HEY! time flies, April is going to be another fast month. we finally had a work day at the church building again, we took about a 2 or 3 month break from doing the general maintenance and improvements that we used to do every week! needless to say, that was a lot to be done and we did a good 2 or 3 hours of work to the building. sometimes i have to ask myself if this is really what i signed up for... cleaning a churchbuilding? thats mission work. believe it or not! i like lists so here is one that i came up with. things that most people dont think of when they here the word missionary:
1. Fun - thats right, your not supposed to have fun while working for God! the theme is "Git-R-Dun" not "Have some Fun"
2. Manual Labor - mission work isnt supposed to be hands on... arent you to busy with bible studies and mass baptisms?!?!
3. Shabby clothes - hard to believe, but the Mormons uniforms are on point, black pants, white shirts and even name tags. as for us, sometimes we look worse than the people we are ministering to!
4. Relax - how can you relax when you are driving out demons and feeding poor people all the time? yes, we find the time! this can be anything from some coffee at starbucks, a movie at the mall, or just going to the park.
So what was the point of this list? I just want everyone to understand that there are no real guidelines to being a missionary. I would say that the main guidelines are a mentality that you are theologically conservative, and culturally liberal. Thats right, preach the gospel while you are IN the culture. Missionaries are real people, some of the realest people out there! We cant have a mindset that missionaries are just those people who travel to far off places... every Christian is (or should be) a "missionary". so my charge is: GO OUT, PREACH THE WORD, AND BE REAL!!!
5 comments:
nice words! Keep aiming high, it is enough to be like our Lord. He also followed your list.
Great job, are you sure you don't want to come back and be Aim coordinator??????
You've got a great blog, Ben. I just knew that when you got an opportunity to share your heart on here that it would be really exciting for people to read. I'm glad you'll be getting home in time for another "batch" of our seniors to be in the youth group. I think your energy and focus will be really inspiring and help them to make some good choices for their life. We're really excited for you and so proud of you!
It was really good to see Dani this last week. She is awesome. I love the work that God has done in her over the past 10 months. Unfortunately, she has been really discouraged. Just pray for her and her team to have a really great two months in Texas and know where to go from there.
God bless. You're in our prayers!
Andrea posted the last comment so I'm going to post another comment in our name.
I loved what you said about mission work. It brought back so many memories of my mission time. We put so many hours in manual labor at the church building. I remember days spent carrying large pallets full of stones out of the building to a pile out back.
I remember saying once that a man had refered to us as the "work horses" of the congregation. Only sometimes the horses talk, and sometimes the horses baptize people.
I'm glad everything is going well for you. Keep your spirit high. We are so proud of you.
There you are! Serving the Lord. I am sooo proud of you, Ben. Keep up the good work!
Love you,
Mee-Maw
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