Eyeglasses or Rice!? (And Eliminating The "Christianese"...)

Hey there! This is my fourth Post here on my Missions 2010 blog. We just had another team meeting this Sunday For the Into Focus Vision Ministry journey to Ethiopia this March. We went over sharing our testimonies in a little depth, focusing on the importance of how the translators will interpret what we say.... The discussion was on eliminating all of our "Christianese," and I can say I am really very glad that we covered that. I am all too familiar with some of the conversations I have had with non- believers (which is where my vision of Gods Love starts) and hearing how much they have come to despise how we present our beliefs to them and the world. I am a huge believer in the idea that this very "Christianese" is how many people have been turned off and away for good from the Good News of the Bible(that and the fact that many have heard this Good News in a way that has been so unnerving and infuriating/ insulting that it gets so completely misconstrued and they cannot possibly consider it to be Good News in any way at all!..) I cannot say that I have been blessed to never have been turned off from this mouthful of religious meanderings often heard in and out of Churches, and I AM a believer still. So it seems likely that avoiding cliche's and spiritual catch phrases in a country far away will be a very good thing, especially when we are only going there to provide minimal health care for these very poor, perhaps starving people (I don't Know!)

The thing that burdens me is will our efforts and time there really help these people? Will it really help them more than sending them 25 tons of food in bags of Rice and beans?! Will it help them more for us to go there personally than to just take all the 50,000+ dollars that we cost to get there, and apply that toward their food and lively hood? They need buildings, they need schools, and clinics, and hospitals, and health care, and paid staff and doctors to host them, and they need churches and memorials, to unite them from past wars and grievances, and a big load of other things, before they are even a partial registration on the scheme of the economy of capitalism that the rest of the world is built around.. (apart from coffee beans.)

How then , can us providing them with prescription eyeglasses actually help them at all?

These thoughts I expressed at out meeting, having a confident Idea in my mind that there is still a good reason for what we are doing, despite all the other places in the world that need God's love, and the care of the Churches. The synopsis is simple, and perhaps perfect to end that potential dispute.

In many countries, such as Ethiopia, where health care is very limited, if not non-existent, and where there are interval times of lack of vital nutrition for many there, as well as lifestyle of necessary exposure to the sun and the other elements, health problems including bad eyes and blindness are way more common than they are here.

For example, one of my teammates explained, "a woman who cannot see there is also not able to get married, therefore cannot have a family, and can't do anything but stand in the street and Beg," or just tag along with others until she is old and unappreciated. The man there has similar problems if he cannot see, read, or recognize faces... There is much work to be done in Ethiopia, like other countries, however problems like early life blindness, or farsighted/nearsightedness are very common.

When one person is suddenly able to see, and have glasses that were just given to him/ her, with no strings attached, and no debts to pay off, it is indeed for that person like a real miracle, whether big or small. That one person can now have a job, get married, learn to read, get an education, play games, if it is a child, support a family, if older. We are bringing thousands of glasses and prescription lenses.... Please Pray that we get to where we are going safely with them. (Meaning that they get through customs and escape all bandits.)

Giving sight to people who were merely expecting to live a nominal life gives that person a chance to make a living, have a family, and make a real difference. In areas where people are used to becoming very inept to their surroundings, including seeing people dying, getting very sick, and going blind both very young and old, the news of having a foreign group that is coming way over to their side of the isolated country is very much an encouragement, and inspires much hope. And to see the results is even more encouraging for them.

I can't say that bringing them 50,000 pounds of rice and beans will not help them, and I want to do that as well. ( But they will then need us even more!) But if just giving more of these people the ability to become mobilized and get educated can positively impact their cities, bringing them more jobs, and churches, Hospitals and orphanages, enriching their lives in a bigger way, that will mean their being able to develop their economy there in a way that is independent of the western kindness, then I am for it. And apparently that is what we are praying will be done as the result of our work out there.

So as long as we can prevent ourselves from clinging to old catch phrases, and spewing out American Christianese, I think the other side of this outreach will be a success, the penetration of the Gospel. The lives of many people In Ethiopia were brought up with an Extremely traditional form of Christianity, and, to summarize what I have learned and heard, many of them do not know God, but are simply following traditions, and many of them do not really know why! But that's what they do, and what they have always done. Many of them have never even read the bible, and do not even own a copy of it in their language.

However, we have translated Bibles for them, so they now will.

We need your prayers that this outreach is successful, virtually obstacle free, and for protection against the many things that can hinder this work and progress from taking place, including the unreasonable search / seizure of our equipment, and/or luggage by customs officials... some of which has happened before.

If you haven't already, please visit this secure site and pledge a generous donation to this outreach. Every bit counts, whether great or small. Into Focus is dependent upon Love Offerings of people like you to make this outreach happen:

https://public.serviceu.com/payment/default.asp?OrgID=1472&PaymentID=7229 

(Please remember that your gift is completely tax deductible.)


Thanks!


Sincerely,


Adam M.


P.S. (Revised 03.04.2010~UPDATE: Thanks to all who participated on this adventure through sharing of their finances, we are now able to send out 12 missionaries including myself into this field March 10th. Thanks to everyone!) Click here to make a tax deductible donation that will help us pay off our autorefractor- the $9,700 laser machine we are taking there that measures eyes and gives us their prescriptions. Thanks!

Here is the address if the link is not working:

https://public.serviceu.com/payment/default.asp?OrgID=1472&PaymentID=7229 


P.P.S. Read my support letter and see some of my 2006 Photos here: http://extremeethiopia2010.blogspot.com



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