Notes from the Mission Field

Over the last month, I find myself reciting the Serenity Prayer a lot! Sometimes without even realizing I am doing it.

When I have visited Rwanda on short-term missions trips, I have spent my time exclusively with missionaries. Everything is positive and uplifting, kind of like church camp. Since moving here one month ago, my mountaintop experience has hit valleys from time to time and I rely on some of the tools that I have learned through Celebrate Recovery.

As a missionary, there is a lot of pressure to live inside the box. There aren’t any introductions starting with, “Hi, I’m Jamie, a grateful believer…” here. But I have found a couple of friends to share a few things with just to have someone who is aware of my struggles and for accountability.

I have spent time with other people about my age who are working here, not necessarily in the missionary capacity, who live a life not congruent with what I am trying to achieve for my sobriety and myself. It is sometimes tough discerning where a positive place is and where I should not go to protect my sobriety. There are limited places to hang out after about 6pm, but I don’t want to be stuck at home every single night, so I try new places with friends. I have found myself feeling trapped in an environment that is not healthy for me and around people who could care less if I was struggling or not.

There are moments that are so culturally frustrating that I find myself whispering, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change (which are many today), the courage to change the things I can (hopefully it won’t be many because I’m really tired) and the wisdom to know the difference (wisdom, seriously?! I just spent 30 minutes waiting for someone to arrive and another 30 minutes explaining why they shouldn’t be late and another hour explaining why I am explaining what being disrespectful of time means)….”

I have had to make amends for criticizing and judging why people do things a certain way that I am not accustomed. And I have prayed a lot. I pray for a friend that I can rely on and who I can open up to; who will willingly get up and leave if a situation becomes to tough for me to handle.

I have found one missionary guy who was involved with CR at one time and mentioned an interest in starting a group here. We are not sure how it translates to a culture that does not open up about their feelings and rarely expresses more than a lift of the eyebrows. But God planted a seed that it is a possibility because there are two people here familiar with recovery. What a better place to find recovery than a country who is trying to heal from so many deep scars.

I thank God for asking me to come to such a beautiful place with so many beautiful people.

Philippians 4:4-7 New Living Translation (NLT)
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Grateful Believer,
Jamie

Step Study Info...

Our Celebrate Recovery program will be starting men’s and women’s step studies soon.  If you have considered being a part of a step study but talked yourself out of it, I encourage you to try it!  If you’re not even sure what a step study is here’s a little definition:   A participant of a step study can expect to gain a deep understanding of themselves and discover the "how’s" and "why’s" of their particular hurt, hang-up or habit. They can expect to form lasting friendships with other participants in the group who serve as an accountability team. The step study is multi-issue and gender specific. It is designed to last approximately 10-12 months, and the group meets once a week. 

Now that, THAT’s out of the way let me tell you what being a part of a step study means to me.  When I sat in my counselors office almost 3 years ago she said “ you need to do a step study”.  My first thought was, “crap.”  (Hey, I’m being honest here.)  I didn’t want to commit to it and didn’t think 4 little books could change my life. I walked in that first night and thought, “these girls and I will never have anything in common, this isn’t going to work!”   Well luckily, God knew more than I did and He DID use those 4 little books to change me AND I love those women, I still keep in contact with many of them.

Here’s some Q&A about a Step Study…

Q. Do I have to have been coming to CR for a while before I join a Step Study? 

A:  No!    You can be a newbie!

Q. Do I HAVE to do homework and answer questions?

A.  Yes.  It does require some homework. 

Q.  If I quit in the middle, can I join another step study and finish some other time?

A.  No.  You’d have to rejoin a new group and start from the beginning.  (It pays to finish!)

Q.  Is there childcare for my kids?

A.  For the groups starting up in the fall, YES.  Our groups will be meet on Wednesday evenings and children will be dropped off at 6:20 PM, our childcare staff will keep them until 7 PM and then they will take your child to bible class at MRCC.  You will be out of Step Study by 8 PM and can pick up your child from bible class.  And YES, childcare is FREE!

Q.  How much do the materials cost?

A.  The CR bible is $12 (which we do recommend purchasing because of the recovery specific content we cover) and the 4 booklets are $5 each.  If the cost of those books is keeping from you joining – please don’t let it!  Our ministry leader, Micah, can work just about anything out if needed.

Q.  Are people going to be giving me their opinion on what I need to do to change?  Giving me advice?

A.  NO!  Our groups never offer feedback on what you share.  You’re there for you, and we’re not there to fix you. 

Q. Where do I go to sign up?

A.  You can call the MRCC Church office at 405.478.0166 and ask for Micah Hobbs, he will add your name to the list. Or, you can come to CR on a Friday night and sign up.

I remember when I had my ah-ha moment in my first step study. I was half way through and I felt like my life was a box of puzzle pieces dumped on the floor and for the FIRST time I was seeing why and how those pieces fit together.  Things started to make sense.  It was both helpful and healing.  God used those 4 little books to change me!

I really hope you’ll consider getting signed up for a step study…then let God do the rest!

Grateful Believer,

Karyn

Day 3

Today was a blessing. In the morning, we had amazing worship, a thought-provoking skit about surrendering everything to God's work in you, and more information-packed workshops on CR leadership topics.

The afternoon, though, brought my favorite part of Summit each time I come. We were given a number of scriptures to consider about issues that we still might be keeping back from God and our recovery process: pain or shame from the past, current struggles, and fear about the future. We each had a card on which to write what was uncovered in the process. We were then invited to nail those cards to large wooden crosses. We waited in lines with our cards and nails, until someone handed us hammers. Even though there were a lot of people behind me, I found that I wanted to hammer my nail quite a few times - I felt like I was securing that struggle firmly in Jesus' hand.

As I was handing the hammer to my friend in line, I remembered the issue I had written on my card at last year's Summit. I laughed to myself when I realized that the struggle I had given to Jesus in this process was one that had been lifted from me in the past year. I had even commented to my friend at the beginning of the summer, "I don't know why, but I just don't have that struggle any more." I had forgotten that I had nailed it to that cross! God had answered my prayer in taking that struggle from me.

Before Saddleback's Friday night CR meeting, our Memorial Road group gathered for some debriefing and prayer time. We sat and talked about our favorite moments from the conference, some truths and tools we were taking away, and our renewed excitement for recovery and the CR ministry. We then had some prayer time, for some specific requests for our group, and some of our friends back home.

The evening ended with the Celebrate Recovery meeting: my favorite way to spend a Friday night. I thank God for the CR program, for our elders who have allowed us to benefit from it, and for the leaders at our church who bravely stepped out to start the ministry.

Grateful Believer,
Angi

Day 2

Day 2 started with more than one trip back to the hotel for forgotten items...but once we were all at the Summit things got off to another great start.  My favorite part of the Summit today was naturally the lesson on Fellowship, being the E on the TEAM it is something that I really enjoy.  We learned how important Fellowship is and how essential it is for those in recovery.  We even had an activity where we had to go meet four strangers at the conference and talk about our recovery with them.  It was a great experience.

We also were able to go to the beach for dinner where we put the concept of fellowship into practice.  We prayed as a group on the beach while the sun was setting and had some great conversations about our own recoveries and things we can get involved in at our program back home.  While all the knowledge we are getting during the day is not new information it is so good to get to the root of why we have certain guidelines and why we do things the way we do.  As the encourager on the TEAM, I learned some things that I am excited to take back and implent in our program.  And the trip continues tomorrow with our last day and CR at Saddleback.

Grateful Believer,
Andrew Claxton

Summit 2011

Our group of 15 made it safely to California yesterday.  After a long day of traveling we were able to make a short stop by the ocean before dinner.  Today was the first day of the Summit, we learned about the first two keys of CR- Leadership and Pastor Support then we went to various workshops to learn about specific areas of the program.  After dinner some of our group was able to return for special workshops about the TEAM.

We have already learned so much and many things we want to implement in our program.  We were able to listen to Rick Warren, Dr. Henry Cloud, and John Baker.  We were blessed again this year to get to watch the Skit Guys perfom. They are able to mix humor with recovery- something we have tried to do with skits after seeing them last year. 

We have two more days of workshops and lessons.  We are having a great time and really looking forward to it.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill church of Christ is near and dear to our hearts.  We have been serving there for close to four years.  We met there and we got engaged here as well. We have seen the kids and families there grow physically and spiritually.   We have become very close to the families there.  We have made strong friendships with some of the teens and parents there.  We have even "adopted" a few of the toddlers there as well.

We are used according to God's message at Capitol Hill. 

In Matthew 25, Jesus says to feed and cloth the poor.  We are doing that at Capitol Hill.  We have a food pantry, medical clinic, and clothing center on site for our members and the surrounding community.  While the volunteers there are meeting the physical needs of our members there has always been a need to help those that are hurt by others or in addiction.  Many years of prayer have gone into looking for a program to provide resources for these hurts and habits.

Near the end of last year, Micah and Andrew came up with a plan to help the members at Capitol Hill.  We began men and women's step study with Capitol Hill members as well as the Landing for the teenagers in January of this year.  We plan to start a Celebrate Recovery later this year to assist the members and surrounding community.

Capitol Hill church of Christ has always been a resource for those that come there.  It may be the only resource for those hurting and now we are able to provide another method to show God's love.  God calls us to love others as ourselves and to love those different from us.  Here is an opportunity to do that, whether caring and loving on the kids, feeding them possibly their only meal of the day, or providing help to get out of their damaging habit or hurt.

Grateful Believers,

Braden and Erin