Lets Talk Specifics

How often to we come before our creator in prayer with our own requests? I swear we can go on forever talking and praying for ourselves and our issues and our concerns and our problems. Yet how often do we look past ourselves and start looking at others. I have discovered the more that I look at other and pray for others the less worried I become about myself. Praying for others has become one of the joys in my life.   Unfortunately in the midst of the chaos of this semester and the struggles of keeping my relationship alive I haven’t spent much time doing this. This week I was feeling really far from him and I was sick of worrying and looking at my own problems I turned others over to him instead. As I was praying I remembered a word

Speak

Precise

Exact and

Critical

Information

For

Intended

Circumstance

So many times we go before him and ask for him to do bless us and direct us and guide us or pray for others in such broad terms that I wonder if Gods like “dude do even know what your asking for?” So I was challenged as I was praying to ask for specific requests down to the last detail. The cool thing is if I know what I am asking for then I know how to look for the answers. I think that is the best part, expecting the answers. To pray for specific requests you can see so much clearer the answers. Why? Cause you know what you were asking for! Sometimes we ask for such broad things God answers are requests but we don’t see it because we don’t really know what we asked. So try it. Be specific. Come before your creator and tell him what others need first then talk to him about yourself. Its amazing how your focus changes.

Animistic Culture Gospel Approach

Start by listening and watching... aka not talking. The only possible way to share to gospel with a people who have some kind of Animistic culture is to figure out what they believe in. To put a group of people into this category of "animistic" is like putting a button into a bowl with a whole bunch of other different buttons. There both buttons but they sure don’t look the same and you probably can’t sew them on a shirt the same way either. Therefore you have to study it and look at it in order to figure out how to get it on. Same with an Animistic culture you have to figure out what they worship and what they believe before you can bring the gospel to them.It might help for some of you to know what an animistic culture is. It is define as a culture who believes in inanimate objects having spirits and interacting with them in various ways of worship and lifestyle. This is such a broad defination and concept that to say that all of these beliefs are the same within the cultures whould be crazy and you wouldn't get very far before seeing the mass differences. THAT is why it is important to study, learn and understand them first before trying to tell them a completely new belief system.

 It is also important as one learns how the culture works also to contextualize the gospel if necessary to make them understand it. The wariness of doing this that if you relate it to close to their culture they might take it and make into just another thing to do to appease the spirits. I think that is why rather then going straight the Jesus part you start and the beginning, the very beginning. I think it would be best to talk them through the most that you can as possible to show them where Jesus is coming from and why it was so amazing and so important. To not do that would almost be like walking in the middle of a movie and watching it and then people around you expecting you to know and understand all of it. For this culture and other cultures as well I think it is important to start at the beginning to show them where they are going.

When entering into this animistic culture there are obviously things that are within that you possibly do not agree with and do not line up with the gospel. It is important to let the people who you are talking to recognize these things on there own and let them change it. That way since they know there culture best will understand and know what to do best.

remember: Watch Listen and Learn then you can open your mouth and share the good news!
                                                                    Its worth waiting for.

Happy Holidays!

So once again here I am trying to figure out the latest and exciting news about Cameroon... and what did I find? The BEST THINGS EVER!! HOLIDAYS!!! So here in a small list and the public holidays celebrated in Cameroon

January 1st Happy New Year!!!

February 11th Youth Day

May 1st Labour Day

May 20th National Day

July 5th Independence Day

Augest 15th Assumption Day

October 1st Unification Day

November 1st All Saints Day

December 25 Merry Christmas!!

As you can see there are a couple of similar ones that we celebrate such as Christmas and New Years and they also Celebrate Easter and Tabaski and Ramadan which as muslim holidays. What was interesting is that in there "public holidays" three differant religions are the origniatiors of these holidays. That just sparked my interest. What also got me thinking was it would be cool to do some research on these differant holidays and see what they are about. I thought I would start on a day where we are actually going to be there for

National Day! It is celebrate on May 20th and indicates honour and pride for that country. It was not until 1972 when Cameroon was completly independent. That was 40 years ago. (random thought, there are people still alive who watched where they live become its own country, how often do we take the establishment of Canada for granted). During this year the country had accepted a constitution and at a later date the constituation was amended and Cameroon came to be what it is now. (in short basiclly) It will be exciting to celebrate that day with the Cameroonians and celebrate their nationality with them. I am exctied to see what traditions they have and how the celebrate the day!

As this is only one of the many holidays that Cameroon celebrates I think we might be have more Holiday blogs in the future... stay tuned!!!!

I Got SHOT!!!

On Thursday I adventured down to downtown Waterloo and got shot....with four needles. Vaccinations complete!!! Its rather interesting how it is required to get some shots but I realize that it is for our own personal safety. In order to get into Cameroon we were required to get our Yellow fever, typhoid and Heb A and B. Malaria is also on the list but those are pills that are to be taken right before we go. I thought I would do some research on what I am preventing myself from to see what all this money and effort went into not to mention a very VERY sore arm the same day.

Yellow Fever
A tropical disease transferred to humans by infected mosquitoes. It can be a mild to sever infection and can be life threatening (ok makes sense to get it... reason #1)
Symptoms include:high fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, and backache, shock, bleeding, and kidney and liver failure. Liver failure causes jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes),   (Thats where the name comes from and I am very glad that I won't be getting this! reason #2)
Treatment: water and rest and don't go near other people (that's kinda lonely... another reason why glad got it I can be with my team! :) reason #3)

Typhoid
Is also known as typhoid fever or entheric fever, is an infection caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi. This is usually transmitted by water or food (something that I can't live without therefore reason #1)
This virus though can be tolerated by some people which are called asymptomatic carriers. This means that they can carry the Salmonella typhi but not show any symptoms that they have it.
Symptoms include: constipation, cough, headache, loss of appetite, stomach pains, sore throat, bleeding from the rectum, delirium, diarrhea and temporary pink spots on the chest and abdomen. (so not fun! reason #2)
Treatment: antibiotics take away all symptoms in less then a week (not bad but still not cool, I am not good at takes pills regularly...need to work on that therefore reason #3)

Hep A
Also known as Hepatitis A virus. It is a inflammation of the live caused by the Hepatitis A virus. It is contracted by ingesting something that has been effected with virus.
Symptoms include: Dark urine, Fatigue, Itching, Loss of appetite, Low-grade fever, Nausea and vomiting, Pale or clay-colored stools, Yellow skin (jaundice) (so kinda like yellow fever yay.... reason #1)
Treatment:once again nothing specific other then rest and avoid alcohol (not any issue! :P)

Malaria
Is a parasitic infection spread by Anopheles mosquitoes. The Plasmodium parasite is a single-celled parasite that multiplies in red blood cells of humans as well as in the mosquito intestine. Its not a bacteria or a virus like the others mentioned above. Another interesting fact that in Cameroon the Plasmodium parasite in Cameroon has develop resistance to Chloroquine is an antimalarial drug and therefore we can not use it since it wouldn't do any good for us.
Symptoms include: abdominal pain,chills and sweats, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting (these symptoms only appear sometimes), headache, high fevers, low blood pressure causing dizziness if moving from a lying or sitting position to a standing position (also called orthostatic hypotension), muscle aches, poor appetite (overall that sounds like a super unenjoyable time...reason #1 why these pills are a good thing)
Treatment: Antibiotics and its one of those things that you have to take all of them or it doesn't work. And I would like to make in known that once you have it you DO NOT have it for LIFE! I am really happy about that.

In conclusion of this small yet important research project I have to say that I am rather glad that I got shot so I don't end up with contracting any of these things. Please for all those are thinking of trying to avoid these vaccinations (although the mostly likely are mandatory) GET THEM!!!
ok this was really long and I'm sorry but i think its IMPORTANT!

....Evangelism pt. 2

During class we watched a video on How evangelism can really be split up into three different categories
1.Event
2. Group
3.Personal

If you think about it I think that this day era has gotten event evangelism down pretty well. Look at Billy Graham and what he did and all the organizations and other events that have come from it. His events brought millions of people together in which many accepted Christ. The apostles did the same thing. They went to the temples and synagogues to preach about Christ and many were saved. This type of evangelism is great but we need to remember that it is not the only one and it is just as important to remember the other two.

Group evangelism is harder to define but it covers what event and personnel evangelism aren't. It's the in between size and we see it happening in Acts as well. Group evangelism happened a lot of the time when the apostles healed someone especially in there home. That makes sense because a whole crowd could not fit into a home or fit a round a circle to see the person. But what about me? I guess you are probably asking the same question I am. Maybe it doesn't have to about that we can't heal. It also should be noted that we see Peter and various other apostles simply going to homes to preach the word. Maybe its more the fact that we as Christians can go with Boldness to these places and share the gospel. Think about it, if you are invited to someones home then obviously you know the person and some trust and friendship has developed. Are you willing to step into an uncomfortable position with these people? Peter was I am asking myself that same question!

There is also personal evangelism. This one I think scares us Christians the most. To actually talk to someone that you know (or possibly don't know) about your faith. To bring it up in conversation is not easy. What interested me was the fact that the first two times that you see personal evangelism its both kinda forced upon them. I am thinking of Peter and Philip. Both we called in rather unique ways directly from God. Peter and Philip had a couple of similarities that should be taken notice of. I think these things will help us with personal evangelism. The first is that they were both willing to go and talk about the gospel where ever they went. As I talked about in pt. 1 they had the boldness to talk to other people about the gospel and were not ashamed of it. As Christians I think we need to be more aware of these types of things and that we need to be not afraid to talk about it. (BTW I am just as scared as you are so I am "preaching" to myself") Another thing that has really caught my attention was the fact that they both ask direct questions. I can not remember the last time I asked someone about the gospel. I know that is hard to do and both Peter and Philip had some context but I think that is not to hard to come by. Anything really can remind us as Christians about God and if we are talking to them long enough or simply know them well enough should be able able to bring it up. In all reality what can we lose? Them not talking to us again? possibly in all reality not likely. Having an awkward conversation. More likely but again not the end of the world. I think those are worth someone hearing something that can change there lives. We just now have to be willing to do it!

AHH!! Don't say that Word! ...Evangelism pt. 1

When many Christians here the word evangelize, many including my self say something along the lines of
"I need to do that more but I don't know how"
"I don't like talking about my faith with other people, they know that I am a christian. If they have questions they will ask" or
"How do I even start a conversation about faith?"
Before you and I get stressed over this whole issue of evangelizing lets check out what the actual definition is. According to dictionary.com evangelism is defined as "the practice of spreading the Christian gospel" or "the preaching or promulgation of the gospel; the work of an evangelist". Now those definitions might make you even more concerned since the thought might have cross your mind of "I am no Billy Graham"  ... to be honest neither am I. Yet as Christians we are called to evangelize to others..so how do we do that?
Well the early Church was kinda in the same boat. Jesus was no longer with them and the Holy Spirit had just entered them and Jesus told them to go and spread the gospel. I think they were probably asking the same questions and we can look to them to get the answers because boy did they ever spread it.

Going through the book of Acts and looking for examples of Evangelism I found something rather interesting. Acts 4:1-31 specifically 23-31. Peter and John had healed a man who was crippled in the Temple and then Peter started preaching there. The religious leaders arrested both Peter and John and the next day was brought before the council of rulers, elders, scribes, and the high priest and his family. (I would just like to make a note that these people were SCARY! you did NOT mess with them...just saying) Yet Peter speaks Boldy to them! This word in greek this is parrēsia which depicts Spirit-inspired courage and confidence to speak even amongst danger. This word is very important in Acts and is used agian later in the passage.
Once Peter and John are set free they come back to the believers to talk about what happened and something really cool happened. They all came together and prayed. For what? BOLDNESS! The believers all gathered together and asked for what Peter had so they too could be like him in sharing the gospel. What they said in there prayer was really neat too. They said that they would be willling to go through ANYTHING to have the BOLDNESS that Peter had in sharing the gospel.

I think the reason that I am scared to evangelize becuase I failed to ask for what all the believers in the early chruch had! Praying for Boldness something so simple yet so profound and powerful. It is something as us Christians in the day and age are in desparate need for!

Breaking Down Walls, One Brick at a Time

Class dismissed the professor says, 25 minutes until Chapel begins. ½ hour seems plenty of time to unwind from class, drop of books and go to Chapel.

Chapel? Like Church?
Church Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Bible classes almost every day...
Will it ever stop?
The bombardment of teaching, hoping that each will have an impact!

Concerned about my weary unprepared heart walls went up. Fortifying for the next blow.
Resulting in a STRONG unpenetrating wall that surrounded my heart.

At least I thought it was unpenetrating...

But He started to take down the wall, one brick at a time
It started with 3 simply letters PPG that are worn on my wrist

Practice the Presence of God

The commitment was made on Tuesday February 7, 2011

Chapel? Like Church?
Church Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Bible classes almost every day...
Maybe slow down but please but never stop
That the teaching will hit me with something new and Help me grow closer to him

Coming to Worship with my heart not so surrounded by a wall, I was willing to come with the heart that I had. I was willing to run into his arms. Forever Reigns was a song that didn't talk about me, about my doing but a song that I found myself directly talking to HIM. Rather then singing this song as if he was far away I PPG and talked to him and praised him remembering that he was right there.

The walls are coming down

He is taking off one brick at a time

Calling me

Reminding me

Remember the former things, those of long ago, I am God there is no other. I am God there is none like me.

Isaiah 46:9

Mountian of Faith

To climb Mt. Cameroon will only happen once and the reward will be like no other but a mountain that I will be always climbing is the Mountain of Faith. Time after time again you see the disciples who walked and talked with Jesus have little faith. Faith is something that I have been something that I have been struggling with lately so today Jesus decided to help me out a bit. Mark 9:14-29

To describe the situation a crowd gathered around Jesus after he had been arguing with some scribes. The atmosphere is heated and tense. The crowds are wondering what the scribes and Jesus are arguing about when a Father interrupts and comes up to Jesus asking him to heal his son because the disciples could not. In reply Jesus says "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I going to bear with you? " I think here Jesus being rather exasperated, like "why don't you just believe already? I shown you again and again that you can!" To be honest though I don't think Dad caught on to that -_-

The Father asks Jesus "if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us"
(pause) mental picture--> older man talking to Jesus timidly and saying "if you could sir.. if you don't mind... could you?...i think you can do it..."
If I can?! (Jesus voice probably just got a little louder here) all things are possible for one who believes! (Dad just got owned and he knows it!)
 then the father of the child cried out... I believe, but help my unbelief!

WHAM! That hit me right in the face! I want to cry out just as the Father has and say I believe but help my unbelief! As soon and Jesus said what he did the Father realized what he was lacking the whole time and repented of it. I, Lord do the same. My faith right now is small and weak. Help me believe that you indeed can do all things and that you are in control and help me climb this mountain called Faith.

Jesus teaches a few things here.
1. Do not put Jesus into a box cause he is bigger then that and can do anything
2. Do not be timid about asking and been uncertian of your faith ASK! and believe that you will recieve what you have asked for! and no this does
note: see james 1:6 for conformation of this statement
(this does not apply to asking God for a new car... just making that clear)
3. Prayer aka building a relationship with God also helps in developing and growing our faith (check this out with what Jesus told his disciples at the end of this situation)

To the Top!

 In inquiring with a fellow team mate I confirmed that we would be climbing Mt. Cameroon at the beginning of our trip. Mt. Cameroon is located on the Southwest Side of the mountain range that Lake Lyos is on. The Lake is one the Northeast side. Mt. Cameroon is actually the most active volcano in West Africa not to mention the highest mountain. It last erupted on May 28th 2000 and that lasted til June 19th. It erupted before this on March 28 1999. No one had died from the eruptions although several people were injured while researching the volcano as it was erupting. (to be honest I don't know why someone would be so smart to go up a volcano as its erupting but...) Mt. Cameroon is the highest point in Cameroon reaching 4,095 m ( I am assuming above sea level). I think that Climbing this mountain will only be the start of challenging times we will face while in Cameroon. Yet to reach the Top and looking out will be something that sweat and toll are worth. Lets Climb to the Top!