Expectations vs. Reality

 As Christians, and especially as missionaries, we often have high expectations for what will happen in our lives or in the lives of those to whom we minister. We have perfect ideas of how every life will change radically and there will be/should be few difficulties in any direction- physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually; however, God did not call us to lead easy lives. Our expectations are frequently challenged and rarely met or exceeded. We think that we will be doing one thing, but the Lord very clearly shows us differently. These past couple of weeks I have seen how He has taken the expectations that I had for my time in Honduras and He has flipped them 180 degrees so that I can better serve HIM rather than my own desires.

 So what does that reality look like? A week ago I moved back to Zion's Gate, a ministry located just outside of Tegucigalpa where I lived and worked all last summer when I was in Honduras. After being with Gracie and Lee for just a few days, I knew that I was not meant to stay there for long. The Lord put it on my heart that it was only a time of preparation and not a permanent home for me. Through many days of prayer and seeking council, the Lord led me back to Zion's Gate to continue ministry here.

 Initially, I had decided to come back to Honduras to do street ministry, regardless of the ministry or city. When I came back to Zion's Gate, it was very clear that I am here to minister to the family and to the kids here before I reach out to the community. Of course, I will continue to go out and do ministry in the streets once or twice a week with a few of the boys, but it will not be the main focus for the time being.

 Right now, my main focus is a 10-year-old boy named Alex. Alex is the cousin of Carlos and Cristofer, two brothers who live on the property, and he just recently came to live with the family about 6 months ago. Before living here, he was living on the streets with other members of their family. Because of the way their family operates, Alex was already doing paint thinner and was very rarely going to school. This 10-year-old boy was surrounded by older boys aged 16+, and he was expected to behave and do the same things as them, and he did. As a result, Alex has been fast-tracked to grow up in some ways, but extremely stunted in other ways; he has not had a real childhood. Now that he lives with the family here at Zion's Gate, he is still lumped in with the older boys and rarely gets to be a kid. I am here to change that!

 Alex goes to school at the small public school around the corner at which we taught last summer. Everyday after school, he comes back to the property and he and I go through his homework. Sometimes it is 20 minutes, sometimes an hour- just like every other 10-year-old. Recently, I have started a reward system so that he will get a few cookies each day after he finishes his homework. I am also in the process of making a daily schedule for him so that he can get back on track and be a kid again. For a while, I will be his pseudo-mom here on the property. This is something that I never would have imagined doing here, but God is continuously giving me the tools to work with Alex and to be patient with him. It is a very slow process since he has a lot to work through out of his past, but I am so excited to see what the Lord has planned for him!

If you would like to support Alex or give a donation to help pay for his rewards, supplies, new clothes (he has only couple shirts, pairs of pants, and one pair of shoes), please let me know so that I can direct your donation to him.

As a general financial update, for the month of April my monthly support amount was just over $300. I am still looking for supporters so that I can reach the goal of $450 each month, and a few extra supporters so that I will be able to bless different areas of ministry. After the first month here, I will post exactly where the funds have gone and what they are being used for.  Please consider partnering with me so that I can continue ministering to this family and also bring ministry back out to the community.

The easiest way to donate is online at www.worldoutreach.org/donations; simply choose my name from the dropdown list - Jennifer Olsen #263





Meet Alex!

Back on the Mission Field

Hello from Honduras!

After an overnight delay in El Salvador Monday night, I made it to Honduras Tuesday morning on the 29th. While the delay would normally have been another tedious travel annoyance, it turned out to be such a blessing! The airline gave each person (12 in all) dinner, a hotel room, breakfast, and a driver to/from the airport. I'm not sure I have ever stayed in such a nice hotel or had such an expansive buffet of food, especially at 10:00 at night. I was able to enjoy dinner and conversation with wonderful travel companions from Peru, Colombia, Honduras, and various parts of the US; God is good!

I was picked up from the airport by a missionary couple whose daughter has a children's home in Tegucigalpa, and they drove me out to Talanga, a city about an hour and a half north of the capital (Tegucigalpa). Currently, I am staying with Gracie and Lee Murphree and their ministry, The Heart of Christ, which focuses primarily on teenage girls who are victims of domestic rape or abuse. At any given time on the property there are three 3-4 year old boys, a 2 year old boy, two 1-2 year old baby girls, 2 teenage girls, a cook, 3 nannies, and Gracie and Lee. The past 10 days I have been working with the little ones and beginning to build relationships with the staff and the two teenage girls who live here. As always, I have made good friends with the woman who cooks for us and we have wonderful, long conversations over coffee in the afternoon. 

Much of my time has been spent relaxing and re-assimilating to third world life and all that it entails- primarily waking up at 5:30 am, bathing with cold bucket showers, and finding hand-sized spiders/cockroaches in our bedroom. I share an 'apartment' with a fellow missionary, Jessica, that is on the second floor of the main building. Thankfully, we get to retreat during the afternoons while the boys nap to have a few minutes of peace and quiet to ourselves.

Please continue to pray for me as I ease back in to life here in Honduras doing ministry. I will be posting very soon about new changes that are to come as well as April's financial update.

Thanks for checking in!

The neighbor's house

Driving through Tegucigalpa

Diego

The boys getting into their bunk bed

View from our 'apartment'

Accommodations

For the past couple of months my sister and I have been doing another trans-continental study, this time on the book of Acts. Conveniently, our college group at church also began a study on Acts a few weeks ago. Although I've read bits and pieces of Acts throughout recent years, I had never taken the time to really delve into it and break it down verse by verse. In the perfect timing of the Lord, I am now studying it each day- a perfect wrap-up for my time here in the states.

This past weekend a small group of us watched a video about the first 1,000 years of Christianity as it relates to the reading of Acts. We talked for a while about accommodations and how, in Jerusalem, the Jewish converts to Christianity felt that Paul was making accommodations for the Gentiles so that they could accept Christ and the new religion. The question was then posed: "What sort of accommodations are we making in the church today?"

Initially we discussed how we leave little room for necessary change when we bring someone to the Lord. Paul taught with a sense of urgency because of the inevitable persecution; he needed for as many people to hear the word as he could possibly reach.  On the flip-side, we have urgency in the modern church so that we can add to our attendance and grow the local church. While there are certainly benefits to boosting attendance that include the sharing of the gospel and a true conversion, I think often time that is not the central goal. If our urgency were to return to that of Paul, of sharing the word of Christ across all nations and continents, surely the church will grow equally as efficiently.  We are, in a sense, accommodating for a lack of outreach and ministry in the church, as well as a lack of real change in conversion. 

Paul urged the new converts that they must be diligent in prayer and fellowship. Acts 2:42-47 says that they were devoted to the fellowship, teaching, communion, and prayer...everyday. Do we make accommodations today so that this devotion is no longer 'necessary'? Is it suddenly okay and acceptable to have fellowship and prayer just one or two days each week and communion once a month? Something tells me the Lord is not satisfied with that. Even as Christians who are not new to the faith, we sometimes spend less time in the word, in prayer, in teaching, in fellowship. We accommodate for ourselves and our lifestyles.

I think the big difference between Paul's accommodations and our own is that he was accommodating for others and we tend to accommodate for ourselves.  We accommodate for non-Christian attitudes, negativity, lack of prayer, lack of ministry, lack of fellowship, and we attribute it to busy schedules, work, non-necessity, etc. Of course, not each person is guilty of this each day, but at some point I am sure that we are all guilty of each of those accommodations to a certain degree.  For us, accommodations quickly turn into excuses to not have the same urgency as Paul and to accommodate for ourselves rather than for the needs of others.

At the end of it all, I have had to ask myself: What accommodations am I making for myself? For others?

And what is the remedy, the grand fix for these accommodations? I think it is simple: A return to the basics- teaching, the fellowship, communion, and prayer. As far as the accommodations for others, I think we have to return to Paul's basic, but powerful, urgency- to share the word and the love of the Lord. In this way, an accommodation becomes a positive rather than a negative action.

My prayer is that we will all begin to accommodate for ourselves less and for others more and that we will return to Paul's urgency of spreading the word and truly changing lives through the Lord.
I also pray that, when I return to Honduras, I will follow in Paul's footsteps in order to reach the unreachable and lead the lost back to their Father.

Shout out to FCC college group for bringing up some discussion points on the history of Christianity, Acts, and accommodations.

Six Weeks Out: Thoughts and Logistics

I've been on a little bit of a hiatus, but, as of tomorrow, my trip is SIX WEEKS away, so I figured now is as good a time as any to get back on the wagon. From here on out, I will be posting (semi) regularly about the happenings on the mission field. 

Recently I have spent a lot of time thinking about how temporary my life is right now. I am working at the same part-time job as the past year and a half, but it is very much a temporary job; it is not my career, nor would I want it to be. The church I attend is wonderful and has given me a strong community in the past year, but it is a temporary place of worship and fellowship. Many of the people I have met in the past few years will continue to be part of my life in some way, but for the most part the relationships that I have right now are temporary merely because it will be implausible to maintain them all in the future.  Because I've graduated college, I am no longer fully booked each day, and I have a temporary break in a crazy schedule. 

Initially I was impatient and eager to get through this stateside period of preparation. I wanted to be on the mission field, and I wanted it to happen RIGHT NOW. Then I realized how much the 'temporary' is preparing me for the future, and perhaps the 'permanent.'

Don't get me wrong; I am not planning to stay in Honduras forever. 

I am, however, planning to live out my faith in a permanent way. Rather than attending a Sunday service and an occasional Bible study, I am full committed to a lifetime of radical, faith-oriented living. For the foreseeable future, that looks like mission work in Honduras, but that is still a temporary situation, and I know there is still so much room for change within this upcoming period. The Lord has shown me in these months that He has shaped my life to be ready for the temporary. He has given me a passionate, eager motivation to succeed and progress, but He has also given me the gift of being 100% present, even in the temporary.  

These months stateside have reminded me of how precious and important time is. Not in a 'you may die tomorrow' sort of way, but in a 'learn from everything and everyone' sort of way. In a sense, I fully believe this was my biggest lesson in preparation. Regardless of how temporary or permanent a situation is, I am prepared to be present, passionate, and to soak up experiences and relationships like a sponge. After all, isn't that what ministry is about- using the passion of the Lord to share the Gospel and build relationships? Jesus' time here was temporary, but it was powerful. By harnessing an attitude of being present, my time can be productive and powerful as well.
My prayer is that these next weeks will be even more enlightening than the past months and that I will keep my focus on the 'now,' temporary or not. 

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."  Ecclesiastes 3:1

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once a month I will give a mini fund report for those of you who are financially invested in my mission work and are curious about where your money is going. For now, that will really just be an update about where I am with my monthly support. Aside from finances, I will do my best to post pictures, ministry updates, and any other news at least once or twice a month. As with before, time between posting will depend primarily on internet availability, so please be patient.

With that said, here is the up-to-date fund report:
In total, I have raised $5,155.
Last month's total was $280. 
I am still looking for monthly supporters before I leave. Please consider signing up for monthly donations if you feel called to do so. $5, $15, $30, $50, $100- No amount is too small, and every bit helps. My goal is to reach the $450 amount each month without counting on one-time donations. 

If you would like to partner with me, donations can be made either online or via post. In the right-hand margin there is a direct link for online donations and an address for donations by mail. Thank you for your support! 

Beautiful Things in Joshua

My sister and I are doing a transcontinental Bible study on Joshua right now.  We typically read 2-3 chapters a week and are trying to chat once or twice each week about what we've read. Since there is a 2 hour time difference, sometimes it gets tricky figuring out our schedules, but it has been working so far (we have only just reached chapter 7).
In preparation for our talk tonight, this morning I read chapter 6, a passage that I have heard many times since I was a kid; however, unlike all of the previous times, so much more hit me this morning. 

For those who aren't familiar (and a quick recap for those who are), Joshua is called by God to lead the Israelites across the Jordan River into Jericho. Chapter 6 recounts the Lord's instructions to Joshua in order for the wall of Jericho to fall.  Joshua 6:2-5 says:

            "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.  March along the city once with all the armed men.  Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark.  On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in."  (NIV)

As a kid, I had seen this depicted through felt characters and the Veggie Tales movie, but I had never strongly considered that it was a real situation with real people, not anthropomorphic peas.  This morning, I was struck by the 100% obedience and devotion to God. There was zero hesitation by Joshua or his army to follow God's instructions, regardless of how crazy or silly they seemed. Rather than second-guessing and thinking about other ways in which the wall could fall, the Israelites obeyed each demand without question.

And now for the implication (and application). God told the Israelites to do something so crazy which would not have had any effect were it not for Him. Without His power, there is no way that marching around a wall for 7 days would do anything except provide a different variety of exercise. Without wholehearted faith, nothing would happen.  Taking a different viewpoint, imagine how the people of Jericho felt seeing all of the Israelites marching around. They would have called them crazy, foolish, laughed at them, said it was for nothing. 
How many times does God push us to do something and we say no because we are afraid of the judgment of others or because we simply just do not want to do it? Something tells me the Israelites weren't thrilled about marching around the wall like that.

What if we could respond to God with such abandonment of our desires that we were willing to walk around a wall for 7 days? What if we did something that could not be achieved if God were not by our side? What if we stopped laughing at those who act outrageously for the Lord, those who wear 'I love Jesus' shirts and preach on street corners? 
When is the last time you were CRAZY for God? 

As I write this I am listening to Gungor's song 'Beautiful Things' and thinking of how truly beautiful this world is because of the Lord, and how much more beautiful if would be if we were all crazy for Him. How beautiful is it that we get to choose to love Him more and more each day and surrender a little bit more of ourselves to Him daily. 

There are 7 more months until I will return to Honduras. Right now, it seems like so far away, but I know it will be quick. Until then, I am so excited to go crazy for God and serve him in the United States. I know that, when I go back, I will be so much more prepared to do His will and do the ultimate crazy thing for him- packing up and moving away to share His Word. 

Here's to being crazy for God and 7 more months of my season of preparation. 

 Remember, if you would like to partner with me, the easiest way is to send a donation into World Outreach Ministries.  On the right-hand margin there are two ways that you can support me. Also, as always, be praying for my mission and for my soon-to-be life in Honduras! 

Wow! It's been a while since I've sent an update!

This past month (crazy that it has been a month already!) has been the kick-off to my season of preparation for returning to Honduras.  Before coming back to school for my final semester, I partnered with World Outreach Ministries in order to have a 'home office' stateside when I move out of the country in May.  I'm sure many of you have received letters or some sort of notification if you have donated in the past or have expressed interest in donating in the future. Moving forward with WOM will be such a blessing for me. Rather than stressing about tax-deductions, receipts, prayer cards, and all other business-related things, WOM will essentially be working for me in order to do all of these things. For clarification, I will not be 'their' missionary, I will continue to function on my own and will be free to do what I choose in terms of my mission. If you are considering a partnership with me, all donations must go through WOM, as you can see on the right-hand margin of my page.

In other news, I have been dedicating a huge amount of time recently to meeting with people and talking about my mission.  A few weeks ago I spoke at my home church as well as our sister church in order to ask for support.  In the next few months, I am going to try to speak at my church in Champaign as well in order to get more congregations involved, even if it is only one or two people from each congregation.  Just as much as I am asking for support, I am also looking to spread the word about my mission and about Honduras in general.
I have had numerous people express interest about partnering with me monthly, and I am still searching for more! Please prayerfully consider supporting me monthly and making this mission possible.

In order to involve more people in fundraising and in my future mission, I am currently selling t-shirts, as well. The goal is to send in the full order by next Saturday, the 14th, so this next week is my last push for support.  The shirts were designed by Fund the Nations, a ministry founded solely to help missionaries and non-profit organizations. Check them out and consider buying one for this great cause! Shirts are $20, and I am asking for a dollar or two more if the shirt(s) need to be shipped out of state. Sizes are S,M,L, & XL, and there are two options for colors. If you would like to order a shirt, you can e-mail me at jnolsen2@illinois.edu, comment on this post, or send me a message on Facebook (Jennifer Olsen).

I am so grateful for the support that I have received as I prepare to 'take up the cross' and live for our GREAT LORD in Honduras. As the season progresses, I will be participating in 2 Bible studies at my local church and trying to volunteer more here in town.  Through prayer and scripture, God has shown me that this season of preparation does not need to be a season of stagnation- so here's to praising and serving the Lord and his people 24/7 and not just during worldly missions.

'For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.' -Mark 10:45

Does this make me a missionary?

And finally, after two seemingly quick months, I am back in the United States.  I have never felt such sadness to leave people or a place before; last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were, hands down, some of the hardest days of my life. Saying goodbye to someone that you have talked with a couple of times is one thing, but saying goodbye to people that God has placed in your life to become part of your family is completely different.  Although my real family is here in Illinois, I truly feel that my home is in Honduras. 

Being back in the US is definitely overwhelming.  I have to re-assimilate to the impatient, unappreciative American culture that I left behind this summer and realize that it has always been that way.  Nothing has changed this summer, just me. Little things that never bothered me before suddenly make me want to curl up in a ball and cry. The entire two days of debrief we heard over and over again, "It's a process. It won't happen right away," and boy, is that ever true.  I have already cleared out my room of everything that I didn't need and packed up clothes to donate.  After living all summer on <10 t-shirts and 3 pairs of shorts, a full closet suddenly isn't so important.  I don't want to look at all of my stuff... I just want to look at all of the pictures of the people that I left behind because it makes them seem just a little bit closer. 

Through all of this there are two things that will pull me along: God and the assurance that I know I will return.  And, with that, the big news! I have decided that I am going to go back to Honduras in May for an indefinite period.  Saying that I will be there for 1-2 years seems silly when I think about how I know I will be there for longer, so I will just say it is a semi-permanent move. 
I had felt called to go back around weeks 2-3, but I really just thought I was enjoying my time.  After praying about it for numerous weeks and delving deeper into real life in Honduras, I realized that it wasn't just a temporary feeling.  At that point, I talked to Tony about coming back and if it would be possible at all.  In true confirmation-of-Christ form, he looked at me and said, "I have been waiting for you to talk to me about this. But I don't see you staying for a 6 month period. I see you staying for a year, two years, or being here forever." WOW! If God hadn't already shown me that he was serious, he did then. The idea is that, when I return, I will be leading street ministry.  This means that I will bring mission groups like mine down into La Kennedy or other parts of Tegucigalpa to minister and love on people. After everything God has taught me about myself this summer, I cannot imagine a better alternative for the next chapter of my life.  Any fears I had about my future, a career, a family, etc. have been erased. I know that God is calling me back to Honduras to be his hands, his feet, and his voice. 

And so, I will join all of those before me who have left the United States and moved to Honduras for the Lord.

Because I will be there on my own, I will be required to raise money to support myself and the ministry.  This will come out to about $15 a day to live on the property and whatever else I would need to keep up street ministry/ extra living expenses.  I still will be going to school part time in the fall until I graduate in December, so I will be able to prepare myself financially at least to some extent. I will be working full time in the spring in order to save money as well. Before I get to Honduras, Tony would like me to help fundraise to build a casita, a little house, for myself and a few other missionaries.  All together it will be about $3,000.  The goal is that it will be done by May, but I would be so comforted if it were done by the end of 2013.  
If you would like to continue supporting me on this journey, there are a few ways you can help! The most obvious is financially.  It would be wonderful to gain monthly supporters, but I understand that sometimes it just isn't possible for some people.  In that case, I will accept any sort of donation. Literally, anything.  I won't start fundraising for living until we have raised all of the funds for our house, so I ask for any sort of donation for that project.  Of course, an equally important way to support me is through prayer.  I have always looked at the lives of missionaries and said, "I can't imagine what it's like to have to ask for money all of the time and gain support! I would never want to do that!" Of course, God probably laughed at me every time because that's exactly what I'm doing now.  Please keep me in your prayers through this new process for me and for the future that I will have in Honduras.

I thank you all so much for keeping up with my trip this summer, but please do not think that it is over now.  Because this blog is already up and going, I will be using it as my primary communication vessel. I will keep everyone updated and I will send out a more formal request for support in the future, but for now, I ask that you pray for me and for this new adventure on which I am about to embark.  
I love you all, God bless!  


The area in which we are hoping to construct the house is shown below.  The goal is that there will be two rooms- each with two bunk-beds. The roof will be reinforced and the area where the tent and chairs are sitting will be made into the two rooms.