Things I wish I had known before Going:
- Language learning, although hard work, can be FUN! Before beginning the process of moving overseas, I had never put in any effort to learn a second language. It wasn’t until I met my wife (she is an ESL teacher and a lifelong student of culture) that I started to realize that there might be value in learning a second language. Even with her encouragement, coming into this two year commitment the aspect of language learning was easily one of the most intimidating parts for me. Learning the language has taken an immense amount of work and is sometimes exhausting, but it has been worth it in every way. It has been such an incredible way to learn about the people and the culture. So much of culture is revealed through language that I would miss if I had tried to bypass this step. People have also taken my dedication to learning the language as a sign of my desire for relationships with them, and they feel loved by the fact that I am willing to do it. And knowing the language has lead to less limitations in sharing my life and hope with people than I would have experienced otherwise. To anyone thinking of learning a new language, to anyone intimidated by language learning, to anyone going overseas and not sure how much emphasis to put on language--DO IT! It’s amazing.
- A Christ centered marriage will grow stronger through the pressures of transitioning to another culture. There is no need to worry about whether my marriage can hold up under the pressure, because He will faithfully sustain and grow us.
- I wish I had known about the effectiveness of Bible storytelling in oral cultures.
- When I wrote my Thanksgiving Blog on November 26, 2018, I wish I had known how poorly this statement would age: “[I am thankful that] the Timberwolves finally traded Jimmy Butler”. Whoops.
Biggest Lessons learned in my two years as a Goer:
- Handling misconceptions about Jesus - Luke 9:7-9, 18-20. My tendency when I hear the misconceptions that have been spread about Jesus is to begin by analytically attacking those misconceptions. But, this often only leads to arguments and defensiveness. So, I am learning to instead approach these rumors as Jesus Himself did--by skipping over them and revealing His true self through His work and authority. If I am truly striving to walk with Him, and also truly walking openly with those around me, then they will see His work and power in my life. To those who are given the grace, they won’t need the rumors to be analyzed and disproven; they will simply see the truth themselves, as Peter did.
- As my life overseas go more and more busy, I began feeling more and more like my time and ability to fulfill my different roles here became increasingly limited. My team leader, who has been living overseas as a “duel identity person” for more than 20 years, shared with me what he has found to be a key in this role. You have to have faith in God in the things that you are not doing. At first I found this obvious; of course I have to have faith in Him in all things, including the things I am not doing. And yet, I had never thought about it deeply before. It is so easy to have faith in Him in something that I am doing, because I can see what is happening, I even subconsciously feel like I have some sort of control over things. But to have faith in God to work in something that I am not actively participating in to the point where I am at peace leaving it undone… that is difficult
- Ephesians 4:1-6 reads “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (ESV, emphasis mine). The fist thing we must remember is that we are called to unity, and that we need to WORK to be UNIFIED. Co-workers may have different convictions than us; in the face of this it is important that we strive for unity.
- I learned to define success as FAITHFULNESS and striving to be obedient to the Lord in all things
- I learned that God really, truly does speak through dreams today.
- I learned how to reshape my testimony to incorporate concepts of shame and honor and peace
My encouragement to future goers:
- As I was preparing to begin my time as a Goer, a question frequently repeated itself in my mind: “Am I really equipped for this?” I am called to the task of being Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth and making disciples of all nations, but do I have what is necessary to accomplish this mission? To anyone considering Going and asking themselves similar questions, please read Judges 6:11-26. When reading the greeting God gives to Gideon in Judges 6:12, maybe you are like me and your first thought is, “Wow, it sounds like the Lord chose one incredibly man to carry out his work!” But upon further inspection we find out that Gideon was not particularly mighty or brave. In fact, he was considered a weak man from a weak clan. God chose someone who on his own, just with his natural tools, could not accomplish the task given to him. So, when God told Gideon to use “this might of yours” to defeat the Midianites, he could not have been referring to Gideon’s strength or cunning, but to the simple fact that “the Lord is with you”. The success of Gideon’s task hinged on that truth. Spoiler alert: Jesus promised this to be true for us now. So in light of our original question, “are we equipped to do what the Lord is calling us to?” the only “might” that we have--and the only might required-- is the fact that the Lord is with us and has sent us. We know this to be absolutely true in our case because when Jesus gave the task, He said “behold I am with you always, even to the ends of the age” (Matthew 28:20). We know that Jesus is with us, so the one thing that we need in order to accomplish this high task is already ours. And this one thing is not that we are perfectly equipped or have the proper skill sets, but its that despite the reality that we are under-equipped, God does His work through us. It is actually to our benefit that we are weak, because he is made strong. We need not fear. The key to being equipped for work overseas is to continue to commune with the Prince of Peace, and be submitted to Him, and go along with Him in this battle.
--Richard
Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash