Agricultural/Environmental Techincal Advisor in Southeast Asia
Sign up for my newsletter
Richard's Blog - My Updates from Southeast Asia
On Entitlement
One thing that professors kept telling us at university was that our generation was plagued by entitlement issues. At the time I felt that I could see what they meant, and I disliked that truth. And yet, it wasn’t until a trip back stateside this December that I began to see the depth of this issue, including in my own life, and had some personal insights into its root. The most significant moment of reverse culture shock I felt during our three weeks in the US was a trip to a SuperTarget store. For the last year on the field I’ve gotten used to needing to schedule at least a couple of... Read more
12 Takeaways from Year 1
As the year comes to a close and a new one begins, I wanted to share twelve key takeaways from my first year living on the field. As with other lists I’ve posted, some points will be more serious, some will be less so; all of them are real reflections of thoughts I’ve had over the last year. Learning any new language is a hard and exhausting process, even the ones they tell you are easy to learn Learning someone’s language is a powerful way to show them that you care, and is 100% worth the effort There is no escaping the bugs in the tropics Righteousness and Justice are incredibly... Read more
"Throw it into the fire. Destroy it!"
Over the past year we have been put in many situations where it seems like the comfortable control of our lives is stripped away from us: living in shared spaces while support raising, support raising in general, living in a home stay in our new country, surrendering time required to language class, living life on the schedule of a different culture, among others. Through this process I have learned a lot, such as how amazing God’s sovereignty is in placing us where he wants us to be, finding more peace in His presence, and growing in my faith in His goodness. But recently The Spirit has... Read more
Faith as a Dual Identity Worker
I came to this country with the intent to work doing something that I am passionate about and trained in--establishing righteousness and justice in the agriculture/agribusiness field and working to see humankind's task of stewarding over God’s creation is fulfilled in a God glorifying way--while also striving to share my personal hope and spread the Good News to those around me. In overseas contexts this is often called working as a “dual identity person”. I think it can also simply be referred to as the daily life of a working believer, but in the realm of overseas kingdom work this “dual... Read more