He told me that as soon as I stepped off the plane, I should take off my watch and put it away.
When Rose's* airplane landed in the islands, she followed her pastor's advice. It was a good thing, as life is a bit different on the field, especially when it comes to time.
No matter how much I tried to plan out my day, plans always changed. I had to learn how to be okay with that, and that took me surrendering to God. It was a process of relearning that verse, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps" (Proverbs 16:9).
Rose was in the islands for four months, serving as a support to the local Church and helping teach English. Taking on the role of a teacher opened the door for Rose into the community, establishing her as a responsible and trustworthy person.
Since I was more established in the community, I could meet with many people and have more credibility. Through these meetings, I contributed by just listening, meeting basic needs, talking, and sometimes sharing my testimony and/or the Gospel message.
While Rose was teaching English to students, she also took language classes to learn the local language.
My language learning gave me another opportunity to learn about others and spend time with them. Before every meeting, I would pray over the time, and during the meetings, I would try to add something about Jesus or just be an encourager. I pray that I not only impacted the people here but also the team.
Learning language led to a dear friendship with an unbeliever, who was both a teacher of the local language and a student of English.
When I first arrived, I joined a meeting to study local language. My friend was our teacher. Later, she became a student as we taught her English. As time went by, we started to read and discuss the Word together as a way to learn language, and we became close friends.
One night we went down to the beach. This was our first time doing something fun together besides just studying each other’s languages. We talked, laughed, and enjoyed spending time with each other. From that point on, we were able to have deeper conversations about Jesus, life, and religion. We spent much more time just hanging out and getting to know each other. Now, she is like a sister to me. While I have shared my testimony and the Gospel message with her many times, she does not want to accept Jesus. Now, I pray that our friendship will continue and she will not be afraid to ask questions and want to go deeper. I am so thankful that I got to meeting this amazing woman and become her friend!
Although Rose was only on the island for fourth months, she was able to grow in her understanding of a culture very different from home.
While I was walking down the street or doing language walks, everyone at least said hello. Many people welcomed me into their homes, allowed me to learn more about them, and be a part of their lives. I also loved the food! There is not much diversity, but the food they do cook is delicious. Many meals can be cooked together and I enjoyed that sense of community. The pace of life was slower, too. In America, there is always a sense of business and deadlines, but here, people just take it one day at a time.
While there, along with teaching and learning language, Rose also learned some valuable lessons and was encouraged by her fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
The members of the national church have faith to endure. Many of them have been through so much, yet their faith is still in God and they are trusting Him. God taught me to be more like that, even when things are not going well. He taught me to keep trusting and keep enduring because He has a plan. They also have so much joy! It was beautiful to see them worship and preach with joy and energy! For me, it was a wake-up call to look at what God has done and what He will do and take joy! They were in the Word, too. Many of them need more training in the Word, but those who know it well are willing to teach. They are also so passionate about raising the next generation in the Word. This encouraged me to keep spending that time with God.
We tend to go on mission trips with the intention of helping others. Oftentimes on those trips, though, we find that God uses others to help us grow, too.
Ultimately, Rose's prayer is that, I represented Jesus Christ in a way that glorifies Him, that I encouraged the team and the church, and that I was faithful in planting seeds.
*Name changed for security.