LESSONS ON MENTORING LEARNED ON THE MISSION FIELD
“Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities, has written, ‘To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude,’You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.’ We all know well that we can do things for others and in the process crush them, making them feel that they are incapable of doing things by themselves. To love someone is to reveal to them their capacities for life, the light that is shining in them. –Lord, help us minister to others in ways that validate and authenticate them as fellow children of God. Keep us from daring to assume that our good fortune is of our own doing or that our ability to serve is anything other than a gift.”
My family and I moved to the beautiful island of the Dominican Republic in the fall of 2007—full of hopes and dreams of growing in our faith and making a difference for God. A verse that sang in our hearts was 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul speaking—“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” I think this verse really captures the idea of mentoring—sharing what we have learned from God and Godly friends with others and encouraging them to do likewise.” Many times on the field this verse has anchored us—reminding us of the Lord’s call to us and of those who He used to mentor us to get us here who continue to believe in us and cheer us on. His love and faithfulness continue to sustain and encourage us to keep on sharing that love and encouragement with others.
Something that became painfully obvious to us early on in our missionary experience is that we really had very little experience with poor people. That should have been obvious to us ahead of time, but it really wasn’t. Looking back, we would have to admit that prior to arriving here; we truly did not “know” anyone who was really poor. So….we began grappling with what the Lord would have us do. And we still grapple with that as we reach out to others here in our mountain community and as we attempt to truly “get to know our neighbors”. And we have been challenged with what is really of help and what is not. Hence the quote with which I began this article. It captures what I believe the Lord has been teaching us here. But as I further reflect on this, I think it really captures the heart of the mentoring relationship as well. And it reminds me of what Paul also said to the Galatians in Chapter 6. Why don’t you take a look at that chapter and I encourage you to ponder the above quote with me and see what the Lord will reveal to us regarding reaching out to our neighbor in Christ-like love. I also encourage you to read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. Our family’s New Years’ challenge is to allow the Lord to empower us live with others as if Jesus really meant what He said in that sermon!!!
Cherry Schwulst
cjndj.schwulst@hotmail.com
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