Orphanage Trip Update

Our internet is currently down, so I’m not sure when I will be able to post this blog. But as I am writing, we now have only one week left. These past five weeks have both blown by and felt like forever at the same time. It is going to be really hard to leave, but I am able to rest in the knowledge that even after we leave God is still in control and will still be moving in amazing ways. It is also so nice that Craig and Bryn will be staying here for the next 3-5 years also, that we are just building a foundation here, which has also been helpful to remember.

We got to go to an orphanage yesterday for the first time. We thought we were going to be able to go more, but we are under the national Ivorian staff and their ideas about what we should do are different than ours. They were very kind in working with us to allow us to go to the orphanage, and hopefully to a village today if the rain doesn’t prevent that (it is pouring and has been since last night). Their idea of “good works” here is just very different than ours is, and we want to respect the cultural differences and learn to work with them and respect their leadership here. Craig was telling the team last night that when they lived in Cameroon, they really wanted to do good works as well, and had weekly outreaches to prisons and orphanages. It was something he organized though, and the national staff in Cameroon was very offended because they felt like he had gone behind their backs. He said they burned a lot of bridges by not being sensitive to the culture and as they are building a long time ministry here, they want to be very careful to start on a good foot with the staff. They run on the French system here, since they were a French colony for so long. And from what I understand, under that system things are very bureaucratic and separated. Because we are under “campus ministry” that is all they want us to do, and to leave the work in orphanages and prisons and such to organizations that are focused on that. The way things work in America there is a lot more flow and flexibility between ministry areas, and so we are working to find a balance. Campus ministry is the focus, but it says in James 2 that faith without works is dead. Good works is an overflow from the free gift of salvation we have received and we want to to live lives that reflect the servant love that Jesus so perfectly exemplified. I really respect how Craig has been working under the national staff though, and while it has been a little frustrating not getting to do more with the good works aspect, it has been such a learning experience in seeing what it is like for full time international mission work. Cultural sensitivity is crucial; the gospel is not American or French or Ivorian; it is for all people and needs to be presented in a way that will be understood by and is respectful towards the culture. We have been learning that when it comes to cultural differences, different doesn’t mean wrong, its just different (exceptions do exist, such as human sacrifices or other things that go against God’s word, but this is just our overall guideline). Next time, I will hopefully be able to write about our experience at the village, we will know soon if we get to go or not.