[month three]

On short term mission trips, events are planned for you, projects are scheduled, and life is pretty formatted (even down to what you wear on which day...). But living in Thailand is not like that at all. Since I am here for a year, I really am building a life. I am investing in people, learning the language, working to understand the culture and assimilate to all things "Thai-style". Soon after I arrived, I thought I had arrived. I thought I had things mostly figured out... but culture shock is sneaky like that. Sometimes the force of it doesn't impact you right away. I've now officially lived here three months, and two things I can say with certainty are: 1. I know far more than I did three months ago, and 2. I still don't know very much.

I would like to share some of the things I am learning in (what seems like) a perpetual negotiation of where I am, where I want to be, and how Thailand fits into it all.

Western and Eastern thought really do clash in a lot of ways (can I say such a thing with only having been here three months?). The challenge I am finding is learning how to operate effectively and healthily within this new context. I can't expect everything to work like it does in America. It doesn't, and it won't. However, I do believe that God has given me gifts and that those can be used to improve small areas over which I am responsible.

In college, if I wanted to be involved in a club, all I had to do was sign my name to a clip-board and a flurry of emails would be sent. I would probably be personally contacted and a list of ways to connect to the club would be at my fingertips in written and electronic formats. At Church, if someone even overheard you whisper that you wanted to volunteer, or were willing, then a phone call was made to follow up with you. That's the Western Way. We have the spots and slots well oiled, and the plan to put you in them down to a T.

It's not the same here. It's not that people don't want help, or that ministries are complete (that is not the case!), but there isn't always a clear way to go about physically connecting. If you want to be involved with something, it's up to you to figure out how to go about doing it.

Two missionaries have mentioned to me that they believe communication, or miscommunication, rather, is an area that Satan has a spiritual stronghold in this country. You don't have to be here long to realize that communication is a definite area of deficit-- across the board. And as long as this is the case, it will be hard for the Gospel to advance here. Please be in prayer for Thailand in this area specifically.

So where am I in all this? Where am I fitting in with ministry here?

One of the needs of the BSC, which I have felt burdened to assist with is in its service to new teachers. There currently isn't a clear on-boarding/orientation process and a lot of the material is out-of-date. As a writer and new teacher, I have been working closely with the Administration to assist in streamlining this process for those who come after me. I have just finished a first revision of the New Teacher's Handbook (cropping the 27 page manual into a digestible 12 pages). I will also be working with other teachers to brainstorm helpful and streamlined ways for new teachers to be orientated both to the BSC and to Thailand. I am also working to help develop a new website for the BSC (when it officially launches I'll post the link so you can check it out)!

A few weeks ago I signed up to be on the Nursery/Sunday School rotation at LifePoint. This is a little way I feel like I can bless some of my co-missionaries, so that they can enjoy the church service due to a larger rotation pool.

LifePoint has also started an after-church soccer ministry with Community 110 (a part of the Klong Toey slum). Right now, it is just getting started, but I am going to start going with them after service to connect with the kids through sports.

Claire has taken on being "point-person" for the Friday Night Life programming at the BSC. Friday Night Life (FNL) is a weekly program that engages students, helps them connect relationally with the missionaries and teachers at the BSC through worship songs and an English lesson. During the term, Claire and I attend and assist every week. When there is not a program at the BSC, I go to the Friday evening program at LifePoint called "UniteBKK". Similar to FNL, UniteBKK offers fun activities (food art, country line dancing, pictionary) for students and adults every week. The goal is always to build relationships that build bridges to the Gospel.

[Friday Night Life Program this evening / photo credit: Laura]

I know that ministry is not a list of things to do and boxes to check, but after some floundering and trying to find healthy places to plug into that have need of my gift set, it is exciting to have a semblance of a routine. Not a routine to be a slave to-- but one that helps me invest in the people who God has placed in my life.

Thank you so much for your faithfulness in prayer. This week God has continually reminding me that, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 6:12). Your prayers for Laura, Claire and I, as well as the other missionaries here is huge. Spiritual darkness can only be pushed back through the power of God. Thank you for partnering with us through your prayers.