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I’m a sucker for a sob story….seriously when encountering someone who is in need my first response is “I have to do something to help this person!”  That is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to missions because in different cultures (particularly those filled with poverty) generosity towards those in need will result in people coming to your door every single day looking for help.

This  makes it tempting to not help anyone and avoid the crowd on your porch.  But what if you’re a big softie like me? Is there a middle ground between saying no fifty times a day, and feeding the entire community?

While I don’t know all the answers to that question the Lord is helping me understand generosity towards the needy can be done without being overwhelmed…but there have to be rules.

Saturday afternoon about 2:00 there was a ringing of the bell outside my house.  I came out to find a little boy and his younger brother standing on the porch who wanted to play with my iPad for five-minutes (a boy from Church had been allowed to do this a week earlier).  I told them that was okay and provided cookies and something to drink…after which came the iPad time and a Gospel presentation 🙂

Unknowingly I had made a very big mistake

1. Because that boy came back Sunday morning before Church (I sent him home)
2. Sunday afternoon after lunch (I sent him home again)
3. Monday afternoon
4. This morning on the way to school (no games but being a sucker for a sob story I gave him a peanut butter sandwich)
5. And during his lunch break at school today with two of his friends

Now using my iPad as an opportunity to share the Gospel and giving out a peanut butter sandwich every once in a while is a good thing.  My mistake was not laying any ground rules about visiting my house, so during the last hour I’ve created some hard and fast rules about being on Mr. John’s porch

1. You can only come between 3:00 and 4:30 (thirty minutes maximum per child) anybody who comes outside of those times won’t get anything
2. Your allowed to visit for iPad time three times a week.  If you come more than three times you are able to listen to the Bible story, but cannot play with the iPad
3. Juice or water will be provided, but you only get one peanut butter sandwich a week (except for special occasions)
4. Only three children on Mr. John’s porch at a time
5. If you ever visit during school time again you can’t come back for a week

Of course creating those rules is the easy part

The difficult part is enforcing them

Children all around the world are used to having rules or structure in their lives.  What they aren’t used to is people who will be strong enough to carry out the consequences.  For me this means sometimes the big softie who would gladly feed all the hungry children of St. Vincent has to become “mean.”  Not mean in the fact of treating the children unfairly of course.  But following through with promises and consequences when a child pleadingly asks for one last chance.

It is honestly hard turning needy children away who need to hear the Gospel.  But in a small way I’m giving them something much more precious than a peanut butter sandwich.  I’m giving them an understanding of structure, justice, and how the world truly works.

Last Friday night we had our first young people’s meeting at Church  since early summer.  These are weekly get-togethers with games, a lesson, and time spent relaxing on the front porch with some snacks.  Since this was my first one I wanted to do something extra special, so along with a lesson on how study the Word of God and mysteries to solve, I brought in a secret weapon.

A one gallon container of ice-cream.

Because most ice-cream is imported it ends up being pretty expensive, so you only eat it on very special occasions.  The container I bought along with chocolate syrup cost around $20 American, but it’s about double that in East Caribbean dollars.  With the way that the young people reacted however, you would think that it cost me $100.

When I got there one of the young people helping me unlock the Church said there had been a rumor about peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches at the meeting (I had discussed bringing snacks with one of them the night before).  He seemed a little sad when I informed him there would be no sandwiches, but that changed when the ice-cream was mentioned.

“You got ice-cream?”  He asked with excited eyes, “a big container of ice-cream with chocolate syrup!”  His excitement spread as each of them learned about the special treat, so by the time started I’m pretty sure ice-cream was on everyone’s mind 🙂

After the study and games we came to the Pastors house to enjoy the desert and coke (another special treat $5 American) and ending up spending two-hours just enjoying our time together.

I was a little surprised there was some ice-cream left the next morning and was thinking about what to do with it when the bell on my front porch rang (we have an actual bell instead of a doorbell).  On the porch was one of the young people with sweat pouring down his face asking for a bowl of ice-cream.  Of course I invited him in and soon he was enjoying the cool treat on an unusually hot day.  This was followed up by another young person coming by for some ice-cream (and the last of the coke) a few hours later, and at 5:00 another of the young people showed up with his sister who he had promised two scoops of ice-cream.

In the end almost every young person had ice-cream in one way or another except for one young lady so I took the very last of it to her after Church in a plastic bag so she could eat it at home…there was little chance of it lasting the day at my house 🙂

One of the things that strikes me about Barrouaille the city I live in on the island is it’s filled with poverty.  Of course there are other Countries that experience worse financial need (the people have food, clothing, and other necessities of life) but special things like ice-cream aren’t experienced much since they are just too expensive.  This creates an open door for Gospel ministry.

The Missionary who used to live here and is currently in the States used this lack of special treats to develop relationships and share the Gospel since his wife is an AMAZING dessert cook.  A Church member sat on the front porch Saturday and spent almost fifteen minutes talking about all of the special treats she would make for them when they came to visit!  And of course the Gospel was shared countless times with those treats.

Unfortunately I don’t have the ability to cook as well as this missionaries wife (and probably never will) but that doesn’t mean I can’t be creative with having special treats everyone once in a while *editors note-I’ve already made it clear that ice-cream won’t be given out each week* and even make an attempt (emphasis on the word attempt) on baking!

The Gospel will always be enough to transform a person’s life, but it never hurts to give them something sweet to eat while hearing it

Wednesday afternoon the Lord started leading me to do something that to be quite honest I REALLY didn’t want to.  Not because it was sinful or rebellious, but would attract a lot of attention….

He wanted me to start running again

Sadly since leaving the states I haven’t done much running since

1. Roads on the island are very small (often too small for two vehicles, much less a runner)
2. The island is filled with huge hills that would be very difficult to run up
3. And of course the fact that it’s 80 degrees year around makes running difficult as well

Most of all though I wasn’t interested in attracting more attention to myself.  Because the only thing that’s look stranger than a white man in Barrouaille is a white man running through Barrouaille!

In that moment part of me wanted to refuse and walk home (never to run again) but another part realized that maybe…just maybe this was an opportunity to connect with the people, and create relationships that allow the Gospel to be shared.

After being on the island for almost a month (including my two-week survey trip) I’m used to people calling me white man.  While that may sound racist, I don’t mind since I happen to be the only white person in town.  In fact it’s kind of funny since “white man” is the only words understandable when they speak their island language as I walk by 🙂

Yesterday I visited the shop of a Church member and after walking in a lady shouted down to her friend “island language island language island language island language WHITE MAN island language island language.  I stepped towards her and jokingly said “now I know you’re talking about me!”  She laughed and explained since most people didn’t know my name they just called me white man.  After learning it was John she repeated the statement to her friend, making sure to replace white man with John.

Now the truth is I will be known as white man (or American) no matter how many people know my name’s John which is fine. However my standing in the community must start moving past the idea of “white man.”

You see the word white man is about a lot more than the color of my skin

1. It brands me as a visitor (somebody who has only been there a short time)
2. As someone who isn’t truly part of that community (comes from outside of it)
3. As someone who people don’t know a lot about
4. And as someone who doesn’t understand how things work on the island

Honestly there is no shame in being a white man at the beginning because it’s impossible NOT to be!  However if I allow myself to stay in that kind of relationship with the people of Barrouaille, it doesn’t bring Glory to God

So I have to become part of the Island culture

Adapt to their way of doing things whenever possible

And take the initiative in conversations or greeting people

More than anything though there is one sure-fire way to move from the white man perception…stay for six months

A foundational part of being viewed as a white man on the island (not in a racist way, but that sees me as someone who isn’t part of the community) is they are always visitors who stay a few weeks, a month at the most.  So when I tell people in Barrouaille I will be staying for six months their jaws drop open.

A big reason the Lord led me to request a six-month placement on the island is because I knew it would take that long to actually become part of Barrouaille by developing relationships, understanding how things work here, ministering to the needs of the people with the Gospel of Christ, and not quitting when things get tough.

The bottom line is the white man’s somebody who leaves when things get tough.  John’s somebody who stays when things are hard and earns their respect.  Not because of the color of his skin, but the character of his life.

I have no doubt that people will call me white man the whole time I’m here which is okay, as long as they don’t view me as one.