A New Mission, and a New Season

It’s been a minute, six months worth since I last posted to be precise. When I say a New Mission and New Season, what do I mean? Well, when I said I’d follow Christ for my next steps, that was when I thought Christ had the EXACT same wants as me. He did not. There were many things I was sure I’d be doing right now, at least all involving the States, but when following Christ, you often end up doing things that you would think impossibly crazy. Moving back to Guinea Bissau, West Africa, is one of those things.

I’m writing this from a café at the ‘Retunda Imperio’(that is, Imperial roundabout) in the capital city of Bissau, Guinea Bissau. A fair question to then wonder is how did I end up here? Allow me to catch you up to date. Let’s rewind to last summer. My immediate plans were to finish two weeks, or three of camp ( I can’t remember), and return home, find work, and continue my flying career. Well, after and during those two weeks, I was praying, and without an audible voice, I could tell God was asking me for something more service maybe? I was genuinely scared at the time; it was missions. So I stayed at camp for approximately every single week I could. As the last two weeks came creeping along, camp no longer had a need for help, and I was just a floater for when they needed help, so I went home. Basically, God said, “Go home.” At home, I continued praying, and on my knees, he came to me, again not audible but somehow so clear: “Go to Africa.” Well, I had just raised money the year before, so it didn’t feel right to go around again asking for money. A quick shout out to friends that helped with side gigs until now and food here or there because I was broke and it meant the world to me. So I secured, by Gods grace, two jobs, including a sorta dream job of mine as a barista, and worked my way to pay for my six-month trip here.

I flew over with a team of four, my dad as leader, two coworkers of his, and me as a translator. We arrived for this new, warmer season on the first of the year. After a week, they went on their way, and I stayed behind. Finally, after four grueling months of working, I was doing what God wants… now what?

I had literally no plan, no team, no agency, in a new city, and one friend to lean on, and of course Christ. Well, fortunately, he and God have and had plans. The plans came with time, though. I can’t remember exact time frames; I did a poor job documenting, but within the first few weeks, my friend, Daniel, went on several trips to preach the word, leaving me behind with little to no plan. So at first, most of my plans were to hang out at the house, figuring out what life was going to look like. While doing this, I got to know everyone a little bit better. We’ve got in our all-star line-up, the siblings, Janke (pronounced Jan Kay), Samuel, and Menno. We’ve got Armando and Michelle. Janke is Daniel’s fiancé. Samuel is the associate pastor, and Menno is living at the mission while in school. Armando is the same as Menno but in college, and Michelle is a semi-pro goalkeeper for a local team.

One of the first ‘missionary’ things I did was this, one morning as I was sipping coffee in the parlor, I hear an unearthly scream of agony, in a panic I naturally go to investigate. Once I’ve located the source of the scream it becomes apparent it is earthly, very earthly, it’s a 18 yr old Girl screaming in pain because a finger that is swelled to roughly double the size. After trying my hand at wound care, and talking some to Daniel we decide it’s the best course of action to take her to the local ER, on my dime because her Family could not pay. So we do. It goes well, the first couple of times going every other day. Then day three of trips, day six of this for her comes around.

I should supply some context. The previous day, a pastor from a country close by came into town late. I had known him before and knew he was coming for a small seminar. I had expected him to come with some other attendees, but as he didn’t, I assumed that the size had shrunk. So late the next morning, after a brisk walk and during morning coffee, we had just finished making egg sandwiches and were having a casual conversation in the kitchen when someone walked in. Followed by another and another two after that. Confusion and stress took over my body. Here, culturally, we need to feed our guest regardless of any condition. So I practically ran to the store and crossed my fingers that there were still eggs and bread. There were. I made my way home hastily, threw together sandwiches for the now house of 12, and saved the four I had already made. Relief flooded me for about 5 minutes until it hit me that we needed to feed our guest lunch and supper! That’s not where the stress stops because it’s around now that I remember Tamila, the finger girl. So we ran to the hospital, and came back. I sat down briefly in the seminar, only for that moment to be a break. So I went to the kitchen and saw Janke frantically preparing lunch. I think you can see where this goes. I did not attend the teachings; I helped in the kitchen. We finished only an hour and a half late.

Finally now I can sit, maybe nap, I had grown accustom to chillin and afternoon naps, WRONG!! Supper needs bought and prepared! This time we have a bit of time so we prep for the next morning as well, and execute flawlessly. This same process repeats for the next two days going very well until at long last we finish mind you this was cooking from roughly 5:30 am until 8 or 9 pm. Now back to Tamila at this point we began to realize that the doctors were no longer helping so we morph to at home care, being careful to use the utmost care. She to this day comes over daily for a cleaning and new bandage.

At this point, two weeks have flown by with this ‘no plan’. God has had me partially fund a small seminar and personally fund hospital visits. So more time passes here, and a flow begins. For one, I have chores, see Michelle left to go train for a chunk of weeks, and Janke left for her hometown to attend several weddings, so Daniel and I took their chores on together. For two, I’m responsible for doing my part in the morning devotion, that being running it one day a week. For thrice, I gave my first sermon during an evening Bible study. We are now planning a weekly English class, run by yours truly, and I’ve become the associate pastor at a church plant south of the city. So as you can see, after only 28 days, plans came, not mine, not wholly Daniel’s, fully Gods.

I have so much more I could say and want to say, but this has become incredibly long-winded for a grand total of four somewhat short stories, so I’ll bring it to a close. I’ll ask for continued prayers for, as some of you know, our neighbors’ kids. For those that don’t, feel free to reach out and ask. Prayers for me to be given strength and wisdom to be able to serve well, especially this Sunday as it’s me who’s preaching. And lastly, prayer for the upcoming all-night prayer vigil. It’s held every fourth week of the month, that I wouldn’t fall asleep. Thank you all for your support, love, and prayers. I can’t stress that enough:))

(For those that want to reach out with any questions you can reach me at my email or number, i wont give my number here but here is my email. Jmbaker206@gmail.com)