So I hope that no one has been losing sleep over whether or not there was actually a second part of my trip to the Maritimes. I can now reassure you that there was in fact a part 2 to my trip. I apologize that it has taken so long to finish my story. I have been trying to adjust to life apart from school. Truly it is a strange state.
I have now been home from the Maritimes for about a month now, and I can say that the impact that it has had on me has remained. As I have mentioned before, my reasons for going were pleasure, survey and missions. I stayed in Maine long enough to help my friends get settled into their new home. But shortly after, I caught a bus from Bangor, Maine to St. John, New Brunswick. (For those of you who may be going to Google maps to determine where in the US New Brunswick is, you won’t find it; it is a province in Canada.) This would be my first time in the Maritime provinces of Canada.
I arrived in St. John later in the afternoon and was confronted with the fact that the ferry that I was to be taking to Nova Scotia was harbored about 5 miles away. So, to save my bank account from being sabotaged by the local taxi line, I started my trek to the ferry. Along the way I crossed a bridged with a sign that said, “Reversing Falls.” This was the amazing God created phenomenon that my little sister had studied and had told me about. (I must refrain from saying more, lest I monopolize my readers time. If you want to know more, e-mail me or look it up your self.) I stopped and read there for a while. Finally, I began the second leg of my walk. About a mile along, I met a man from a United Baptist church who gave me a ride the rest of the way to my ferry.
Now, I had planned to spend the night in the ferry station since the ferry would not be leaving until the following morning. The man at the station informed me that the station would be closing and that I could not stay there. I asked if I could stay out side on the bench, but he informed me that temperatures would drop below freezing at night. He helped me to get a hotel room, which I was not planning on (and shot my whole bank account protection plan.)
The next morning I arrived at ferry in plenty of time. I traveled across the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia. The father of the friends that I would be staying with met me at the station in Digby, NS.
I have been detailed to this point to explain the adventure of getting to Nova Scotia. And it continued to be an adventure. But I want to switch a bit and share the things that I learned while I was there.
In trying to determine the impact that missionaries have on their ministering country, I discovered a few things that really shaped my thinking. First I realized that many missionaries have traveled to places such as the Maritimes to minister but have, in reality, accomplished the opposite. The typical stereo-type American missionary travels to Canada with abundant support; lives in a home that supersedes the level of living of Canadians; and then proceed the treat the Canadians as inferiors, meanwhile building their little theological kingdom on the backs of the people. Although this may seem to be a bit broad-brushing, I think that it is fair. Many missionaries either serve themselves rather than the people, or at least give that impression.
When I was there, I discussed with several pastors the idea of going to Canada as a layman, trying to learn and serve the people where they are, and using the impact of servant hood the share the Gospel. This was by far the preferred method. I learned that missions is not about a decision, about a location, or about a title; it is about a one person – Jesus Christ. It is His Kingdom that we must build.
So, what am I going to do with what I have learned? The Lord has deeply impressed on my hear the need to proficiently learn a trade so that I would not be a hindrance in that way to the Gospel. I have also determined that what needs to happen in the Maritimes also needs to happen in Moore – the town of my church. Furthermore, I have learned that I need the mind of Christ so much. I am so deficient, but many times I fail to acknowledge it and respond accordingly. I, for now, am staying right here in the Greenville-Spartanburg area to learn my place in this temporary world so that I might most effectively lead others to the next.
this is “grace at work”
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