June 9, 2011

I haven’t had internet in a while because it goes in and out here. This week I’ve learned so much. I feel like I’ve grown in my relationship with the Lord (in the time I’ve been here) more than I have in a long time. I’ve always thought about what it would be like to desire God’s word more than daily food. It says in Job 23:12, “I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” I’ve always wanted to know what it felt like to desire God’s word more than the food I eat. I feel like I’ve always read my Bible because if I want to grow as a Christian that’s what I’m supposed to do. I was treating it more like a “duty”. But since I’ve been here, I’ve been so excited to read my Bible. I feel so excited to go to sleep because I know in the morning I will have my quiet time when I wake up. I’ve also been journaling my thoughts about what I read. I’m going through Matthew now, and I write down whatever thoughts I have when I read God’s word. It’s been so refreshing to be excited to read, even though I’ve read lots of it many times before. God’s teaching me how important it is to cherish His word and to desire it- more than food.

On Tuesday (June 7, 2011), we had an international dinner. We were all divided into countries/regions. There was the U.S., Europe, Africa, The Middle East, Russia, China, and Indigenous People Groups. We thought that we were going to be eating oriental food and celebrating nationality, but that wasn’t the case. I was in the China group. We came out of the room we met in (14 people in a group I believe), and walked by the “Americans”. They were all singing Party in the USA and other American songs. We all walked by the grill and noticed they were having these juicy steaks with asparagus and baked potatoes. I was personally kind of sad I got China because I thought we were going to have to eat chicken and rice instead. We sit down on our mat to the side of the motel. They gave us chopsticks and a pot of white rice. They told us the food we were to eat represented our countries spirituality. We weren’t allowed to leave our mat until we ate solid food they told us. So we started to dig into the rice with our chopsticks, thinking it was solid food. We dumped the rice on the mat and started eating it. It felt like we were on survivor. (The whole time we could hear the Americans singing and laughing from the other side of the motel). After we realized they wouldn’t let us leave after eating the rice we talked about what was going on with one another. Some of the other students approached us holding passports trying to talk to us. We were only allowed to speak five words or less to a foreigner and we couldn’t speak unless they addressed us. They kept coming, and we kept saying we needed solid food. Finally after we had eaten rice for a good half hour or so, it was over.

The staff explained what the point of the international dinner really was. The solid food we were supposed to have represented the Gospel and the access we have to it. Here’s what all the groups initially started off having to eat: 

U.S.: Steaks, Baked Potatoes, and Asparagus

Europe: Ham and Baked Potatoes

Africa and China: Rice

Russia: Bread and Potatoes

The Middle East: Humus and Pita Chips

The Indigenous People: Nothing

The Americans were having fun and singing when they realized that not everyone had the same food and that people were missing (hence being on the other side of the motel). When they had eaten a piece of meat, they were given a passport. But when they tried to see what everyone else was eating/where everyone else was, they were tempted to play games like Catch Phrase by the staff. They eventually ventured out and found us, asking us questions about what we needed. The goal was to see if the Americans or Europe would share the meat (solid food) they had on their plates to the other people groups so they could be set freed by it (the Gospel). The only group that was given meat was the Africa group. China, Russia, and the Middle East never received meat (the Gospel). No one even noticed the Indigenous People Group (or the 10-40 Window) was missing.

After the international dinner we had a discussion about it. It really bothered me that in reality we as Americans have so much access to the Gospel and caught up in our own lives that we don’t think about the others in the world who are spiritually starving because they don’t have access to the Gospel or have never even heard of it. It really opened all of our eyes to see how blessed we are to have it, but how critical it is we share it.