Asking Why and Just Talking
Flo Johnson (far right in photo) came home on furlough from Burkina Faso with husband Dale and their two children. That gave us a chance to talk with her about … well about talking to yourself, to God, and to each other. Flo let us record and share her thoughts. Listen closely: there’s wisdom here.
Struggling with “Why?”
I was disappointed with myself for not adjusting quickly to Burkina Faso. I was a missionary kid, I thought, so this should be easy. Why was I so frustrated at first?
You have neat moments that affirm your call [to be a missionary], like when support comes in that you weren’t expecting. But you also need confirmation from yourself about why you made this choice. |
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Daily Life in Burkina Faso
Courtesy of West Shore Church missionaries.
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Missionary? I thought you were an engineer.
Dale Johnson brings new thinking to God’s field work
Growing up, Dale Johnson was certainly familiar with missions. His father was a pastor. Dale saw missionaries as good-hearted, faithful, gifted teachers. That profile didn’t fully fit Dale. He was a fiddler and a fixer, someone who likes inventions such as the solar power car at Messiah that his brother who studied there had told him about. |
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The Painful Process of a Young Girl’s Healing
 Three year-old Luen and her younger brother picked up something that looked like a fun toy. The landmine exploded, leaving Luen nearly dead and her brother with serious head injuries. A month in a Cambodian hospital saved her life but only one eye. Her brother still suffers the effects of brain damage 17 years later.
When she started school, Luen’s classmates inflicted a different kind of pain. They ridiculed her and warned, “Don’t play with Luen because she has only one eye.” “It hurt my heart a lot,” remembers Luen, “and I wanted to stop going to school.” But love kept her coming back – the love of a teacher who helped the children empathize with Luen’s difficulty and to show compassion.
By 5th grade, headaches made it difficult to study and her family’s financial condition required Luen to work in the rice fields. Eight years later, an opportunity appeared. Someone came to Luen’s village seeking a house worker for a gold salesman’s family in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Luen was hired. |
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HELPING HAITI
The 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th causing widespread devastation to the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding area has created a great need for aid.
EFCA TouchGlobal Crisis Response is coordinating relief efforts with the EFCA Southeast District, an EFCA church planter in Haiti, and key ministry partners.
Our church can help by: |
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The Discomfort of Being Comfortable
On a recent Wednesday night during a church-wide prayer gathering, Ian Campbell and Terry Allison were teaching on how Abraham had left friends and possessions and traveled to a place he didn’t know but to which God had called him. To get a sense of journey, Ian and Terry led the group of 40 adults and children around the church, stopping to pray at various spots. When they reached the missionary wall outside the prayer chapel, where photos of West Shore-supported missionaries hang, Ian pointed out that these were people who, like Abraham, journeyed out to serve God. 
“Mommy, where is our picture?”whispered a boy, probably four or five years old. Others heard him, including Ian. It was a profound question. Ian pointed to a frame with no photo. “This is the where the next picture goes.” Looking around, Ian asked, “whose will it be?” And to himself, he thought, “where will they go?”
Ian Campbell gets paid for managing a function called missions -- and we think he does that exceptionally well. But he has a different view of who is actually responsible for missions. In fact, he has a very deep and broad definition of mission – he calls it “missional” – which he believes can define how each one of us responds to God’s calling to serve.
Missional means adopting the positive mindset and practices of a missionary.
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Nowhere Else to Go but Grandmother: Stories from Africa
 West Shore's Steve Proctor recently returned from Zimbabwe where he explored and experienced the work of Forgotten Voices, for which he serves as chairman and Ryan Keith, also of West Shore, is the president. Forgotten Voices equips local churches in southern Africa to meet the physical and spiritual needs of AIDS orphans. Steve kept a journal of his travels, and here is one day of looking into a seeming helpless situation met by God's hope.
Jan 4th Zimbabwe
The burden carried by the church here is unbelievable. In both churches that I visited so far, 25 - 35% of the congregation comprises orphans - children in desperate straits. We spent most of today visiting families supported by Forgotten Voices.
I am not a novice to either foreign missions or poverty, having spent time in Honduras over the past several years. Still, what I saw in Zimbabwe was hard emotionally. All the stories were essentially similar: the presence of AIDS and loss of a parent, son, or daughter.
These are people of great composure and dignity, especially given the circumstances they are facing. Occasionally, the despair and grief punch through and overwhelm the people. Of the moments that will stick in my mind forever, one was of a mother and her two sons living in a 10x10 space and hoping that her children would have a better chance in life even after her husband's recent death, about which the son whom Forgotten Voices is supporting in school spoke with tears in his eyes.
During another visit today, Ryan [Keith] asked one of the young boys being cared for by his aging grandmother what he liked about living there. He got very quiet and tearful. After about a minute, he said softly, "I have nowhere else to go."
I found it hard to keep from weeping and hugging this precious child of God as he clung to his grandmother, the last person who wanted him or would provide for his needs. No 10-year old child should be brought to such an edge of despair. For many of these vulnerable children, a grandparent is the last line of defense and the only stability in life.
Speaking of grandmothers, one said to me, "We have seen you on TV and now you are here!" No white person had ever visited her home before. |
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