stated that in a more genuinely honest manner, I think that would come out more like this: there are some people who have not shown me the love of Christ, and so I will not show them the love of Christ. I will hold onto my injured pride and offended self-righteousness and not relent until they have humbled themselves and begged my forgiveness. Now, let’s call that what it is…SIN! How can we pray that God would draw near to us, or bless us, while we are at the same moment pushing away from us people who bear the image of God? This hypocrisy has crippled the spiritual stature of the church. Offended pride has divided the lines of defense that should be upholding the anointing on God’s people and left wide open holes for the enemy to infiltrate and render us ineffective. Remember the parable Jesus told of the unforgiving debtor - the man who had been forgiven, but refused to forgive someone else? That man’s original debt was too much to pay, yet his punishment for his unforgiveness was far worse. Is the same true of your life right now? I am not writing this claiming to be perfect in obeying this command to love people and I’m going to be honest with myself and I’m not going to say, “I’m struggling with it”…no I am still sinning in this. But right now I am confessing it and asking God for his grace to help me. The only sin that can kill you is unconfessed sin. Remember, the tax collector who beat his chest and said, “God have mercy on me, a sinner,” was declared righteous for his honest cry to God. Not so the self-deceived Pharisee. “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him no good.” - Ann Landers | | |
| Hello All,
This is Janna writing. I thought that you all might like to know how we do things here and how the locals do things. Perhaps the women might be more interested in this part cause it is all about details!!
The Internet
We do not have internet on the grounds, we have to go into Punta Gorda to an internet café, which isn’t really a café because there is no lounge, and no food. It looks more like the section of a library that has rows of computers. They probably have 10 to 15 computers. We take our lap top. They charge you 10 cents BZE a minute. So that is 5 cents US. So in order to cut on cost, we copy all of the emails we receive into a document and take it home and read it. And vise versa, we type replies at home and then when we get there, we copy and paste it into the email and send it. *** So if you notice it takes us a while to reply, that is why.
The locals do the same thing for internet, in fact, in the village down the road, they actually have high speed internet, right there.
Shopping
There is no Wal-mart and nothing that even resembles it. There is one store that looks like what we would call a grocery store and that’s 4 hours away. Other wise, there are about 5 different “grocery” stores in PG. You buy all your cold stuff from the one that has a generator, so when the electricity goes out (which happens quite frequently) the cold stuff doesn’t spoil. Of course by now you’ve gathered that food is expensive. Half of the store does not have prices on it, so while at the cash register, you have to watch for future reference how much you are paying. In some stores, the receipt doesn’t tell you the item, just the price. Then, when I go home, I price everything, just to make sure. This week, I was charged twice for something. Bradley and I decided that we won’t by milk or cereal any more. The cereal we bought this week had worms in it and the milk spoiled a couple days after we got it, and the expiration dates ( you always check them ) had a year left on the cereal and a few more days on the milk. We returned the cereal and they said it is too hot to keep cereal….well it is only getting hotter as the days pass.
The town of PG is not large and you can walk it very easily. There are little shops everywhere. And again, nothing is priced and the price depends on what they feel like charging you or how well they have done that day. The Market is a street lined with Umbrella’s with food underneath them. Forget about Sanitation, there is none. But you go down the street, and purchase what ever you need. The market is cheaper than grocery stores.
What do the locals do? From talking to a lady in the village, they only go to market every once in a while. They eat a lot of tortillas. There are also a few restaurants that are really good and surprisingly cheap here.
You wonder how they figured this stuff out but from what people have been telling me, there are actually roots of trees that you can eat. One man told us exactly which tree it was, it’s shape, and how to dig it out, it is supposed to taste like a potato and one will feed a whole family for a meal. A lot of food grows on trees too. They go out into the bush (woods) and get their food. One man that we know goes hunting almost every night for the meat for his family. They also have mastered (in their own way) farming and raising animals. They are very self sufficient.
Cooking/ Cleaning
We have one washer and two driers. Unfortunately it is too expensive to us the drier so we hang dry a lot. You want to do laundry on a day where the night before it didn’t rain too much, or else you have muddy water.
Cooking, we have a stove, it is in Spanish so I get my hand held translator out and get to work.
What do the locals do:
I have seen some that have washer but those are usually in town or people that can afford them ( remember, everything is almost triple the price that you would pay in the US) …So most of the them wash their clothes in the river and then hang them dry. Some of them do have water pumps but when I asked, they said they go to the river.
They also bath in the river. They have a separated hut for their kitchen, of which it consist of a few pots that hang on the wall and an open flame that had a sheet of metal over it. This is how they cook.
In the villages there can be 8-12 people that live in one and the hut consist of mainly 2 or three rooms.
Well, I think that is enough about that for now.
This email is pretty long but I hope that you liked knowing how things are done.
Look for in our next email we will tell you how going to the village went. Bradley is adding pictures for you to see….
Janna and Bradley. | | |
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