Outreach

Last night our PhotogenX community joined together for an evening of food, fun, and fellowship. And most importantly, our outreach teams and locations were announced! Since we were first told about outreach possibilities a little over a week ago, we have all been seeking the Lord's will, talking with our school leaders about what He tells us, and waiting eagerly for this disclosure. 

So, here we have... 

 

TEAM SOUTH AFRICA!!!

Our team is composed of sixteen people of all ages from Canada, Korea, and the U.S. We are united by our mutual passion and love for the Lord, as well as our passion for the nation of South Africa. We will depart for South Africa on June 28 and spend the month of July traveling around in a "bus" (a former army truck) visiting different villages throughout the country. August and September will be spent in Cape Town working with the Voice of the Voiceless ministry. 

As I watched our team gather together for the first time, I had an overwhelming sense of the presence of God among us. We come from all different backgrounds and locations, yet God has placed a call on each of our hearts to spend three months serving Him in South Africa. I felt a unique sort of unity among us, binding us together as a family. 

I am so grateful to my family and friends (and my awesome church!) for their support and help to make this mission outreach possible. You are all a part of this team, as well! Thank you for your openness to the Spirit of God and your willingness to serve Him. 

I know that God is going to do incredible things during the three month outreach, both in the lives of the team members and in the lives of the people to whom we are ministering. I can hardly wait to begin the journey! 

Wrong Rights

"My Maker is my Friend;

His name is written on my forehead,

My name is engraved on His palm."

So, I am being confronted by this issue of surrender on all sides... in my Bible reading, in random paintings I see, in this week's reading for my classes, even in songs coming from the open window of a church as I walk down the beach. 

It is a process that God has been taking me through for the last several weeks, and the more I surrender, the more my eyes are opened to other areas in my life that need to be surrendered. 

Over the weekend, a new dimension was added to my whole concept of surrendering. I spent Saturday by myself at the beach, soaking up the sun, processing the week's teaching, talking to God, and studying the contrast of the palm trees against the brilliant, vivid blue sky (in-between frequent re-applications of sunscreen...the only part of me that burned was my eyelids). I also read the book assignment for the week, "Making Jesus Lord" by Loren Cunningham (YWAM founder). The central theme of the book is the importance of laying down your rights in order to be able to fully and freely serve God. This goes a step beyond surrendering desires, possessions, etc., to surrendering any rights we feel we have... right to be treated well, right to be happy, right to not be taken advantage of, right to financial security... the list is endless, and, I'm sure, varies from person to person. Human rights are highly emphasized in American society. And I'm not saying it's wrong! One of the reasons I am here is to be able to fight for the "rights" of people being unjustly treated around the world. Holding onto our individual rights is, however, contrary to the principles of God's Kingdom. 

As a sidenote... the whole idea that we have rights is slightly amusing when you take into consideration the "whole scheme of things"...  We live in a universe that is so immense our minds cannot comprehend it--nor our best scientists and longest telescopes calculate its dimensions. The universe and everything in it was set into motion by a Creator who placed every star in the sky, knows the exact number of sparrows in the world, and will ultimately be the judge of every human. We only live because He "breathed the breath of life" into us. Everything we have, we have only because He placed it on this earth. The most powerful political leaders are mere children at play in comparison to His power and His control over the universe. No matter how much control we think we have over our lives, we never know what lies even five minutes ahead; our entire lives can change in a second. For all this, humans can be fairly egotistical and confident in themselves. I think that our demanding of rights is an example of this. 

To be a Christian means to be a "Christ follower". Jesus never asks us to do anything that He didn't do. He was the most selfless individual to ever set foot on earth. He gave up His "right" to a family, a home, a career, financial security, respect, safety, comfort, fair treatment... and ultimately, life (to name a few)! And yet, as well as being human, He was also God. So the God of the universe gave up His "right" to remain in heaven and descended to earth (where he was mocked, persecuted, slandered, and brutally murdered) and then to the depths of hell. As well as giving up His most basic rights, He made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up His life. 

He never asks us to do anything that He didn't do.

As a "Christ follower", I want to follow in His footsteps. There are a lot of aspects to this; learning to live a selfless life and laying down my "rights" is one of them. None of us can ever attain perfection, and that, I believe, is not what it's about anyway. It is a process, a day-by-day striving to be continually more like Christ. 

For me, right now, "striving to be continually more like Christ" is taking the form of learning to surrender everything in my life and lay down my rights. I feel sort of like an onion, with multiple layers that need to be stripped away. These outside layers keep my "core" (spirit) from being able to fully connect with my Creator in the way that He designed. They keep me from being able to live in the fullness of His presence.

And that is what gets me out of bed every morning: a yearning for His presence. 

Surrender.

How much of myself am I willing to give Him? How much of my life am I willing to lay down for Him? 

These two questions have been going through my mind all day. So often we sing about surrender, about giving our "all" to Him. But at the first sign of discomfort and hardship, we all too often turn and run. Jesus didn't promise us a life of ease, He promised to never leave us--to walk through the storms of life with us.

His heart is for the broken ones, the sick, the oppressed, the "least of these", the "invisible" ones that are shunned and hated by this world. And it is for these people that He asks us to pour out our lives. 

How will I respond? How will you? 

Renewal

I am feeling better! And there are no words to express how good it is to be feeling better...to be able to stand up without feeling like I'm going to pass out (and then actually passing out), to move without feeling like I've been run over by a truck, to be able to breathe, to be more "tan" colored than "black and blue".

Our classes took a little bit of a different form for the first three days of this week... rather than having a "lecturer" for our morning class times as we normally have, we joined with the other two DTS's that are currently going on and divided up into small groups and read aloud the entire book of Genesis. I have read the book many times before, but reading it within the three days made it a very different experience than any I've had previously. We serve a crazy God! There are many, many events recorded that would make most Christians today very uncomfortable!  Set aside some time to scan through the book of Genesis, and I guarantee any box you have placed around God will be shattered. 

We had a meeting with our leaders to discuss our outreach, the three-month phase following the three-month lecture phase. The majority of the group will be going to Central America for outreach, where they will spend most of three months in Panama, and then divide into small groups to go to either Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, or Colombia for two weeks. A main focus of this outreach will be to launch the Spanish version of "Voice for the Voiceless" (a prayer book published by PhotogenX focusing on many issues such as child prostitution, HIV/AIDS, and infanticide). The teams will also spend time with different indigenous tribes located within Panama's dense tropical jungles. 

There will also be one team going to South Africa for the three months. This team will spend the first part of the outreach living out of a bus and traveling around the nation to minister in different villages and communities serving through photography, evangelism, etc. They will then team up with the Voice of the Voiceless ministry located in Cape Town and help them in their ministry to communities located around Cape Town. 

Please be in prayer for me as I prayerfully make the outreach decision and seek the Lord's will as to what continent He wants to send me to.  Since hearing about this DTS, my heart has been to go to South Africa. Part of this is because I am interested in the possibility of working with the Voice of the Voiceless ministry in Cape Town long-term, so this would be a great opportunity to meet the leaders there and get a feel for what the ministry is about. But I also have a heart for the huge need within the continent of Africa, and the thought of being able to get to Africa--any part--is incredibly exciting. There is so much beauty and treasure there within the souls of the people, but along with that there is so much oppression and hurt.

At this point, I think I will probably be going to South Africa at the end of June. But I am open to both outreach locations, and I am praying about it because I want to be sure that I remain in the center of the Lord's will. I'd appreciate your prayers! Please let me know if you feel you have any "words" from the Lord for me regarding this. It is so exciting to think about finishing up the lecture phase and being able to use what I have learned during this time! 

Rest.

I joined the land of the living again today, a little battered and bruised, but feeling better at least. I think I am beginning to forget what it feels like to not hurt. My body is very colorful right now. 

I think God is trying to teach me something... like, maybe, to depend completely on Him and on His strength, rather than my own (which I currently have very little of.) But also, the whole concept of rest. I feel like I have been in a heavy storm this past week; it reminds me of a rafting accident I had several months ago when I was sucked underwater and pulled downstream, hammered against rocks and boulders before being pulled out of the water. My body has taken a lot of hard hits this week, but more than that is the feeling of not knowing which direction is up, towards "air", and the helplessness of not knowing what I'll be hit with next and the inability to "fight" my way out of it no matter how hard I battle the waves. I feel like I'm waiting for a strong hand to reach down and pull me up and out of this storm. 

Sometimes--when I was rafting, for instance--a hand does come and pull us out of the storm. But other times we are left to ride it out, collecting bumps and bruises along the way. In those times, I think that our only hope is to ride it out at the very center. Every storm, no matter how intense, has a quiet, peaceful place at the center. At the center of the storm, clinging to the Calmer of storms, I know that there is hope. I want to shut my eyes to the pounding waves and jagged rocks and learn to rest in the middle of the storm... but I am still working on that. 

"I've had questions, without answers
I've known sorrow, I have known pain
but there's one thing, that I'll cling to
You are faithful, Jesus You're true

when hope is lost, I'll call You Saviour
when pain surrounds, I'll call You healer
when silence falls, You'll be the song within my heart

in the lone hour of my sorrow
through the darkest night of my soul
You surround me and sustain me
my defender, forevermore

and I will praise You, I will praise You
when the tears fall, still I will sing to You
and I will praise You, Jesus praise You
through the suffering still I will sing

how faithful and true
sustain me through and through
You are hope and truth

You're my spring of living water."

-When The Tears Fall (Newsboys)

Stormy Days.

Sometimes, life is rocky and we think ourselves completely broken. I thought I had rather reached this point, until yesterday, when the sinus infection I've been fighting for a week worsened and I woke up feeling completely miserable. (Yes, it is possible to be in Hawaii and feel so miserable that you can hardly make yourself crawl out of bed...despite the fact that palm trees and beaches and sunshine--not to mention classes--are waiting.) My school leader, Paul, drove me to the doctor where I learned that on top of my sinus infection (and severe sun burn), I have developed bronchitis and my body is completely run down and depleted due to a stressful last few months in my life. So, no exercise or sun exposure for a week. 

That's right, I am quarantined from the sun... for an entire week!! The bright side is that I am off work duty for a week so can do what I most feel like doing... sleep. 

On our way back from the doctor, we were in a car wreck. The back of the car was pretty well destroyed, but thankfully we were both okay. Lately I had been contemplating the fragility of life and how quickly things can change; this reinforced that truth, and I am constantly reminded of it by the large goose egg on the side of my head. 

Moral of the story? There is always more breakage that can happen. Right now I feel like I have no idea what is going on with my life, except that God is still in control... and still, always, more than enough.

I would love to hear from any of you that read this blog... Sometimes this rock in the middle of the Pacific seems way too far away from my family and friends. I wish I could know what is going on with each of you, and how the Lord is working in your life! If you're partial to snail mail, my address is:

Hannah Rexroth

University of the Nations--PhotogenX DTS

75-5851 Kuakini Hwy. #430

Kailua-Kona, HI 96740

Otherwise, shoot me an email at hmrexroth@gmail.com 

It would brighten my day... which I need, being that I'm quarantined from the sunshine for a week!