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| A Place in This World | ||||||
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Ever
since I was very young, I’ve always been fascinated by people
who worked in the “real mission field” (for an eight-year-old
girl, that meant jungle and wilderness), but growing up in East Germany
meant never being able to travel to all the places I dreamed about. After the Wall came down there was suddenly new hope, and later I learned about the possibility of serving as a student missionary. I started to send applications all over the world, more than one hundred. It took almost two years before I got a call from Chuuk to serve as a teacher at an elementary school. |
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There were only weeks left to make a decision and get everything ready to leave. The director of the Therapy Center where I worked, offered to save my job until I came back and a friendly girl was willing to rent my apartment while I was gone. For a while everything seemed so easy and it was not difficult to accept the call, but suddenly things changed and became complicated. The administration of the Therapy Center didn’t agree with the offer I was given and the girl who wanted to rent my apartment wasn’t able to afford the rent. Now I had to make a real decision that included sacrifices: keeping my convenient life or giving up everything that provided security, stepping out of my comfort zone and trusting God. |
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| I prayed as I never did before and six weeks later there I was ... in Chuuk, an island state that seemed at first to be paradise. Too soon I learned there is no paradise in this world, only the one that God is preparing for us. | ||||||
| The island is known for its violence. Every Friday at sunset, people start their weekly drinking. Frequently we would witness fights right outside our fence and would hear the people insult each other in the worst way. There were times when it wasn’t safe to walk on the road, especially as a woman and after sunset. We heard about Chuukeese being killed in fights with machetes. The violence didn’t stop in front of our school gates. Throwing rocks, foul language and disrespect were the ways our school children dealt with problems. | ||||||
| I thought that with six years work experience as an Occupational Therapist for hyperactive children I would be pretty well prepared, but reality proved different. Usually, I was a very patient person, but soon I got to know the other side of myself. I’d never felt so angry, frustrated and impatient in my life and I’d never needed as much prayer as I did then. “Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not make room for the devil.” Ephesians 4:26, 27 became a daily guideline for me. | ||||||
| The first month was quite a struggle. The children didn’t show much motivation or positive attitude toward learning or showing effort. One thing became crystal clear, without God, I would give up very soon. | ||||||
| My roommates were a very important part of my life. We encouraged each other and many times I would escape with my dear roommate to the hotel beach close by just to sit in the water and to pray together. There was not much energy left for anything else. “...whenever you face trial of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that testing produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God..., and it will be given you.” James 1:2-5. Sharing Bible verses helped us to refocus and to trust the promises God gave. | ||||||
| Things became easier as we grew into the responsibilities we had. There were still times when we felt overwhelmed by the amount of work and time it took preparing our lessons, grading, writing lesson plans, church activities and the high expectations parents put on us. God brought us through, sometimes I wonder how. | ||||||
| Where To Go From Here | ||||||
| Time went by and I once again had to make a decision; where to go from here. It hardly ever came into my mind to stay for another year. I was happy to leave and to move on to a “more easy work.” But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t rely on your own insight.” Proverbs 3:5. Many times I would read this text and I started to realize that we have to face our biggest fears just to become stronger and to overcome our weaknesses. | ||||||
| The idea of staying for a second year kept coming back and I said: “Alright God, if it’s really Your will that I come back for another year, then you have to show me very clearly. Send me three people who will encourage me to stay.” Within two weeks the result was in. Our principal, a parent, and a German tourist were the answer to my prayer. After this experience a peace came over me like never before. I honestly can say I was never before so sure about a decision in my life than at that point. | ||||||
| Another problem appeared. How to pay for the flight ticket back to Chuuk. I wasn’t able to save any money from the small stipend given to us. An email to the Euro-Africa Division showed that God had already taken care of that. The Division paid the entire ticket. God is a perfectionist. If He starts something, He will do it completely and without the slightest mistake. After seven weeks at home I was excited to go back to Chuuk and to see my students again. | ||||||
| I was a little nervous about the new roommates I would have since I had been very close to the former teachers, but I needn’t have worried about that. I got a great roommate who was a real friend to me, who taught me a lot and helped me grow spiritually. | ||||||
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Teaching this year was so much more enjoyable because I could see the fruits of the school year before. Two of my girls, Silfalynn and Ivy-ann, who had been quite a challenge behavior-wise, became very dear to me. They became motivated, always willing to help when they were asked to. Two of my other “problem students,” Ivan and Joshua, still found it difficult to sit still and to focus in class but we found a way of working together and their response showed me that God was working on their hearts. There was less fighting in the classroom. |
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| I realized why God wanted me to give up everything. He had the plan of me staying two years in Chuuk so that I could see the change in my students and to give them some continuity in their often unstructured lives. He taught me that I can overcome anger and made me able to love even in tough situations. He blessed me with a family who prayed for me and supported me, and He showed me the beauty and the good hearts of the people surrounding me. Even some of the parents of my students became a great support and I experienced hospitality and the willingness to share from the Chuukeese people. Without those two years I wouldn’t be as close to God as I feel now. I would still be stuck in my daily, busy life, failing to understand the purpose of my place in this world. | ||||||
| There comes the time when everybody has to make the choice of who they want to be. I know I don’t want to be the impatient, angry, helpless teacher that I was at the beginning. I want to serve others, to be able to love and to forgive no matter what happens, and I want others to see the character of Jesus through me. God gives each one of us the possibility to practice that, just where we are. | ||||||
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The following
Bible verse might help us to remember what God expects of us. “...encourage
the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See
that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good
to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
give thanks to the Lord in all circumstances, for this is the will
of God in Jesus Christ for you.” By: Bettina
Uhde |
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| Radical idea attracts crowd to Donesky dedication | ||||||
| It wasn't just the dedication of the Cessna 182 mission plane for Guyana that drew over 150 persons from the Collegedale area to the William's airstrip last weekend. Though a precious asset, the airplane is only a tool. There was something about the Donesky family that disquieted and impressed Collegedale church members and company co-workers alike. Many struggled to understand how a senior research engineer for the McKee Baking Company could even consider walking away from a very lucrative position in order to follow God deep into the jungles of Guyana as a volunteer pilot and school administrator – no paycheck, no retirement, no paid vacations – only high job satisfaction mixed with a large dose of joy. | ||||||
| Yes, it was more than an airplane dedication that attracted the people. It was a fascination with the idea that things cannot and will not be normal any more. The time to place all our influence and resources in God's cause has come. Beside their mission plane, and accompanied by their two children Andrew and Christina, Orville and Odil Donesky were dedicated in prayer to God's service. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15. | ||||||
| True
commitment must always be followed by action. Barely a week has elapsed
since the dedication and the Doneskys have already left for Guyana
where the fields are "white for the harvest." John 4:35. |
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| Karajás Project--Mission Possible | ||||||
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| More than 400 young people participated in a four-day volunteer project to benefit the Karajás Indians of Bananal Island, Tocantins State, Brazil. Organizers say the venture, called "Karajás Project--Mission Possible," was also intended to commemorate the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer. | ||||||
| Bananal is the world's largest river island -- a more than 7,000-square-mile island formed by two channels of the Araguaia River. Karajás Indians are the island's main residents. | ||||||
| The young people arrived July 28 and focused on the villages of Santa Isabel and Fontoura. They painted and repaired schools and health centers, cleaned up trash, planted trees, and helped construct a community center. | ||||||
| The volunteers received lectures about Indian thought, culture and customs and had instruction in the Karajá language. In turn, volunteers provided lectures for the local community on health, hygiene, and prevention of alcoholism. | ||||||
| The project was the initiative of Brazil's Pathfinder Clubs -- youth clubs run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church involving young people of all religions. The volunteers for the Karajás Project were predominantly leaders of Pathfinder Clubs in the central region of Brazil. | ||||||
| Brazil's Pathfinder Clubs, part of the international Adventist Pathfinder movement, promote cultural, civic, sports-related, and intellectual activities, which are aimed at developing a sense of responsibility and respect for God and fellow human beings. | ||||||
| First Published: July 31, 2001 Bananal Island, Tocantins State, Brazil .... [Maurício Júnior/ANN ] | ||||||
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