We Can

Our NN team had our second meeting on Tuesday evening. Everything is really going well. The team is starting to get some really good ideas going and everyone is so enthusiastic. More people are involved this summer because of the implementation of a home team. It's all very exciting. It was and is the goal of NN to have more people not only aware of the program but who want to be involved in any way they can. As it has been previously stated many times, "you don't have to go to be involved...".


With that being said, I am excited to have the opportunity to return to Nigeria. Both trip teams look great this year. Ed King will be leading the Faith Alive team (the team I am on) this summer. He was part of the Anawim, "Poorest of the Poor" team last summer. Even though we were on different teams, I got to know him at the airport ( lots of waiting!) and on the very long flights. He was so helpful and kind to everyone. He will be a great team leader. Alex Sidlak is the team leader this summer for the Anawim team. He is also a returnee. He is a very nice young man. Please check out the recent posting of the pictures of all the team members - home, Faith Alive and Anawin Home.


I had a lot of response to my prior posting about "feeling like a failure". Many people have shared with me that they have felt this way or are feeling this way right now in one way or another. I want people to know that I do know how hard it is to give right now. Some people don't have enough to even take care of themselves. NN is not really about money. Of course we welcome donations to be able to help the Nigerian people in this way. Our church has an exciting idea for Advent this year. It is about water. It is about clean water. And everyone should have clean water. More about this later. But time is also a way of giving, even if it is just from home. One of the NN goals is to build a personal relationship with the people of the Faith Alive and Anawim Home communities. Whatever you can do is important - in your family, neighborhood, community and beyond. For me, it is always about a personal relationship.

It is also important to me to know I can make a difference as just one person. Don't listen to the voice in your head that tells you this is not true. This is the wrong voice. We need to remember that we are the anointed children of God. He has plans for us and they're better than the ones we come up with on our own. If we can just believe in our heart that because of Jesus Christ, we are already victors.


For anyone who is older - you are not done yet! I realize I am not going to the rocking chair just yet! All we have to do is move a little put of our own safety zone to take a step towards God. And from my experience - He will meet you there - wherever that is. God presents us with so many opportunities in our own life to follow Him, but fear keeps us from moving. Of course we will fail sometimes. It is okay. We just don't want our life decisions to be based on fear. Some of us have been told all of of our lives what we can't do. We are told by the world things like we are too quiet, too shy, too loud, too nice, not nice enough - whatever! For me now, our God is a "can do". It's about inspiration and believing that you are a child of God, not about breaking his rules. We are all part of His great master plan, like a single instrument in a large orchestra. There is a pastor I heard recently who said, "Don't die with the music still in you. You can go farther than you think - no matter what hardship you've gone through or how long. God has put seeds of greatness in you." This pastor asks us to call back the seeds inside of us - call back the relationships we have given up on - and to call back the dreams we've pushed aside.


And to the young members of our NN team - what a blessing to be doing what you are doing with your lives right now! Please keep listening to God's call.


Please pray for our church's Nigeria team - that we may realize that we are a team, and that God can work through us to help one another - just like the different parts of our body. I like learning the origins of the words in our English language, many of which are Greek. At mass Sunday, we were told how the word mass actually comes from "mission - to be sent". The word member comes from the Greek word milos - meaning "to be one part of a whole body".


"In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."
Romans 12:5



Teresa Pompa