A Day In The Life
Saturday, August 12, 2006
(A Testimony)Romans 8:37
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Brothers & Sisters, I've got some stories I could tell about adventures in our life on the mission field that would make good action movies or outrageous comedies. Back in March of 1999 I made a trip to Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, to spend quality time with one of my key disciples, Chebo. The resulting trip was one of those... but only one of countless many.
The following letter is one I wrote upon my return from that particular adventure.
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Dear Brethren,
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
Mexican Missionary In Africa
Four days ago I returned from a ten day trip to Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. As things were going, that in itself was quite an accomplishment! But I’m starting at the end of the story. I’ll get to that...
I was invited there to be one of the keynote speakers to minister in the seventh national annual conference of the African Christian Fellowship International (ACFI, an independent indigenous evangelical church fellowship).
I was honored to receive the invitation, but my principal motivation for going was to be able to spend quality time with Eusebio (or “Chebo” as he is affectionately known) and minister to his needs. As you know Chebo is my spiritual son and “Timothy” from the Tecpan, Guerrero, Mexico church.
After ten months he is now a resident of Liberia and is well on his way to becoming fluent in English. His has been an experience that every Christian should have. Being that he went there completely unable to communicate in English he just had to apply I Peter 3:1 and win people without words; live the Gospel and shine by being a servant and a true Christian. He has won the hearts of everyone who knows him. Now that he can minister in English, his word has the power of a “hammer that breaketh the rock into pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29).
Wherever I went with him throughout the city of Monrovia people would shout, “Chebo!” and wave to him. The impact of his testimony has since had an incredible effect on the church in all quarters of the country! I and all who are involved with him truly believe that Chebo will soon become God’s man for the hour for His work of evangelism and discipleship in that country.
If It’s Of God, There Will Be Opposition
The longer I serve the Lord the more I understand this fact: that the enemy will diametrically oppose everything that God proposes. This, however, should never be motive for discouragement, but rather encouragement because it means that we are on cue with God’s plan for our lives.
To begin with, my Liberian visa did not arrive until 9:00 p.m. the evening before my scheduled departure... I was to leave at 4:00 a.m. the next morning. I made it to the airport and American Airlines went on strike. Sooo, four days later I was finally able to fly out. But... just as I was about to check in on my new departure date, I discovered that my wallet was missing. Someone in the airport was walking around counting the money that I was to spend in Liberia. The shock of the loss lasted about two minutes. Before I even got on the plane American Airlines informed me that they think that my suit case was accidentally sent to Quito, Ecuador or who knows where on the globe! They had already lost it!
It really helps to have a Godly form of apathy when you’re a missionary. An attitude that says, “Man, life goes on so you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do to get done what you’ve got to get done.” Because of this, my immediate conclusion was: “Now this is going to be an interesting adventure. I’ve got to travel around the world with absolutely NO money or extra clothing! Let’s see what God does on this trip, He’s got to have something really great in mind because the enemy has really been putting up a fight. Oh well, my stuff is gone and I can’t do anything about it right now. So let’s get on with it and go to Africa.” (Ephesians 6:12) Of course he’s fighting a futile battle because the more I see him fight, the more I get determined to see him smashed under my feet (Romans 16:20) and see what God’s going to do! I just love to see God work, I think it’s exciting! (Thank God my suit case turned up in New York under somebody else’s name. The wallet? Well, that was just counted as a casualty of war.)
I arrived in Monrovia and no one was waiting in the airport to pick me up. A real cute situation after you’ve been traveling for about thirty hours. If you’ve never been to some of these third world countries you don’t know what it’s like to have to fight off the government piranhas just to get into the country if you don’t have connections. In most of these countries the government is like unto the Lone Ranger... lawmen that wear masks! I had to fight for about 45 minutes just to get them to give me my laptop computer back! They said that I didn’t have a receipt for it so they would have to confiscate it. (For cryin’ out loud, the thing’s a dinosaur and I take it everywhere!).
After a few hours, the Liberian immigration agents finally took me under their wing and told me that for a modest fee of fifty US dollars they would take me to ACFI. (Remember my wallet?) “Why not. Sure, go ahead.” I told them. I was going to figure out the details later on. About twenty minutes into the trip at a military check point we encountered the ACFI van. I just got out of the vehicle and loaded my stuff the into the van and left Liberians to fight it out with the Liberians as to who was to pay what. You can bet that they didn’t pay $50.00! That very evening I was ministering.
Ministry In Liberia
Liberia is a very hot country. I’ve lived in tropical countries for years and am used to the heat, bugs and sweat and I know how to bathe out of a bucket. There is no electricity nor running water in the entire country because of the recent civil war fought there. (I should rather say uncivil war. What war is civil?) The mosquitoes were thick there so every night I tried to cover myself with a sheet and suffocate, throw the sheets off and get eaten by a thousand heard but unseen foes. After going through this all night, before I knew it the village crier is shouting and singing in the streets that it’s time to attend the 6:00 a.m. worship service. I would have thrown a shoe at the guy but I was scheduled to speak at the six a.m. service.
That was my schedule from then on out for we had services from 6:00 am until 11:00 p.m. for a solid week. My greatest blessing during this time was to experience a tremendous anointing over me and the congregation as I taught the Word of God. This is where God manifested Himself to me and showed my why the enemy had resisted the trip so. It’s all about God’s purposes in our lives.
I shared with the pastors a series of studies for leaders on the life of Moses, vision in the ministry and the difference between the fire of God and offering a strange fire as well as various themes during the general assemblies.
I praise God for the testimonies of those that were encouraged, instructed and edified as the Holy Spirit revealed Himself to us through His Word. Very few of the pastors have had the opportunity of a formal biblical education. So I’m thankful for having had the opportunity to edify these dedicated servants of God.
There were 42 churches present or represented at the convention. I ministered in specials sessions to the 110 pastors and workers as well as to the 2,042 registered delegates that were in the general services. I was the key speaker in the Sunday morning service with 2,500 in attendance and there was a tremendous response the Word. I also had the privilege to partake in the ordination service of 10 ministers. These ten were the first to be ordained since 1988, before the horrible civil war disrupted and shattered life as they had known it.
Brand X Airways
This last trip I got to fly with “the other guys” major western airlines are always talking about and comparing themselves to. I’ll be kind and not mention the company or the country of this particular airline, (No it wasn’t American Airlines) but man, it was really “Brand X”. Dirty, dilapidated terminal and aircraft, little to offer in food or service. A small example is that I was on seven flights (one to Liberia, Ghana, Guinea, La Cote d’ Ivoire, and Dakar, Senegal) with this airline on this trip and they never once had ice. The aircraft were old, rusted, broken up inside and smelled rank. It’s bad when you have to go to the restroom on an airplane and the toilet has time honored deposits because it won’t flush and you have to hold the door shut because it’s broken and swings open and you can see that things have obviously been that way for a while. I gotta’ admit though, it was the cheapest flight.
The zenith on this was that during one of the flights I saw something move in the aisle and thought is was a rat. It was dark so I looked hard. IT WAS A CRAB! It grabbed some dude’s shoe so I grabbed it from behind and then it tried to fight with me. The head steward came by told me to drop it and he stomped it to death. The dead animal was on the floor the rest of the entire flight!
The World’s Greatest Privilege
So many times well meaning people ask me if I enjoyed my trip. I fully understand what they mean and it’s very kind of them to ask, but bear with me on this; my goal is not necessarily to “enjoy my trip” but rather to do the will of God. In this my joy is fulfilled! Regardless of whether I enjoy it or not. More often than not on these trips I’m served with love and fine attention some kind of roast beast or some other strange species of plant or animal for dinner. In these cases I’ve learned to limit my culinary preferences to, “If it doesn’t try to walk off the plate after you serve it to me I’ll eat it. But in some places that can’t even be a requirement.
II Corinthians 4:1 says that we have received our ministry just as we have received mercy; that means that we don’t deserve it! I love the calling that God has given me to know and minister to the Body of Christ world wide. The rich diverse cultural expressions in worship, the colorful people, all the experiences that life can afford in varied and unanticipated situations all work together to make my understanding of God, man and life in general much more profound. They all contribute to make me a better servant of God useful for every good work. I praise God for this privilege to be able to serve Him in this capacity. There is nothing in the world for which I would give it in exchange.
Thank You!
This is where Gina and I both praise God for each one of you. You uphold us in your prayers, support us with your offerings and encourage us with your words and in many other ways. We are grateful both to God and to you for this and much more. You have sown into the harvest of the Kingdom, you shall reap an abundance of God’s favor and blessings. Each time that God uses us to encourage his church world wide He has used you. You have had a definite part in His work world wide because you helped to keep us on the field. Thank you. We pray that we will continue to be used of God as He wills. For this reason we live.
Once again, thank you very much and may God continue to bless you all!
H.M.S.,
Prince & Gina Parker
posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 1:19 PM,
