Culture, Culture, Culture...

Cultural Quip

The pipes in Ecuador are generally very old which means that they are not very wide. When visiting Ecuador, do not flush your toilet paper or you may clog the toilet. Instead you can throw it away in the garbage can provided. Don’t worry, the majority of the toilet paper is scented for the sake of keeping the bathrooms odor-free.

What’s Up?

            Well, time has been going by fairly slowly this month. I have established a routine, but every day is pretty much the same. However, over the past week I have had some special opportunities. A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of going to a cloister (like a convent, but the nuns inside are not allowed to leave for their entire lives) that for 500 years has never been opened to the public. This year Quito has been named the cultural center of the Americas and for this reason the cloister opened its doors to the public and displayed art and artifacts from the Catholic Church in Quito. It was incredibly interesting and also a little depressing. It is hard to see how far from the truth the Catholic Church in Ecuador has gone. For example, Mary is not just a saint, but ascended into heaven just like Jesus! Arguably Mary is more important in this country than Christ Himself!

            Last week I went downtown with the Summers family (excluding Mark) and we went to several museums. After three museums I had only paid $1 in entrance fees, and that bought me a post card! It’s been great to learn about the history of this country as it has shaped the culture greatly.

            On Saturday I was invited out to the house of Ruth Veloz who is the secretary for Action Ecuador. We ate pizza and spent the evening playing card games and mafia. We ended up playing cards until 2 a.m. and finally we went to sleep. The only problem was that I had to get up at 4:30 to leave for the coastal jungle! We spent Sunday morning visiting various farms cutting down sugar cane and eating it, picking fresh oranges, juicing sugar cane, and getting bitten by bugs! Then we went to a river in the early afternoon for a much needed swim. The highlight of my day was my breakfast. It was one of the most delicious things I have eaten here, but you might think it odd. It was a sort of bread ball, but it was made out of squished, fried banana. Inside was fried, salty pork. It might sound nasty, but trust me, SO good!

            Yesterday I went to teach my piano lesson to Kelly and her parents (my renters) asked me if I had heard about the special events the Canadian embassy was putting on. I hadn’t heard about them, but I thought that would be a great way to celebrate Canada Day. It turned out that the piano concert that was happening that night was by invitation only, so I went right over to the embassy and asked for 8 invitations. After waiting a while I was invited to go upstairs and was handed my invitations. So that was how I spent last night. It’s weird, but I have never felt so proud to be a Canadian as I have felt here in Ecuador. Maybe it’s because I am always having to explain my culture to people, but we are truly blessed to live in such a fantastic country, and I will not forget it.

Christ is Changing Me

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength

-Philippians 4:13-

            I have been reminded again and again of my weaknesses here, but I have also seen how it is when I am weak that Christ is strong. If I am following the will of the Father and surrendering to Him all along the way he is going to do the work through me. I have been reminded of Jonah more than once. He went so far as to hate the people he was sent to, but God did the work through him and the people of Nineveh repented quickly! This is what I am working on. I want to let God do the work through me. When I feel weak or insufficient for the work ahead I only need to remember that it is not me who is going to do the work, but the Holy Spirit through me!

            I also feel like I may know where God is calling me in the future. I have noticed here in Quito that there are quite a few churches that are doing a lot of work for the Lord. There are Christian radio stations and television stations. So it surprised me when I went only about 2 hours outside of Quito and passed through town after town of people who have never heard the Gospel. People who spend their days getting drunk for lack of things to do and lack of meaning in their lives. This may be the sort of place that I will end up. Who knows? But I felt a burden for them.

Praise and Prayer

-          Please pray for guidance throughout my time here, and more specifically for my future in ministry.

-          I still need to make friends who are closer to my age and like me. It is hard when all the people I meet want to spend their free time playing soccer and nothing else.

-          I am looking for more spiritual fulfillment. Please pray that God will provide that for me.

-          There is a couple that is attending the English classes (Carmen and Francisco) who are having a very hard time with their marriage. Carmen often hangs around after class and cries. Please pray that God will do a mighty work in their relationship!

-          I start my English classes on Monday! Pray for me as I have never taught on such an intense level before. Pray that God will bring the students, and that I will have opportunities to pour into their lives.

Settling In....Finally!

Cultural Quip

In Quito the suffix ‘ito’ which means ‘small’ is often added to words. For example, the Spanish word for little (as in not very much) is poco. In Quito they always say poquito which when translated means a little little. Do you want less? You can add the suffix as many times as desired. You can say that you only want a poquit-it-it-it-ito of rice if you want.

What’s Up?

Well things have been changing around here. I have quickly been developing a routine. In the mornings I am generally either at the office helping with English or I am at home doing homework. In the afternoons I am currently spending my time doing several things. Most days I just hit the town and explore. Last time I was here I pretty much stayed in the same areas of Quito. This time I am getting to know every area of the city and it has been good. I can almost always tell exactly where I am now and I know exactly how to get back. I also have been spending time getting to know some of the people I have met so far. I will occasionally eat dinner with the Summers family or go out for lunch with the receptionist for Action Ecuador who has become like an Ecuadorian mom for me this time. She has invited me on family vacations and she wants to go out to her house and hang out with her family sometime soon. I am looking forward to it because she has a son the same age as me who apparently wants to meet me. Should be nice.

June is going to be a little slow, but I am very thankful for it. It has been harder to feel settled in than I thought it would. After a week I felt great. I felt like I could stay here forever without feeling lonely of homesick. Well, now that more time has passed I am feeling a little bit like I just want to text my friends and go hang out. I know this feeling will pass, but for now I am just making sure to Skype with friends and I check my social network sites regularly. Another benefit of a slow month is I have more time for homework. Sure, I am not always motivated and sometimes I do more staring at the wall than actually reading or taking notes, but at least things are moving forward right?

Something I am doing that I did not expect to do is teach piano. I currently have two students. One is Caleb, Mark and Nancy Summers’ kid. The class is an hour each week and I am teaching him to chord. He is pretty good. He is a very fast learner and I really like spending time with the little guy. I constantly quiz him about Canada and now he knows more about our fine country than many Canadians. He even knows the name of the prime minister and his political party! My other student is Kelly. She is the daughter of the couple who are renting me my apartment. She learned to play Mighty to Save today. She seems like she is frustrated by her mistakes, which I think is healthy. She is motivated to move from chord to chord smoothly and I think she is going to be playing well in no time.

My schedule through the summer is going to be very different. In July I am going to be teaching a month long English class specifically for youth ages 15-18. I am hoping to have 15 students and I will be teaching them English using the book of Mark three classes a week, three hours per class. In August I am going to be doing a couple of DVBS’s and going on a church retreat. Then in September I will begin with regular English classes with adults

.

Christ is Changing Me!
                 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 
  -2 Corinthians 12:9-

            Towards the end of last week I was really feeling discouraged. Why would God call me to be a missionary? I feel like there are a billion people who would be better at this than me! I cannot see myself preaching every Sunday. I do not see myself as a spiritual leader. Shouldn’t a missionary be someone who already has it all together? I find myself thinking things like “well, what else could I do with my degree besides be a missionary” and I don’t like the way my mind is beginning to travel.

            Thankfully God is faithful. He called me to this and I can trust that He who began a good work in me will carry it to completion (Philippians 1:6). If God only called perfect people then nobody would ever go! I may not be ready to lead large groups of people, but who said that was what I was going to do? Why is missions always about being a pastor in a church or changing the lives of large groups of people? Why do I feel this need to measure my success in the number of lives that are changed because of my life? It is the wrong way to look at missions. I am convinced that my life would be just as well spent discipling a few that God gave me and building long-lasting and trusting relationships.

            I am also trying to assess my life in a way that is fair. I am not going to magically be the perfect Christian. This is a process and I am in a certain place in that process. Without this step I can’t make it to the next one. Maybe one day I will be equipped to lead large groups of people, if the Lord wills it.

Praise and Prayer

-          Praise God that my schedule is coming together. I am looking forward to get to do some more teaching in the near future!

-          Please keep my relationships in your prayers. I am looking for friends my age.

-          I still do not have a visa to be able to stay here for an entire year. Please pray that this will be a smooth process.

-          Last but not least, I am trying to make some decisions about church. I do not want to be a floater.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and pray for me! If you want more info about Action International or if you want to make a donation (I am still only about 50% fundraised) then please visit the following website.

http://www.actionintl.org/missionaries/murdoch

Love, Service, and the Cross

Cultural Quip:

In Ecuador, it is rare to take your shoes off indoors.

What’s Up?

I have been here now for almost a week and I feel like I have done quite a bit. This past week consisted of me settling in. As you may or may not know, I am quite blessed to have a beautiful apartment here in Quito. If you want a video tour of it, there is one on my Facebook page. Internet, laundry, electricity, water, cable, telephone, and all that lovely stuff is included in my rent which is very good for Quito. I have almost everything I need, but I did have to go out and get a few essential things that were missing (such as utensils).

I have also been trying to work out a schedule with Mark and Nancy Summers, the missionaries I am working with. It looks like I am going to be teaching some conversation classes for the next month, just trying to give the other students some extra help. In July I am going to be doing a summer vacation English school for about 15 non-Christian teenagers who want to improve the English they have been learning in school. The material we are going to use is from the book of Mark, so I am praying for opportunities to share Christ with the class or with individual students. Soon we are going to begin advertising on the radio and maybe on television. We visited the HCJB television station the other day and when the idea of a commercial came up it was suggested that I do all the speaking in it. I think that would be exciting, but I am not going to get my hopes up too high. The class will be three days a week, three hours each class. It is going to involve a lot of prep work, but right now I am looking for ways to fill some of my spare time.

Christ is Changing Me…

For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  -John 3:17

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to a conference on false doctrines that both Mark and Nancy were teaching at. It was all day long. We got there at 9am and it ended at about 7:45 at night. It was long and tiring (especially because it was all in Spanish so I had a lot of thinking to do), but the last speaker to go up had my attention from his very first words. He has a television program on a Christian television station where he answers tough questions about Christian faith. Instead of speaking specifically on the four false doctrines he had been assigned, he spent the first hour just speaking on the corruption of religion, including Christianity. His words on the manipulation of power within all religions were especially powerful to me. You know, Christ didn’t come to earth to establish a religion called Christianity. He really didn’t. He came to teach three things: love, service, and the cross. Christ didn’t come on chariots to establish an earthly kingdom or to bring condemnation. He came in humility, “…not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). And who did He serve? The sinful. The marginalized. The sick. The lost. The unwanted. He set Himself lower than the lowest and then died to save people who wanted nothing to do with Him.

Maybe you are thinking “duh Robbie! That is all so basic. How do you not know this already?” Well, I did know it. I guess I just feel like I have not been living it. This is what Christ has been teaching me. There is a huge difference between confessing with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believing it in my heart (Romans 10:9). When I really believe something in my heart then I am going to act on it, aren’t I? It is only when one is truly convinced of something that they are willing to give their lives for it. And that is what we ALL as Christians are called to do. “Then [Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” Mark 8:34-35. No, I am not talking about extremes. This is not the Jihad of Islam. I am talking about dying to the sinful nature that we all carry and living in Christ. I am talking about living a life that is radically different than the world around us. I am talking about giving everything I am for the cross of Christ. A relationship with Him is not passive, but active and constantly maturing and growing.

No, we are not going to be perfect. That is not the idea. Following Christ is a process and our job to allow Christ to complete the work that he began in us (Philippians 1:6). Today I was reminded of a healing that Jesus performed on a blind man in Mark 8:22-26. Jesus spit on the man’s eyes, placed His hands on him and asked “Do you see anything?” He responded that he saw people walking around like trees. So Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes and he saw everything clearly. For a long time I thought this was the weirdest miracle that Jesus performed. Why did he have to apparently heal this man twice? Had he messed it up the first time? I looked into it further and discovered something amazing about this miracle. It is about more than just healing this man’s physical body (as is true for all of Jesus’ miracles). Jesus is using this miracle to teach something very significant about life in His Kingdom.

Right before this healing in Mark 8:14-21, Jesus reprimands his disciples for not understanding who He was, even after witnessing Him feed thousands of people with only a few loafs of bread. In Matthew 8:27-30, the passage right after the two-phase healing of the blind man, Peter finally identifies Jesus as Christ. The miracle is placed right between these two passages because it is a demonstration of growth, and that was exactly what the disciples were doing. The miracle is a demonstration of the life of those who have been touched by Christ. Here on earth we have only had a glimpse of our glorious Savior! He has begun the good work of making us like Him. But we will not be fully changed until we come into the presence of God. Here, we only see things walking around like trees. We can try our best to interpret them, but it is only as we draw close to Christ that we can better understand what we see. And it is only when we are in His presence that all will be made known.

Sorry that was so long, but it has been building up inside of me for several days now!

Praise and Prayer

-          I asked people to pray that I would not be lonely here. Praise God I feel I have made some really great connections already. Please pray for more relationships with people my own age.

-          Please pray that I will be bold for Christ and that I will grow in love for the people here and never miss an opportunity to serve.

-          Please pray for patience with some things. I am very sensitive to mannerisms and quirks and I often find myself frustrated with trivial things about people.

-          Last but not least, please pray for God to provide whatever is necessary for me to stay here in Ecuador. I still have to get a visa and I am only 50% fundraised! If God wants me here for the full year, then this is all going to work out. I have confidence it that.

The beginning of a chapter...

Well here it is! After planning this for almost a year and a half I have finally arrived in Ecuador again! For those of you who do not know, this is my third time in Ecuador. The first time was back in 2005 when I came with my church for a two week missions trip. That was when I felt that maybe God was going to bring me back here. After returning home I was encouraged to go back and so planned another trip for 2007. By March of 2007 I knew that God was calling me into a life of cross-cultural ministry and I went to Ecuador the second time with the hope of exploring the country, the culture, and the different ministries that are going on down here.

Upon returning to Canada after 6 months in South America I enrolled at Columbia Bible College with the intention of learning more about the Bible and drawing closer to God. I am just beginning my third year of the intercultural studies program, and boy has it been an adventure getting here.

I applied to come to Ecuador with Action International. They have an emphasis on children and youth in crisis and I was certain that this was what I wanted to do. I was told that I was going to also be teaching English which I thought would be fun. So to get some practice I began to volunteer at Christian Life Assembly as an English teacher for three hours a week. Every class was a highlight of the week and I fell in love with teaching. The main draw for me is the quick connections I can make with people from all over the world just by discussing the use of my native language. It is an amazing tool for ministry that should never be overlooked.

So the time came for me to leave for Ecuador and it was amazing what emotions I experienced through the whole thing. After getting back from my last trip to Ecuador I mostly focused on the things I missed. I thought about the weather, the friendly people, the amazing biodiversity, and the cultural heritage of a place that, in many areas, has gone almost completely untouched for centuries. When I finally got my hands on a ticket my attitude changed entirely. I was remembering all the uncomfortable parts of being down here. The food is different, Spanish is not even close to being a language that I would call myself fluent in, there is crime everywhere, people drive however they please, and let's not get started on pollution. I was scared. Actually scared. I was sitting in the airport and I found myself shaking with the knowledge that soon I was going to be thrust into a situation over which I had little control. I was going to have to meet all new people, live in a brand new place, and get used to a whole new routine (and I love my routine!).

            I got to the airport and walked through customs without being asked a single question. What a blessing! But then I got over to the baggage claim. It was crazy! The plane we came in on was huge and there seemed to be no limit to how many bags one could check (I checked three and never paid a fee). Eventually everyone was gathering their bags and walking away, but I was left there with only one of the three bags I was waiting for. After nearly 45 minutes of waiting for my bags and watching the same 10 bags go round and round, my bags appeared out of nowhere. I was so thankful!
            Mark Summers, the director of Action Ecuador was waiting for me and we went right over to his house where his wife, Nancy had just cooked a delicious dinner. Then it was off to my apartment to settle in. The apartment is beautiful. You come in to a living area that is fully furnished. To the left is the kitchen with a small alcove with a working area, ideal for homework. To the right of the living room is a hall with a bathroom, a storage room, and my bedroom. I unpacked and tried to make the place feel like home. After a long shower I hit the hay and got some needed rest.

This morning I got up and headed to the Alliance Academy with Mark to drop off his kids. Then we went over to the Action Ecuador office and I sat in on a Bible class and then an English class that is being taught by a man named Samuel who is here from Kenya.

By the time lunch rolled around my attitude had done a full 180 degree turn around. I haven't thought about the things that were making me shake with fear in the airport even once. In fact, it has felt like coming home. Like Ecuador was put on hold while I was away and I am picking up where I left off. I can't help but realize how much of my experience weighs on my attitude. Am I going to choose to adopt an attitude of fear and let Satan get the best of me? Or am I going to put on an attitude of love and joy and let God use me in whatever situation I encounter? I choose the latter. This is the beginning of a chapter, and I want it to be a good one.