November: Blessed to be a Blessing

Last weekend our team had our annual fall retreat-- a time to run away from school-related work and be reminded of why we're here.  We took a bus to the mountains where we met a church of aboriginal people called the Tsou tribe.

Photo above:  A Presbyterian mountain church of the Tsou tribe.  Below:  Pastor teaches us how to play the nose flute.  I could play "Amazing Grace", even though they said my nose was the wrong shape to play their flutes!

The congregation is quite small with many elderly members, including five widows who own small plots of coffee trees.  In order to help these women make a living, the church buys the beans from the widows at a generous price, pays to skin and roast the beans, and then sells the finished product.  Both the widows and the church benefit from this agreement.  As part of our retreat, we learned all about processing coffee beans, and even got to spend a couple hours helping ama (grandma) pick her beans.

 The rest of the time we spent hiking in the beautiful mountains, reading God's Word, worshiping, and learning more about each team member and how we work as a team.  Special guest Sean (missionary working in the Philippines and Taiwan) helped out with leading worship and cooked us some delicious meals.

Pastor Carl led us in devotions with our theme "Blessed to be a blessing", based on God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2.

In our devotions we were reminded that part of being a missionary is going through the grieving process of what we left behind.  Just like Abraham, we are called to leave our country behind and follow God to the place where he sends us.  Undoubtedly Abraham had struggles along his way.  But when following God, even hardships overflow with blessings.

"What does this have to do with my life?"  You might be wondering.  "I'm not a missionary."

We are ALL called to leave things behind as we follow God.  Maybe that thing isn't our country, but maybe it's our tendency to worry, our quick-as-lightening anger, our greedy eyes that idolize someone else's house or car or body, our grumbling tongue, our comfortable spiritual apathy.  Basically, we're called to leave OURSELVES behind and follow God to a place of blessing.  There is always struggle.  But God promises that even through the difficulties of following Him, we will be blessed and will be a blessing to others.  This promise is true for all of us.

I pray that all of us remain willing to daily leave our worldly comforts behind for the best prize-- struggling along to follow God and being blessed in the process.  Let's not be found sleeping when the Master returns home.

In Christ,

Anna

Prayer requests:

1.  For Noel, a team member who is undergoing some serious health tests this week.

2.  For a Jehovah's Witness whom I have been talking with on a weekly basis.

3.  For students, teachers, and student teachers at Concordia Middle School and their salvation, that God would open their hearts to His Truth.

4.  For the Philippines, our neighbor in Southeast Asia, which remains devastated after the cataclysmic hurricane.