Wow, it’s already been two years!? Huh, it feels like the adventure just started yesterday. I can still remember so clearly sitting in the airport, scared out of my mind, waiting to get on a plane that would take me to someplace magical…or awful. I can safely say that it was a wonderful (slightly magical) place. The Father showed me so much beauty in such a dark place. I really enjoyed serving Him overseas as a teacher.
I could write a thick book about all the things I’ve seen, people I’ve come to love, funny stories I’ve witnessed, lessons I’ve learned, but I’ll just keep it simple. The thing the Father has really taught me these past two years is how to deal with the unknown. You don’t. You can’t. You just give it to Him. It’s something I think many of us Western folk can’t deal with well. I know I always am thinking about the future. Worrying about next week, next month, next year; but I rarely focus on today. I rarely focus on what I am doing now. The future is all unknown and you can’t know it until it becomes today. The Father taught me to give up my worries to him and focus only on today. He really will take care of the rest.
How did he teach me this? Well, through the culture and people I lived with overseas. In most Western cultures we have schedules and we follow those schedules. If you don’t follow the schedule, most people get upset. Where I lived a schedule was like the pirate code, more like a guideline really. They’d tell me what they were generally thinking about doing. Then they would change it the day of and tell me 10 minutes before if I was lucky. A lot of times I would get there and they’d say, “You’re going to speak to everyone today. Oh, you didn’t know? It’s okay. You speak English so I think very easy for you.” Haha! I’m an introvert so that was just not okay for me. The Father helped it become okay. He taught me not to worry so much (there was a lot to worry about). If I worried about everything I didn’t know, then I’d have been worrying about everything. I had to learn to just go with it and trust that He would get me through it. He did; he always did.
I’m not going to lie and say that these past two years were all sunshine and rainbows. There were difficult periods and it is easy to feel alone. However, there were so many good parts that I wouldn’t trade my time there for anything. My perspective on life and people has greatly changed. When I see people, I don’t just see people anymore. I see opportunities to love. Every single thing I do can be noticed by someone. Anything I do can show His love to others, no matter how silly it may seem. So I try now to be mindful of what I say, what I do, how I dress, my facial expressions, my body language; it all says something and I want it to say Jesus.
So I’d say if you’re even slightly interested in going, you should go! It’ll be hard and scary, but it will also be so rewarding to conquer your fears and doubts by letting the Father direct your life. It will even be fun! You’ll see so many new things and meet interesting people, most of them you’ll come to love. Don’t worry about all the unknown things you have no control over anyway. He’ll sort it all out for you, just ask Him to. The fact that you’re going is all He wants. So go and love the world in His name.