Living this life

I finished my papers, wrote my final project, and took the exam. Class is over. Forever. Tomorrow we move out of this guest house and into a new one. Today our team began and ended our musical career as a choir. It was painful, but fun. Oh, Africa. The things I do here.

This last week we visited a pastor in Cibla and then stayed the night in Segou. The place that we stayed in was a catholic convent. The rooms were awesome. They reminded me of hobbit houses with round ceilings and windows everywhere and short doors. It was amazing. The way back as a little crazy. There had been a flash flood in the area and the roads were turned into rivers. Life gets exciting sometimes.

So now that class is over, we are supposed to jump into our individual minstries. Lindsey and I are thinking about painting a mural in the orphanage that we have been to a few times. It'd be something that the kids could have that wouldn't get taken away. We wanted to donate toys and clothes, but were informed that the helpers there take them home to their kids. Part of me is scared to paint again. I haven't been artistic in forever. But part of me is anxious to get back into it.

It's been a good week. We've stayed busy. Maybe that's our American way of coping with the end of the hardest month. Next Saturday a Malian lady is going to teach Sarah and I how to cook a Malian meal... with leaves. Today we went out to eat with a student studying English at the University named Ramata. We took her out for Cheeseburgers and Banana Splits. She wanted to be American for a night. It was fun to laugh and eat and eat and eat. That's the American way.

Our final project for our class was about our personal evangelism strategy. I ended up just writing what I have been processing through since being here. I'm not sure that my papers are very organized, my thoughts are so scrambled and muddled right now. I based my paper on Peter's command to always be prepared to give an answer for your hope.

"My strategy for evangelism does not include seven steps or five phases. It does not have specific phrases or cliches. My strategy is simply living a life of hope. This hope is what sets me apart from the rest of the world. We are all sinners, we are all loved by God, but we do not all have the hope that comes from being saved from our sin. And it seems so easy- to live hope, to answer to hope. It should be easy. But I find that it is the hardest and most illusive journey that I have set out on. Sometimes I do not want to be hopeful. Sometimes I want to join the masses of poverty stricken souls that just exist. Other times I do not want to interact with the world. I want to stay and keep as far away from it as I can because it does not understand me and I do not understand it. But every once in a while I do it right. Every once in a while hope is evident in my life and I dare to venture out with traces of it still on my face. And when that happens I sometimes am given the opportunity to talk about my hope, about my Jesus. These moments are the moments that shape lives and change hearts. There are no four laws or two items of good and bad news. It is me talking about my Jesus, talking about my faith, my love, my redemption, and my hope. Hebrews says that concerning Christ we should have much to say. I hope that is true for my life. I want to be able to meet the challenge of Hebrews, the challenge of Peter. Concerning Him, concerning hope, I will have much to say."