A Report of Blessings--A Plea for Help

Well Hello!


Our last blog post to you was sent nearly 18 months ago--sometime the summer of 2010.  Since that time, we have bought a condo in a walkable part of San Diego with restaurants and book and coffee shops nearby. Mark is very much enjoying his job at Point Loma and Nan is teaching a parenting class and has been named a part-time university chaplain at our nearby graduate campus. We feel so happy and so fulfilled and that the Lord is REALLY taking care of us.


This post isn't mainly about us, though. It's about a phone call we got and the thinking it made us do.

Our regular readers (or the readers of the first African Voices book NMI distributed last year) have already met Rev. Ermias Mekuria. He's a bright, deeply faithful husband and father of 3 handsome sons. He and his wife Mulu stayed in our home for a few days when they were doing deputation in Southern California earlier this year and they're just FUN. We laughed, went to a couple of Ethiopian restaurants together, talked about our kids, his wife Mulu had brought packets of exotic spices from home and she and Nancy spent HOURS cooking a delicious Ethiopian dinner--it was wonderful.


Rev. Mekuria is  the Field Strategy Coordinator for the work of the Church of the Nazarene in the Horn of Africa. One of the things we've noticed about Ermias, John Yual who's the District Superintendent for all of the Sudan and others is a not-entirely-explainable JOY that they carry around with them. This isn't "things are going well for me" joy or "I'm headed into the holiday season" joy. This is "The JOY of the Lord is my strength" joy. It has to be. Because things for Nazarenes in the Horn of Africa are really challenging.


That brings us to the phone call. As he does when he's in the US for denominational meetings, Ermias checks in--we're sure he does it with others as well. He called last Monday morning just to say "hello", to give greetings from his wife Mulu and some of our other friends in the Horn. After we'd chatted for a bit, we asked him, "How can we be praying for you?" And he said quietly--"Well you know we're still struggling with the drought and the famine in the Horn. We'd be very glad if you'd pray about that." It was typical of Ermias: no drama, no request for anything OTHER than prayer.


After he hung up,though, we couldn't get the conversation and the images of what our brothers and sisters are going through in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia out of our minds. The fact that OUR lives are so pleasant and that WE are headed into a time of turkey and pie and gifts provided some thought-provoking context for Ermias' prayer.



People handle inequity in different ways. Nan and I are trying to think what God would have us do with the challenges in the Horn of Africa in LIGHT of our blessings. We'll let others decide whether it's wrong for there to be such great disparities. Mother Teresa says the poverty that really matters most is SPIRITUAL poverty--the lack of God's empowering and enriching presence in our lives. Our Ethiopian and Sudanese brothers and sisters are genuinely RICH in faith and in commitment to God, and the church in the Horn of Africa is growing as a result. That said, Africans in the Horn are suffering. Nazarenes in the Horn--pastors and laypeople--are watching their children suffer.


We've always said that your mission field may be your neighbors or someone in your church. If the Lord has laid a burden on your heart and you're going to be preparing gifts for an elementary school or fixing dinner for a needy family or doing something extra nice for one of your own KIDS who's been out of work for awhile, and the Lord tells you that's your mission, then thanks for the difference you're going to make and many blessings.


If on the other hand, you are feeling a special sense of God's blessing this Thanksgiving/ Christmas season and feel the Lord suggesting that you might be part of a miracle for a Nazarene family on the other side of the world, then the rest of this blog post is for you.


As it does often, our church, the Church of the Nazarene, is stepping up and providing a way for compassionate Nazarenes to make a difference in the Horn. Rev.Ermias asked for prayer and of course we would encourage you to do that, but somewhere in Ethiopia or the Sudan right now there is a Nazarene mother or father praying for food and water for their struggling children. By clicking on this link: NCM Horn of Africa Miracle you'll be directed to more information and a way you can contribute to the miracle the Lord wants to do in the Horn of Africa. Just imagine, you enter a number and hit a button on your computer and in a few weeks a Nazarene family gets up from their prayers and looks outside to find bags of food being delivered by truck because of you! 


We feel so very blessed, we've prayed about how to communicate our gratitude to the Lord with funds to put food and water on Nazarene tables there. If you feel moved, we'd encourage you to give as well. Thank you in advance for your faithfulness.


Many blessings, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas,


Mark and Nancy Pitts