Please hit "WEBCASTS"
Nancy, aged 33, is from Nagaland, Northeast India. She is married and has been serving among children and youths in South Asia for three years. Her prayer is that she will always serve God faithfully with a cheerful and grateful heart.
I was born into a non-Christian family of six sisters and four brothers. My father rejected the Christian faith and was critical of it. When I was eight, a friend introduced me to the Christian God. Despite that, the love of God was foreign to me. He remained a distant figure. That would change in the years that followed.
Growing up, I often watched my parents fight with each other. I grew increasingly frustrated as the fights became more frequent. Yet, I understood that the tension between my parents was inevitable. My father was irresponsible and often under the influence of alcohol. My mother had to take on the mantle of both the caretaker of the family and a breadwinner. That left her with little time for us as she struggled to keep food on the table and pay for our education.
My mother was despised and treated like a prostitute because she sold wine for a living. People had this notion that anyone associated with alcohol was cheap. I hated my parents and cursed my life for being born into this family. I was so focused on complaining to God about my family background that I overlooked God's purpose for me. Little did I realise that even while I was in my mother’s womb, God had already chosen me, undeserving as I was, to serve Him.
I was awakened to God’s divine plan for me when my friends registered me for the worship team. I started getting to know God more intimately as opportunities to learn about Him presented themselves. Soon there was a noticeable change within me. God planted in my heart a love for my father. I was also able to forgive him for his failure as a parent, something I was quite certain would not have happened at all if not for my spiritual awakening. I began praying for his salvation. God was moulding and shaping me for His grand design.
As I grew spiritually, God impressed upon my heart that as I loved my father and desired him to be saved, God, too, loved the lost and the unreached. There were still many people in the world who had not heard the good news and it was my responsibility to share it with them. God was planting in me a mission heart. The vision soon held me captive and I became restless even as I struggled with it. I finally decided to surrender to God’s will for me. If He wanted me to serve Him in the mission field, I was prepared to go. My father was not happy with my decision. Every time after I returned home from church, I would get an earful from him. My mother who regularly went to church with me stopped going because he would pick fights with her upon her return.
My zeal for mission work intensified as I grew older. In 2022, I decided to pursue theological studies to prepare myself for it but I could foresee every obstacle that would make this theological pursuit impossible. But God assured me “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4: 13, ESV). I was confident that just as the Lord was instructing me, He would guide and always provide for me. With this newfound confidence, I informed my family of my plan to do theological studies. My dad refused his permission. It was a setback to my mission plans. But I refused to give up till he came round to it. I kept praying every morning for a week. Then one morning, my father told me that I could go ahead but at the same time asked how on earth they were going to support me.
God in His own time made all things possible. I eventually got the support I needed for my studies. But more importantly, I got to witness my father’s conversion while I was in theological college. That he accepted Christ as his personal Saviour brought the family much light and joy.
Since I took the step of faith, God has shown me infinite possibilities. My mourning has turned into great joy as God continues to teach me that nothing is impossible with Him. I'm blessed beyond imagination. Mere words are inadequate to express my deep gratitude for God’s grace and mercy. Today, by His grace, I am happily serving in South Asia.
Sophie comes from Taiwan, Republic of China and has been serving in the field in Indonesia for six years as a teacher in a seminary. Before joining SIM, she had served in a Christian organisation and church for more than 30 years.
It is not easy to answer a new calling from God for someone who has reached middle age. In 2014, I entered cross-cultural ministry at a time of my life when I thought uprooting would not even be a remote possibility. Yet at the age of 75, Abraham was called to go to the land of Canaan. Abraham’s story taught me a valuable lesson – when God calls, all I have to do is to obey and follow Him. God, and not us, is ultimately in control of our life situations.
Abraham’s story did not end there. When he encountered a famine in the land of Canaan, he went to Egypt. While there, he faced challenges adapting to a different culture. Just like in Abraham’s story, I was reminded I would face many challenges in cross-cultural mission work.
The Bible teaches us to view different cultures with humility. When I understood this truth, all the embarrassments that I faced in cross-cultural situations became valuable learning experiences for me. As I look back now on the little things I have experienced, I am grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to learn and appreciate different cultures, to accept their richness and diversity. Indeed, God places us in different situations and different environments so that we may appreciate the diversity of His creation.
Language is uniquely peculiar. I am a teacher in the Chinese department of a seminary in the field country. In our department, we have Chinese colleagues who come from different regions. They have different terms for the same item. For example, a colleague once told me that a tomato was called hongshizi. But later over lunch, I was informed that a tomato in that culture was xihongshi and not hongshizi which actually referred to a persimmon.
It is so easy to misunderstand each other in a culturally different environment. During my first year in the field, I borrowed a car from my colleague because I needed to purchase some items from a nearby town. On my drive back to the seminary, I became lost. A colleague once told me that it is very easy to find the way back even if one gets lost in the area. All you needed to do was to turn back from where you came from and look for familiar signs. So, I turned around confidently expecting a familiar road that would take me back to the seminary. After driving in circles, I decided to stop at an intersection to ask a small shop owner for help. The shop owner, an old man, gesticulated enthusiastically the direction. Although I couldn't fully understand his hand gestures, I could roughly make out what he was saying as he kept pointing to a specific route. After thanking him, I drove off in that direction and sure enough I found myself on a familiar road that I knew would lead me back to the seminary.
After a while, I noticed two motorcyclists trailing me. I wondered if they were bad guys. While stopping at a traffic light junction, the motorcyclists came right up to my car door and tapped on my window. Since I was almost reaching my destination, I was not too worried about whether they were going to rob me. I lowered the window to hear them better. They were speaking in the local language and pointing in a certain direction. Then I heard the name of a familiar road mentioned. I finally understood what they were trying to tell me. I thanked them and we parted way.
The shop owner had asked his friends to escort me on their motorcycles to ensure that I was heading in the right direction. They must have thought I was going the wrong way and that was why they stopped to redirect me. The old man and the two motorcyclists were like angels that God had sent to guide me. I was thankful for God's watch over me. This incident, however, reminded me to learn the local language well in order to communicate effectively with the people.
The right attitude to learning can bring surprising results. There are some street vendors hawking food outside the seminary. I particularly like the store specialising in fried chicken. A couple runs the store and I often buy fried chicken from them. The husband knew that I was learning the local language. Each time I bought fried chicken from him, he would teach me some words and phrases used by the locals. I was able to improve my vocabulary and learn stock expressions with his help.
There are many other incidents where God provides help and guides me in a timely manner. And I know that these incidents are not coincidences but divine opportunities where I can learn to communicate with the local people. To serve effectively on the cross-cultural mission field, I must embrace the local culture and know the language well. Only then can relationship-building begin.