|
 Adam Hacias hails from Michigan, the oldest of three brothers (all self-described sports junkies) and a recent graduate of Rochester College, where he studied secondary education. Adam is sharing this mission experience wtih his fiance, Katy Allison, who has significantly influenced his faith. Adam and Katy share a dream of moving to Africa as full time missionaries with two other young families from RC. Adam is drawn to mission words by Jesus words, whoever will lose his life for me will find it. Through this experience Adam hope to find God using him and shaping him while he engages a culture so radically different than his own.
The following is a poem I wrote for a college writing class one year: Words are poor translators for the language of our minds.
It is unfair to beg my thoughts then supply me words
Do you expect me to create fire with a toothpick?
How often we are so short:
I am fine, thanks.
Even if were not,
Words cant say much more.
With this in mind, I will now attempt to reflect on this trip so far.
Understatement of the trip: Mission work is hard. Its impossible to understand how hard it is before you see it firsthand, which is why first-year missionaries are convinced before they arrive that they are going to change the worldas if it hasnt been tried before.
Because the words we have are inadequate to continue this conversation, I need to invent and define a word before I can continue:
Reetdeetdoon. or adj. in the realm between extremely difficult and impossible, both to execute and to comprehend. (inspired by The Offices Andy Bernard.)
Heres why mission work is reetdeetdoo: the apparent solution is never the solution. We come and see the mud huts with 10 ft diameters, the insufficient schools with 50 to 1 student-teacher ratios, the failing hospitals with the beds two feet apart in rows of 12, and say, Just throw some money on it. Like water on a campfire.
We come and hear the people say, If only we had the land to build a school; education is the solution to our problems. Or If only we had better hospitals; our people wouldnt be sick all the time. Or If only we could get clean water, we wouldnt be sick in the first place. Of course, we should help with these things, but it doesnt stop there. It cant stop there. After all, the school will eventually need repair. The hospital can always be better (Americans arent even satisfied with their health care). There is always room for one more well. There is always a fire to put out. And eventually the water runs out.
So if money is not the only answer, if we are not to solely be bankers, then who else are we to be with our lives? In finding the right answers, people usually overlook a crucial step: you have to ask the right questions. Maybe the right question isnt Who are we to be with our lives? but rather Who do our lives point to? Maybe its not Who are we? but Who are we representing? Even if these arent the best questions, I think they are better questions and are worth asking and answering.
So if we are going to accurately represent Him, we need to follow the example He left us. And he didnt leave us money. He left us what it means to be in relationship. He passionately and purely loved the people He met, and it was through relationship that He changed the lives of those around Him. Through building relationships we team with the people we hope to help, not by giving handouts, but by showing them how to be self-sufficient for long after the missionaries leave. Through relationship we can show them they are capable of putting out their own fires and keeping them out
Herein lies the beauty of mission work, and the only thing that makes reetdeetdoo possible. As different as ministry looks in Africa, America, Australia, and Asia, there is one common denominator: the hope of change lies in relationship. And weve been given the perfect example of what that looks like in Jesus.
|
Give everyone over there a hearty Reetdeetdoo for me, and I'll send your regards to Marsha A. Holla!