Most days life seems to be so routine and our focus seems to be intent on doing “the next thing”. It is truly hard to see past the moment/ week/ month/ year that we are in. Then, there are those extraordinary times when we get offered a chance to catch these small glimpses of pieces of God’s big picture in life… and it is awesome!
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This is a story about a boy, a boy from a remote village in mountains halfway around the world. His father died when he young. His uncle took him to another country where the uncle worked and paid for the boy to go to school. It was a missionary school. This young man accepted Jesus as his savior and left behind teachings of slavery and harshness from his area’s religion. It was a hard thing to do in his culture.
Fast forward to the present, the boy is now a man with a family of his own. Yet he still has a heart for his remote village he left those years ago and has begun reaching out there and sharing his faith and care. He asked a missionary to request a medical team to visit his beloved village (that had seldom seen or welcomed a “non-local” in its history of existence). It would be a hard trip and a sensitive one. Outsiders were not openly invited to the village. If the villagers did not accept the visitors, it would shut doors of opportunity that had taken a lifetime to open.
HCM took a small team of seasoned medical missionaries there. Missionary Man was on that team. The team was warned that the conditions would be rough (sleeping in building built overtop animal chambers, open cook fires, no heat, no running water, no electricity, cold....). It took two days of traveling for the team to arrive in the village. They crossed rivers where water was at the hood of the vehicle and took the “road” straight up the mountain to make it there. They were welcomed by children staring at them in awe (they had never seen 10 outsiders at once in their village).
MM said that he was truly humbled by the graciousness and hospitality of these people.
“They gave up their homes for us to stay in and their beds for us to sleep in. The women and children walked one and one-half hours down the mountain everyday to fetch water from the river. They walked back up that mountain with the water in vessels on their backs, balanced with a band around their forehead. They cooked three meals a day for us over open fires. Breakfast was usually started around 4 a.m. so it would be ready for us when we awoke. One of the men would come around and bring us a cup of hot tea while we were washing our heads each morning [the only baths they took for over a week, a fresh dunk in the 20 degree weather]. They gave the best they had.”
The medical clinic was a well received. Many needs were seen and treated. One man walked 2 days to come to the clinic to be seen by the doctors. Then he walked back another 2 days home. There were three deaths in the area while the team were there [unrelated to the health clinic], which would cause the entire village, as well as the clinic, to have to stop so that proper respect could be given to the dead.
It was truly two cultures coming together in a unique way at a unique time. At the end of the week the village governing counsel met with the missionary and the now Christian man (who was originally from the village) for several hours. They asked many questions of them and asked about their God. [Not a topic to broach lightly] The missionary used a word picture to describe knowing God to the counsel. He talked about what it was like the first time they had a solar light or battery lamp turned on in their home – it was so much brighter and they could see clearly in their home. It was a light much brighter than a cook fire or candle. One woman on the counsel laughed and said to this, “Yes and I can see all the dirt inside the house!” The missionary knew he had connected to them and that they would think about how God could shine in their lives and even help them see any “dirt” that needed cleaning out. [A message I think we all need daily to understand.]
Permission was given for a Bible study to be held in the village with one of the primary leaders to attend. They wanted to learn more and ask questions. This was such a tremendous miracle of an open door! Had the primary leader said “No.” it would have been a very difficult trial for anyone else who had wanted to attend the Bible Study.
The full circle had come. What started out as a tragedy in one young boy’s life decades before has turned into a meeting of two cultures. And even more, it has turned into an open door for the Creator of all to connect with His people whom He loves so dearly. For us to be a small part of that in anyway is just astounding. God has not forgotten any of his people and works in ways that we could never put together in our human wisdom. He sees the “big picture” and has this plan that is above just our personal comforts.
Was the trip a success? Well, we always believe anytime we can help even one person to relieve some physical suffering that the trip was worth it. However, when doors are opened for the ultimate healer… well, we stand humbled and amazed.
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Genesis 50:19-21 (King James Version)
19And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
