Kombanwa friends and readers,
A good marathon runner can run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours. I am astounded by that. But what happens if it is a 26.2 mile obstacle course? Could their bodies endure? Would their spirits break? We all set goals for ourselves, sometimes it is just another day of work, or it might be whenever we step through our front doors. Usually it is a combination of all of them. We struggle to have the endurance and mental toughness to make it through the twenty-four hours we are given and how we use them. How do you keep pushing forward when you are dehydrated and cramping? Or when you think your muscles will give out?
I have spent a lot of 5 am to 10 or 11 pm days in the last months. Then I got sick last week, and I still wound up with a pretty full plate of work. I learned a valuable lesson last week when I felt like my time was out of my hands. Patience allots to success in that it allows you to relax and see the opportunities in the midst of chaos. It is also the source of the endurance we need to advance forward when we feel so far behind on our priorities. Today was my chance to put this lesson into practice.
I have training for a fight this Friday. I have to prepare for my trip back to the U.S. next Monday. I am still working on ministry stuff for this week. My biggest goal for this year is to take a small mission team of Nicaraguans to Japan, and today that took its just place on the totem pole consuming nearly the whole day. The result was satisfying.
My wife and I will take two youth to Osaka, Japan in November to share the gospel. One is a polyglot volunteer with the One by One ministry who sings, cooks, and speaks Spanish, English, German, and Japanese. His spare time is spent working with kids here in the church on scholastic reinforcement. The other is one of my wife's Japanese students at the House of Hope. The House of Hope is a refuge for women who were prostitutes and their children. This young woman is studying to be a nurse with a diligent work ethic and a humble heart. The young man, Kevin, obtained his passport a few weeks ago. Today we went out for the girl's passport.
My wife and I left our house at 6:30 this morning. We got to the House of Hope at 7. We checked to make sure that the girl had all of the necessary documents. From there we left for the immigration offices to get her passport. When we arrive at immigration, we are placed in the first line of many to be sent to one of the other innumerable lines. There we are told that our payments are not accepted at immigration, but rather at the bank located at a convenient ten-minute drive. We go to the bank where we luckily find one of the only drive thru transactions and pay for the passport. We then take the voucher back to immigration. We go back through the first line, and the lady directs us to another line where we can by the paperwork for the passport. We get the paperwork, and the four of us fill it out as a team to avoid any mistakes or ink stains which would cause us to restart the process. Then we go outside to photocopy our documents. Then we return to the first line. The lady asks for all of the documents. We were told at first that we just needed the birth certificate, and the lady asks for a cédula(like a social security card). The girl was just eligible to get one in January, but they had not yet given her hers. So now we had to hunt this down.
We drive to the other side of a major city to a small office, where supposedly we might find the cédula that was applied for four months prior. When we arrive They tell us that the government changed the required document for withdrawal from her birth cirtificate from the mayor's office, to a birth certificate from the Supreme Electoral Counsel which was located even further away, and we did not know what she needed for it. They changed the law and her birth certificate that she had for her entire existence on this planet was now null. We then remembered that they said that she could also use her application information for her cédula. So we drove to the House of Hope outside of the city itself on a dirt road in the mountains outside of the city to get the application information.
Once we obtain what we need, we drive all the way back to the immigration office. We go through the first line again, and we finally pass!!! They send us to a new line where we wait to get a number to stand in another line. This line took by far the longest, but when the girl and her mother stepped in, they turned in their documents, went through a confusing interview, and finally got confirmed for her passport!!!! It took almost nine hours total, but mission accomplished!
In the midst of it all I kept praying, and I felt like God was repeating, "Just be patient." Sometimes patience is God's way of preparing us for bigger things. Sometimes we need the obstacle courses to mold our characters into what God is calling us to be for the next situation. Endurance training prepares us for bigger races, and the race we run for God's glory is the biggest there is. Don't let exhaustion stop you! Be patient and keeps your eyes on the prize!
O daiji ni!!
"We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation." - Romans 5:3-4
Monday, May 13, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Return to the Ring!
Good evening lectores, amigos, y desconocidos!
It has been quite some time since I last wrote here, but I am ready to get back into the game. A lot happens in a year time, and I will expound on the events in greater detail in more posts coming soon. A quick recap of the major events so far in 2013. I GOT MARRIED!!! And, yes, she is the most wonderful woman I know. I have continued into the ministry here in Nicaragua. I am still working with the youth at One by One, and teaching self defense to the girls at the House of Hope. I have opened up MMA classes for adults, cornered three fighters, and taken my team into the barrios to reach out to the youth of the harder neighborhoods. I also had my first two fights, both of which I won in the first few minutes by submission. We opened up a new small group in one of our target neighborhoods, and our youth services are growing every Saturday. So that is the retrospective view, so let's look ahead a bit.
I am not just returning to writing now, but in the next week I will be returning to two other places. On May 20th, my wife and I will be going back to the United States for three weeks. We will have a wedding there for all of the friends and family who could not come to Nicaragua when we got married here in January. We will also get back in touch with the churches at home, and will go back to train with my martial arts family at Invicta Academy. We will also visit my first home as a full time missionary, the Christian Activity Center in East St. Louis. It will be a packed itinerary, but I am excited to see what will be in store for us and what lessons God has to teach us as we go there.
The other place is the ring(no, not an octagon, I go back there in June). I have my third fight here for a Christian promotion (unique idea, no?). Instead of having female dancers at the intermission, they give testimonies, and the whole show is opened with a prayer and a short sermon. The whole thing is run by a pro fighter friend and missionary, Brian Green, who hales from my birth city, Des Moines, Iowa. He also almost beat Kimbo Slice in a straight boxing match weighing 60 pounds less! Now he lives here in Nicaragua running his sports ministry and Bible studies. He is putting me against a Central American champion boxer for his show this Friday, so it won't be a surprise if I greet my family at the airport three days later with a black eye. Nevertheless, it is an exciting challenge, and I am happy to support my friend's work for the Lord in doing so.
There is always a feeling of nostalgia that accompanies us as we go back to an old place. Sometimes they are warm, fuzzy feelings. Sometimes we go back with tense fears. Introspectively speaking, it is always good to review where we have been to get a good grip on where we are and where we are going. If regression provokes feelings of comfort, we have to be careful not to become stagnant. If it is a place of fear, we must be strong enough to confront our past and overcome it. Going back to the U.S. is going back to my comfort zone. However, I know that God still has lessons for me to learn there, so I cannot just move into vacation mode. The ring is a scary place. I will be assailed with punches, and maybe some kicks and knees, yet I cannot be deterred from entering because every victory is a victory for my students and a chance to reach out to new people.
If you read this and you need to go back to God, don't be held back by your past, or you will miss out on His future! We all have baggage, so don't miss your flight. He has a plan for your life, and He is faithful to forgive those confess their sins (1 John 1:9). Keep fighting the good fight for the faith!
Que Dios les bendiga!
Seth
"Therefore tell all the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says, 'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." - Zechariah 1:3
It has been quite some time since I last wrote here, but I am ready to get back into the game. A lot happens in a year time, and I will expound on the events in greater detail in more posts coming soon. A quick recap of the major events so far in 2013. I GOT MARRIED!!! And, yes, she is the most wonderful woman I know. I have continued into the ministry here in Nicaragua. I am still working with the youth at One by One, and teaching self defense to the girls at the House of Hope. I have opened up MMA classes for adults, cornered three fighters, and taken my team into the barrios to reach out to the youth of the harder neighborhoods. I also had my first two fights, both of which I won in the first few minutes by submission. We opened up a new small group in one of our target neighborhoods, and our youth services are growing every Saturday. So that is the retrospective view, so let's look ahead a bit.
I am not just returning to writing now, but in the next week I will be returning to two other places. On May 20th, my wife and I will be going back to the United States for three weeks. We will have a wedding there for all of the friends and family who could not come to Nicaragua when we got married here in January. We will also get back in touch with the churches at home, and will go back to train with my martial arts family at Invicta Academy. We will also visit my first home as a full time missionary, the Christian Activity Center in East St. Louis. It will be a packed itinerary, but I am excited to see what will be in store for us and what lessons God has to teach us as we go there.
The other place is the ring(no, not an octagon, I go back there in June). I have my third fight here for a Christian promotion (unique idea, no?). Instead of having female dancers at the intermission, they give testimonies, and the whole show is opened with a prayer and a short sermon. The whole thing is run by a pro fighter friend and missionary, Brian Green, who hales from my birth city, Des Moines, Iowa. He also almost beat Kimbo Slice in a straight boxing match weighing 60 pounds less! Now he lives here in Nicaragua running his sports ministry and Bible studies. He is putting me against a Central American champion boxer for his show this Friday, so it won't be a surprise if I greet my family at the airport three days later with a black eye. Nevertheless, it is an exciting challenge, and I am happy to support my friend's work for the Lord in doing so.
There is always a feeling of nostalgia that accompanies us as we go back to an old place. Sometimes they are warm, fuzzy feelings. Sometimes we go back with tense fears. Introspectively speaking, it is always good to review where we have been to get a good grip on where we are and where we are going. If regression provokes feelings of comfort, we have to be careful not to become stagnant. If it is a place of fear, we must be strong enough to confront our past and overcome it. Going back to the U.S. is going back to my comfort zone. However, I know that God still has lessons for me to learn there, so I cannot just move into vacation mode. The ring is a scary place. I will be assailed with punches, and maybe some kicks and knees, yet I cannot be deterred from entering because every victory is a victory for my students and a chance to reach out to new people.
If you read this and you need to go back to God, don't be held back by your past, or you will miss out on His future! We all have baggage, so don't miss your flight. He has a plan for your life, and He is faithful to forgive those confess their sins (1 John 1:9). Keep fighting the good fight for the faith!
Que Dios les bendiga!
Seth
"Therefore tell all the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says, 'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." - Zechariah 1:3
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