Sunday, January 6, 2013

Commissioning service

Last night I was privileged enough to be able to attend a commissioning service for a Honduran woman named Karla who leaves for Mauritania January 16th. It was such a blessing to see her church send her out in a culture that doesn't see missions as important. Many churches here are not very supportive of missions however when asking the people in the church, many have been directly affected by missionaries.

Karla has a 6 year old daughter from a relationship before she became a Christian and she will leave her here with her mother and sisters to watch for the 3 months she is gone. She was the first in her family to accept Christ 4-5 years ago. Now her entire family follows Christ. About 2 years ago, one of our missionaries arrived at her church and said who wants to go...who wants to go to the ends of the earth to share the love of Christ. She said "I will". She is a blessing in her Garifuna (African sub-culture of Honduras) community as a teacher and leader in her church. She will be in Mauritania for 3 months working mostly with Muslims. Less than 1% of the nation of more than 3 million are Christians. Wow, that's astounding.

Last night was a very emotional night for Karla and her family. Many of you who saw me or other missionaries sent out know the bittersweetness of the mission calling. It is very exciting to go knowing that it where God is calling you. It is also very sad leaving behind your family, friends, church, coworkers, and everything you know. But Karla has said " Yes". Please pray for her these last few days as she prepares for her 2 day journey to Mauritania on the Northwest corner of Africa.

These will be hard days for her as she makes her last preparations, as she talks to her family for the last time for three months. They will only be communicating through email over the next 3 months.
Taking the nations for Christ
This is so exciting for us to see as missionaries. Missionaries being sent out from where we are serving. God has really been opening my eyes to see how big His calling is. In the last 3 years, I have met missionaries from Guatemala, Mexico, Germany, Norway, Scotland, and Italy. Some have come here to the hospital for some time and some are full time missionaries in other countries. How exciting that God's calling people from all over the world to GO...and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Please pray for Karla. She gave me her email, so if I get any updates from her while she is there, I will pass them on.

2 comments:

  1. Major wow! Is she Cinthia's sister? Is she going with Frontiers? This is REALLY the culmination of much prayer and training.

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    1. Yes, Cinthia's sister. I believe it is Frontiers she is going with. Yes, it was a super exciting evening.

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