Transitions

This past week, the Lord has been teaching me about how He is in control of all things.

As many of you have been following, the Lord has blessed me with the incredible friendship of Nicolas Mølmen, a fellow student here in Antigua. Though we have known each other for a short time, our friendship has grown into a relationship I have with few others in terms of understanding and respecting one another. To put it another way, he "gets" me and I "get" him.

From my intellectual outlet to my social network, Nicolas has been a friend I was not expecting to find. While he does not believe in Jesus, Nicolas and I have had more conversations about faith, belief, my relationship with Christ, and his beliefs than I have ever had with any other friend. He has been an abundant blessing for me. Nicolas has a heart for service that is rarely seen in others as he is constantly seeking to serve those who have had less opportunities than himself. He saved the life of a member of the family he lived with here by paying for the surgery to remove her cancer, but he did not say a word about it until I asked him directly. His life is dedicated to self-betterment and service to others, and his perspective and passion for loving others is one I find sometimes lacking in the Christian community, including my own life. I have been able to learn much from my relationship with him, but also have been reminded of how much Christ is still the beginning and the completion of all good things. Please pray for Nicolas, as my heart literally hurts in the knowledge that he does not know the peace and assurance that I have in my life and that I know to be true.

Nicolas went back home to Norway this past Wednesday and it has been a difficult transition for me as so many of the places and experiences that have made Antigua so spectacular have been shared with him. I received an email from a very good friend the day Nicolas left and I share part of it with you:
"I believe that God brings wonderful people into my life for different reasons. And during really specific times that I needed that person. And even if it might not be the same again, I can really take comfort in knowing that they were with me to love me, to accept me, to laugh and cry with me, to model wisdom and understanding for me, to teach me, to discover with me things about myself, about life, about God. And that doesn't make the goodbye any easier, but in many ways, He shows me the relationships that matter and that are worth persevering in."

But the Lord continues to provide, even through a difficult transition. I have been blessed with the opportunity to volunteer in the ASSADE medical clinic about 30 minutes away from Antigua. The woman who started the clinic is named Maria Elena, a tiny little woman with short hair with a heart of gold. About five years ago, the mayor-ship in the province of Iztapa changed over, and the new leadership decided to cut off funding for medical services in the villages (there exists a lot of racism against the indigenous people here, particularly in the government). Maria Elena was working as a Physicians Assistant for the government, but she saw the need, quit her job, and with her own money and help from her sister Carmen and friends, she started ASSADE.

The clinic receives around 40 patients every day, and each visit costs 3 Quetzales, or the equivalent of about forty cents. Even this fee is usually waived. ASSADE also has a pharmacy that sells all of its products at cost to the locals. The clinic runs off of the donations of the citizens and off of Maria Elena and her sister Carmen's generosity. It is one of the most spectacular places I have ever worked in, as the intentions are so pure. The trust that most of the locals have in Maria Elena (she works as the doctor, as they currently have no physicians volunteering) is incredible to see, as they have a deep-rooted distrust of the healthcare system. The way she pours her time and efforts into loving this village are really encouraging to see, as it is another reminder that there are good, self-less people in the world. We have our Christmas party for the kids in the village this Tuesday, so we spent my past visit stuffing huge piñatas, putting candy into old medicine bottles and painting them Christmas colors, and putting up decorations. It is really great practice for my Spanish and a fantastic ministry opportunity that the Lord has blessed me with. If you would like to see more photos of ASSADE, or to read a better description of what they do, please visit their website (it is in English as well) http://assade.org/introduccion-en.html Even just an email for them letting them know you are praying for their ministry in San Andres would go a long way.

The Lord gives and He takes away, and I rejoice in the knowledge that it is all according to His plan. God took away Nicolas for now, but He brought me a new opportunity in ASSADE. Today, I rejoice in what I have. Today, I praise the Lord.

A Bit of My Life...

Hello All!

I'll be sending a newsletter out in a week or so, but I would like for you to share in a couple of the most important places to me in Antigua so you can continue to share in this journey!

On the right is my table at the school where all of the Spanish learning goes down with my teacher Mirian

The next is the local market where we buy everything for much cheaper than we would be able to find in the "foreigners" market.


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The photo below is a shot of the front of the gym many of us have a membership to. It is a great way to sweat off all of the Spanish we learned that morning.



These last two are of my favorite cafe. It is called "Y Tu Pina Tambien" (translation: "And Your Pineapple Too". It always has fresh flowers, great food, neat atmosphere, and they have the best coffee in Antigua!

I'll post again this weekend! The Lord is truly moving here!

Changing My Perspective

As a fairly stubborn person, I often have to check myself when I contemplate my relationship with Christ. My mindset is one that views the spiritually poor times as something I can fix or that I can personally improve on. The highs and lows of spiritual depth can be exhausting in their cadence, but the whole time, the Lord is whispering "Stop trying so hard to do something you were never intended to do."

In Andrew Murray's Abide in Christ, he admits that while we do give some moments to the Lord regardless of our circumstances, "... how little is needed to mar this peace, to bring a cloud over the soul. How my faith is shaken! Could I but understand that it is my very efforts that are the cause of my failures- because it is God alone who can establish me in Jesus Christ- I would see that just as in justification I had to cease from my own working and to accept by faith the promise that God will give me eternal life in Christ, so now in the manner of my sanctification, my first need is to cease striving myself to establish the connection with Christ more firmly and allow God to do it. The God of all grace, who hath called us in Jesus Christ, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you."

To be able with spiritual eyes to see people as Christ sees them and to love them the way that Christ loved them and loves them. Not to make that abiding relationship a routine or habit, but to live in the most joyful knowledge that it is the Gardener who keeps my relationship with Him and that I only need the faith to clam that promise daily for those fruits to become a reality.

Identification with Isaiah

Walking among the ruins of Antigua every day, I have begun to identify with Isaiah 40:6-8

"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the Word of our God stands forever."

The vast and ancient structures of this city, each ornately crafted with painstaking detail, are not but a whisper of their former grandeur. They yearn to be taken seriously, but numerous earthquakes and the march of time have turned them into shadows of what they once were. The men who commissioned them have come and gone, and their physical legacy is a decaying ruin that, in another 400 years, will have completely vanished.

My pursuits on earth can be just as temporal as these buildings, but what an incredible comfort to be reminded that God never changes and neither does His love for us. I was born and someday my body will die, but the promises of Jesus Christ and the offer of life in Heaven are eternal.

Antiguan weather has taken a turn for the stunning. It has been crisp in the mornings with brilliantly clear afternoons and the different shades of gray and white in the swirling clouds are framed by a golden lining. Even though we are missing out on the colors of fall (my favorite season...) I will take more comfort a month from now when Guatemala is still green, it will be frigid further up north!

We have a new Korean friend, Gina, who has moved into the Cueller family's home with us for the next two weeks. Aaron, Stacey, and I were able to share with her about why we were going to South America as missionaries and how the work that Jesus Christ has done in our lives compels us to go and to share with others. It was a fantastic night of conversation. Please pray for more opportunities to show Gina and the people of Antigua just how much my Lord loves them.

I will be posting again in a few days. To those of you who have shot me an email and continued in your prayers for me, your efforts have been so very much appreciated. It means so much to know that I am being prayed for during this experience. Keep sending me your updates!

Awaiting His Return,
Ryan

Getting my feet wet... or something like that.

Alright, so Antigua is pretty much fantastic. The pace of life is just slow enough to be relaxing but not so slow that it is boring. There are coffee shops and art everywhere. Museums dot the city and the streets are all cobblestone with matching wrought-iron lamps. Sometimes I feel like I walked into a Charles Dickens novel. Outside of the two block radius where the tour buses run is where Antigua really pulls you in to stay.

We are surrounded by 3 volcanoes, only one of which is active. They said earthquakes are pretty common, usually one or two a month, so having another on top of the first one we felt will be an adventure! If you would like to see more photos of Antigua, please click on the link here to see the Facebook album. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2279217&l=96367&id=16805052

The home I live in is not really a home so much as an international house for language students. I love the setup and I think I got the good end of the deal. For now, I live with two girls from the US, both of which are leaving today to go do a couple months of volunteer work out in the villages and a Catholic priest from Korea. Everyone calls him “Padre”, and he doesn’t speak a word of English. It is really neat to think that we all sit down around the dinner table and none of us is communicating in our native tongue. He has been here for ten months and will be here for two more, so I am really excited to be able to pick his brain about the syncretism of Catholicism and Animism in Latin America.

Guatemala right now is experiencing the end of their rainy season, so it has been pretty wet most days, but the winter brings lots of blue sky, and they say the season should end next week or so. Its already a bit crisp and chilly at night, so it is perfect outdoor cafe weather. It is so beautiful the way the clouds swirl around the mountains with the steep slopes of the lush jungle and abundant flowers as a foreground. I had forgotten how blue the sky actually is.

We go to class in the mornings from 8-12 and then have the rest of the day off. The school we attend is one-on-one tutoring and the school offers cultural activities every day of the week such as visiting ancient ruins or museums, hiking up a volcano to roast marshmallows over lava, or going to a coffee mill. I was able to see the volcano erupt some from my roof and we had a small earthquake later the next day, so there are a lot of new experiences going on. My professor’s name is Mirian and she is hilarious. She picks at her fingernail polish a lot, but we'll work on it. I have already been able to share my testimony with her and tell her about Christ as part of my practice, so the Lord is really blessing things already.

Even though I am here as a missionary, you would be surprised how easy it is to become complacent down here. It is so easy to want to go out and discover a new part of the city, find a new cafe that I can escape to, explore an ancient ruin, or go pursue relationships for the sake of meeting new people (there are droves of young Europeans here with awesome accents. Sometimes I secretly wish I had one). Continue to pray for me to be intentional and to be always mindful of the task that Christ has given me. When I do get into the Word, all I can think about is why in the world I feel I could live life without it. Then the "Nation of Israel" in me forgets it as I look outside and see the ample opportunities on the slops beneath me and it all flies out of my mental window. Lame.

Missing all of you. Please continue to pray for me and update me on what has been going on in your lives!

Awaiting His Return,

Ryan

Estoy Aqui!

We are here!

I don't have hardly any time until I start my first class, but we all made it to Antigua with all of our luggage and all of our limbs intact! Antigua is one of the most impressive places I have ever been. It has so much character and so much life to it. We are in a small valley surrounded by three volcanoes and the jungle, so the scenery is spectacular. Only one of the volcanoes is active, but I got to see it erupt a bit yesterday afternoon from my balcony, and as I signed on to the internet, we had a small earthquake, so the day has been rife with new experiences. The city was one of the earliest settlements by the Spanish, so the ruins from the 1600s are more than impressive. It is raining here today, but today is supposed to be the last day of the rainy season, so we will be having awesome weather the rest of the time.

I live with a family that boards students at the school, so I eat meals with 5 other people. It is such a great start to everything. As is customary with Latin culture, I am late for class, so I need to go! I promise to post again by this weekend!

Please continue in your prayers for me and the other 13 missionaries here that we would be given opportunities to share Christ with our families.

Awaiting His Return,
Ryan

The Inbetween Stage

Hello All!

I apologize for the lack of posting... I promise to be more judicious in my efforts in the upcoming weeks and months!

I had my commissioning service at my home church of Henderson Hills this evening and it was just another reminder of the concluding and wrapping up that is taking place in my life. As the first round of my friends from training leave for the field in about 4 hours, I am still having to remind myself that I am not here at home to get comfortable or "hang out", but to say goodbye for a while and to reflect on the change that is coming. It is easy to talk about going to Peru and Guatemala, nodding my head with a smile and saying how excited I am to go. The enthusiasm is genuine and the calling is true, but I need prayer for the stretching that God will do in me over the next two years. Whether it is a cultural adaptation, a language barrier, or simply realizing that I am not the center of the universe, my world and my perception of it is about to be radically altered.

One thing that the Lord has been teaching me is that I will not be adequate in ministry. His work will not be done by anything that I have to offer. My personality can't get it done, my smarts won't cut it, and any perception of leadership that I hold will be tried and will fail. I have been learning to claim the promise of II Corinthians 3:15, which says "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." The pronouns "I", "my", and "me" is where my perception of ministry is tainted. The Lord is reminding me that all He calls us to is faith and obedience, and He will reap the harvest. The day that I think I have anything to offer is the day that I disqualify myself for ministry. Please pray that this knowledge would become a reality in my life. Pray that I would cling to the promise that the Lord will sustain me if I would but abide in Him.

If you would like to receive my newsletter or you or your family or sunday school would like to partner with me in prayer, please email me at Rockchalkryan@gmail.com. I would sincerely love to hear from you.

6 more days until I get on the plane!

Awaiting His Return,
Ryan

Halfway...

Hey all!
Thank you for your continued prayers during my time out here at orientation in Virginia. The following is an update on what is going on in Virginia and a little bit about what God has been teaching me.

We had planned a weekend trip to NYC, but Tropical Storm Hannah put a postponement on those plans. When all of your plans are outdoors, five inches of rain isn't exactly the formula for a successful weekend, but we are now going our last weekend out here. I would put good odds on there not being another Hurricane in the area, but you never know.

This week is contingency training, where they prepare us for situations in which we might be captured, taken hostage, and other associated nightmares. The training is for mental, physical, and spiritual preparedness, so this could be a draining experience. While I am going to a low risk country in Peru, my language training in Guatemala will pose very high security risks as organized crime has spread across the country, so the information will be very helpful.

Lately God has been teaching me about how to better abide in Him. I think that our generation of Christians is in danger of missing out on this joy. My life sometimes feels like a freight train that is always moving faster. I am always looking forward to the next activity, meeting, or conversation as I apply machine-age methods to my relationship with God. We are losing our ability to absorb the moment, become still, and listen to God. Searching is a scientific procedure, but am realizing I have to beware of the mechanical ruts of spirituality. I read my chapter, I have my short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up for my spiritual bankruptcy by attending another bible study or reading a trendy, insightful Christian bestseller on how to better my life. God is teaching me to worship and adore as well as analyze and explain. While Martha busied herself in preparation for Christ, Mary sat at Jesus' feet, learning, listening, and loving her Lord. My greatest lack is just here.

Please pray for continued spiritual discipline and that I would still myself enough to hear what the Lord is trying to reveal to me.

Five weeks to go before I am off to the field!

Awaiting His Return,
Ryan