Like Cirque de Soliel meets Night at the Improv

I’ve said it before. “If we’ve learned one thing on this journey it’s this: nothing is set in stone until after it happens. God likes to keep us on our toes.”

We have now been on the field in the ever-changing world of overseas ministry for two months. Yesterday was our fourth English teaching session at the village school, and might I say the most successful thus far. It was successful largely because we have learned enough Thai vocabulary (complete with tones) to begin to throw some of them into the teaching mix. Conveniently; we’re now teaching the words for the very same items to the kids that we are learning the words for in our classes. We have both a formal language teacher and a less formal language tutor. But the ages of our village students continue to descend. Yesterday was fourth grade, next week is third grade. Maybe they’re trying to find a class that we are smarter than…

A stateside friend of mine asked recently how we knew that coming to Thailand was really a call from God and not just (apologies to Charles Dickens) “an undigested bit of beef”. I’m going to repackage below what I wrote in response. More than anything; for us, it’s a matter of faith.

Do we ever doubt? Sure, but not the call. We doubt our ability to fulfill it, we question our sanity in coming here, but we don’t doubt that God has put us here for a specific purpose. We might wonder occasionally what that will turn out to be, but we don’t doubt that there is a purpose. It’s like being in love. There is no specific list of symptoms, you just know. But then, it’s also become more of a journey than a destination. This all started when we thought God was leading us one place. He was, but what we thought was the endpoint was just a milepost. Our job has changed even since we arrived. For us, the call has very seldom turned out to be to anything specific. It’s more a journey of being exactly in the place where God wants us. And yeah, that’s scary. It’s frightening, but it’s also freeing.

What we’ve learned over time is this: If it’s supposed to happen, it probably will. If it’s not supposed to happen, it probably won’t. But… just because it does or doesn’t is not supposed to mean that God isn’t using it or directing it. If it doesn’t, don’t give up because it simply means that God has something else. And if it does… be aware that it might be nothing more than a springboard to something else. It’s a bit like Cirque de Soleil meets Night at the Improv. You plan and practice and choreograph your moves, all so that you can change and adapt without a net in the middle of the trapeze act. Maybe it’s God checking if you’re really sincere in wanting it. And it’s when we are our weakest that God is strongest. It’s when we realize that we simply can’t do it that God steps in and shows us tools we didn’t know we had.

We’re happy to be finally learning the language, and receive the gratification that people seem to understand the limited words we use. We’re happy that God has chosen to serve a portion of the world through us. And we’re happy that there are still folks stateside who believe in our call and in the God who issued it.

We're not in Kansas anymore...

When I restarted the blog a couple of months ago, I said that it was going to be more or less… “a tally of lessons learned (both in and out of the classroom), and the joys and trials of following God to a vastly different side of the world.” Since we’ve now been here for four weeks (five if you count our time in Bangkok), I thought I’d put together a few observations of life in Southeast Asia. I’m hoping that these bring a smile to your face; feel free to laugh along with us.

One of the things I was most concerned with was learning to drive on the opposite side of everything. I am happy to report that it’s going well. Terrified screams are no longer coming from the passenger seat. It almost feels normal. And I’m getting used to people (cars, scooters, bicycles, pedestrians) just merging without warning; from the shoulder, from the next lane, from blind alleys. Lanes are interesting phenomena too. Standard operating procedure is that you have all of your lane, but you are also free to use up to half of each lane on either side of you. Just bear in mind that the person next to you has the same rough boundaries.

We will begin learning Thai mid-August. Right now, we’re in the midst of learning Australian. It’s actually harder in a way, because it is so similar to English. And prior to our Thai classes beginning, we will be starting to teach English to a class of 6^th graders in a nearby Isaan village. The goal will be teaching them conversational English. The kids know some vocabulary (it’s required learning) but they don’t necessarily know how to use it properly. We’ll be using role play and songs to help them become more conversational, we’ll be telling and acting out Bible stories, and we’ll help them get ready for 6^th grade English testing. Still, their English is already better than my Thai. That’s what you call ironic.

But perhaps the thing that has struck me the most over the past few days is that we are really here. It’s taken us so long to make this happen that the realization has been gradual. We’ve been sitting in meetings at our Area Retreat for the past few days, sharing what is happening in our lives. And it has struck me more than once that we’re really in Thailand. And… we’re going to be here for the next few years. We have finally realized the call that God placed on our lives almost four years ago. It’s actually sort of surreal.

Our Team Leader checked in with us the other day on how we’re doing. I admitted that I was both excited and terrified about teaching, about home schooling, and about learning. And I am: excited and terrified. But that’s good, because it means that I know I can’t do it all on my own. We need the Holy Spirit, and we need your prayers. Thank you for sticking with us.