April Update

April 1, 2009

Dear Team,

Greetings friends and family! Adria and I hope this letter finds you all doing very well. Many people ask us what things we are involved with here at World Impact St. Louis. Quite simply, one of the many things we have the privilege to do is to be professional neighbors.

In the time that Adria and I have been here, we have been very blessed to have such great neighbors. We have had meals together, trips to the store together, and have prayed together—pretty normal things that good neighbors do. But this last month has been a trying time for me. Unknowingly to me, I quite simply offended one of my neighbors. Through a series of misunderstandings, I upset my neighbor to the point that she very heatedly let me know of her anger.

After about 30 minutes of listening to my neighbor vent and praying the entire time, I had a chance to try to clear up the situation. It took her quite a while to calm down, but she finally started to listen and we got the situation back on better terms.

For the first time in almost nine years of living in St. Louis, I had a conflict with one of my neighbors. This really bothered me for a few days as I tried to process the situation and what I could have done better to not offend my neighbor. Then I started to think about this situation in other terms. What was going on deep in my neighbor’s life to cause her to handle this situation the way she did? I started to see a person who has been deeply hurt in life, who has had a life of people doing her wrong, and she had placed me in that same category.

I have continued to be friendly and work to show her love and slowly the walls are coming back down. As hard as I try, I will never be able see my neighbors exactly as Christ does. But, as a follower of Christ and a professional neighbor, I must do my best to see them as Christ sees them and treat them in a Godly and loving way.

Please pray for Adria and I as we do our best to live loving and lasting relationships with our neighbors. Pray that we are sensitive to the past that many of our neighbors have gone through. It is our desire that through us our neighbors will see a visible and understandable reflection of Christ. Also pray that our neighbors would see Christ in a new way and be so attracted to Him that they accept Jesus as their perfect and loving Father. Thank you for your steadfast prayers and faithful giving.

All for our Mighty King

Andrew & Adria Medlen