Even as a kid, I could never rest until I finished a task—be it big or small.

When facing a page of math problems, I would steel myself, take a deep breath, and race through them at break-neck speed, never pausing to ask why or to understand how I could use the math concept practically.

When I watch my old dance recital videos, I am embarrassed because I am consistently 1 to 3 count ahead of everyone else with a look of grim determination on my face that seems to say: “I am going to FINISH this routine as FAST as I possibly can!”

When looking at riddle books, I would cave within a few minutes and flip to the back of the book to get the answer.

My mom would often comment to me: “Jessie, slow down! Enjoy the journey!” This might as well have been a foreign language—that was about how much sense it made to me.

I have never considered until this summer how this trait has manifested itself in my adult life. But now I see it’s powerful influence on my view of ministry.

I am a get-things-done kind of girl. I am goal-oriented. These are often good things—but I now see how dangerous they are as well.

Because of these traits, in ministry my tendency is attempt to “fix” the problem and have it disappear. My ideal “ministry” might be called “Magic Wand Ministry”-- * POOF * …All better!

Because of this tendency (and the fact that it just doesn’t WORK!), I have often become discouraged when I can’t “fix” someone’s problems immediately, or when someone seems to have so many problems or such serious problems that I have no idea how to even start to “fix” them.

But our God is faithful. He is revealing my sin and teaching me His ways, which are oh-so-much better than mine!

I am learning that there is joy in journey—but also that neither our journey nor our joy will be complete until we reach our heavenly home. While we live and work in our fallen world, we are to long for a better city—a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16)…for we were made for another world.

I am learning that I am not called nor am I able to fix the world’s problems. That is God’s job—and He is more than capable to do it. Rather, I am extravagantly blessed to participate in what He is doing in the world; to be used by Him to accomplish His purposes, whatever those purposes might be; to accept with joy the opportunities He gives me to love people with His love, to walk along with them, and to point them to Him. I can do these things joyfully, trusting that He will use my tiny efforts in His extraordinary plan for His glory and for the good of His people.

This takes away the stress and pressure of ministry—for success and failure are not determined by the world’s scales.

This takes away the frustration of ministry—for God’s plan and timing are perfect, and God is perfectly sovereign and good.

This takes away the discouragement of ministry—for God acts for those who wait for Him (Isaiah 64:4), for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28).

This concept certainly “takes away” a lot (stress, pressure, frustration, discouragement, etc.)!

Then what is left?

JOY.

“…The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy...” (Psalm 126:3)

That's what I'm learning. Even learning about joy in the journey is a journey, a process. Slowly but surely, God is teaching me.

Please pray Romans 15:13 for me: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” This is the very essence of what I desire to experience during this internship and beyond.

Thanks.


By His grace,

Jessie

I’m going to try to update once a week during this month.

As most of you know, I am currently interning under Per Almquist, a missionary / church planter in Lewiston, Maine. The internship includes secretarial-type work, being involved in and spreading the word about Free Grace Presbyterian Church (the church that Per will pastor which is in the process of being “planted”), trying to get involved in the African refugee community that makes up 10% of the population here, logistical planning and communication related to the 3 summer missions teams coming up here, as well as anything else God brings into my path to do.

We (Lizzy Benedict, who is also interning, and I) started the drive on Thursday, and arrived in Lewiston on Saturday afternoon. My mom and her dad sacrificed their time to drive up with us and then fly back (thank you to both of them!).

Here’s the super-fast, cliff notes version

Lewiston is the second largest city in Maine (Portland being the largest). Lizzy and I crisscrossed and circled around it today in Lizzy’s car, feeling as if we were going on a scavenger hunt as we saw and checked off places that we needed to know in order to be knowledgeable interns (grocery stores, Walmart, homes of families in the homegroup, etc.). We are feeling more and more familiar with the city as each day passes. Hopefully we’ll be functional locals by the time the first team arrives (this Saturday). One can hope… ☺

On Monday, we talked with Per for 4 hours about the city, the needs, the vision of the church plant, the reason for short term teams, etc. I greatly enjoyed and benefited from this overview, but at the time I felt kind of overwhelmed with information, but as I live in this city and as Lizzy and I have take walks each day a bit before sundown, I feel like I’m slowly connecting theoretical with practical, information and statistics with real life, real people, and real stories.

We were told that there is a huge addiction problem here in Lewiston—it was made real to me as I overheard 3 or 4 conversations about drugs in one evening walk around the city.

We were told that no one wants to live in Lewiston, and that those who do live here can’t wait to get out—the point was driven home as we talked with the guy behind the counter at the car repair place, who answered my question about how he came to live here with a sad smile and: “Well, I was too young to have a choice.”

We were told there is a need for stronger families in Lewiston—I understood this need as I saw aimless tweens and teens roaming the streets and apparently single mothers no older than me wearily dragging their children behind them.

We were told that there is a lot of suspicion and dislike of the Somalian immigrants—I saw it for myself when a man giving us directions talked disdainfully about them.

We were told that many of the African immigrants have nothing—I understood this for real when I drove home with 6 Sudanese kids and went up the 4 flights of stairs to their apartment to find that they had no furniture except bare mattresses on the floor.

And yet…

I have seen the Gospel, like the first light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter as our eyes become accustomed to the darkness. And I’ve seen the Gospel blossoming and bearing fruit in the lives of people who have already become dear to me, even after knowing them a very short while. Being at homegroup (a Sunday night time of worship at the Almquists home) was so encouraging. Frank (who must be something like 102) all the way down to the small children, and everyone in between singing about our awesome God brought such joy to our hearts.

I count myself so privileged to have the opportunity to spend this summer witnessing God's work in Maine, up close and personal. His grace and power are so amazing.

I have also been encouraged by the attitudes of Per and Beth (his wife) and many others in the homegroup. There is no way in the world that they should be joyful and optimistic about the future. But that’s just it. The reason for their joy and their positive attitude is not found in this world. It could only be defined as supernatural. Against formidable odds (as described only in part above), they trust in God and move forward. They have Good News—and they can’t help but share it. God has given them a burden for this city, and they are ready to be in it for the long-haul. There is so much work to be done—but they (and we!) have a God who delights to do things beyond what we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. To Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen! (Eph. 3:19-20).

Please pray for us:

While wandering the streets of Lewiston this evening, we providentially came across 2 of the Sudanese girls, Toma and Theresa (ages 10 and 8), who we have met once before and who we both really want to befriend. We talked to them, and one of their friends, for quite a while, inviting them to various things that are happening in the next week, and saying that we wanted to go get ice cream with them sometime. Please pray that we would be able to be a good influence on these girls, who come from a Christian family, but who are being very influenced by the very corrupt environment that they live in while their mom struggles to just make ends meet and to survive.

Tomorrow, are going to pick up several things that offered for this same Sudanese family, to furnish their apartment. Please pray that we could get to know the mom, Achoui, better when we bring the stuff, and hear more of her story and more of how we can help her physically, as well as where she is spiritually.

Please pray that we could find ways to break into the Somalian Muslim immigrant community, which is a very tight-knit enclave who are suspicious and maybe a bit afraid of Americans. We want to reach out to this dear group of people who have suffered so much and who are continuing to suffer prejudice and mistreatment.
Pray for us and for Per as we try to work out all the last minute logistical details related to the first team who is arriving on Saturday.

Pray for the Backyard Bible Club that the team will be doing twice each day for five days. Pray that it would bear much fruit for God’s glory!

Well, there is more I could say, but this update is long enough. I need to go to bed so I can wake up bright and early in the morning!

Those who stay and pray are just as important to the work of the Kingdom as those who go and serve. Thank you for standing with us in prayer.