Best Wife | Awesome Family

I just have to take a moment and brag to you about my wife Brooke. As many of you know, she had planned to spend time alongside me in Liberia on this trip, but due to the pregnancy she was unable to go. We are best friends, so being away from each other for even a week would have been difficult (we've only spend 3 days apart at one time since being married); 3 weeks is a lifetime.

It is going to be difficult on us, especially for my 19-week pregnant wife. Brooke has been very strong though.

All the supplies!

On Thursday, she found my packing list among my pile of paperwork, and she went to Wal-Mart and purchased EVERY single thing on the list. It's important to know though that this wasn't my personal packing list...it was one of those "you might need these things" kind of list. Needless to say, my wonderful bride purchased $300 worth of supplies for me! I have flashlights, batteries, medication, canned tuna (for protein), camping knives, etc. It looks like I'm going to backpack the Appalachian Trail. I guess when you are embarking on a 3-week trip to 3rd-world Africa living in the bush, it is a lot like backpacking! What a wonderful surprise....my packing is now 80% done! Look at ALL the stuff Brooke got for my trip!

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An additional surprise: Last night Brooke, along with her dad and stepmom, planned and hosted little going-away cookout for me with family and friends.

There were even cowboys and cowgirls at my farewell cookout!

What a neat time! We had all sorts of good food, but the best part was when my father-in-law Rick gathered the family around for a time of prayer and commissioning. It is a practice within the Christian community to "commission" someone before they leave to do mission work. Rick setup the moment by talking about his experience in missions, then he and the entire group gathered around me, layed hands on me, and prayed for my time in Africa. It was exactly what I needed. Up to this point, I haven't perceived many folks interested that I'm traveling to a country with no power grid to live in an orphanage in the Liberian wilderness for 3 weeks to serve the orphans and the community. Last night though, there was a lot of conversation, questions and answers, and the beautiful time of prayer. I feel much more prepared to travel now. HUGE thank you to the Richardsons, Crockers, and Giambrones for making the evening special for me.

Love,
josh

My time is running out...

Last minute preparations are now underway for my departure to Liberia, just 5 days away now. As tends to happen with everything else I do in life, I have over-committed myself, and am now forced to now scratch some things off my "to-do" list.

I have been very busy with Graybrooke projects, which is a great thing!
In the past month, Graybrooke constructeded a 200 square foot deck nine feet off the ground (at the highest point), and have started work on a bathroom project in Huntersville. It is looking like the bathroom project will have a 3-week lapse, because we are behind schedule on it. Because of the timing of my trip, I have also had to turn down a $17,000 project because I will be gone, and the homeowner couldn't wait for me to return. I pray Graybrooke will still be busy with projects when I return.

I completed my classwork for my contractors exam a few weeks ago, but since I haven't had any time to study for the big exam, I had to also put that off until I return from Liberia. With my bad memory, I hope I'm able to remember all that I need to for the exam, now over a month away.

Some of you remember that when I was leaving for France when I was in college, I packed my bags the morning of departure. I am hoping (planning) that I don't do that again this time. There are way too many odd items that I need to acquire that I need to take with me to Liberia (manual tools, bolts & hardware, money belt, etc.). I also have to prepare to preach a few of times while in the country....and I haven't preached in years!

Lots of things going on.
Trying to determine what HAS to happen, and what can WAIT until my return.

- josh

Prayer for Charlie

In just one week, I will be in Liberia joining up with Charlie Godfrey, the American high school student already in Liberia (Charlie has been in Liberia since February). Even though there is no power or electricity at the orphanage, Charlie can use a cell phone because there is a tower located high on a mountain in the vicinity, and the signal reaches. For the past few weeks or so, we have received phone updates from Charlie about everything that is going on, and what I need to bring with me.

Yesterday Charlie phoned home with some not-so-great news. Charlie was left alone to teach the Liberian Children and some of the older students got into a fight. The youth who were fighting were around 17 years old, right around Charlie's age. I can only imagine that it shook Charlie up...there was probably not much he could do to stop it.

I will be there in just a week to join Charlie and offer him some help. I've always enjoyed working with somewhat challenging students (some of you remember our times at Sutton Park Community Day Camp*), but this will certainly be a new challenge for me.

Pray for the children at the orphanage. West Africa is a hurting land with a history of violence. Many children have been orphaned because of the 2nd civil war that occurred in Liberia (2001-2003); many children witnessed their own parents being killed before their own eyes. They have a lot of hurt and stored-up emotions. Please pray that their hearts would be softened, that the peace and forgiveness of Jesus will flow over them, and that Charlie will be equipped with everything he needs to tackle another day.

Peace,
Josh


*The Sutton Park Community Day Camp was a camp started by Shad Hicks in the lower-income community in Monroe known as Sutton Park. The camp used to last for two weeks at the church Shad was the pastor of. Unfortunately, the congregation never shared Shad's vision to reach-out to the community that surrounded their church, and so eventually Shad moved on and the church did not continue the day camp. At it's peak, however, a hundred or more youth (up to 18 years old) would come to the day camp from the surrounding area, to learn about Jesus, play some games, but mostly just to have someone adorn them with attention. Times were sometimes (always) challenging with the teens who were not used to supervision of any type, but the rewards were great!

FAQ 2 - Why Do You Ask Us For Money? Shouldn't You Spend Your Own Money For The Trip?

This is a question that has been asked, both directly & indirectly, since we've been raising support for the Liberia Mission trip. Since there are many different people getting our newsletters and following our blog, some who belong to the Christian faith and others who do not, I will attempt to answer this honest question respectfully and to the best of my ability. If there is somewhere in the post when I am not clear, or there is a part that you take issue with, please bring it to my attention so I may correct the oversight.

As a Christian, we have only one identity: Christ. Jesus set the example as He drew no boundaries between Himself and those to whom He chose to minister.⁽¹⁾

I liked the wording from that source, so I kept it in it's entirety. Basically, Jesus is the example for those who are of the Christian faith. When in doubt, look and see how Christ handled things. Christ told his disciples (those who followed Him) that they were to go into "the uttermost parts of the world."⁽²⁾
Without making this too long-winded, I'll summarize to say that those who follow Christ are to be involved in missions.

But how many of us can realistically take 2 weeks, or a month, or a year or more off of work and do missional work? Not all of us can. I know it has even become difficult for me to get away from work, and I own my own company! However, in Corinthians, the body of believers that are called Christianity are described as having different roles, just as a body has different parts that has specific roles.⁽³⁾ Even though we are supposed to be involved with missions, not all of us will actively serve; but we can all still be a part of missions by partnering with others who are willing to sacrifice on the mission field. Many of us will do this by coming alongside those who do physically serve, making their stint financially possible. Many will also be partners of encouragement & prayer to the individual. In most cases it's not easy for missionaries to leave the life of comfort & stability, and leave family behind; encouragement from friends can make all the difference in the world. There are other ways to partner too, like donating tools, equipment, buying food/clothes, etc.

There are some folks who can outright afford to fund their own mission trip in it's entirety. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it does take away the ability to have others individuals serve through the said individual, since there can be no partnership (at least, financially). There is something humbling that happens when people are forced to rely on God and others to supply their financial means. For me personally, it has been an eye-opening experience. Generally, those who are wealthy make little or no contribution; those who struggle from bill-to-bill generally make the greatest contributions. Sounds crazy huh? But it's been true for us.

Being dependent on contributions from someone with little-to-no income is a humbling thing, and it puts a new burden of responsibility on those serving (in a good way). I have shed tears for the contributions that have been made towards this trip. It also gives an opportunity for G-d to show up and give confirmation to the trip; if there are no funds, it's probably a good sign that G-d is saying to "wait".

If you are someone who still questions giving to a cause like this, then please find somewhere else to contribute. We are all at different places in this journey, and some are simply not on the journey at all. That's okay. I just ask that you be sensitive to how your heart is being led, then be obedient.

For those who do contribute in some form, thank you for the bottom of my heart. You'll probably never know how much it means to me personally, that you would entrust me to serve on your behalf. I pray that every moment I am serving on your/our behalf is time well spent.

Even if you don't agree with giving to missions and/or missionaries, at least maybe you now understand why people do ask.




References:
(1) http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:ByCakIV0CZMJ:www.cedarrockbaptist.com/sermons/060910%2520The%2520Biblical%2520Mandate%2520for%2520Missions.pdf+missions+biblical+mandate&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
(2) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201:8;&version=51;
(3) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2012:12-31;&version=51;

FAQ 1 - Why Support Children in Liberia When We Have Issues Here?

Some of our posts will begin to answer some of the questions we have heard from folks about our mission trip to Camp 4, Liberia. This is the first of such posts, addressing "Why Support Children in Liberia When We Have Issues Here in the US?"
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CHILDREN OF THE MOUNTAINS
There was a special that aired this past Friday night called “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains”. It was a 20/20 documentary by Diane Sawyer that detailed the lives of families in Appalachia, specifically Kentucky (If you missed it, you can view it here). There is a high school senior they document who is a stellar football player, the star of the team, who sleeps in his pickup truck each night. Another scene documents two sisters who live in a broke-down trailer while their mom dips back into prescription pain killer addiction, spending any money they do have on pills. Yet another segment shows how young men follow fathers into the coalmines to make what living they can, having lost most of their teeth due to their high consumption of Mountain Dew.

Some of the feedback we have received while fundraising for the Liberia Mission Trip has questioned the notion of sending money to children in another country when we have our own issues here in the US. It is almost a valid point, yet naïve & ill-informed.

The children of the Appalachian Mountains are certainly an impoverished group of people when compared to you and me. But poverty is relative. The United States contains the majority of the wealth in the world. Africa, by comparison, houses the world’s most-impoverished people. The average annual household income in the US is $44,970, compared to just $140 in Liberia. The percentage of children under five who have severely underweight is 14%, compared to 0% here in the US. The number of children in Liberia whose growth has been stunted from the lack of proper nutrition is 39%, compared to just 1% here in America. I compiled a chart with some additional comparisons below:

(click image to enlarge)

There are certainly tough times in America – many of us have experienced financial pain first-hand. But consider this: when the US get’s a cold, the world gets pneumonia. The financial burdens we feel here are only exacerbated in Liberia and other third-world countries. We are still King and Queens by comparison.

All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
– Edmund Burke

Vaccinations for Liberia (many)

We’ve known since the beginning of the preparations for the Liberia Mission Trip that we would have to be vaccinated for a number of illnesses that we have overcome here in the States. Diseases like Malaria, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Polio, Hepatitis B, Tetanus-diphtheria, Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), and Yellow Fever are still rampant in the parts of Africa we will be traveling to. These diseases have never even entered my mind here in the US; I’ve not offered up even an afterthought to catching any of those illnesses. Malaria is one of the biggest killers in Africa, and the single biggest killer in children under five. Incomprehensible, considering that mosquito nets and medicine are available for less than $10 bucks per person. I’ve taken so much for granted living here in the “land of plenty”.

Brooke and I are contacting JAARS, one of just a handful of missionary centers around the US who focus of Bible translation and who send missionaries around the world. Even though we are not going on this mission trip through JAARS, they can help administer the necessary vaccinations (and we happen to be just 10-minutes from the JAARS location!). We have discovered that it will costs around $1,000 for us both to be vaccinated, and unfortunately insurance will not cover the cost, since there are vaccinations required for international travel, and not domestic living. It seems that nothing about this process comes without a cost.