Lessons Learned from the Field: #1 God is Not Different. EVER. ANYWHERE :Nicaragua

"Ummm.. it was different."  was the response I got when I asked a couple about their trip to Africa.  I nodded and tried to mask a slight grin. That was their nice way of saying, "It was rough. We didn't really like it!"  Missions definitely isn't for everybody! Well, let me rephrase that, international missions definitely isn't for everybody.  Missions, indeed, is for EVERYBODY! I have to give it to them though, It's different, definitely DIFFERENT!

El Salvador, Kenya, Haiti, Paris, India, Pennsylvania, they're different. The language is different, the smells are different, laws, and roads, and modes of transportation, their pace of life and concept of time are different. And the food?!  Oh it's different all right.  One of the worst mistakes you can make is ordering a cheeseburger in another country! It may look like a good'ole American cheeseburger in the photo and maybe even when it comes out on your plate, if you're lucky! But!!! It will NOT taste like a good ole'American cheeseburger. The bread will have a different texture, the cheese will be bitter or just different, did they make this ketchup with sugar? and what on earth did they season that meat with?! I kid you not, it's the WRONG way to go! It's DIFFERENT! You wouldn't order the sushi at a Mexican restaurant would you? Then don't order a burger in Congo! The traffic, the greetings, the customs, oh and let's not forget the bathroom situation! Different, different, different and TOO different!  

So how do international missionaries do it?  How do they live in the lands of DIFFERENT without crying to come home? (Secret: They DO cry for home sometimes, they just can't put that in their newsletter, it wouldn't be prudent!)  First of all, international missionaries are different, bless their hearts. But different or not, we all crave familiarity, that's why when you ask a missionary what you can send them they order things like, Velvetta cheese, Nestles Chocolate Chips, Tide Detergent, Dr. Pepper, Twizzlers, and normal flavored potato chips.  What's a normal flavored potato chip you ask?  Well, it's NOT Seaweed flavored or Crab Curry. (Yes, I'm serious!) 

My first longer term international trip was to El Salvador. A nation that will forever have my heart!  About 3 months in I went with my Salvadorean friends to Nicaragua to minister.  The honeymoon period had ended, different was no longer as exciting as much as it was TERRIBLE!  I sat in a long Spanish service that night. Annoyed with every Spanish word they spoke, dreading what might be served to me for dinner, longing for the comforts of home, ENGLISH, AC, a toilet, a REAL cheeseburger.... mid-angry, whiney thoughts the room got quiet and still. (This is unusual in the Latin culture, as everyone is typically fanning, children crawl the floors, the older kids come in and out frequently, people show up hours into the service and they're just a charismatic people!)  The stillness had my attention. Something familiar gripped my heart in the silence, then a slow chorus of Hallelujahbroke out just like we'd sing it at home. Like this:

So in the middle of this hot, 4 hour long service, in a little church in Nicaragua is where I learned lesson #1 which is probably the most important lesson on this list and definitely the most sustaining one.

God is NOT different. EVER.  ANYWHERE.  His Spirit wafted into that really hot room like a cool breeze. People silently worshiped or wept, some swayed softly, other stood completely still with relief on their faces.  It was the same presence of God I had felt as a child at church, at Ambassador Conference Center as a youth camper, at Central Bible College in MO, everywhere I'd ever been.

  When He said, I AM, He was telling the truth HE IS! He IS ever present, He IS ever faithful, He IS all knowing, He IS good!  He'll meet you anywhere and everywhere, He does not change, He is not different, no matter what, no matter where.  So, how do missionaries do it, the danger, the different languages, the different foods, the different cultures, the bathroom situations? The answer:  He IS.  GOD is NOT different. EVER. ANYWHERE.