Teamwork

(Sorry, I began composing this morning before class, but got interrupted. This is "stale" by 12 hours.)--Jim

The picture is from a home we visited outside Morshansk yesterday on our way to the final I.C. event. A family in the church there invited the Americans to come for a meal. It was a delightful time with 8 people around a table just right for two. Home-made pelmwni (meat filled dumplings), sweets, home-made jam and bread, and the ubiquitous tea. With us is Misha our translator and SEND missionaries Gabe (whose last name escapes me) who drove one of the vehicles, and Jenni Myers.

Jen and Megan's train is in Moscow by now. They're on the way to the airport to hurry up and wait for a flight to Frankfurt where they'll scurry to catch a flight for Chicago. There it's customs and several hours of the joys only a busy airport can afford before they leave for Boise. Their return began at 9:15 AM MST Sunday and they are due to touch down at 11:00 PM Monday. How else would you want to spend 38 hours?

Todd's right, it's already a whole lot quieter without the ladies and obviously the dynamics are radically different now that we shift to class mode from the bedlam of Immanuel's Child and camp. Those first two phases of this visit were huge successes. Thanks for praying for us as we represent you and the rest of our American partners. And that leads to my point: Teamwork.

I could have come to Winter Camp as the speaker and done just fine. But it was very different and immeasurably better to have Jen and Megan do what they did. I shower people with God's word and the ladies are hands-on with them through crafts and games. When you add the parts together the result is far more than the sum of the individual components. By working as a team we connected with the kids beyond anything we could have done without each other. The Russian kids and the Russian camp staff connected to us as a group. I'm amazed at how we can work together in spite of culture and language difference. Same with all the Immanuel's Child events. The Russians have said the same thing several times.

Now Todd and I get to work side by side, teaching and training. Todd will be tilling new soil in areas we hope will turn into more and more ways for the Russian believers to support themselves and their pastors and their ministries. As I edit this during the evening, he has been meeting with Russian brothers about small business opportunities for nearly three hours--and still going.

Beyond the actual ministries that take place, one of the best things about a short-term mission trip like this is that it magnifies lessons about being a member of the body of Christ. You can't function without the translator. You can't get around without a local who can drive or navigate public transportation. You get to see how each member of the team is crucial to the plan. You're forced to live in close quarters with people other than your own family (say good-bye to personal space and phoniness). You laugh a lot as you navigate strange situations together--often while you're rummy from travel and tired from activity.

If you don't check your ego and selfishness at the door when you leave home, you're in for a really rough road. You share food, something you packed is what someone else needs. You do things you've never done before. All your familiar routines are gone. You have to sort out the things that are Biblical (and cling to them) from the things that are cultural (and let them go). You find out that the greatest blessings come from serving, not from being served.

By God's grace, the things you came to do get done. The results of your activities are sometimes dramatic (like 10 kids repenting at camp), but the rest won't be known for eternity. Every day you walk with Christ in this world, you will take a step toward being more like Him. He's faithful to make sure that happens. A trip like this usually has the effect of being like a physical exam--it shows how you're doing and exposes what needs more work. Or it's like a boot camp which forces you to exceed what you think are your limits. Or it's like solving a puzzle in which many pieces (team members) have to fit together for the picture of Christ to come out right.

You don't need to come to Russia to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll bring the lessons to you every day, but I know I speak for the four of us that we yearn to share the lessons and blessings we have from being here. May you grow more like Christ every day by doing your part in the team which is the Body of Christ.

--Jim