Bursting Bubbles, Making Friends

Steve (left) and Zach were two friends from Northwestern College that we had the privilege of working with in Opelousas.  Both seniors, Steve hopes to be working in youth ministry soon, while Zach intends to work for the Iowa state patrol.  I recommend both of these guys if you're looking for a good youth pastor or cop.

You understand that there are Christians outside of your own bubble, don't you?  Well of course you do.  You would be silly to think otherwise, because the God we serve is bigger than the little realms that we occupy in our day-to-day worlds.  However, if you're like me, you can often get preoccupied with these minute universes, so much so that you might be taken by surprise to see that there are others, not so much unlike yourself, in other places around the world.

Such was one of the best parts of our trip to Opelousas last week, when we were able to partner with not only the people of Opelousas but also with a team of students and faculty from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.  Oh, those crazy Northwesterners.  They outnumbered us nearly 2-to-1, and as one of our team members put it, "their guys (they brought football players) made us look tiny."  

While we say "bag" they say "beg".  They made mention of summer when the thermometer broke 60 degrees, while we listened in awe at stories of endless snow.  Their basketball teams were competing in the NAIA national tournaments, and ours, well, they were strategizing for next season, we'll say.  Yet, what was consistent for both teams was the simple fact that we were bound together indelibly by the same faith in Christ, the same orienting motivation that caused us to travel hours away from home, not to the beach and a party scene, but to a tired town in Louisiana as much in need of grace as the rest of us.  The whole scene was reminiscent of Paul's plea to the Colossians when he says that when the new self is active there is no Greek-Jew, slave-free distinctions, but "Christ is all, and in all." 

We could all stand to have our bubbles destroyed like this more often, because it might just confront us with the reality that, though our culture might tell us otherwise, we are not at the center of our stories.  

Thalia (top) works alongside Jill from Northwestern.

Kelsey (center), a NWC senior, was on her fourth spring break trip to Opelousas.  She was interviewed by a Lafayette news station that was doing a story on Hope for Opelousas and the Northwestern and Bryan teams.

Ross, a freshman, melting girls' hearts with photos like these.

Emily from NWC.

Brian (left) with Tavian and Loren Carriere of Hope for Opelousas.

The Lost Art of Celebrating

We do not rejoice enough, both in frequency and in fever.  I don't know why we Christians tend to be so bad at this.  It almost seems like we don't want to get too crazy just in case a piano falls out of the sky or some other tragedy befalls us.  We're promised toil and tribulation in this world, right?


But when I consider what Heaven will be like, I cannot help but imagine that there will not only be an absence of tears, brokenness and despair, but also a fullness of joy that we have only experienced in small measure to this point.  The Bible talks about Heaven, the culmination of all history, as a place where there will be a wedding with a great feast, and it only seems fitting that there will be some form of dancing there.


Tonight, I feel our Father gave us a small glimpse into what this will be like.  After seven days ministering alongside Hope for Opelousas, we spent our day canoeing through the swamps of Lake Martin, seeing downtown Lafayette and then spent the evening at Pont Breaux Cajun Restaurant.  And while I'm not sure what to expect from the specifics of Heaven's celebration, the specifics of tonight's were food the likes of alligator, frog legs, crawfish, boudin and gumbo, a healthy portion of live zydeco music and a dance floor that stayed packed throughout the night.  I'm not sure that we have really processed this trip, but there is no doubt that we leave Opelousas with hearts that have played as hard as they have worked these last 8 days.  That combination is extremely satisfying, and I can't help but think that's the way God meant for our lives to be lived...blessed to have shared in His work and needing desperately to exult in the goodness of this Story that he allows us to take part in.  God made us for his glory, and when we make his glory our aim there is joy inexpressible that must shared.


How do you put into words this type of experience?  You don't.  You live it out for with those you have been blessed to live and love with.  We have much to be thankful for, much to rejoice over, and our Cajun friends showed us that tonight.  


- Matt

Flexibility

Northwestern and Bryan students pray for the men of the Lighthouse Mission Friday.

One word you hear a lot on mission trips is "flexibility."  It's sort of the "Jesus" answer to any situation on a mission trip.  Where are we stopping for lunch?  Let's be flexible.  Will I get a hot shower today?  Be flexible...you might.  We're out of peanut butter again?  Flexibility.  That will solve your problem.

I think we tend to think about flexibility as it pertains to one another.  One person has to give in order for the other person to get.  But this week we have learned a lot about yielding to God's wishes, most notably in the fact that the Night On the Town event had to be cancelled due to bad weather.  Night On the Town is a yearly event that was to be held Friday night.  It brings youth groups from across Louisiana to raise awareness of homelessness and about the Lighthouse Mission, a shelter for homeless men in Opelousas.  Speakers and musicians share the Gospel in a concert setting at a high school football stadium and all the kids sleep overnight in cardboard boxes to raise money for the Lighthouse.  Last year the entire field was full to capacity and "overflow sleeping" had to be used.  The Lighthouse used the funds that were raised to build its own chapel for the men.

Throughout the week it was apparent that the weather may not allow for the event to take place, and by Thursday morning the decision was made to cancel the 2012 Night on the Town.  I was disappointed, not so much because I enjoy sleeping (or as the case was not sleeping) in a cardboard box for a few cold hours, but because of the experience that we would not have as a team and that the Lighthouse would not benefit from.  But again, the word flexible comes into play, and who better could we be flexible with than our Father?  Ultimately, I think flexibility is really just another word for sacrifice.  One thing that we have had to sacrifice has been expectations for how we think God will work.

Instead, some of us spent part of Friday morning visiting with the men of the Lighthouse.  The experience was one of the most meaningful of the trip for me, because it was one of the clearest examples of the body of Christ.  Broken people seeking wholeness in Christ; sinners humbled, but saints empowered to live righteously for God.  One man shared his testimony with me, showing how his relationship with Christ has physically altered the way he looked.  In a 2010 picture, this 46-year-old man looked like a man in his mid-60s.  To learn more about the Lighthouse, check out this www.olmission.org.

The rest of our day was spent working between the Blue House and the New Life Center, a shelter for women and children a few blocks away from the Hope for Opelousas Office.  Below are some pictures of  our friends in action, finally applying coats of pant after much sanding, scrapping and priming.

Our official work with Hope for Opelousas is completed, but we won't leave until early tomorrow morning to return home.  Today we get to enjoy a free day in Lafayette, a 30-minute drive south.  Please pray that we drink deeply of these relationships that we have been blessed by and through and that we would process this experience in the days ahead.

-Matt

 

The Week in Pictures (to this point)

The bad part about a trip like this is that in order to be fully present in the moment you often are forced to neglect the art of reflection.  Hours fly by, turning into days, and then before you know it you're packing your bags to head back home, certain that you have changed but not sure how to express it to others. 

This tension keeps me humble and searching for meaning and purpose in each moment of these days.  It's a comfort to know that what is going on right now is not an end in itself.  God will continue to use these thoughts, feelings, and experiences to unfold new insights in the future.  

Our week has been fast and furious.  We have worked hard and played harder.  We've seen the Gospel in action in some mind-blowing ways that sometimes only seem idealistic in "real life."  We've made friendships with friends from Opelousas and from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.  Most of all, we've encountered our Father graciously showing us himself in a hurting community that is finding healing through the Gospel.  We're seeing how, as Hope of Opelousas puts it, "Love Changes Everything."

The Blue House: Hope for Opelousas was recently able to purchase this house next door to its offices, and its renovation has been the main focus of our work efforts throughout the week thus far.  Lots of destruction, sanding, caulking, painting, etc., has gone into this endeavor.  We have worked with a team of students from Northwestern College (Orange City, Iowa) and with several people of Opelousas to fix the house so that HFO can add another 20 kids to their regular program.  HFO currently works with 20 children from 4th grade through high school.

Chris working hard at tearing the formica off the kitchen island.

Bernie chipping away some paint.

We haven't lacked for good local cuisine.  Jumbalaya, gumbo, boudin, and Tuesday we were treated to a crawfish boil where we tasted some of Louisiana's finest.  Some of team claims to have eaten close to 150 crawfish at this lunch...we won't name names but they were not from our male population.

Most afternoons we've had the opportunity to play with some of the kids from "The Hill" community.  Most of these kids live in either single-parent or "grandparent-parent" households.

Yolanda paints the face of one of the children from "The Hill" community during the HFO Block party Wednesday afternoon.  Approximately 200 kids came to the party after a shortened day at school.

John being the "big kid" in the bounce house.

Chris and Jessalyn doing their best to maintain order.

Thalia was one of several team members that got into the dunk tank.

Two more full days left here in Opelousas.  Please pray for our friends in this special community.

-Matt

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Kirsten (right) and Jessalyn chowing down at the crawfish boil.

Hey from Opelousas! It’s been a fantastic couple days down here in hot Louisiana. I absolutely love it here, however it is unlike any other missions trip I have ever been on. Unknowingly, from previous experiences, I have equated these past trips solely with relational experiences, not physical labor.

This time however, the Lord is directly challenging me to find Him in the tedious and mundane. In chipping paint, sanding boards, pulling out nails, pressure washing, hauling tile, and cleaning the various gritty places found in an old house. Whether I see the results now, or never have that opportunity, my focus needs to be on bringing glory to my Savior in the little tasks, even if no one notices.

It continues to amazes me how much can fall apart and lose its use when left without a caretaker. Likewise, God has been showing me that when I fall to the wayside and allow my daily responsibilities to become meaningless, they really do eventually lose the original purpose for which they were created. I should be seeking the Lord in every aspect, no matter the time.

Honestly, in the past, I have chosen to acknowledge the clear work of God in those select times during a one-on-one with a close friend on campus or a worship chapel. Now, He is revealing how much more He wants to be apart of my everyday life. Every little mundane thing has the capability to be a catalyst of the Lord’s hand, if only we ask Him to be apart of every aspect of our lives.

After only two days of processing this, I am even more excited to see what the Lord reveals to me and the rest of our team in the next couple days. And I am so excited to take this new recognition back to Tennessee with me so that I can begin to practice recognizing the presence of God in every action, whether that’s building a relationship or scrubbing paint off walls.

God is doing marvelous things down here, and I can’t wait to see what He will continue to do down here in good ole’ Opelousas, LA.

Because of His grace,

Kirsten

BFC Louisiana

The Element of Surprise, the Essence of Faith

Say hello to Derek.  Don't hate him because of his purple fingernails.  He's a good brother, recently letting his little sister experiment on him.  I promised Derek I wouldn't post this photo on Facebook.  I didn't mention anything about this blog though.  Why the picture of Derek?  Well, he was the catalyst for an important insight that I gained yesterday as we drove the 11 hours or so from Dayton, Tenn. to Opelousas, La.

Derek served as co-pilot of our BFC Opelousas van for the first four hours of our trip and along the way he provided some entertaining ways to keep me alert.  Most notably, he offered to read me a story.  Since he had seen a copy of "The Hunger Games" sitting on my living room windowsill over the last weeks during our team meetings, he figured this would be a good opportunity to read the book before the movie comes out in soon.  To a large degree I agreed with him, but as I thought about it more I worried that someone else in the van who had already read the book would give away parts of the story and ruin the experience of letting it play out naturally.  You know those sort of people...the ones that told everyone the ending of The Sixth Sense back in 1998 (if you haven't seen the movie I won't ruin it for you).  So I had to decline Derek's offer.

As the miles rolled on, however, I began to think about how we, as humans, are drawn to stories.  We want to have someone tell them to us.  We want to be surprised, hurt, happy, overjoyed, mellowed, saddened, etc.  We search for cathartic experiences, ones where we can live vicariously through the lives of another.  Most of all, I'd like to think that we're all looking for a good redemption tale, one that tells a story of one overcoming injustice and incredible odds.

I think the key element in the development of these stories is the uncertainty.  We keep reading the book or watching the movie, because we want to know what happens next.  The author won't give us all the details at the beginning, and even if he or she would it wouldn't be a story worth reading or watching.  The uncertainty keeps us engaged and fully present in the story.

What's interesting is how all that changes when the story becomes personal.  When the focus turns to me, I'd much rather know the details beforehand and not be surprised.  Most people wouldn't walk up to someone and ask them to give away the ending to a movie they've really wanted to watch, but that's the approach I take a lot of times in consideration of the future.  But it's this uncertainty, this looking "through a glass darkly", that is the essence of faith, of waiting and trusting that the story that will unfold before us is much better than anything we could conjure out of our imaginations.

True, there will be pain and discomfort involved, but that's because every good plot involves a healthy dosage of tension.  That's the world we live in, and for a story to be relevant it must be true to the reality we live in.

We're here in Opelousas for the next 8 days.  At this point we have seen a few of the "chapter titles" of this story, but what actually will happen within those pages is yet to be understood.  Hebrews 11:1 might very well become my verse for the trip seems especially pertinent this morning: Now faith is the assurance of things hopes for, the conviction of things not seen."


-Matt

One week until all that preparation starts to fall into place

"One week from today, I will be in Opelousas, Louisiana," as I thought to myself when I woke up on this beautiful, sunny, windy, cold morning. The thought that I got to sleep in for once did not even cross my mind since I had nowhere to go this week with the team. Saturdays before today, I was up bright and early doing God's work with the team on several different projects that were set for us prior to our departure. A week before we leave, many of the team members, like myself, are going to be stressed with trying to tackle the week of mid-terms and last minute preparation for our Saturday departure to Opelousas.

As a collegiate athlete with a double major (EHS/Education) and juggling the preparation for this trip, things are very stressful and hard. Not many people understand how much work goes into planning a trip like this and being your own person who wants to enjoy college as much as he/she can. Having been on plenty of mission trips in the last eight years of my life, I've seen multiple ways of preparation, but none like the way we are preparing for Opelousas.

Each week, all of us come together for a meeting. As we sit and chatter about our weeks so far and sharing things, we have and need to accomplish, not once did it cross my mind that while sitting around and chatting with one another, we are building some really good friendships with each other. I have never been on a team where everyone got along. I know that is sad to say, but it does happen, and I always feared that every time I’m on a mission team. I love my team and the way we all have built great friendships with each other prior to the departure of this trip. We all have our quirkiness and make fun of each other, but I feel like a family when I’m with the team. I feel that the most important thing before going on a mission trip is to have your team feel like a family and always encouraging you. This team that is heading to Opelousas in a week is that.  

All the preparation that has been put into this trip has been all done by God. Without God in the very center of this, we could not have done anything. For Loren and Kristina, who are our contacts in Opelousas, everything they have done to get us down there to serve their community that they live has all been done by God. As we sit in the silence of Matty’s apartment praying to the Lord for him to do a mighty work in the lives of the people in Opelousas and for him to prepare our hearts, I feel like there is nothing more to do but to spend my time in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.  

I can hear the voices of children in my ears and seeing them running around, hugging each team member and it makes me realize that God has a special plan for each child, but it is up to us to teach and lead them in a way to follow the Lord. Children are one of the most precious gift one can ever imagine. To see the precious smile on a child’s face makes me smile from ear to ear, and I know it puts a BIG SMILE on God’s face.  

With the last minute preparation, mid-terms, hanging out with the ones you can call a friend; one week will end before you know it. As I have shared everything that goes into being part of this trip from my perspective; do take the time to sit and reflect on a time that God has done something incredible in your life that put a smile on his face. It can be little or big. Do pray for everyone who is part of this team plus Loren, Kristina, and the many others that will be a part of this wonderful experience.

Much Love,
Marly [Opelousas team member]