Report Out of Africa, Part 3
Commentary: A Presbyterian web
By Carmen Fowler, The Layman, August 10, 2009
It reads like a Presbyterian “docu-drama.” Sunday school and Confirmation at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Amarillo, Texas. Presbyterians For Renewal’s Great Escape, Youth Triennium, mission trips each spring break to Casas por Cristo in Juarez, Mexico, and high school mission experiences in Peru and Nicaragua. From the pulpit, pastor Jeff Conway preached a consistently missional message and mission partners visited regularly to report, sharing stories from the mission field and encouraging mission support. One of those voices belonged to Dan McNerny with Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship and as a sophomore in high school, Rachel Robinson was hooked. Report Out of Africa
Texas Tech student Rachel Robinson tends to a baby at the Ministry of Hope Crisis Nursery in Malawi.
“So, why Malawi?,” I asked. And the story unfolded …
“I had kept up with Dan McNerny via e-mail and his annual visits to Amarillo. So last year (2008) when I wanted to spend my summer serving on the mission field, I sought counsel from Dan as to what organizations or missions I might work with. He connected me with MBF (the Presbyterian Medical Benevolence Foundation).”
“Chip Lambert at MBF outlined two options: I could work at a sports camp in Cairo, Egypt or at a crisis nursery in Lilongwe, Malawi. Not being very athletic and with an interest in healthcare, the crisis nursery was the obvious fit.”
“I exchanged e-mails with members of the Ministry of Hope U.S. board, Dr. Ken Root and Scott Rodenhaver, but to be honest, I came to Malawi not knowing what to expect. When I arrived in Lilongwe there was Dr. Root with a homemade sign with my name on it, welcoming me.”
“I spent May through August of 2008 working at the Ministry of Hope Crisis Nursery. I also helped Mwawi Nyirongo and Sydney Kornegay (another MOH college volunteer from First Presbyterian (Associate Reformed Presbyterian) Columbia, S.C. who attends Davidson College) in their efforts to set up the new mobile medical unit that Dr. Root and Valley Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, Arizona had initiated.”
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Part 1: Experiecing ‘lost’ time
Part 2: Kingdom moments and divine appointments
“After much discernment and prayer, I decided to put off nursing school for two years, complete a degree in community health and invest another summer in Malawi with MOH. They asked me to consider serving as a volunteer coordinator with Nathan Dimmock (Montreat College) and Hannah Hoffman (UNC-Chapel Hill). The three of us worked in partnership to host teams from Valley Pres (Ariz.), Liberty Corner (N.J.), Bethlehem (Pa.), Montreat (N.C.), Plymouth, Mich. and Providence Church, Hilton Head (S.C.). We also hosted 10 individual volunteers over the course of the summer.”
She paused, so I asked, “What brought you back?”
Rachel was on a roll: “I fell in love with the people. They exemplify the fruits of the Spirit – you will never see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control lived out anywhere more fully than here. Also, I came back because I am called and I am sent. The Great Commission is not to a few, it is to every believer in every generation. We’re all called and we’re all sent.”
I interjected, “When did you first feel called to missions?”
The answer came easily but unrehearsed, “I was serving in Peru and we were hiking into the jungle to serve a church in Buena Vista. After a two-hour boat ride and a two-mile hike into the remote jungle we saw no one, but we knew they were watching us. White people are unusual in that part of Peru. You could catch a glimpse of a child peaking around a tree, everyone was curious but no one greeted us, until one little girl emerged from the trees and came alongside me and simply took my right hand into her left and walked me into the village. When we stopped, I could see that her right hand was folded up into itself and held tightly to her chest.
Without words, I tried to indicate to her with my eyes and the gentleness of my touch that she could trust me. She slowly opened her little hand to reveal a severe gaping machete wound that was at least a couple of days old. Infection was obvious and the wound ran from the middle of her palm down her wrist.”
“I opened my first aid kit and this child, who had never seen an American and had no reason to trust me, was perfectly still, perfectly brave and thoroughly trusting. As I began to remove the debris from the wound, bugs started crawling out of the hole in the hand of this precious little girl. The Lord spoke to me, His presence was upon me, ‘Rachel, this is what I have for you – to help those who cannot help themselves. To whom much is given, of them much will be expected.’ I am so appreciative of the blessings I have received – my education, my family, my church – and I know that I am called to serve people holistically – dealing with issues of health and education and faith and poverty.”
We both paused to catch our breath and I wiped away the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. Collecting my thoughts I asked, “You are an inspiration. I’m wondering who inspires you?”
“In Nancy Dimmock’s book, “Women in Mission – Telling it Like it Is,” there’s a missionary named Sarah Hornsby who was serving in Nicaragua. She said that ‘when God calls someone to a place, no other place can be as sweet, as beautiful, as meaningful or as real.’ That inspires me and gives me the confidence that no matter where God calls me, no other place will be more perfect because I will be living in His will.”
Now a community health major at Texas Tech in Lubbock (under the Palo Dura Presbytery’s Celebration Scholarship), Rachel sits under the missional preaching of Matt Mitchell and serves with Paul Gibson in Westminster Lubbock’s college ministry. Before her is the decision of which to pursue first: an advanced degree in medicine or seminary with the goal of doing long-term foreign mission.
For this well-connected, well-informed, theologically grounded, missionally minded, Jesus loving, people-focused Presbyterian woman, the future is certainly filled with hope and we will be watching with great anticipation as the Lord directs her steps.
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