Episode 6: Exalting Christ on the Mission Field: A Conversation with Elle

7 Jun

We’re thrilled to be joined by a sister who is serving on the mission field today, as we chat through the reality of sacrificially serving for Christ, and humbly serving like him, on the mission field.

Elle is serving as a missionary doctor with AIM, off the coast of Africa. Click here to sign up to receive her prayer updates, or to partner with her financially.

This episode is sponsored by Christian Focus.
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Sarah: You're listening to Two Sisters and A Cup of Tea Podcast, a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book over the course of the season and drive it to our hearts. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we are so pleased that you're here. We're thankful for Christian Focus sponsoring this season. The Scuttlebutt Letters by Natalie Brand is a rare jewel of a book inspired by CS Lewis screw tape letters. It's a small book with a big punch centered around the tongue and the heart. Brand has written something that is not only deliciously playful, but that is also theologically rich and deeply convicting. And with deftly crafted, witty prose, she ultimately leads our convicted hearts and tongues to the sweetest word, Christ himself. We both love this book and highly recommend picking up a copy wherever you get your books.
Felicity: Welcome to two sisters and a cup of tea. My name is Felicity and I'm here in the States. I'm here with my sister Sarah. She's in the UK. And we are so excited to be joined by our guest Elle, who is joining us from England, but she is actually usually in Africa being a missionary. We're pausing our Philippians series just as.
Sarah: We got to the end of chapter two.
Felicity: We're having a kind of tea break, if you like, where we're going to speak to Elle all about life following Christ. Elle, welcome.
Sarah: good to see you.
Elle: Hello. Hello to be here. I'm so excited, honestly, because I've known Felicity and Sarah for like more years than I care to think about, really. We met an awfully long time ago at summer camp. Woo.
Felicity: I know when Sarah and I had both. When Sarah and I had both very recently come to faith. Really for both of us. I think you were there, there in the early days, and it's been a long time since we've been in person because, well, there are numerous things. So you are a doctor who is currently working as a doctor, but as a missionary on an island off the coast of Africa with Africa inland mission. And you've been doing that for about three years. But I feel like ever since I met you, you've been talking about this kind of thing. So it's no surprise that's where you are.
Sarah: Yeah.
Felicity: How do you spend? Is that a fair description? What else would you add to that?
Elle: Yeah, I mean, that's perfect. It's quite a complicated one to talk about because I could just say I'm a missionary. But I think you get a certain idea in your head about what a missionary is and where I work, it's a creative access country, so creative access means it's somewhere where you're not allowed to be a missionary traditionally, so you have to find creative ways of accessing the community, hence creative access. Therefore I'm working there as a doctor, and I am a doctor. I go to the hospital several days a week. So it's not just a cover story, it is what's called my platform work. But then while I'm at the hospital, I'm trying to be salt and light there. And then while I'm not at work at the hospital, I'm in the community befriending, trying to find people who are open to the gospel so I can then share with them in a more private and secure way and hopefully find people who are open to lead to the Lord and to disciple. Yeah. So, missionary doctor, I guess, but, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sarah: Tell us, al, what are the tea and biscuit steaks over where you live?
Elle: It's a bit disappointing. So. Well, so it's. Well, so we, the islanders, do have their own version of tea. Version.
Felicity: As soon as you say version, it doesn't sound like a copy of.
Elle: Well, it's various leaves kind of stewed up in a pot. It's quite nice. And they usually add ginger and things like that, but it's not. I mean. So then the only one you can. The only black tea you can get is Lipton yellow label, which, luckily, I don't mind. I'm not that fussy about tea, but I have to say, if somebody's going. If somebody's coming over from the UK or going through Kenya. Kenya has great tea. They grow tea in Kenya. It's wonderful. I usually get them to bring a big bag of tea bags for me, just. Yeah, to sort me out. But, yeah, biscuits, actually, not terrible. It's one of my. One of my little hobbies I've developed is tourist snacking. So trying out various snacks and biscuits that I can find in the local shops and finding, like, local versions of things. So I found something that's a bit like a bourbon. Wow. I'm enjoying that. I haven't found anything to replace custard creams yet, which is my favourite. Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah. So I'll keep working on that. I'll let you know. Yeah. Keep us updated.
Felicity: So I said, when I introduced you, I said, well, from very early on in, knowing you, I think you were talking about your desire to become a missionary at this point. We were kind of early twenties, just kind of trying to work out life. And how did you get to the point of becoming a missionary? So that was kind of like we were kind of all. We're all messy in our early twenties, aren't they? But now here you are 20 odd years later and you're a missionary on the mission field. How did you get to that point? What's been the journey from desire to reality?
Elle: So I knew very early on I became Christine in my teens. I grew up in a non christian family, but came. Came to Christ through camp, through our summer camp, and knew very early on that I was called to go abroad. That was. That much was clear. But as you say, you're a bit messy, aren't you, until the Lord has chosen to reveal things to you. So I just thought that meant going abroad and just being helpful. And so I went off on my gap year to northern Sudan just to help teach English. And it was there that kind of things were clarified about the importance of actually getting the gospel out into communities, crossing cultural barriers, and particularly these needy places where there are not enough Christian’s to do it. So unreached people groups. An unreached people group is a people group. So people who have a language and a culture in common and there aren't enough local Christian’s to viably witness to their community. And so the Sudanese Arabs are one such group. And so I met people doing creative access work, working as teachers, doctors, engineers, and then befriending people in the community. And that was kind of what clarified to me. Oh, yeah, this is what I want to do. And I was already signed up to go to medical school, so I already had a potential way of doing that. And I was up for a bit of an adventure. So it kind of was more a kind of, well, they need more people to do it. And I don't. I don't really have a decent reason to say no. That was kind of the way it was like, right, okay, this is. This is important. And then I just spent ages completing medical training because it just takes a long time. So I wouldn't say it's necessarily the right path for everybody, but Africa, inland Mission said that they really felt that I should stay in the UK until I'd fully trained up to be a consultant. That just took a long time. I got ill in the middle of it. I got pretty ill. I got cancer. So that kind of put things on hold for a little while, then. Praise the Lord. I was given the all clear after my treatment, so then it was just a case of finishing up medical training, doing some Bible training and then leaving. Yeah, I would say I spent a bit of time looking around for an organization that had the gospel work at its heart. That was the other thing. I was really keen to make sure that I didn't end up with a company who were just sending people just to do kind of secular work, practical help, because although that is important, obviously you very easily just get sucked into doing that, just doing that and not actually doing any gospel work. So that's where aim, for me were a good choice. Yeah, that was kind of how it happened for me. Yeah. Wonderful.
Sarah: It's just wonderful to hear your journey there and your testimony to the Lord's faithfulness actually through that time, isn't it? Because that's a long preparation time, isn't it? And for the Lord to kind of stay your heart and continue to give you that desire to go abroad and to serve through all that training, that's big, isn't it?
Elle: That's significant.
Sarah: So give us a day in the life, Elle, of where you're at and what it looks like on the ground.
Elle: Yeah. So we tend to get up pretty early because life happens when it's light in our community. So kind of 536 o'clock, people are out on the streets right outside your window shouting. So you wake up with them, which is great because it gets me up. I'm not a very good morning person, but I'm learning to be harsh reality. So, yeah, cup of tea and a quiet time. And then mornings I'm either at the hospital or in team meetings or working at home. And then once that's morning, into early afternoon and then after a lunch and a little break during the hottest part of the day, afternoons is the best time for visiting. So that's where I go off and just try and follow where the Lord is leading to a friend's house, either for a chat or sometimes I'll have a session arranged to study the word with somebody. So that's kind of the afternoon. And then evenings I'll cook with my housemate, we'll eat together and pray together, and then we're normally in bed by 09:00 to be honest, that sounds quite.
Felicity: Nice to be delightful.
Elle: And amazingly enough, it makes it easier to get up in the morning.
Felicity: I know. So just on the kind of detail. So your community know that you're a doctor?
Elle: Yeah.
Felicity: But do they know that your purpose is to share? Obviously they know that because you are seeking to share. But you say that you seek to do that in privacy and insecure setting. So that must be quite a hard thing to kind of navigate, like as to when you choose to speak and when you choose to not. And how do you.
Elle: Absolutely. I think we really. We are really reliant on the spirits leading. I mean, we can talk. We can. We can talk more about this, but our team have really been trying to focus on abiding in Christ, taking that idea from John 15, and not just a quiet time in the morning, but trying to listen to him throughout the day, because we're totally reliant on his wisdom. But it does say, doesn't it, in James, that he will not fail to give wisdom to those who seek it. You just pray, and then you have to just trust that he'll protect you and that the people that you're speaking to are not actually out to cause trouble. And I think what's become clearer to me as I've been there is that the vast majority of people are not aggressively anti Christian. It's more an authority level. So as long as you're kind of below the radar, you can actually be surprisingly open. I've studied in people's workplaces with them, even out on the street a little bit. That's not the ideal. The ideal would be in a home, but it's, you know, I just. I feel like the Lord has protected us amazingly well, but, yeah, at various points and, yeah, because you've got to get out there and do it. You know, we can't just hope that people somehow understand the gospel through the. Through the way I work at the hospital. You know, it's amazing. The Lord does grant dreams and visions to people, and they. They might discover, you know, the Bible on the Internet or meet Christian’s that way. But for most people, it's going to be through a contact, and so they have to know that I'm a Christian and they have to know that I'm open to reading with them. So we just trust that as long as we're being. Not being aggressive and we're not being disrespectful, that people won't cause trouble for us. And so far, so good. Yeah. Because it is in the back of your mind that may come a time when we're asked to leave, and we've got to be okay with that. Yeah. And actually, yeah, that's. If that's the price you pay for having a few good years of ministry, then that's fine. Yeah.
Sarah: Give us a flavour, then, of an encouragement and a challenge, maybe.
Elle: I have been so encouraged by seeing the word change hearts with very little effort from me, to be honest, just seeing, just people reading it for themselves and just encountering Jesus in its pages. And I think it's something that, it's something, I wasn't used to reading the word with non Christians before I came out, and I was a bit sceptical. I was like, well, you know, you can't expect people to understand it, or you can't expect people to want to read it if they're, if they're not Christians, particularly where, where I am, you know, that they, they believe that it's a Muslim people group, so they believe that the Bible's been changed and that the, you know, it's got, it's blasphemous and, but I've just been overwhelmed by people's willingness to read, to open it and read it and then seeing them, seeing the word do its work, which, when you're somebody who's still struggling to speak the language, you know, I can't be explaining things to them. So actually, just seeing the word do its work has just been such an encouragement. And we. Your last, I think your last series was in John. That was the last series, wasn't it? The second. Your second part, John. And just finished reading John with a new believer. When she started, John, she wasn't a believer. And just through reading it and seeing, reading those signs and seeing what, you know, John says and that by believing, you'll have life in his name. And that's what's happened for her.
Felicity: Praise the Lord. That's wonderful. Wonderful.
Elle: Yeah, it's just seeing it. Yeah. Seeing it in action, actually. Yeah. Seeing it happen. I wouldn't have believed that I would be doing that. Yeah. And it's not through, as I say, it's not really for you. Very little effort, my own. It's just, you know, opening it up and giving it to them. So it's, I'm a lot less scared of opening the Bible with non believers now, you know, in terms of, I think we're very scared of causing offense. It's scared of people thinking it's, I know, too difficult to understand or various things or how they'll judge us for it. And actually, I'm not, I'm not scared of that anymore. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Sounds pretty easy.
Felicity: I mean, basically just wander around with.
Elle: The bike and it's like, oh, right, so, yeah, great. Wow. So you did say, so what are the challenges? I think, I mean, it's a difficult place to live. There are problems with water, problems. With electricity. It's a very kind of close community. So people are in your house all day every day or, you know, expecting to see you all day every day and difficult language to learn and it's hard and it's dusty and there's no. None of the food that you recognize. So. So, I mean, it can. You know, when I put it like that, it can sound very challenging, but I think therefore the encouragements are the sweeter because that they're the things that make you go, oh, yeah, no, that's why I'm doing this. Yeah. Makes it worse and.
Sarah: Yeah, yeah.
Elle: So I think that. So I think the challenge really is keeping the main thing. The main thing and not getting bogged down in these things, but recognizing, actually. Yeah. Where our true joy is found, because that's something that can't be taken away and we may have discomfort and we may have struggles and we may have embarrassment in language learning. And, yes, there was one day somebody asked me, I thought she was asking me how old I was, and she was actually asking me how many children I had. So when I said 39, it was quite the eye opener. Yeah. That's so brilliant. That's a good one. Yeah. So we talk about dying to sell, and there's definitely that sense that you have to kind of let go of finding joy in kind of being an impressive person because you don't know what you're doing, you don't know how to. When you arrive, you don't even know how to cook. You can't even have to clean, how to do anything. You're like a newborn again. So your joy in those things is taken away, but again, therefore, it's replaced by the thing that can't be taken away, an identity in Christ. So talk to us.
Sarah: So let's dig into that a bit more. Elle.
Elle: Sorry.
Sarah: Say your real name.
Elle: I'm not going to say it. Yeah.
Sarah: So we've been thinking a lot about the mindset of Christ through the book of Philippians and just, I guess, just kind of what does it look like to really hold fast to that mindset where you're exalting Christ, even. Even through those really hard challenges? What practically does that look like when it just feels like you're having a really hard week or a hard month or, you know, whatever it is, talk us through that kind of process for you, of grasping and holding onto that mindset.
Elle: Yeah. Yeah. I think you have to take it back to him, don't you? You have to be honest with God about the struggles because he's not. He knows us, so we can't hide anything from him anyway. And this is where I love the psalms and how often they're just really frank with God about their struggles and that, I feel like, immediately lightens it a bit, just. Even just vocalizing it and just knowing that God recognizes that and recognizes. Yeah, recognizes our struggles, but, of course, then remembering that we have a high priest who has gone through everything we've gone through already, you know, he is familiar with our sufferings and, yeah. Pressing into him. And I think that's rereading Philippians before we had this chat. I think that was. It was something that struck me that where it talks about, you know, your mindset should be the same as Christ. At the beginning of chapter two, Paul starts by saying, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, any comfort from his love, from this, you know, from the unity in the spirit, and it's like, yeah, if you have. Can you. Do you have any encouragement? Of course we do. The best thing that could possibly have happened to us. So it's like, yeah, that's. It's a joy that can't be taken away. We have reunited with Christ. We have a certain hope in heaven. So the more you kind of dwell on those things, actually, the less the sufferings and the struggles theme, you know? And. But you have to. Therefore, you have to be intentional about that instead of dwelling on those other things. You've got to be remembering and, like, choosing to remember the glorious truths. So that. And that does take. That definitely takes practice. I think that's something that I continually have to learn, is that it doesn't. I don't. I don't naturally want to go and read my Bible a lot of the time, unfortunately. And I think it's just a battle that we have for our whole lives, but choosing to do it, choosing to go and to assist at the mercy and to find and to remember and to. To practice those truths is just. It's just so wonderful. And the more you do it, I think the more you do want to do it as well. I think that is definitely true, isn't it? So, yeah, just choose. And this idea of abiding, as I mentioned before. Yeah, just choosing to spend time with Jesus, that's then where more and more of your joy and your delight is found, isn't it? Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the size of your heart. So, yeah, yeah, it's really, really helpful.
Felicity: Just even just to kind of articulate what it is. And the challenge, again, like the kind of hardness of what it is to the battle to do that, but then also how you then kind of walk through that. Now you are far away Africa, but you are in partnership with numerous people in England. I know. And obviously you have your team over in Africa, and partnership is a big factor in Philippians. This idea that we're partnering with one another. What does partnership in the gospel look like for you and why is it important? I'm assuming it is important. What does that look like?
Elle: Yeah. It's paramount, isn't it? I mean, we don't do this on our own. You have to have people that you're connected with, partly financially, but more importantly, prayer. I think nothing will happen, really, in our people group unless there are people praying for them. And so I'm reliant on the people I know on my prayer warriors at home, people who are amazingly faithful and passionate about praying for people they've never met. That's kind of the. The most exciting thing about. About partnership to me is, yes. This. This idea that I am an extension of their work in a way, or we are. We are all involved in the work that God is doing in this people group. And I'm just kind of the face of it. Just the kind of the feet on the ground bit of it. Yeah. So I love that because it's wonderful. It's such an encouragement to see the body of Christ at work in that way. People who. Yeah. Are passionate about seeing that, seeing the gospel proclaimed and received and going out into the nations. Yeah.
Felicity: And I think, you know, Paul talks about it in Philippians that he says at this very start there, I pray with joy every time I remember you. And I think whenever you're. Whenever your prayer emails pop into the inbox, there's definitely a rejoicing in this partnership, in the gospel going out. You're serving the Lord and I get to know about it and pray for it and give to it, whatever. That's just very real. And, yeah, we're grateful for the opportunity, I think, to partner with you.
Sarah: It's just such a privilege, isn't it? I think that's. And that's the Lord's work in all our hearts, isn't it? But actually, like that we can feel connected to the work that you're doing out there and feel connected to some of your team even though we didn't met them.
Elle: Yeah.
Sarah: The privilege of being able to lift you up and. Yeah. Yeah. Just. That's precious, isn't it? It's precious.
Elle: Yeah.
Sarah: Elle, what does it look like? If people would like to partner with you off the back of this conversation, what are the next steps there? What does that look like?
Elle: Well, yeah, first of all, that's amazing. If you do off the back of one conversation you're listening to. That's. Yeah. Thank you. I think the easiest way is to go through my page on the website, which I'm hoping we can somehow put a link to.
Sarah: Yeah, we'll link to that in the show notes.
Elle: Yeah. Yeah. And that way you can just sign up to receive my prayer letters or you can sign up to support me financially. But I'm fully supportive financially currently. So if you have other things to give to. Yeah, do that. But, yes, I am always looking for more prayers. Join the chat.
Sarah: Well, on that note, then, how can we pray for you where times already run out, which just feels so sad, but how can we pray for you as we close this conversation?
Elle: Yeah, so I think there. So there are two big areas that we, as a team, we got together for a prayer retreat, and we identified two big areas where we really are looking for breakthrough on the islands. One of them is unity in the body. So it's unfortunate. The local church is tiny, but already there are rifts. There is suspicion, which is completely understandable in this kind of difficult, kind of dangerous society. So we would love to see more unity. We'd love to see reconciliation and repentance and forgiveness for a stronger local church that can grow more healthily and produce leaders and. And be sending people out itself. And then the second area is families. We really want to see. Want to see more families coming to know the Lord together. So they've got a ready made support group. We've had quite a few isolated believers, and it's. We rejoice, obviously, in anyone who comes to Christ. But it's wonderful if this. If they've got support and people to go on that journey with them, and then. Yeah. So more wisdom for the believers who have non believing spouses, wisdom in how to teach their children this idea of families learning together, those would be the two big things that we're praying for this year.
Sarah: Wonderful.
Felicity: Why don't I pray? Why don't I pray now as we close? Heavenly Father, we praise you so much for the joy of partnership in the gospel. Thank you for the ways in which you're answering prayers over where Elle is serving. We praise you for giving us a glimpse into what it is to proclaim Christ in that place and for the ways in which you involve your people in your work. And we thank you for Elle. We pray for her and for the work that she's doing. We pray particularly into those things that she has mentioned there. We pray for unity amongst the church body. We see that so clearly in Philippians. And so we pray that there would be unity in one spirit, that these guys would strive together for your name's sake. And we pray as well for families. We pray for family units to come to faith. Please, Father, would you soften the hearts of husbands and wives and children? We pray that you'd give Elle and her team real wisdom as they work out who to speak to, when to share. We pray for Elle, particularly as she finishes up home assignment. Please, would you strengthen her, sustain her, refresh her in the Lord? We pray that you'd lift her eyes to Jesus, that she might love to know him better, that her love would abound more and more in depth of knowledge and insight, and that you would lift her eyes to you all the way. And we pray this in your name. Amen.
Elle: Amen.
Sarah: Elle, it's been such a joy to have you with us today. And just, I think like, yeah, you're a testimony to the examples we've been thinking about through the letter of those who are serving wholeheartedly. And it's just such a joy to chat with you tonight. For those listening in, do click the link in the show notes where that'll take you to Elle's prayer updates where you can sign. Sign up for those. I really recommend you signing up and yeah, joining with her in praying for that work. And we look forward to seeing you next time where we'll be heading into chapter three, and we can't wait to get into that. We'll see you then.
Felicity: See you then. Bye bye.
Sarah: As ever, we're really thankful for the sponsorship of Christian Focus this season.