.poverty.

So, I love to write and you're going to find that I use this blog as a platform to megaphone the cries within my heart and the hearts of my Not Forgotten comrades. :-) Cries relating to the needs of the people in the world around us, frustrations we experience when we can't provide for those needs immediately, and encouragements on how we continue to press on amidst those frustrations. I frequently read a blog written by a missionary in Costa Rica. She's honest. Sometimes shockingly so...and this particular post put picture to how we feel sometimes when we try to tackle an issue that we could never begin to conquer ourselves. This week she talked about poverty. The poverty that so often sends the children we're fighting for to the streets. She acknowledges it's overwhelming size and how the Lord calls her to face it. Remembering that only He is big enough...


Feeding the Ducks

I'm gonna go fight poverty for two and a half hours. 


2.5 hours on a Tuesday morning to solve the biggest problem in the world. What a joke. 


We will show up with a bag full of brad and an armload of bananas, and the children will clamber around us like ducks at a pond. A bunch of little ducklings, falling all over each other for a bit of bread and a soft pat on the head. 


And for 2 and a half hours we will laugh and play and eat, and we will talk about Jesus. And when we leave, they will be just as poor as when we arrived. Poverty taunts us as we drive away. 


It's overwhelming. 


The problem is so big, and we are so small. It feels ridiculous.... showing up to war wielding a loaf of bread. 


Of course that's how David showed up. Just a shepherd boy with some bread for his brothers, a kid who was quick with a sling shot. He chose for battle against a giant, not a sword, or the kings armor, but five smooth stones. And he won.


He said to the giant:
"You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God is Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's and he will give all of you into our hands." -1 Samuel 17


I kind of love that.


I'm going to feed the ducks, now.

And then, with all my might, I will hurl a tiny pebble at their giant enemy. And I hope it hurts like hell.


-Jamie, The Very Worst Missionary

Welcome- Kristen McKee

Greetings all Not Forgotten followers...

In order to take advantage of all growth opportunities in the future for Not Forgotten, a new member has been added to the team. As that new member, I thought I'd take a minute to introduce myself! My name is Kristen McKee and I'll be joining Not Forgotten as the Director of Administration and Development, aka Tyler's relief worker. I have been on numerous trips to Puerto Alegria, and share Not Forgotten's heart for the street children of Iquitos, Peru. 

I went on my first international mission trip to Saltillo, Mexico when I was a sophomore in college. I met a little girl named Fanny and spent ever possible moment with her family. Never in my life had I experienced such urgency to share the gospel as I had with Fanny's family. I loved them and I ached for them to believe in His peace, His grace and more importantly, His sacrifice and resurrection. I was surrounded by nothing familiar in that tiny Mexican shack, but I knew I belonged in that house, and that this trip to Mexico had forever changed my passions and redefined my purpose.

Less than two years later I had another opportunity to serve overseas. While spending a summer abroad in Spain, the Lord brought two dear friends into my life: Allison and Tyler. We had toured all around Spain together: learning what it was to be Americans in a foreign country, talking about missions, and discovering our mutual love for Latin America. Tyler kept talking about his love for Peru specifically, and how much he wanted us to come on one of his mission trips to this orphanage in the jungle. Frankly, as much as I trusted Tyler, I thought that he'd lost his mind. I wasn't exactly jungle material. The Lord's plans were a little different than my own however. So, a year and a half later Allison and I were jungle bound with deet and chacos. :)

Prior to this trip I had never had any interest in leaving the United States permanently, and was intimidated by the unknown. After this trip to Peru though, and the 8 that shortly followed, I was truly changed. I learned what it meant to truly be a new creation in Christ, as I discovered a new confidence and talents that I never knew I possessed. Tucked away in the middle of the Amazon jungle are 42 children that have captured my heart. Each journey down there brings James 1:27 to life as the orphans I'm called to care for aren't just children, but friends. They are unique. They each have different personalities, interests, idiosyncrasies and dreams. I want so badly to give them the hope and love that Christ has given me. I want to radiate with Christ's love so much that those children hunger for it and seek after it themselves. 

It was these relationships that triggered my desire to serve overseas as a missionary for AIM for a year.  I wanted to testify to God's grace across all nations, not just in Peru, but now the Lord has called me back to the ministry and home that first captured my heart. I'm willing to do whatever I can to ensure those children are being served, loved, and nurtured in a way that equips them for the future as servants of our precious Savior. They will know they are loved. Lord, let us be the difference...


I'll be available for any questions regarding Not Forgotten's mission, involvement opportunities, and upcoming trips! Feel free to contact me at kristen@notforgotten.org. 

          


Blessings, Kristen McKee