The Belgian Waffle. No, I'm not talking about that light fluffy wonderfully tasty treat in Belgium. I am talking about the "newsletter" that was produced and printed while we were in Belgium. Over 20 missionary families spent last month in Belgium for Pre Field Training. I have spent much space here detailing our experiences. However, we just received our "final" installment of the newsletter. It was produced to allow supporters get an in-depth view of the types of experiences we all had. So, enjoy the following excerpts from The Belgian Waffle.
Put Your Pen In Your Nose and Laugh.
It is 6:45 on the morning of July 28, or 28 July as they transcribe it here in Europe. It is Wednesday - three more days of Urban Jungle Camp and then we all board planes and head to our next destination in this missionary journey. For most of us that means returning to the States to continue our itineration process with the single prayer that God will provide the needed financial support, the buyers for family homes, the visas, the new living situations and the answers to the multiple issues that come with letting go of the life you have known, packing up what remains of goods and kindred (leaving some of both behind) and getting to each prospective field as soon as God allows. More importantly there is the prayer that God will continue to provide the courage and conviction one can only imagine it takes to do all these things.
I woke up to the sound of a mosquito in my ear this morning, a common occurrence here at the Don Bosco Technical School for boys in Ghent, Belgium. It has become a part of my morning routine to do battle with that last persistent denizen of the swamp and then to sit up and assess the damage of the previous night, usually appreciable by the number of new bites sustained, despite the use of repellant, and the number of mosquito carcasses on the floor that fell pray to my razor sharp reflexes. By the way, it is possible to box your own ears without intending to do so. Believe me, I know.
Most mornings I wake up to another sound as well…a sound that continually amazes and delights me. It is the sound of the Jeh language echoing inside my brain. Although I cannot recount to you the specific words in speech or in writing, they are there and they speak to me each morning. Moreover, I have little doubt that if a Jeh speaker were to vocalize the litany of commands that are lodged in my mind that my body would respond, except if asked to stick a pen in my nose in which case I would know to laugh.
“So, what is this Jeh?” you may ask. Jeh is the language of the Jeh people, an indigenous tribe in Vietnam. Our language acquisition mentors, Dwight and Barbara Gradin were Wycliffe Bible translators assigned to the Jeh during the years of the Vietnam War. It is the primary language they used to impart their extraordinary method of learning a new language. I don’t yet know how to us it (Jeh), nor do I really know how to spell it, but, I know it’s there. I cannot tell you how this seemingly little thing delights and encourages me. Somehow the experiential knowledge that I can learn like a child again gives me hope. Somehow that has given me an unexpected excitement and anticipation about learning a second language, even though I personally don’t have a second language to learn.
Another unexpected yet much cherished dividend from the encounter with the Gradins, Dwight in particular, was how this unassuming, soft-spoken Midwesterner of Swedish descent could say so little, yet communicate and effectively teach so much. For me, Dwight was one of the best examples of the integration of word and deed I have encountered in some time. Not that I am in any great position to judge this, only that I am grateful for having received it. I imagined briefly that perhaps this is what it might have been like to sit under the discipleship of the apostle Paul. Dwight, to me, seemed to have the same sort of seamless walk of faith. He was the master, I was the student and that was good.
I dare say that when each of us is able to sit down and digest the fire hose feeding we have received over the past month we will each recognize the indelible marks left by the Gradins. If you, the reader, have any doubts about this fact I invite you to ask one of the missionaries who represented you at this training how they will respond the next time they hear a helicopter overhead.
The Honeymoon Is Over
Acculturation – the process of becoming communicatively competent in a culture in which one has not been raised.
It’s a process that takes time and often recycles through previous stages. This process includes 4 stages: Honeymoon, Crisis, Recovery & Adjustment. In the Honeymoon stage one experiences exhilaration and has a tourist mentality/marveling. The Crisis stage occurs when the initial excitement wears off. “Culture shock” is that feeling of disorientation and discouragement due to buildup of unmet expectations brought on by tiredness, fatigue, sickness, blaming others for our problems and thinking people are just out to get us. Recovery stage occurs when people are able to “weather the storms” of the crisis stage and continue to try to operate in the culture. Positives of the culture are seen, unmet expectations become fewer, and people begin to understand the culture emotionally and intellectually. The final stage, Adjustment, occurs when the good and bad things are accepted. There is a feeling of satisfaction that comes from having “insider information.” Basically, we are able to cope.
Did we become communicatively competent in Ghent? I think not, however, this month has given me an appreciation, a sampling, of what one can expect on a much grander scale when one reaches their field assignment. MTW tried very hard to help us experience elements of these 4 stages. A lot of teaching/activities were packed into this month and cultural adaptation began on the day of arrival. Actually, I think it may have begun prior to arrival for some. I believe we passed through the honeymoon stage rather quickly as we, the English-speaking ones, realized that we were in the minority and discovered that husbands and wives were sleeping in separate cell-like rooms with co-ed showers and toilets; man-eating mosquitoes; 3-4 flights stairs, the elevator could no longer be used (there is a lot of walking over here); no access to internet for a time. We jumped right into learning mode on Monday morning and had not yet recovered from jetlag. We were tourists the first Sunday after arrival. Then it was down to business. We sat under some incredible leaders/teachers for intense day long classroom time. A few of the topics were language acquisition skills, urban skills, interpersonal dynamics, cross-cultural skills, spiritual formation, ministry skills. We participated in several testing instruments/ inventories. All of this designed to help us establish realistic expectations of our future field assignments.
The second week we began our field work which meant after lunch going out into the surrounding communities and putting into practice what we had been learning in the classroom. We were not communicatively competent, but we all tried very, very hard. Many of us were pushed way outside of our comfort zones. We first spent time observing the culture. We did this by learning how to take the public transportation to different areas of the city, going to the stores, restaurants, cafes. As we became more comfortable with that, we then began to try to connect with the people. This was difficult and time consuming as we had a limited knowledge of the language. Again, we all tried very, very hard. We met some pretty interesting and wonderful people.
I speak from personal experience as well as from observation when I say that I believe those of us who were a part of Ghent Urban Jungle Camp 2004 can say that, with God’s grace, we did make it to a kind of recovery and adjustment stage. As a result of this training, we did “weather some of the storms” and continued to try to operate in the culture. We began to see again the positives of the culture. Our unmet expectations did become fewer. We accepted pretty well, the good and the bad. And we definitely had a feeling of satisfaction that comes from having “insider information.”
All Aboard…the Mayflower?
The Mayflower? Well, not exactly, though in many ways our journey over this past month in Ghent, Belgium has had some similarities to the pilgrims of old…(both biblically and colonially). By faith, leaving home for a new, completely foreign land…..
If we are honest, all of us here in Ghent have experienced this feeling of being strangers--being outsiders. We are acutely aware as we have moved about this city in our stilted, awkward, foreign ways, that our behavior, actions, and even opening our mouths to speak reveal that we don’t belong here...that we are from the “outside.”
I must admit that having come directly from South Asia, where my hair, skin and eye color were completely opposite to everyone around me, it has been really nice to blend in (at least physically) with some of the people here. But even so, I am still a stranger.
This experience confirms to me, that having been impacted by travel and cross-cultural relationships around the world, not only am I a stranger here in Ghent, but in my own country as well. THIS is my spiritual identity as a child of God. We belong to a Kingdom that is not of this world.
Cross-cultural ministry is the life of a pilgrim in a foreign land. It doesn’t feel comfortable. It’s lonely, helpless, and outside of our ability to control. Yet, God’s companionship, God’s help, and God’s all surpassing sufficiency become all the more real. I…we…can’t do it without HIM!
Such a paradox our Christian life is! God is drawing us out of our comfort zones and self-sufficiencies and into seeming chaos and desperation….all to show us that HE is able…HE is sufficient...HE is holding our hand with a very firm grip that will never let us fall!
Now as we leave Ghent, our comfort zones may have shifted. We may actually feel confident in getting around on busses and trams, striking up conversations with strangers and even building relationships with the ethnically diverse people here. Isn’t God faithful! Yes, He is... and in His goodness and kindness, He will lovingly lead us to our next challenge of dependence upon Him. Yet… perhaps now we can know in new and deeper ways that as we follow Christ, our fears, insecurities and helplessness will be challenged, and He will lead us into a deeper understanding of His overwhelming love and grace.
Our calling…the life of a Pilgrim….the life of walking, firmly gripped by the hand of Christ. This is what a hope we all have as we step out in faith … in Ghent, Belgium…and into the world beyond!
Celebrating Failure: A Missionary Art
We gathered together for training as workers who were going to the far corners of the globe. This pre-field training would somehow prepare us for our assignments. As we entered our sessions, we heard messages of God’s grace peppered throughout every topic. In addition some of our trainers mentioned that “we celebrate failure”… yeah, whatever.
Somewhere in between all the training, field work and other responsibilities, some practical things had to happen like spending time with the kids, and doing laundry.
One Monday my tolerance for disorganization of our private space had reached its threshold. The kids and I decided we would get out by going to our local laundromat. Apparently all the other participants had the same idea. By the time we arrived, the laundromat was crowded and hot. Others from our group were there with their kids as well. Now we had been warned about how loud US citizens can be, and are often unaware of it, so we had really been trying not to make a scene. After all, it’s much easier to be listeners and learners of a culture when all eyes aren’t on you! However, we hadn’t really brought anything to entertain the kids, so naturally, they were entertaining themselves. They went in and out of the hot, crowded laundromat… trying to behave themselves. When my girls asked if they could run down a few doors and see if the bakery we had previously visited was still open, I was glad for them to go—just to keep them busy for a few minutes. They quickly returned and exclaimed that the bakery had completely changed. They had peeked inside the mail slot and saw a solid wall, where previously there had been a counter, and a bike in the hallway! Wanting to see this twilight zone transformation, I walked down there with them and peeked in the mail slot myself. It was a mystery all right, but we had work to do. Shortly after returning to the laundromat, a man came up to us who was obviously upset and said to us “Bakeries are always closed in Belgium on Mondays. The rules are different here. And you don’t go peeking in people’s mail slots.” We were devastated to have made such a cultural faux paus. The man left and I sent the children outside. A few minutes later I noticed him talking to my daughter. I went outside to ask her what he had said. She said he asked if we were “with that Presbyterian group.” She told him yes. He said, “Did you hear about the Presbyterian that was killed overseas last week?” I was astonished that anyone would say such a thing to a group of kids. I was haunted by the whole incident for the next 24 hours until finally, in a meeting with some of our leaders, almost in tears I blurted out what had happened. They paused for a moment, smiled and said “Well, I bet you’re not going to do that again! You’ve learned that lesson well. We CELEBRATE FAILURE.” I sat there in disbelief saying yeah right, we celebrate failure. Then Judd said, “I mean it! Take your kids out for ice cream, double and triple scoops, and talk to them about how we celebrate failure, learn and move on.” “Are you serious?” I asked him? “Yes!” Then he handed me 20 Euros to do it! It was then that I knew he was serious. Somehow I had expected them to beat me up for leaving a bad impression on the community. Instead, I experienced the grace of God in a new and profound way.
We celebrated that failure. Yummmmmmm! But most of all we learned a lesson we want to keep—celebrate failure—and always keep learning, growing and moving on!
We had left the laundromat completely dejected. Later we found out that a Belgian woman had remarked to one of our participants about how well-behaved all our kids were. How ironic. It was just another act of God’s mercy and grace.
Reflections - “Looking You Behind!”
Our training time here has covered a wide range of subject topics and material—from language learning with the PILAT Program, to church planting strategies. We asked a few of our trainees to reflect on the past month and share with us what they found to be most beneficial from their time here.
Susan appreciated Scott Seaton’s help to understand 3 ways of witnessing: using Ezra’s example to focus on the importance of presenting the Word; using Nehemiah’s example to focus on Deed; and using Esther as an example of being the Presence of God. The segment on contextualization helped her to see the importance of bringing the Gospel into another culture in a way that makes sense to the people of that culture.
Mike, Susan’s husband, valued Scott’s presentation on “Jesus In The City” and his encouragement to build houses, settle down, plant gardens and marry, and have sons and daughters in the places where God has called us—based on Jeremiah’s call to the Israelites in exile. We should embrace our new culture and settle in it.
Jonathan appreciated the opportunity to be with the people on his team in Bulgaria. As a result of doing field work in the afternoons he was able to meet Bulgarians living here in Ghent, and was able to use some of the language learning techniques taught by the Gradins. Jonathan also thought the personality profile materials were good to remind us that we all really do handle things differently and each has his/her own style of dealing with particular situations.
John was encouraged to understand the culture of Mexico in a new and deeper way. He wants to be a student of the culture so that he can do ministry in the best possible way—not only to understand street children, but all the Mexican people.
Tony appreciated the time of fellowship he had with other trainees. He enjoyed the exposure to further thoughts on ethnographic and demographic data, and how it relates to church planting, especially at this time in the history of missions.
His wife Tracy has benefited from being out of her comfort zone, to be able to connect with the MTW family at a deeper level—physically, emotionally and spiritually. Sharing ideas and visions has reenergized her. She was encouraged to see the integrated approach to training so that we get to put into practice what we are being taught.
Calvin found that John Leonard’s teaching on working with other faiths gave more insight into what is needed to do cross-cultural church planting. It highlighted the need for the missionaries to be supportive of the nationals and make them a success. Getting out and about in Ghent, trying to use some of the new tools we have learned, was also helpful.
Abi found the PILAT Course to be a great help. The Gradins gave her the ability to not be fearful about learning Japanese, but also helped her gain insight into the music of another culture, and that there are other musical languages. She will head to Japan with a new excitement for her calling.
So before we say good-bye to one another, we look back, and see that God has given us so much in so many ways. We are “looking you behind,” as one special people group says in parting. We are a bit sad, but also very grateful!
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