An evening to remember

So what happens when you combine a dozen obstetric nurses and some good food... you get a lot of stories and laughter. Now imagine that you combine that with something they can get passionate about like decreasing maternal/neonatal mortality and stories from Indonesia. Add that all together and you get an evening to remember.

A co-worker (thanks Anitra!) hosted an evening for me share to share with other co-workers about Indonesia, my plans and needs. It was so much fun to share about this part of my life with my friends! I wish I had thought to get some pictures but in the busyness of the night I just forgot.

Now I am sitting at SeaTac airport waiting for my flight to Colorado. I will spending the next five days at WorldVenture's Renewal Conference. This is a chance for all their missionaries currently in the US and the home office staff to get together. We spend the first two days in prayer. Prayer for the workers and work around the world. The remaining two and half days are filled with updates from around the world and what is happening at the home office as well as some workshops. It is an exciting time to see what God is doing around the world and be with friends. I will have the chance to connect with teammates from Indonesia and some of the group who were appointed at the same time. It is so encouraging to connect with those who are on similar journeys. Please pray for safe travel - it is winter in Colorado but thankfully no major snowstorms are predicted. 

Snow Days

I know that there are going to be those of you that get a good laugh at this post (especially those of you reading this in Colorado, Chicago, and back East) because yep I am posting about snow. You see snow, especially snow that lasts more than a day or so, is not the norm here in the Puget Sound. Need examples of how people in the Puget Sound respond to winter weather... just look up Seattle winter driving on YouTube :)

That said I happen to love the snow. Especially when I can stay all snuggled up at home and just enjoy it. It started snowing here in Everett last weekend. Just a few inches but because it was cold it didn't melt away (the usual for Puget Sound snow). I was working all weekend so that meant some dicey commutes to and from work, but thanks to good snow tires and and all-wheel drive Subaru I had no big problems. I finished work on Tuesday morning and when I woke up on Tuesday afternoon we had gotten hit by a convergence zone and had about 5 inches total. Still cold so it stuck around. Today (Thursday) it was suppose to warm up and change to rain. As I write this however, it is still only 25 degrees here at my house AND it has been snowing all day so we are up to like a foot outside (not that I am going out to measure it).

Here are a few pictures from my yard over the last few days...

Not sure my lilac bush is ever going to be quite the same

Or the rhododendron either for that matter

The view from my bedroom window

The official current conditions and forecast on my computer screen

Compare that to the current conditions and forecast at the hospital in Indonesia

Check out that "real feel" temperature of 105 and it is only noon, so the hottest part of the day is still to come

The change in the weather is going to be one of the many changes I will have to adjust to when I move to Indonesia. Right now though I plan to curl up and enjoy the peace and quiet the snow brings.

Next Thursday, I am looking forward to spending the evening at Anitra's house. We work together at Providence Hospital here in Everett. She has volunteered to host an info and fundraising event for me to share about my plans with our friends and co-workers. I hope it will be a lot of fun as well as informative. Please be praying I communicate well with this diverse group of people.  

Unreached and Unengaged

This is one of those posts that is a work in progress. It has been coming together for awhile now. Some comes from reading assignments I have completed as part of my departure requirements. Some comes the book Radical by David Platt, which I recently read. Finally some started last year about this time when I took the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class. This class was required as part of my preparation for serving with WorldVenture. I wrote a blog post on it shortly after I finished, which you can read here if you want. Part of this class gave me the latest information on what missions is doing around the world and the chance to interact with missionaries serving around the world and hear their stories. One of the videos we watched in class is the video above. Before that time I had heard the terms unreached and unengaged around but only understood them in general terms. So maybe that is a good place to start...

Unreached means that a people group does not contain an indigenous community of Evangelical Christians with adequate numbers and resources to spread the gospel within the people group.  
Unengaged means no church or organization is actively working within that people group to spread the gospel.

There are lots of statistics out there to give us an idea of how many groups are unreached but in general it is thought that about 6,000 people groups totaling around 2.8 billion people are unreached and of those 5,000 people groups totaling 1.5 billion are unreached and unengaged. As David Platt says in his book Radical, "that means for these 1.5 billion unreached and unengaged peoples, almost every individual within them is born, lives, and dies without ever hearing the gospel. Even worse no one is currently doing anything to change their situation. No one."

Indonesia is a unique country with its 17,000 plus islands and 768 people groups. It ranks as the country with the third most people groups (India and Papua New Guinea are the first two). About 127 major unreached people groups are present in Indonesia. 39 of those people groups are unengaged and three of those live on the island where I will be serving.

I have two expected roles in Indonesia. One is obviously to serve as a nurse and midwife to those at the hospital and through our village health outreach team. The second is to mentor and disciple young nursing students and nurses who have made the commitment to serve as missionary nurses in Indonesia through our MedGo program. Together with your support we hope to reach out to the many unreached and unengaged people groups in Indonesia with good health care and the Good News.

God has a plan for reaching those unreached and unengaged. He outlines it in Romans 10. God sends His servants, His servants preach, People hear, Hearers believe (not all but some), Believers call, Everyone who calls is saved. So why hasn't the goal been reached? There is really only one possible spot this plan breaks down - when servants of God do not preach the gospel to all peoples. As David Platt says in his book Radical, "we are the plan of God, and there is no plan B." Maybe it is time we stop asking that all too famous question, "What is God's will for my life" and realize that He has already told us. The will of God is for you and me to give our lives for the gospel and glory of God among all peoples but especially those who have never heard of Jesus. This is a cause worth living for and it is a cause worth dying for. So the question becomes "Will we obey God's will?"

So as you look at your New Year's Resolutions this year I challenge you to consider how the Lord might be asking you to help reach those unreached and unengaged. 

Pick up the book Radical by David Platt to read a lot more on this topic. At the end of that book he challenges us to an experiment. It is one I plan on working on this year. Want to join me? You can also read a lot more about this topic on The Joshua Project web page here. Or maybe you could take a Perspectives class. Many start in January and you can find one near you through their web page. You can also pick up a copy of Operation World which helps you read and pray through every country in a year.

Check out the video above for some interesting facts and challenging questions. (For those reading this in your email or RSS Feeder you might need to click on the "read more" button at the bottom of the email to go to the blog to see the video) Please take the time to view it! 

Happy New Year!