the unreached.

"and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, 'Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.' - Romans 15: 20-21

Paul wrote these words towards the end of his life. At a time where we are very comfortable with retiring and spending our days where we are warm and comfortable. Instead of moving to Rome and spending the rest of his days with a competent church and leading them, Paul determined in his heart to not be satisfied until all had heard the name of Jesus. He had a true heart for reaching the unreached. He knew that everyone should have the chance to know of Jesus so he devoted his life to the spreading of the gospel and the advancing of the church. 

Before this summer, the unreached was just a word to me. I knew they existed and I knew it was a problem but that was as far as I understood. 

That was my opinion until...

I rode in trucks, tractors and on motorbikes for hours into the african bush.

I met and played with the children and parents who had only seen a white person once or twice in their lives. 

I worshiped with the church there who is so thirsty for the gospel but has no one to regularly teach them nor ability to learn on their own. (They are illiterate and no one wants to live with them to train them adequately in the gospel.)

These are just a few hundred of the over 2.8 billion unreached people's in the world. These are people that have never even heard the name of Jesus or have any access to a church or the gospel. These people are starving for the gospel. They are completely lost in this world. They need the chance to know. They need people to RISE up and RISK their lives to bring them the gospel. 

It is not easy to reach these people...that is why they are unreached, BUT they NEED to know. Please consider what the Lord is doing in your heart towards these people. 

Not everyone is supposed to be a "goer" but EVERYONE has a role in bringing the gospel to these people. You can pray for missionaries, send packages to missionaries, and support missionaries that are going. We are not called to do nothing and hope that others will. We are called to OBEY. 

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15

Africa.

I read this from a very special couple's blog this morning and I just had to share. This couple does incredible work in Uganda and I love to watch them from afar.

"This place can't be tamed.

It's sun beats too hard and rain pours too fast...washing out the roads that threaten to turn right back into grassland at anytime they please.

And sometimes they do.

The dogs bellow throughout the night. Letting us know that we weren't here first, while the thunder rattles your inner soul reminding the dogs that they weren't here first, either.

The grass grows tall and the ants run everywhere. Every. Where. Including the sink of dishes that I have to spray with water to slide them all back down the drain...smacking them off as they climb up my arms.

Life being born into red mud caked houses and death being carried out in bleached white sheets.

It is all encompassing.

It is small villages on a big continent holding people with little money but large hearts.

It is the beauty slapped up against despair...or perhaps it is the beauty running through despair...or despair running through beauty.

The cows roam everywhere, heeding not the signs and roads that have been marked for mankind.

Cities with power and movies and restaurants and libraries exist mere miles away from people who have never used electricity for themselves. Some even wonder if they really do exist.

The metal, it rusts. The boards warp.

But the singing never stops.

The energy is never ending, constantly moving.

Not necessarily forward, no, that is Western, to always be attempting to "move forward".

This energy is a different type and it spreads itself thick around all who enter into this place. It is an energy encircling itself, falling back and unraveling onto itself a thousand times over.

It is the continent of hopelessness...or so say some who live across the ocean. It is a project, a trend, a t-shirt, an anarchy state.

But those of us who are here, we know differently.

We know it as the continent of hope and of life. Hard, dusty, joyful, tiring, song-producing life.

We know it as a continent full of context, culture, and tradition. We know it as a place of rules and regulations, for there are many if you only stop to ask.

Some look at Africa as a place to teach.

Those of us who are here know it as a place to learn....for Africa has many lessons for students who choose to study here.

Africa.

This place can't be tamed.

And who would want it to be?"

This is the Africa that I know and love... 

counting my blessings

Sometimes its hard to be back in America. Sometimes I just want to be sad. Sometimes I want to forget all of the hard things that I have seen. Sometimes I want to go back in time and help more or love more. But then, I remember all of the blessings I have experienced and all of the miracles that the Lord has allowed me to witness and then I can't be sad anymore. I can't go back in time so instead I rejoice. I praise my Savior, my Redeemer, and my friend for the incredible transformation that He has done in and through my life. And I count those blessings again and again.

I witnessed the miracle of new life (over and over and over again) 

I got to hold hands of children starving for attention.

My heart was filled with more love than I thought was possible.

I was able to reach the literally unreached with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord that He does not give always me what I want. Praise the Lord that He has given me these opportunities so that I can tell others in America about the undeniable ways that I experienced His love, power, and grace. Praise the Lord that one day if it's His will, I will return to the place that has so captured my heart and my affections. Praise the Lord!