I began attending Mountaintop Community Church with my best friend, Meredith. I decided I liked it and began getting involved. During a meeting of a missions small group I attended, I learned about Mountaintop's mission focuses in Tanzania, the Philippines, and Colombia. While I would love to quit my job and travel the world, none of these places peaked my interest. I finally realized why when I began having thoughts like "what about Americans" and "there are so many people in our own country who don't know Jesus."
A few months later, God began making it pretty clear that Mountaintop was not where He wanted me. I tried a few churches and couldn't find one that felt like home. I visited the Church at Brook Hills a year earlier (while I was still happily at Highlands) and didn't love it, so I put it last on my list for church visits. Long story long, when I visited in early December 2014, I was home.
God had been leading me to Brook Hills for over a year. Either I took a detour from His plan by attending another church or He meant for that detour to happen all along. Through a friend who was already attending Brook Hills (shout out to Hanna), I was introduced to an amazing group of people who welcomed me with open arms. I began attending a small group with several beautiful women who I'm blessed to call friends.
Through that group, I heard about a mission trip to New York City (thanks to Melanie, our fearless trip leader). At first, I was thinking what you probably are. Uhhh.. New York? For a mission trip? Within a second or two, God reminded me of my developing desire to reach people in America. I could picture Him looking at me with that patient, eyebrows-raised face that said "get it now?" I began bombarding Melanie with questions (sorry about that) and wanted to know as much as I could about it. I finally made the decision that, yes, I was going to New York in June of 2015.
God has a way of keeping you unsettled until you make the right decision. He's good like that.
You now see why I crossed out "quickly" way back up there at the top. If you're still reading, I'll give you a free ticket to NY. Just kidding...making sure you're paying attention.
This all brings us to today--the day before our pretty awesome team leaves for NY. Can I just say...I'm so excited. I mean, really excited. When I think about the amazing things God is going to do over the next few days, I want to jump up and down like a little girl who hears the ice cream truck. Let me tell you a little about the people we'll be serving so you can get excited, too.
We will be working primarily with the Tibetan and Nepali populations in the Jackson Heights area of Queens. The info below is from the Global Gates website (globalgates.info)--the ministry we are working with in NY, peoplegroups.org, and imb.org:
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Tibetans:
Origin: East Asia
Language: Tibetan
Primary Religion: Buddhism - Lamaism
Population: 10,500
Global Population: 1,098,300
Progress of the Gospel: Unengaged and Unreached
Language: Tibetan
Primary Religion: Buddhism - Lamaism
Population: 10,500
Global Population: 1,098,300
Progress of the Gospel: Unengaged and Unreached
Over 3,000 Tibetans live in Metro New York (community estimate), with the largest concentration in Jackson Heights. New York is host to the largest population of Tibetans outside China, India, and Nepal, and one-third of Tibetans in the US live in Metro New York. The activism on behalf of Tibet and influence of Tibetans based out of NYC also makes engagement with Tibetans in NYC increasingly significant.
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Nepali:
Origin: South Asia
Language: Nepali
Primary Religion: Hinduism
Population: 13,500
Global Population: 4,124,100
Progress of the Gospel: Engaged yet Unreached
Primary Religion: Hinduism
Population: 13,500
Global Population: 4,124,100
Progress of the Gospel: Engaged yet Unreached
The Jackson Heights area is the hub of the estimated 30,000 Nepalis in Metro New York (community estimate). Even those who do not live in the neighborhood come to shop and socialize.
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Unreached: a people group in which less than 2% of the population are Evangelical Christians.
Unengaged: when there is no church planting strategy (consistent with Evangelical faith and practice) under implementation. In this respect, a people group is not engaged when it has been merely adopted, is the object of focused prayer, or is part of an advocacy strategy.
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Just in case you're not that familiar with the details of the Hinduism and Buddhism...
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Hinduism
Reincarnation and the existence of a supreme being in multiple forms are fundamental ideas within Hinduism. A basic desire for freedom from the evils and pitfalls of life is what guides much of their practices.
Key concepts of Hinduism:
- Dharma means individual ethics, obligations and duties.
- Samsara means reincarnation or rebirth.
- Karma means the cause and effect of actions.
- Moksha means salvation by more than one path.
- A person’s soul will continue to be reborn until it attains salvation.
- The ultimate freedom from reincarnation and material existence by becoming part of or one with the Supreme Being is the goal of all Hindus.
- Actions are considered to determine a person’s progress toward salvation. Actions of virtue will lead one closer to the goal while evil actions add to the separation and prove a lack of understanding.
Buddhism
Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakya clan, in the year 563 B.C., in the village of today’s Padaria in southern Nepal. As a king’s son (who may have been only chief of a clan), Usually streets were cleared of unpleasant things when Gautama was to venture out, but when he was 29 years old, he encountered the Four Passing Sights: a sick man, an old man, a corpse, and a recluse. This led to the Great Going Forth: six years Gautama wandered in search of the answer to human misery. During this time he tried Raha Yoga and then asceticism (extreme self-denial and fasting). Gautama decided, at 35, to meditate under a Bo-tree (a type of fig tree) until he either died or found the answer to life’s riddle. After 40 days, he attained enlightenment or perfect knowledge. Through this “Bo-tree Experience” he became the Buddha, or the Enlightened One.
He decided to share this experience with others and preached all over northern India for 45 years, making converts. Gautama died in 483 B.C. at the age of 80 of food poisoning.
The Four Noble Truths:
Suffering in life is inevitable.
The cause of suffering is desire.
The cure of suffering is the overcoming of desire.
The way to overcome desire is through the
Eightfold Path:
Right Understanding
Right Thought
Right Speech
Right Actions
Right (mode of) Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration (meditation)
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That might be more than you wanted to know, but it excites me to read about them and know I'll be with them soon. The enemy has been blinding these people groups for thousands of years. God wants His people back. And by God's will, we're going to help Him.
My plan is to blog each night to fill you all in on what happened that day. We are currently planning to receive training and serve these two people groups on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tomorrow will be mostly travel, Sunday we will attend a church in NY, and Wednesday will be spent sight seeing.
These updates are especially for those of you who supported me through donations or purchasing a t-shirt. I wouldn't be doing this without you!! Know that anything done in God's name is an extension of your generosity. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
If you have a minute, please pray for our team. We want Jesus to guide our steps and use our mouths to speak His words. Pray that we will encounter people with open hearts and minds. Pray that we will plant so many seeds that the benefits will be immeasurable.
Most of all, pray that God receives the glory only He deserves and that He uses us to add a few more brothers and sisters to the family.
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