Were not our hearts burning within us?

At the end of Luke’s Gospel, the risen Lord walks and talks with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It wasn’t until later in the day when they learned the true identity of their companion, at which point they exclaimed “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32). Do you know that feeling of your “heart burning within you?” The feeling of intense excitement and joy that is wound so tightly within you and yet is unsuccessful in finding adequate escape in words or actions?

Though maybe not to the extent that these Emmaus road disciples felt it, we both felt this intense excitement deep within us as we encountered our first Gmz people. It happened on the side of the road as we entered into the area where the Gmz live. Our co-worker behind the wheel of the Nissan Patrol pointed across the valley to a group of tin and thatched roofed mud/stick houses, “That is Mandura.” We had been told that Mandura was a central village for one of the primary northern Gmz dialects. Our first glimpse of what may become our “home village” stirred our hearts with excitement. About five minutes down the gravel road and there they were. A group of three women resting in the shade of a large bush and another two under a tree a stones throw away. The extremely dark skin color told us right away – these are Gmz women (in contrast with the lighter skinned highlanders). We pulled over to the side of the road and they immediately approached the vehicle. As our co-worker spoke to them in Amharic (I think asking directions of some sort), we were overflowing with excitement. Here we were, finally, face to face with the Gmz whom we have been praying for, advocating on behalf of, and committing our careers to give them access to Scripture. Our hearts burning within us!

However, though we eagerly wanted to interact with these women, we could not. We were face to face with them, yet separated by the glass of the car window. Like this pane of glass, we can feel the strong barrier that exists right now between us and the Gmz people. We don’t share a common language yet (we start Amharic on June 8th, which will allow us to communicate with some of the educated Gmz). We don’t share a common culture, background, or position in society. There is so much to learn before our work can even begin. Our eagerness wants to break right through that glass and embrace the Gmz people with God’s love, but we know that God does not always work in the fastest, most immediate ways. While our insides were churning with love and excitement for the Gmz that screams for immediate expression, our minds and spirits remind us of the hard work and difficulty that stands between us and the mission we believe God has called us to. Yet unexpressed, our hearts burn.
There are many more stories to tell of our time in the Gmz region which we intend to blog about over the next week or two. Those of you who are faithful to read them all we hope will see God at work, however, not all of these stories we will share are encouraging, or feel-good missionary stories. Nevertheless, we hope that you can praise and petition our God with us whether or not our hearts are burning within us.