Category: From the Blog

Every evening I walk around Barrouaille at 5:00 because it gives a chance to catch up with people, and is thankfully a cooler time of day.  Usually I’ll wear a collared shirt with jeans, but on particularly hot days I will wear a pair of shorts and a running shirt with the words Fleet Feet Sports Emblazoned across it.

Now I’m not wearing that running shirt to draw attention to myself, or because I am a runner (small roads and big trucks make running difficult).  Instead those shirts reminds me of the community of runners who I left in the States.

I started Fleet Feet training one winter when my desire to run was overcome by my desire to stay inside where it was warm.  Two-years later I was still part of the programs because of the friendships.

During training runs with partners I’ve discussed culture, tv and movies, politics, personal struggles or goals , and even religion!  Eventually group training became a source of happiness (particularly on a frustrating day) because I knew it would be spent with good friends.

And in a way that running shirt brings back a flood of memories

1. The day I and a friend in speed group two caught up with the runners in speed group one on a Monday night after trying unsuccessfully for weeks
2. The day in marathon training I ran thirteen miles at race pace….from that point on running twenty and twenty-four wasn’t that big of a deal
3. The Tuesday night in the end of winter when it was snowing at the bottom of a hill, and sunny at the top
4. The Saturday morning we ran in thirty-degree temperatures and rain.  The most miserable run of my life, but prepared me or a marathon better than anything
5. Starting with three people in a running group I mentored (others went between running and walking) and ending with twelve
6. Seeing people who couldn’t run a mile finish three miles eight weeks later and celebrate like rock stars

The thing is Fleet Feet was a community of strong relationships for me….and I wear the running shirts though I probably couldn’t run a half-mile without getting winded right now because it helps me remember those people who ran with me.

I guess in the end another reason I wear them is because of the lesson Fleet Feet taught me.  People can accomplish things they never imagined…as long as someone does it with them.

Trust me when I say getting up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning when it’s thirty-five degrees outside isn’t something I would do willingly on my own.  But because of the relationships with people there I was actually excited to do it, and legitimately angry the Saturday mornings my alarm didn’t go off.

As the Missionary my heart dreams of the day the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Barrouaille, St. Vincent would become a Fleet Feet community for the people here.  A place where people will be loved, accepted, and challenged to grow spiritually as they are introduced to a Savior who died for the sins of all mankind.

I’m not sure if people will ever walk around town with t-shirt that have the words “Tabernacle Baptist Church” across the front but that’s okay.  The important thing is remembering all individuals crave for community.  And once they find that it becomes much more than a shirt…it becomes part of their identity.

Last Saturday while cleaning the house I decided to start listening to an audio version of “The Inklings” an excellent biography covering the lives of four famous writers (JRR Tokien, CS Lewis, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams) and regretted it five-minutes later.

The author began describing things that most people would view as life goals; writing of a children’s play and book, learning of languages, creating your own rudimentary language complete with dictionary, and devouring of any classic literature possible.

Tolkien and Lewis were doing it at the age of six or seven

While these accomplishments are partly due to the fact that these men were obviously brilliant, I believe there are deeper reasons for their achieving such amazing things at a young age

1. The lack of technological tools to take up their time (tv, computer, tablet)
2. Reading books was an easy way to escape boredom
3. Love for literature and words from their parents (especially mothers)
4. And plenty of solitude (Lewis would spend all day in the attic with his brother)

Within these reasons a profound truth is seen that I believe reveals a big reason why these men became such great writers….they created literature or language for fun

Each of us have some things we enjoy doing for fun or relaxation whenever there is free time.

1. Hang out with friends
2. Play a video game
3. Listen to music
4. Surf the Internet
5. Crash on the couch to watch tv or Netflix
6. And check Facebook or Twitter on our phone

Please understand I’m not saying that these are bad things since there is a need in everyone’s life for forms of relaxation.  But the fact that a spare ten-minutes would lead me to catch up on Netflix episodes or check facebook while Lewis or Tolkien would reach for paradise lost by Milton is convicting.

This led me last Sunday to think about how much time is spent on social-media, my phone, or Netflix every day.  It wasn’t pretty, but helped me realize those minutes invested in these things really added up

1. While drinking that first cup of coffee
2. And getting that second (third, fourth) cup of coffee
3. While my programs load on my computer
4. While my oatmeal cooks for a minute and a half
5. During lunch
6. While cooking supper
7. During my morning walk through town
8. And countless other times

I’m not saying it’s easy of course.  I would much rather be catching up on NCIS while eating breakfast this morning instead of wrestling with what Owen Barfield called the evolution of language, and his “great war” with Lewis over the subject of imagination.  But sharpening my mind over oatmeal instead of watching Gibbs slap someone in the back of the head is better in the long run (though I love to see it).

There aren’t really many cultural challenges when it comes to living in Barrouaille, but one has brought more stress and grief to me than ten normal ones combined…and that’s driving.

The fact that roads on the island about comparable to about one lane in US highways is cause for concern.  But the real challenge comes when you meet someone coming towards you on a smaller road and there isn’t enough room to pass.  At this point one of the vehicles has to reverse either down the road, or to an area where they can pull over.

At this point I’m pretty good if you call driving like your ninety-year old grandmother good.  However my reversing skills needs lots of work (didn’t use them much in the States) so meeting another vehicle is a totally different story.  I’ve done it before (twice last Sunday) but still need people in the vehicle to help with navigation.

The worst part about backing down or up a road is it reveals for the world to see my poor driving skills.  You may as well put a huge sticker on the van reading “worlds worst driver.”

And that’s where my anger comes in

I drove myself and a church member to get groceries this afternoon and while we were there he happened to recognize a cousin who just finished shopping, so we offered to give him a ride home after purchasing groceries.

Everything was fine till we headed up to his house which happened to be on one of the smaller roads.  As we drove up my stress level was already kind of high expecting some vehicle to come around every corner, but we made it to his street safety.  I was getting ready to put the van in park when the Church member said “no we have to back ourselves up this road.”

Suddenly my stress level went through the roof 🙂

After backing up, going forward, and turning again roughly fifty times (making myself look like the worlds worst driver) I finally turned to the Church member and in anger said “okay that’s it you drive!”

I immediately apologized for getting so upset and we eventually got up the street.  What really bothered me though was this wasn’t the first time my emotions had gotten away from me while driving.

They say that stress has a way of revealing what a person’s really like. Driving in Vincy (particularly when going backwards on small roads) reveals a lot about me..and to be honest I don’t like that person.

He gets emotional instead of thinking about things rationally

Embarrassment or humiliation is the worst thing in the world for him

And he gets angry very easily

The thing is that angry individual who hates to be embarrassed has always been there even in the calmest situations, you just don’t see him until the stress level is heightened.

So though it pains me to say it..I’m thankful for the small roads of Barrouaille.  Because it reveals the part of me I try desperately to hide so that everyone can see it.  And the emphasis is on changing the unbiblical responses to embarrassment instead of hiding those responses.

I’ll get the hang of backing up Vincy roads (eventually) but pray that they will still give a heightened stress level, because it allows other to see the kind of person I really am.

Hi, my name is John, and I am an introverted missionary

There I said it

Believe it or not, God calls many people with introverted personalities to share the Gospel in foreign cultures, and they win souls to Christ while planting Bible preaching Churches.  It may not be a easy for them as an extroverted individual but the Gospel reaches beyond our weaknesses.

I’m sort of a mix between an extrovert and introvert.  I won’t take the first step in a relationship many times (introducing myself) but once we are friends become very outgoing.  People have it explained it by saying “when we first met you wouldn’t talk, and from that point on you didn’t shut up” 🙂

Obviously this can lead to some challenges with missions because much of it has to do with relationship development….but experiences on the mission field has taught me God will bring opportunities for Gospel bridges if I am faithful in connecting with others.

Since visiting Barrouaille for two-weeks in August it’s been a habit of mine to walk around town at 11:00 every morning after finishing sermon preparation.  A goal is to pray, but the primary one is to learn where things are in town, and meet people.

This meant making eye contact with everyone and saying “good morning” whether they responded to me or not.  For the first two-weeks this would be followed by an explanation as two why I was there since seeing a white-man in town was sort of a shock for them.

After returning last month those morning walks slowly became opportunities to greet one another by name, and recently we started having small talk about the weather (a HUGE achievement).

To be honest after being in Barrouaille about eight weeks total I expected to be past small talk relationships, but the truth is friendships aren’t developed overnight.

This morning I was walking by a shop when a man named Mack stopped to ask how the missionary I’m filling in for was doing.  He happens to be a man who believes in many things (mostly Catholicism) and I had asked Mack to pray for the missionary last week if he was a “praying man.”

We talked about the missionary for a few minutes but ended up having about a forty-five minute discussion about sin, heaven and hell, what Adam and Eve did wrong in the garden, baptism, and salvation.

Mack and I don’t agree on these subjects (the fact that he uses the Koran and encyclopedia as a source instead of Scripture doesn’t help) but this first of hopefully man conversations was a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel.

The thing is that relationship with Mack wasn’t created overnight…it took over a month to build.  But being able to spend almost an hour answering his questions about God made all of that time worth it. 

More than once while walking through town in the morning I asked God in frustration “Lord why don’t I see you working?”  Honestly there must be something better for me to do with my time than say good morning to people and talk about the weather!  But today it all started to make sense.

Each greeting is another brick for that gospel bridge I’m building into that persons life for God’s glory.  And someday if I am faithful we will move past small talk about the rain, and discuss their need of Christ.

As someone who knows what it’s like to prefer a place in the corner and a good book instead of being with people let me assure you that being introverted is no excuse for not sharing Christ.

So make eye contact

And say good morning (don’t forget to smile)

Learn the persons name, and master the art of small talk

Then wait for God to open the door.

A few weeks ago I met with the principal of a large elementary school that’s less than a five-minute walk from my house about volunteering there.  My end goal was to start a ministry teaching Bible to children, but knew at this point relationship development is the most important thing, so agreed to help two days a week with a second-grade class.

After not hearing anything since then I decided to visit her this morning and see if there was something else that needed to be done on my end.  The principal informed me that she was actually a temporary replacement (teacher also doing administrative duties) and they were currently looking for a new full-time one.  Till this was completed, they wouldn’t be able to take on any volunteers since new ones would normally work along with a teacher.

While this was bad news, she followed it up with some pretty awesome news

The school wanted me to start a Bible club during lunch break

All children in Barrouaille schools are given a one-hour lunch break in the afternoon.  A lot of them end up going home to eat their lunch, but some stay at the school with packed lunches, and there is no real program for them.  The school wants me to teach Bible stories during that time which will not only be educational (and spiritually challenging) but help keep the students under control.

Of course this is a huge praise since a Bible teaching ministry is what I wanted in the first place….but now the Lord has given me both an opportunity to do this every day, and help in classes two days a week!

Oh but wait…it gets better

This morning I visited with a Church member who had applied for a teaching job at the nearby High-School to see if he had been accepted.  Unfortunately he hadn’t, but the people there knew of a school in Barrouaille that needed new teachers.

Guess where they sent him?

That’s right..to the school where I will begin my Bible teaching ministry!  And he starts tomorrow!

Now this may not change anything, but during my prayer walk this morning it occurred to me maybe having a new teacher there would free up some of the current ones to help me with my ministry, or possibly allow the temporary principal to focus more of her time on administration (she teaches and is temporary principal at the same time).  Wouldn’t it just be like God to provide a good friend of mine a job so that I can start teaching the Bible at school?

No matter what happens with the school ministry, this morning was a good reminder that God is Gracious, and also extremely generous.  Often we come to Him asking for a small thing (helping in a class) and He responds by giving us something much better than we had requested.

This is also convicting for me because those times that I ask God for something small comes from a faith that is incredibly small.  It makes me wonder how many times the Lord wants to pour glorious blessings into my life but I only ask or a small thing.

Thank you Lord for this reminder that you know what’s on my heart.  And if I am faithful, you will always give more than expected.