C-mail: Simple update. Sorry, no cool story this time.

Howdy all!

It's been great to hear from so many of you and simply to hear what's been going in your lives. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see some of you soon before I take off. And about taking off....

There are some new folks on the C-mail distribution, welcome!. As such, let me bring everyone up to speed and give a brief overview of the next few months. This last April, I had the privilege of taking a brief survey trip in one of the barrios (hillside slums) of Caracas, Venezuela. I went for the purpose of visiting a team of folks living and ministering there with a missionary group called InnerCHANGE. There I got to see and experience a bit of life among those in the barrios and what ministry in that context looks like. After returning back to Boise, some deliberation and a lot of prayer, I committed to join InnerCHANGE in Caracas for at least two years. Lord willing, I'll be there by early October.

As such, I'm currently in the preparation phase of moving down there. This includes support raising (prayer and financial), learning Spanish, reading about missions, and praying to be ready. This summer is going to full of travel as well. In early July, part of our team from Caracas and myself will be up in Northern Washington state for a training there. I'll also be doing a trip though California for support raising, visiting, and wedding attending in late July and early August. From the middle of August to the middle of September, I'll be in Guatemala for language school and hopefully getting to a point where I actually know what I'm saying in Spanish and not just pretending. In the end of September, the InnerCHANGE orientation in San Francisco takes place and finally after that, it's time to move down and start living in Caracas. It is a packed summer, but the end goal is so worth it. Even just writing this makes me excited! So that's the plan. If you're in California, Idaho, or Washington and would like to catch up, let me know.

As for future updates, if you are reading this, you are on my update/mailing list. Once I'm in Caracas, I'm hoping to send out updates monthly. Now I know some folks are huge into email and others would rather eat a bug than get on their computer. So, you have two options to receive updates. Either you can keep getting them via email, or you can get them in physical form in your mail box. Either option is wonderful, just pick whichever works best for you. If you want real letters, just let me know your address and you can pick them up as your friendly postal worker drops them off. If you would prefer email, you're already golden.

I hope this finds you all well. Let me know how you're doing too. It is always great to hear how everyone is doing and to encourage each other. Have a great week, seek the Lord and
Press on for Joy!
Cameron



Ok, so I said no story, but I just can't help it. However, this isn't my story. It was one I heard at Urbana that first got me interested in InnerCHANGE. Corrie is currently on the team in Caracas and has been there for almost three years now. This is one of her experiences of God's pursuing grace:

Last year I was held up by a young street thug who tried to take the gold ring off my finger. They got the purse I had on my shoulder, but after that, because they didn¹t have guns and seemed to be in a hurry, I was able to put up a fight with the ring, and the guy wasn¹t able to get it off my hand. The ring itself was inexpensive, but was a gift from my parents that I¹d been wearing since I was 13! Clearly it meant a lot to me to save my ring, but needless to say, I was definitely roughed up and scared as they ran away. In my nearly three years in the barrios, it was the first time I was held up ­and in my own neighborhood! That wasn¹t a good day. Though, fortunately, it wasn't the end of the story.


Several weeks ago, we were told that one of the street thugs in our neighborhood had been shot and was in the hospital. It was Calimero - the very guy who had held me up several months earlier. In those ensuing months, Calimero had been terrorizing the neighborhood, and the more we heard about him, the more we learned of his story. Davíd (his given name, before he took the street name Calimero) had basically grown up on the streets as an orphan. His brothers were in jail or had been killed, and his sister was a prostitute farther up the hill (can this story be real? I think to myself). So, with nothing to hope for and no life to believe in, Calimero fell into what surrounded him: the drugs and violence of the streets. Though most people around here have watched him grow up, fed him, and even tried to help, now that he has chosen this path as an adolescent, they all seem to be waiting for him to be killed off in the streets. No one believes there in is any more hope for him in this life. "May God forgive him," they say, "because I won't."


Darling, a friend from the neighborhood, invited us to visit Calimero in the hospital with her. When we finally saw him lying in that hospital bed, we were given a picture that will stay with me forever. We walked in, my team leader John, my teammate Ryan, and I (all of whom Calimero has robbed), and all stood around Calimero's bed. We were all a little awkward, and maybe a little scared. But soon we were all talking, laughing, holding his hand. We prayed for him; we prayed over him. They were just simple prayers, but so deep. We were thanking God for his life as we shared smiles and small jokes. We got to tell him that as a team we had been praying for God to spare his life, and that this was an answer to our prayers. We got to tell him that we cared about him and about his life. The grace of forgiveness was alive in the room, as if God had put on flesh and was walking among us. In fact, we were Christ¹s forgiveness alive in that room.


At the very end as we were saying goodbye, I squeezed his hand and held it. And I realized: Calimero was holding my hand - the same hand from which he tried to rip my promise ring to sell on the street for $3.00 just several months before. And because God is good, there we were again; able to tell him with love through just a glance that he's forgiven... in the very deepest sense of that word. To feel him holding that hand in such a different way and to hear him say as he looked me in the eye, "Gracias, Corina..." The gift of God for Calimero blew me away.


We don¹t know what will happen with Calimero's life. Nevertheless, I can celebrate the privilege it is to have been invited into his fear and pain and to share hope and life and something so much better... that's why I have wanted to be here, doing this.

There's much that has happened since this, but I'll share it later.

A schooling in generosity

I got back from New Staff Orientation with CRM (Church Resource Ministries, the parent organization of InnerCHANGE) on Saturday afternoon. It was an excellent time of learning about and from this particular organization of believers. I greatly appreciate their emphasis on relationships and moving according to God's directing and not according to projects or results. I was blessed immensely by their fellowship and love of God.

While I learned many things at the orientation, I was struck by the hospitality of the house where I stayed. The woman of the house was abundantly gifted in generosity. She is the mother of one CRM staff and supports many different missionaries (with the goal of supporting one on every continent). She has always had her house open to whomever has been in the area and needed a place to stay. She even keeps her son's old car to give to anyone staying at her home. And yes, the ultimate, she once gave the shirt right off her back. (I'm guessing she had one on underneath but she didn't mention in it the story.)

I mentioned to her that I had a missionary friend in Peru in need of a laptop, nothing fancy but something that would work. I thought she might know someone who had one. Instead, she gave me an old one she hadn't used in years. It works great (aside from a dead battery) and I'm excited to get it functioning in Spanish and off to my friend soon.

One phrase she used often was "You can't outgive God". She lives it and God proves it.

I can only wish and pine to be as generous as that. Her life and how she gives challenged me. It showed me there not only one way to give all, sell to the poor, and come to follow Jesus. With radical giving like that, she is living that call out; everything she owns is God's. God continually is meeting her needs along with the needs of so many others around the world. Even though she "has" much, she treats it with the attitude of a stranger and sojourner in this world.

Along with her own life, I was struck by the way God is moving in so many of the CRM staff. Many of them are older (as in over twice my own age), but instead of settling and slowing down their lives, God is changing everything. Their hearts, their locations, their positions, etc. It is scary but also so refreshing to see God still messing with us no matter our age, occupation, or location as long as we are open and wholly surrendered to Him.

I say this as an encouragement to all. Open yourself up to God, submit all of you. Your life, your stuff, your attitudes, your relationships, your goals: all of it to God. Who knows where He will take you. Personally, I still can't even plan out this summer, and after two years in Caracas.....???? However, what an exciting, deep, and wonderful journey of life to make beside and following our Savior. Seeking that is to press on for Joy!

Off to LA

I'm off to LA for this next week for new staff orientation with Church Resource Ministries. InnerCHANGE is a part of CRM and I need to become staff with them first before I can really join InnerCHANGE. This is the first official step to getting down to Caracas. Prayer during this week and for the rest of this summer of preparation would be much appreciated. Pray for wisdom, open ears, and a good attitude even in the midst of big changes. If you're in LA, I might be able to hang out during the first part of the week since our evenings are pretty free. Call me if you're interested and

Press on for Joy!

Peru vs. Venezuela

Going into this exploratory trip to Caracas, I knew I would have a huge temptation to compare what I was experiencing with my past experiences in Peru. And I did. I'm sure I sounded like a broken record referring back to how things were in Peru. How can one avoid making comparisons between two countries on the same continent, my only two times out of the country (Canada doesn't count, sorry).

I want to compare the two just to get it out of my system and hopefully illuminate some other characteristics about them. Also, I have to note that this comparison is more a comparison of trips and not countries. I only saw very small parts of each country and had very brief contact with their culture. Take it all with a grain of salt. Speaking of salt...

Food
Peru wins, hands down. Lots of food, and it is really really good. Culturally, in Peru you have to eat everything on your plate, and possibly the plate next to you. There was a standard staple of rice, potatoes and chicken but in multitudes of flavors and styles. The best chicken in my life I had in Peru. Also, with a large Chinese population, there is a lot of great cross over.

Venezuelan food, is actually very simple. There is no spice at all to it. The typical plate is black beans, rice, fried plantains (very good) and maybee an egg or too. Arepas are also the distinctive dish of the country. Essentially, they are 3-d corn tortillas (more ball shaped) and are fried and cut open to be stuffed with practically anything. I will say there is a lot of great fresh bread that is infinitely better than the bread I had in Peru. Also, quantities tend to be modest and I couldn't tell any specific cultural etiquette for eating (ie, leave food on plate, eat all of it, smear it on the face of the person to your right, etc.)

Culture
In Peru, greetings and salutations were very culturally defined. If you meet a guy, either for the first time or for the 10,000th, as a guy, you go up, shake hands and briefly hug. Same for leaving. For a guy greeting a girl, first time or 10,000th time, you walk up and do the kiss with the cheek. You part company in the same way. Girls kiss in a similar fashion as well. Whenever anyone walks in the room, everyone greets them. Whenever someone leaves, everyone says goodbye. Pretty structured and easy to follow.

In Venezuela, greetings and salutations are not tied with nearly as much structure. Since I was in the barrios, there were the cool hand shakes with the guys but I couldn't follow all of them. Also, with the girls, I soon found out that you shake hands on the first greeting and then, if appropriate, you can do the kiss greet on the second encounter and there after. It's ambiguous like American culture is ambiguous. That can lead to more mistakes, but I'm sure once I get more comfortable with the people and language, it can be a lot more insightful and humorously awkward.

Also, Peruvians are notoriously late. Like up to 3 hours . . . for a wedding. Even the President of Peru has demanded that the populous be more punctual. In Caracas, it seems that when people say meet at 4, they mean pretty close to four, perhaps 10-15 mins late at most. Plans change, in both countries, all the time, but as long as you let folks know, there are no problems. (I think everyday I was in Caracas, one plan changed, if not two).

Weather
I can't honestly comment since I haven't been in either place for a full year, but I will say this: Lima is a major desert, so much so that nothing grows on the hills. Caracas is close to the Caribbean and four degrees off the equator. All the hills are covered in green vegetation. I will say Caracas as a city is much more beautiful than Lima, but much more humid as well.

People
It is very easy to generalize people from far away, either in memories or emotions. When I look back at Peru, I have very good general impressions of the people there. Reflecting on the reasons has brought me to a few conclusions. First, half of our team was Peruvian. They were of college age and maturity. It was neat to have that bond across culture. Also, they were Christians. I know now that being brothers in Christ makes a huge difference. In fact, it seems that most of the people we spent significant time with in Peru were Christians. Before going there, it seemed everyone in the states had some uncle or cousin that was a missionary down there. Churches abounded on the streets and World Vision reached many kids where we stayed. I see that I was able to make such great connections with many of the people there precisely because they were my real brothers and sisters in Christ.

Venezuela is a different story. I made awesome friendships with the folks at InnerCHANGE. Deep and fun community was such a blessing to encounter. However, I didn't have much of a chance to make many good friends outside of InnerCHANGE. First, my spanish was in trouble. They speak much faster and more "ghetto" (if you'll pardon the term) than what I learned in Peru. Also, I met many people, but not any single person or family on a continual basis. So the relationship building through repetition was not accessible. Also, I wasn't living with a family which puts you in very close contact in what is possibly, in my mind, the true test of friendship: boredom. Any two or group of people who are comfortable enough to be bored (that is not feel the need to entertain or engage in any particular diversions) with each other and not quit each others presence, they have something special.

Now in spite of the technical difficulties of making deep friends on this trip, I think there was something else at play. I'm not sure that I could be great (on many mutual levels) friends with anyone who does not share the same foundation as myself, that is Christ. Note that love for people is not specifically linked to any measure of friendship. Jesus calls us to love our enemies, and he calls us to love one another. So although I may love someone who is not a Christian, I can't see myself having a perfect friendship with them unless we are pursuing the same goal.

At the same time, Jesus reminds me that He loves people just as they are, but He loves them enough to make them our brothers, so that true brotherhood, love, and friendship can flourish. Jesus also reminds me how I was out of fellowship from Him as well, but He didn't shirk away and instead pulled me into the family just the same. For myself, it seems like a selfish, but very good motivation for evangelism: I just want good friends. Even the angels party it up when a sinner repents; they know the future parties will just be that much better.