Our week began with gathering the steering committee & helping team from a number of countries. One staff member got "locked down" in a friendly way at customs because he was carrying in small radios/headsets/small transmitter for the translation equipment. He didn't have the proper form, so they impounded the equipment. They told him he could pay $200 and they would ignore the procedures, or he could leave the equipment and get it on the way out of the country. After consultation, prayer, and reaching into his wallet to get $200, the woman then said, "oh, no....it's ummm, not really an option." So, the Lord halted us from contributing to the bribe culture, and provided translation equipment for us after all from within country.
Reflection #1: As Expatriates, we often bring things we're sure we need. Often the Lord wants us to bring merely ourselves, in faith, and let him provide the needed supplies through relationships from within and among the people we are trying to walk next to. Our pre-arranged solutions aren't always His plans to solve problems or meet needs. And thankfully, sometimes God brings in roadblocks to steer us to a greater/higher path.
The arrangements for the music times at the meetings were left quite loose. As the music team gathered to plan and finalize their approach, they decided to use some of the more technical equipment. One woman carried in a Mixing Board (en route from a return trip from the USA). Apparently it's the type of equipment that costs about $4,000-$5,000. In the process of plugging it in, the amateurs (excluding the music team leader who was trained to use the equipment) got overzealous, and plugged it in without fully reading the situation or the directions---the system was designed to handle 120 volts, not 220 volts. POP!!!! The fuse blew. 36 hours later, with new fuse, and system plugged in through a transformer (not just an adaptor), it worked again! Praise the Lord--now they could play music from the Laptop, MP3 player, tape, CD, and hook in microphones for the folk drum, guitar, keyboards and singers.
Reflection #2: In the context of Unreached People Groups, our transformed lives minister to others more effectively than merely adapted lives. Sometimes God has to replace our insides/fuses (attitudes, thoughts, behavior) before we are effective. Among many Muslim people groups and in a cross-cultural context, surface-level adaptation has little value and no lasting fruit--without transformation, we will pop under the pressure. Also, these Partnership forums serve as "mixers" in their own right---missionaries plug in to one another and God mixes us together to make a concerted sound of hope to the unbelievers....after six years we’re just now seeing some of the most powerful yet subtle instruments mixing in!
A husband and wife arrived, minus one piece of checked luggage. They spent a whole day tracking it down. Found it, but because the proper form wasn't filled out, they couldn't retrieve it, and had to have it sent back to their home country. So, our brother lacked shoes, change of clothes, toiletries, etc. A member of our team loaned him a shirt, underwear, a pair of shoes, and spare toiletries.... our luggage-less brother gave us a wonderful example of graciously humbling himself to receive help from his family in Christ, especially in a potentially embarrassing situation. (When was the last time you borrowed underwear?)
Reflection #3: God gives us a family in our brothers and sisters in Jesus.... do we readily let them be family to us when it's most difficult or embarrassing? God wants us to walk in others shoes to understand them and they us....
