Last week we (the Trek-Xers and Chris) got to lead our first mission trip together. We had a team from Starkville, MS (Go Dawgs!) in Atlanta, GA. The trip was a blessing in so many ways. Like many other big cities, Atlanta has an enormous international population. Enormous. There are hundreds of people groups represented from all over the world. We spent our time in an area on Buford Highway. As we would drive down the road, the signs for stores and advertisements were in multiple languages, mostly not English. We were surrounded by people of many ethnicities. It was really like being in another country.
While in Atlanta, we partnered with Ian and Ruthie North, North American Mission Board missionaries. We helped further some of their work in the city and serve alongside them. Ian and Ruthie have two main ministries that they serve through: an after-school program in their home for the children in their neighborhood and a ministry called Refugee Beads that I will explain in detail later. In addition to getting involved in these ministries, we served in a local school- Sequoia Middle School. We did tasks that seem menial in our eyes, such as re-painting bathroom stalls, planting a tree, picking up trash, making copies, and organizing library books. However, the fruit of our labor is for the benefit of the missionaries in the area. By our serving in the school, they were able to build a relationship with the staff and faculty of the school where many of the students they minister to attend. This could be a huge avenue for them! And the school was so thankful for our work. My group planted a tree in the front lawn of the school. We later learned that the tree was in memory of a 6th grade student who was murdered last year. Please pray for Sequoia Middle School, that the Spirit of Jesus will be alive and active in the Christians there.
After working in the school each day, our group would split in half for the afternoon. Half of the group went to a neighborhood ministry building where many children come after school. They played games, made crafts, sang songs, an most importantly shared the Gospel with the children. They displayed the love of Christ through their actions and words.
The other half of the group, whom I was with, went to Ian and Ruthie's neighborhood to help out with their after-school program. We did much of the same work- playing games, singing songs, making crafts, and sharing the Gospel through Bible story time and just talking with the children.
My eyes were opened in a new way to what it means to give your life away for the advancement of God's Kingdom. I truly saw the Love of Jesus those few days in Atlanta. God called Ian and Ruthie to make disciples of the nations (like He does all of us at the point of salvation- we're all missionaries). He called them to the nations in Atlanta. Ian and Ruthie live in a small apartment in Huntingdon Creek. They don't live in a safe neighborhood in a nice home surrounded by people who live the same lives they do. They don't have the privacy and luxuries we think we "deserve". They live in an apartment much like our Burmese friends live in, among Latino families, surrounded by lots of uncared-for children, and crime. I walked in to Ian and Ruthie's apartment to help with the after-school program and I instantly felt the presence of God. Ruthie welcomed us with hugs and a huge smile as she stepped over children to get to us. There were about 35-40 kids in their 2-bedroom apartment. The extra bedroom had been made in to a room for the kids. There were puzzles, crayons, books, places to hang the pictures they had drawn, Bibles, toys, and so much more. There were kids at the kitchen table, kids in the living room floor, kids in the hallway, kids everywhere. Kids with dirty hands and runny noses. But Ian and Ruthie didn't seem to mind. They know their home is not their own- it's God's. They also had snacks for the kids. And they feed them supper three times a week because they had begun to notice that many of the children weren't eating except for what they were fed at school, whether it be because their parents worked third shift to give them a place to live or because they just couldn't afford it. They discipline the kids and they praise the kids. They teach and disciple them and help them with their school work. But most of all, they show them Jesus. They speak Jesus' words, they act as Jesus would act, they love like Jesus. I left speechless that day. Tears fell down my face as I thought about how selfish my desires are. I want to be safe. I want to have alone time. I want a clean house. But do I want to experience the Glory of God? I had experienced firsthand a couple who had laid their lives down for His Glory. And I saw the JOY on their faces, flowing out of their hearts. This isn't to say it was easy for Ian and Ruthie. A teenage boy had recently written graffiti on the wall outside their door of racial slurs and curse words because Ian had told him the boy he wouldn't allow him to call a girl a slut. Ruthie and Ian went home each day to find what the boy had written so that they could paint over it once again. But they didn't retaliate, they prayed for him instead. It isn't easy to think about the violence around them and still feel safe in their home. But they do not live in fear, they know God is their Protector. It isn't easy to clean up after 35 kids, but it's worth it knowing that all 35 kids are Loved in Jesus' name. My story cannot explain to you the Glory of God that I saw in Ian and Ruthie's selfless life last week, but I pray that God will make it real to you. And I'm asking you to stop. Right now. And pray for Ian, Ruthie, their neighbors, the kids they love, the teenage boy, whoever God lays on your heart. Pray to the Father on their behalf. The enemy hates what Ian and Ruthie are doing and the only One strong enough to handle the enemy is our God. Please join me in prayer for them.
Also while in Atlanta, we got to visit a Hindu temple, eat at a delicious Vietnamese shop, and climb Stone Mountain for our last morning.
