Ohio - a mission field?

I’ve had these thoughts running through my mind recently, and I feel like I’ve been afraid to give them more than a few minutes on my mind. Jon and I both felt called before we even began dating, to help people in need. We both have a heart for other cultures, and have spent time separately and together overseas doing work in the name of Jesus. My heart truly aches when I see videos or pictures from Africa, or people around the world – from other cultures – who are in need. How can we help? When can we go? What can we do? God, is this what you want us to do?

I have questions and not many answers at this point. The only thing I know is that we REALLY want to be in the center of God’s will – being his hands and feet on this earth. I guess I also know that I have a passion for other cultures and to help those in need. For years and years now I have assumed that this passion would be played out in Africa, as it has in the past, or in another part of the world. Lately, I’ve been thinking that maybe this passion will play…are you ready for this?...in Ohio! What? Ohio? There are needy people in farm country? Other cultures?

There are a few other cultures here in Ohio that we have encountered. First, take a walk through Rogers on any given Friday and you will find a culture all its own. Rogers is a huge (I’m tempted to go back to my middle school days and use the word “humungous”) flea market, and people come from all over to go to this thing. It truly is a sub-culture around here. This, however, is not the culture I feel drawn to. There is another culture (I’m sure more than one) in Youngstown…a very rough, very poor, and very needy culture. At the moment, I believe Youngstown has the fourth highest murder rate of any city in this country. We live three streets away from Youngstown, and we’ve been warned where not to go after dark. Even people within this culture go on lockdown in their homes a lot of the time because they are frightened of their own neighbors.

We’ve spent the past three Sundays with 150 or so of the people from this city, and we have just fallen in love with them. They are amazing people who, more than anything, are in need of someone to listen to them, and to be open with. They’re looking for someone to hear them and relate to them – struggles with kids, abuse, drugs, alcohol, homelessness, death, etc. We’ve loved being there and sharing time and love with them.

I recently wrote an email to a good friend of mine telling her a bit about how much Youngstown is like Kenya. The poverty, the hair salons, the shops (my favorite shop is the one that advertises on the outside of the building that it sells “Beer, Wine, Cigarettes, Chicken and Beauty Supplies” – all the necessities of life! – it really could be right out of Kenya) and so much more. I then joked and said, “Maybe instead of being missionaries to Kenya, we’ll be missionaries to Youngstown”. I realized almost as I was writing this, and definitely right after I sent this email, that maybe that’s not so much of a joke after all. Maybe God brought us to this area to keep us in this area.

A few of you know God’s sense of humor with me. I always said I would never marry a red-head. (Not sure, why, but I said it.) Most of you know Jon and his hair. I also said I would never live in PA (I thought people from PA were weird – how judgmental was I?!) Many of you know we spent a year and a half living near Philly (and the people were great!). After my parents moved out here to farm country Ohio, I then said, I would NEVER live in Ohio. God, you are a funny one sometimes! But seriously, what if He wants us here – for good, or at least for quite a while? I feel like I would really have to mourn the loss of my dreams of being in Africa. Maybe more than falling in love with the people and the places there, I fell in love with how exotic it was. Isn’t it much cooler to say that you are on the mission field in Africa than it is to say that you are on the mission field in Youngstown, Ohio? It makes me realize how potentially selfish some of my thoughts about missions have been. In it for the “coolness” of the journey…sad. I hadn’t thought about this way until recently.

My main goal – our main goal as husband and wife – needs to be to go where He leads, whether it is overseas, or three streets away. We’ve talked within our community a bit lately about how the US is the biggest mission field in the world now – we are a needy country, on so many levels. I always thought that this mission field was for someone else…but maybe it’s not…

God, lead me. I pray every day by myself and with my children that I just want to trust you – and I do trust you. Show us where to go…Show us what to do…