Building Relationships - Part 2

Approaching short-term missions is hard. Most people approach it with good intentions; however, we can end up doing it wrong unintentionally. We go somewhere and feel the need to give stuff away: our clothes, belongings, and medicine. We feel like this might help them and alleviate their poverty. We also feel that we can change their life in a week. (Read my last post here.) Missions is all about building relationships, but how many of you have started a lifelong friendship in a week and kept up with it?

The truth is, building relationships takes longer than one week. I'm in Guatemala for two months, but it often takes longer than two months. It takes months to years. Friendship isn't just something you make in a week and never return to, it takes regular upkeep. It's not something you return to once a year when you go on your annual missions trip. So why do missions organizations encourage you to build relationships?

First, I believe the most important relationship you can build is with the missionaries themselves. Missionaries need friends and prayer partners too! They are the people that can turn around and befriend indigenous people, and minister to them on a regular basis. It is important for them to have people behind them supporting them, praying for them, and encouraging them. Missionaries cannot continue what they are doing without support. Long-term missionaries learn the language, are in the communities, and can provide upkeep to a relationship in another country.

Second of all, building relationships is more successful as a church community. Partnering alongside another church to support and encourage one another is a good mission. This takes upkeep and follow-ups; however, both of the church bodies can provide this throughout their whole congregation. It also encourages both bodies to pray for each other often. This doesn't mean you go build a house for a family and never come back. This doesn't mean you give away all your belongings and tell them about Jesus, just to never speak to them again. This means encouraging a local pastor and church, so they can provide outreach to people in their community. The local people know how to encourage and start friendships within their community. They understand the cultural differences and how to approach people in the right way.

How would you feel if a bunch of Africans or South Americans invaded your community for a week, gave you lots of stuff, told you about Jesus, then left? They would feed you weird, different foods and give you stuff you might not even know how to use. Sure, you might be excited in the moment. However, it's kind of like summer camp. That excitement often goes away. You forget about why they came. It rarely has a lifetime effect on people. I know the people that understand me best also understand the way my life is, the way my community is, and the way our culture is. Each country and place is different. We cannot expect to understand everything a poor Guatemalan, Haitian, or Indian is going through. For this reason, we should support people that can understand them better.

Building relationships is what missions is all about. However, that being said, we need to approach it in a better way. We can't just throw free stuff at people, give them a Bible, and leave. We need to think about the relationships that we can actually understand and continue to feed. Long-term missionaries and local churches are people who can then turn around and help foreign people on a lasting basis.

You're Not Going to Change the World - Part 1

We all want to change the world. As Christians, specifically, for Jesus. We think that's what missions does. We think that we can go to another place or another country and build a house, then tell people about Jesus. And we'll save them just like that. We think that they will see the love for Jesus in our hearts, and in response, they'll want it too. We'll save them, give them hope, and change their life. It doesn't matter if we don't speak their language, it doesn't matter if we've only known them for a week, and it doesn't matter if we never see them again.

This is the mindset of modern short-term missions. I'm not against missions, and I'm not even against short-term missions. But we have to improve this system if we want to continue with it. Nowadays, everyone goes on that one or two week trip to somewhere. Maybe Haiti, maybe Guatemala, maybe Africa, or maybe just a poverty-stricken area in urban America. You come back home and tell everyone of the difference you made. You built a house, or you held a VBS and brought Christ to people. You made a big impact on their lives; so big that they will forever be changed, and so will you.

But you know what? We don't bring Christ to people. He's already there. He's already at work, and has been since the beginning of time. Sure, He can work through you, but He's still the Savior. In comparison to the rest of the world, if you make more than $2 per day, you are wealthy. And that thought inflates us. We think we can save people and tell them how to live their lives, just because our lives are easier, or because we have more money. We don't consciously think about this, but we do this by the way we approach missions, especially short-term.

We're not going to save the world, because He already did. And we're not going to change the world, because He already did. As John 16:33 puts it, He has "already overcome the world." Christ changed the world when He died on the cross for all of our sins. Not just the wealthy's sins, so they could save the poor. Not just certain people's sins. For everyone. He sees each one of us as equal, no matter what brand of clothing we wear, how many cars we have, where we went to college, or how much money we have. He doesn't care if you're the President, a CEO, or a poor woman dying of cancer out in a small village in some foreign country. He loves us all the same, and sees us all the same. We're not meant to go out and save each other. He has already done that. We are called to grow in relationships, and help strengthen each other. We are called to share the word of God, not to call it ours.

You're not going to change the world. Jesus Christ will. He already has, is, and will continue to. Let's not keep taking the credit. Let's stop trying to be the saviors of the world. Because God already is.

A Quick Update!

I have now helped with my first team! This past week involved an energetic and fun team from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This was my first time translating, serving alongside a group, and leading in Guatemala.

On Sunday, we went to the market and I led a group around. I found just about everything they wanted to see, with a little help from them! I haven't been around the market much since I've moved here, but we figured it all out.

Monday, we went up the mountain to a village called San Antonio Ilotenango. This church has had a partnership with them for the past few years. I was able to help translate between conversations. The kids here were full of energy, and so excited to see us! We also went on a home visit. My group visited an older woman, her two adult children, and eight grandchildren. Albeit there being 11 of them, they lived in a 3 room clay house. The elderly mother was being affected by Alzheimer's or dementia, and one of the adult children had special needs. This means the woman, with eight children, was the only working one in the house. She said her weekly income was about one hundred quetzals, equal to about $13. As unfortunate as this is, this is common in Guatemala. We gave them food, but more importantly, lots of prayer. In this village, we also attended a church service and socialized with the people there. It was cool to see the gringos from Pittsburgh reconnect with their friends from a small village in Guatemala.

Beautiful girls from San Antonio Ilotenango

The rest of the week, I helped the team with construction projects on the ASELSI base. I don't know some of my construction words in English, so trying to translate them into Spanish was interesting, but we got by. The excitement of the week was the 6.9 earthquake at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday. I thought I was overreacting when I felt it, but much to my surprise, it was a big earthquake! I was located 50 miles from the epicenter, so we all are thankful to God that we are safe and sound. Please pray for the families and people on the coast that were more strongly affected by this tragedy. Otherwise, I also translated on a hospital visit during the week. It was a great week, finished off by a small trip to Antigua before they left for the states.

This team taught me a lot about my work for this summer. I was reminded to always be positive and love others, both Americans and Guatemalans. They taught me that my work is not just ministering to Guatemalans, but also to Americans. I learned more about how to perceive missions, short-term and long-term. (Look for my thoughts on this in future posts!) However, most importantly, I learned more about what God is teaching me, His works through me, and made some great friendships.

As I continue this summer with teams, please pray for strength, patience, and energy. My next team comes Saturday, and then I have a team every week for the rest of my time here. Please pray for my continued health and safety. Lastly, I encourage you to pray for God to continue to act and speak to me and through me.

Being Genuine

My boyfriend and I often have this conversation of how we want to be remembered. Of course, there are many things I want people to think of when they hear my name. I want them to remember me as the best President of the United States, or the best judge on the U.S. Supreme Court. I want them to think of my success as a lawyer. I want them to remember me as someone who was intelligent and witty. Yet all dreams and jokes aside, there is one thing I want people to think about when they think of me. I want them to remember for my sincerity.

I strive to be real and authentic with others. No matter what people think of me, I want them to know the real me. Of course I want them to think highly of me, but if not, at least know me for who I truly am. If I am the same genuine person in every situation, every person should know the same Zara, and the real Zara.

Whether you believe in a higher power or not, everyone wants you to be honest and sincere. However, I think my Christian beliefs just further this desire for authenticity. In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes about God's grace and how we are called to be in light of that. In verses 7 and 8, it says,

"But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine."

So not only are we called to excel in our faith and in love, but do this in a genuine manner. I'll be honest, even though I have this strong desire to be authentic, I'm nowhere near perfect at it. It's easy to fall into the trap of insincerity and hypocrisy. However, God calls me, and us, to something higher than that. He calls us to genuine love.

Reflections and Relationships

I'm a little late to the party, but a few weeks ago, there were many graduations. And if I would have stayed in my local high school, it would have been my graduation. I wasn't even able to go, but as I saw pictures on social media, I felt like I missed out on something.

I didn't walk down in a cap. I don't have an official diploma. I don't have pictures with all my friends in our graduation gowns. And as I sat and thought about it, as great as all of that is, I realized it doesn't really matter. High school isn't about the graduation, it's about the people that helped you get there.

Now my high school experience was a bit different. I don't have a favorite teacher or a best friend that was in every class with me. However, there are people in my life that had an influential role in the choices I made, and ended up shaping who I am today.

Some of these people I've grown closer with. Some of them I have grown apart from. And even though I may not be friends with all of them anymore, I will forever be thankful for their encouragement when I was just a tiny freshman in high school.

I'm grateful for one of my best friends since preschool, who was the first person to tell me, back in eighth grade, that it's okay to march to the beat of my own drum. Or the friends who encouraged me when I chose to homeschool, rather than discourage me. And to the teacher who gave me reality checks, yet encouraged me to become independent. I'm thankful for the my prayer partners and mentors who stuck alongside me throughout high school and became some of my best friends, even if they could be my mother. I'm grateful for supportive people within my church and the community. I'm thankful for the law professor who believed in me and my gifts. And of course, I am thankful for my family, especially my parents, who allowed me to make this decision, and encouraged me to challenge myself in my education.

Thankful for parents who have always encouraged me!

You see, this may just sound like a tribute to my past (and in some sorts, it is). However, I also would not be the person I am today without these people. I wouldn't have had the experience of working in both the Iowa House of Representatives and Senate. I wouldn't have came to Guatemala and lived here for months at a time. I may not have found my career choice. I may not have considered the college I am going to.

High school definitely wasn't the best time of my life. I don't even consider graduating as really that big of an accomplishment. But I don't want it to be a high point for me. There wasn't a whole lot of high school that is really worth lasting. However, the relationships I got out of the past four years are important. They are lasting. And whether or not I stay close with these people, they have helped create my future. So as I look ahead, I also look back. I look back to thank God for the people that have been put in my life, and to remind myself to hold on to these relationships. Because even though high school may not be very important, these relationships are.