Q&A Series: Three Pieces of Advice to Aspiring Missionaries

[Photo Credit: The Library of Congress]

After a brief hiatus, the question and answer series continues! Thanks to those of you who have submitted questions. If you would still like to submit questions (anything you can think of), e-mail me at clairececil11@gmail.com.

Question: What advice would you give to other young people who are considering spending a year of their life doing missions?

Since it would be a bit lazy for me to pull a Nike and tell you on the fence to "just do it," I'll pull a fairy godmother and give you three pieces of advice:

1. Commit to at least a year. I know a year may seem like a really long time when you first start thinking about doing missions but it's not. I've been in Thailand for eight months (with the exception of that trip to Laos) and now that I have about four months left here, I feel like the time has flown by. I am SO glad that I had that conversation with that missionary during the initial vision trip in August 2011 that cemented this amount of time into my brain. In any sort of missions environment in the world, it takes time to build partnerships and opportunities to do things aren't always there ready for you the moment you step off the plane. In fact, you may not even be ready when you first start. For example, Liz and I started tutoring the women at Rahab on a weekly basis in January. I would have felt so overwhelmed by my inability to speak or understand Thai and my lack of experience in teaching English had I started this tutoring commitment in June 2012. God knew I would need quite a bit of time before I was ready. Having more time gives you the freedom to be patient.
2. Be ready for culture shock. Culture shock is a bit like jet lag--you never think it will happen to you until it does. Even then, sometimes it's hard to identify what you're experiencing. Despite the name of this blog ("mai pen rai"), I don't always share that easygoing attitude. There have been times where it feels like I'm the only person who truly cares about the quality or impact of something. This is where my American perspective doesn't mesh well with Thai culture. Other times I feel like I'm going to explode if we take one more group picture. Wherever you are serving in the world, your background and your expectations are at some point going to clash with the culture. What matters is how you handle this clash of cultures. I've learned that the wrong way to handle it is to rail against it and I'm still practicing handling it better. It helps to have someone to go through it with you and keep you in check. Speaking of which...
3. Bring someone with you who can keep you in check. I have absolutely no regrets about coming with my partner in crime, Liz. I've known Liz since the summer before my freshman year at UMW. I got a sweet letter in the mail from my Orientation Leader with a Bible verse on it and I knew I needed to get to know this girl. Little did I know back then that I would be spending a year in Thailand living one floor below her! I consider Liz to be my mentor because I can confide anything to her and she doesn't put up with my crap. Everyone needs a person like that in their lives. Oh yes, if possible, bring this person with you to the mission field. It will be good for both of you!!

I found the picture at the top of this post through the Library of Congress. Though it just shows the backs of two American missionaries in Shanghai, I find it really interesting that they are wearing traditional Chinese costumes of the period. For the record, when Liz and I come back to the US, we won't be wearing any sort of traditional Thai costume.

Q&A Series: On Proverbs 16:32

[Photo Credit: Dan Alderman on Flickr]

Question: What Bible verse has been on your heart recently... and why?

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

Proverbs 16:32 (NLT)

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 16:32 (ESV)

Patience is not touted as a virtue in Bangkok. Most taxi drivers illustrate this clearly as they try to maneuver their way through bumper to bumper traffic, making tsk-ing noises, tapping the wheel, occasionally sighing in frustration. What I want to say to them when I can see these ticks and twitches from the backseat is "you signed for this!" and "no one forced you to be a taxi driver in Bangkok!" However, even though I feel like I'm going to meet my Maker almost every time I get in a taxi or sit on the back of a motorcycle taxi, this verse comes to mind and makes me think about the things that draw out my ticks. What unmoving traffic do I rail against as if my anger could actually change anything?

I heard a great sermon by Tim Keller recently called "Forgiving and Forgiven" (I highly recommend you listen to it; I plan on listening to it at least five more times this month) where he says that we have to redirect our anger away from a person but towards a problem. He tells us to ask two questions when we feel angry and impatient:

1. What am I defending? 
2. What am I attacking?

Keller says we must first repent of our selfish defense and comb out selfish parts of our motives in order to ask these questions and be able to redirect our anger appropriately. I used to think it was somehow wrong for me to continue to struggle with the same sins after I became a Christian. Dr. Moore addresses this in Tempted and Tried, "Pretending the appetites are instantly nullified by conversion is a rejection of what God has told us--that we are still in the war zone" (p.73). I thought that my struggle with anger was evidence that spoke against the certainty of my salvation. I let my salvation rest on how well I was following Jesus instead of on who saved me from death, from hell, from meaninglessness. 

How can I respond to this scheme of the Enemy? That's where the self-control comes in. How exactly though does one "rule his spirit"? I can ask those two questions when I feel like I'm losing patience and becoming angry. Sometimes the things I rail against are related to culture shock (you'd think I'd be over that after living here almost eight months...). However, just like the traffic in Bangkok, the things about Thai culture that frustrate me are not going to change just because I don't like them. I can sigh, 'tsk,' shake my head, or blow up all I want but that's not how one looks more like Christ--our ultimate goal in being disciples of Christ.

Keller goes on to say that you have to be continually in worship, constantly meeting with God so that Christ's character grows in you and pushes off the old character. He instructs us to throw off sinful anger! Get rid of it! Do not put up with it in your life.

My prayer for myself and for whoever reads this blog is that you make worship a priority so that when something rubs us the wrong way, we can be of one mind with Christ. Pray that we cling to the Word, meditate on it, and treasure it.

Q&A Series: On Missing Thailand

[Photo Credit: Paolo B on Flickr] 

Well this is day two of the Q&A series! I'm so excited to get to share some more insight into life here and answer some questions that you all have. Keep them coming! My e-mail is clairececil11@gmail.com.

Question: What do you think you will miss the most after you leave? (aside from the people)

Is it lame to say the food? Seriously though. Thai food is the best food in the world and I've lived here for long enough to supposedly have tired of it. I don't think my mouth will ever not water when I think about papaya salad and sticky rice. Or BSC food court chicken fried rice. Or fresh cut mango...the list goes on. And on.

This question is tough because I keep on thinking of who I will miss (e.g. LifePoint church, BSC guesthouse residents, the Thai staff at the BSC, etc) and things related to living in Thailand with other ex-pats/"farangs"--it's instant community. I've heard that's what it's like for deaf people. Wherever they go, they see another person signing and they can instantly strike up (sign up?) a conversation. In Thailand (less so in Bangkok), if you hear another English speaking person, you can chat/commiserate/share with them because they understand your struggles.

Additionally, I think I will miss the platform that I have at the BSC. I talked to my Thai friend Taam last night about my concern over correcting one of my older students who to be polite says "yes, sir" to me (to clarify, a female teacher) every time he responds to something I say to him. Taam said, however, that in Thai culture even if you are much younger than your student, you as a teacher are in a separate category and can therefore correct an older person without risking them "losing face" (being humiliated) and never coming back to your class. I really like teaching adults. They are respectful, fun, and eager to learn and practice English. Now I'm back to talking about who I will miss. Oh well.

I have so much freedom in my classroom that sometimes it's scary how much freedom I have. Aside from making sure I teach what's in the book, I can teach whatever God has laid on my heart. I'm excited about my last week of classes because I'm planning on showing my students a video that illustrates the gospel and then going through a hand-out that has a Thai/English gospel presentation. 

I would love for you to pray that God opens the door for questions and gives me the wisdom to answer those questions.

Q&A Series: On Lessons God is Teaching Me

[Photo Credit: Stuck in Customs on Flickr]

I'm pretty excited about the next couple of weeks because I'm opening up this blog to you and your questions! That's right. Anything you want to know (within reason, obviously) I will do my best to answer.

Question: What is the last lesson that God has taught you?

Good thing the question asks about the last lesson God has taught me because if it was just "what is a lesson God has taught you?" I wouldn't know where to begin.

With the start of the new year, I've been able to get involved in LifePoint small groups. I'm currently in two small groups--one on Sunday afternoons which is open for more people (specifically Thais) to come and ask questions and process David's sermon from that morning. My other small group is on Tuesday afternoons and this is just for LifePoint ladies. We're studying James right now and it's been so awesome to meet with Tiffany and Liz and talk about the things with which we struggle.

Talking openly and honestly about my struggles with sin (anger, selfishness, idolatry, etc...) has produced an interesting effect--I wrestle with sin perhaps more than ever but am more painfully aware of the wrongness of my sinful attitudes and behaviors. It's like prayer and accountability remove the anesthetic that had previously comforted and soothed me (numbed me, rather) as I pulled away from God through acts of disobedience. If it is shocking to anyone that I serve in Thailand and still sin, my inbox (clairececil11@gmail.com) is always open for your questions. Perhaps I'll devote a blog post to it.

Without the anesthetic that allowed me to sin unrepentantly (regret and repentance are two different things), I was subject to my appetites and to my cravings. It was all too easy to justify my lack of contentment, my whininess, my lack of concern for the wellbeing of others. God, in His grace and mercy, doesn't desire that for me, his child. He wants me to look like His Son, Jesus. I'm reading a book right now by Dr. Russell D. Moore called Tempted and Tried (T&T) and God is using it in tandem with the book of James to confront me with the question, would I rather be fed or fathered? 

I know how I want to answer that question. I want to be fathered. I want to submit to his authority willingly instead of dragging my feet, kicking, screaming, and sulking like a child. I want joy in obedience even if on the surface, obedience looks difficult and painful. There's more to it than simply telling yourself to "stop it" so if this is the case, how can I choose repentance (turning away from sin towards God) over sating my sinful appetites?

1. I can pray for wisdom in the difficult moments. I know that the Spirit of God is praying alongside me.
2. Recover a sense of who I am apart from what I want in that moment as defined by the Word of God (T&T, p.72) Though the Enemy would say differently, I am not what I want.
3. As John, an IMB missionary and my boss, said months ago, "say 'yes' to God for one year." Willingly put myself in situations that don't naturally make sense.

I feel like I still struggle with the most basic things. In a conversation with Liz yesterday evening, I expressed a wish that all of this would be easier than it is. Liz responded with wisdom beyond her almost 25 years, "if it were easy, it wouldn't be worth having."

Music Monday: "We Found Love"

But I trust in your unfailing love.

I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

I will sing to the Lord

because he is good to me.

Psalm 13:5-6

I love the idea of Lindsey visiting with these beautiful African people and their reaction to hearing violin music for the first time. I'll bet that because of a language barrier, she and they couldn't really verbally communicate with each other but a shot in the video shows her teaching one man how to play the instrument. She places his hands on the neck of the violin and guides them along the strings. Others shots show her playing with smiling kids and laughing with some of the women.

I want my love for people to look like that. I want trust God more so that I rest confidently rest on the power of the Holy Spirit to do things I can't do on my own. I don't want language barriers to excuse me from being obedient. I want to do more things that are not comfortable for me because through them, God increases my faith. I want to pray in faith for opportunities to trust, to rejoice, and to sing to the One who created me and sustains my life. I want to do these things because I know God is good and He wants good things for his children.