FE Placement - self-discovery and lessons learnt
FE Placement - self-discovery and lessons learnt
Last weekend was my final (4th) mission trip to X island with Y church. It was part of my Field Education Placement for this semester. Throughout the 4 trips I've made, I do learn some lessons and I guess, most importantly made some "self-discovery" about myself =)
Let's talk about lessons learnt first:-
1) Compassion - to go on mission trips, one need to have the heart of compassion, otherwise what's being planned for and carried out will only be done out of a sense of duty. It's amazing to see the love and compassion members of Y church has on the islanders - I'm quite sure I would never measure up to their heart of compassion. Read on and you'll know why ...
2) Faithfulness - the work on the island has been done over a period of 10 years or more. It's not easy to have such sustenance actually. Just look at how many churches pull out of mission fields after say, 3 to 5 years, because they don't see "fruits" of their labor, ie. coverts. To be able to continue ploughing faithfully and tirelessly, members of Y church are simply amazing!! Not only so, I understand that every trip they made are from their own pockets - no reimbursement, and the trips are made to the island on a monthly basis. Just feel their heart of love, compassion for God and His people. Marvelous!!
3) Leadership - although I've made 4 trips to the island, but they are to different locations in the island - 2 to location K, and 2 to location S. The leadership of both teams are very different, not forgetting to mention the size of the team as well. Location K team is generally small, comprising a maximum of 8 persons, whereas location S team is fairly big, and the numbers can be as many as 25 to 30 persons on certain occasions. The 2 leaders are very different in their style of planning, executing and communicating - and I do see the "spiral effects" the different kind of leadership style will have on the different teams. It reminded me that whenever we are called to be leaders, we really have to be sensitive to the needs of our team, our surrounding, and most importantly to what the Holy Spirit is softly whispering into our hearts.
4) Acceptance from the people - there's no need for further evidence as the islanders are so receptive to the team members from Y church. It's easy to greet them along the streets, being invited into their home for a short visitation, getting ever-ready stream of children who are eager to learn English lessons, etc. There's no pushing of the agenda of converting those who come. Y church believes in showing the love of Jesus through their acts of love - true, it might take time, and for all we know, a LONG time, but what they are doing have touched many lives and won many hearts. I believe it's just a matter of time when the harvest will be ready to be brought in.
Having said about what I've learnt through the trips, I've also made interesting self-discovery ...
1) I am a very "private" person - I cringe when people invade into my space, without my permission, that is. During the few trips, I felt really uncomfortable when someone who do not know me well yet began to start talking to me, and non-stop, which made it worse!! The next thing was when a little girl from the island (she met me only once and the second trip I made she could recognize me) cling on to me like super-glue. She made me sit down with her, walk around with her, held tightly to my hands, and oh my!! it's just too much for me ... another incident was when I was revising my work (brought some college work to read, revise and study) someone just stand beside me and after looking at the notes I've been scribbing in my notebook for a while, took the notebook and begin flipping through. I'm like, "HELLO!! that's my notebook, and even if you're curious about what's in there, at least have the courtesy to ask for permission first" - I mean, of course, I did not say that to her lah, but deep within I was really filled with displeasure.
2) The issue of hygiene - I guess this has always been a "mental block" for me. It takes A LOT of me to warm up and open up to the locals that we have to minister to - most of which are really perhaps not as clean and fresh physically as compared to very fortunate people like us. Remember I mentioned in my earlier point about the issue of compassion? I guess being particular about hygiene makes it "worse" for me in showing genuine compassion - it really, really, really takes a lot of me to allow people to stand close to me, sit close to me, talk to me, etc, and for me to respond with ease to them.
3) I can really sleep!!! WOW, call it being deprived of sleep during weekdays or whatever, I discovered that I CAN REALLY SLEEP!!! Interestingly, I usually have problems sleeping on the first night in an unfamiliar place but for the past 4 trips, I've got no problems sleeping at all. In fact, once my head hits the pillow, I'm gone - even if there's thunder and lightning, TV that's on, or talking amongst room-mates etc - I STILL SLEEP!!! Wonderful huh =) Not only that, I can still sleep in the ferry, or in the van when we made trips to the various location we need to be at. My room-mates were simply amazed as they exclaim to me, "wow, you can really sleep huh? And you sleep so quietly some more, no sound, and little movement." Haha - it's a blessing to be able to sleep well, isn't it? And I thank God for that.
Well, I guess I've written enough - probably longer than what I should be writing for my papers, haha =) Thanks for reading - I'll try to update as frequently as I can, especially when my brain cells are soaked up by all the Greek and Theology ...
Last weekend was my final (4th) mission trip to X island with Y church. It was part of my Field Education Placement for this semester. Throughout the 4 trips I've made, I do learn some lessons and I guess, most importantly made some "self-discovery" about myself =)
Let's talk about lessons learnt first:-
1) Compassion - to go on mission trips, one need to have the heart of compassion, otherwise what's being planned for and carried out will only be done out of a sense of duty. It's amazing to see the love and compassion members of Y church has on the islanders - I'm quite sure I would never measure up to their heart of compassion. Read on and you'll know why ...
2) Faithfulness - the work on the island has been done over a period of 10 years or more. It's not easy to have such sustenance actually. Just look at how many churches pull out of mission fields after say, 3 to 5 years, because they don't see "fruits" of their labor, ie. coverts. To be able to continue ploughing faithfully and tirelessly, members of Y church are simply amazing!! Not only so, I understand that every trip they made are from their own pockets - no reimbursement, and the trips are made to the island on a monthly basis. Just feel their heart of love, compassion for God and His people. Marvelous!!
3) Leadership - although I've made 4 trips to the island, but they are to different locations in the island - 2 to location K, and 2 to location S. The leadership of both teams are very different, not forgetting to mention the size of the team as well. Location K team is generally small, comprising a maximum of 8 persons, whereas location S team is fairly big, and the numbers can be as many as 25 to 30 persons on certain occasions. The 2 leaders are very different in their style of planning, executing and communicating - and I do see the "spiral effects" the different kind of leadership style will have on the different teams. It reminded me that whenever we are called to be leaders, we really have to be sensitive to the needs of our team, our surrounding, and most importantly to what the Holy Spirit is softly whispering into our hearts.
4) Acceptance from the people - there's no need for further evidence as the islanders are so receptive to the team members from Y church. It's easy to greet them along the streets, being invited into their home for a short visitation, getting ever-ready stream of children who are eager to learn English lessons, etc. There's no pushing of the agenda of converting those who come. Y church believes in showing the love of Jesus through their acts of love - true, it might take time, and for all we know, a LONG time, but what they are doing have touched many lives and won many hearts. I believe it's just a matter of time when the harvest will be ready to be brought in.
Having said about what I've learnt through the trips, I've also made interesting self-discovery ...
1) I am a very "private" person - I cringe when people invade into my space, without my permission, that is. During the few trips, I felt really uncomfortable when someone who do not know me well yet began to start talking to me, and non-stop, which made it worse!! The next thing was when a little girl from the island (she met me only once and the second trip I made she could recognize me) cling on to me like super-glue. She made me sit down with her, walk around with her, held tightly to my hands, and oh my!! it's just too much for me ... another incident was when I was revising my work (brought some college work to read, revise and study) someone just stand beside me and after looking at the notes I've been scribbing in my notebook for a while, took the notebook and begin flipping through. I'm like, "HELLO!! that's my notebook, and even if you're curious about what's in there, at least have the courtesy to ask for permission first" - I mean, of course, I did not say that to her lah, but deep within I was really filled with displeasure.
2) The issue of hygiene - I guess this has always been a "mental block" for me. It takes A LOT of me to warm up and open up to the locals that we have to minister to - most of which are really perhaps not as clean and fresh physically as compared to very fortunate people like us. Remember I mentioned in my earlier point about the issue of compassion? I guess being particular about hygiene makes it "worse" for me in showing genuine compassion - it really, really, really takes a lot of me to allow people to stand close to me, sit close to me, talk to me, etc, and for me to respond with ease to them.
3) I can really sleep!!! WOW, call it being deprived of sleep during weekdays or whatever, I discovered that I CAN REALLY SLEEP!!! Interestingly, I usually have problems sleeping on the first night in an unfamiliar place but for the past 4 trips, I've got no problems sleeping at all. In fact, once my head hits the pillow, I'm gone - even if there's thunder and lightning, TV that's on, or talking amongst room-mates etc - I STILL SLEEP!!! Wonderful huh =) Not only that, I can still sleep in the ferry, or in the van when we made trips to the various location we need to be at. My room-mates were simply amazed as they exclaim to me, "wow, you can really sleep huh? And you sleep so quietly some more, no sound, and little movement." Haha - it's a blessing to be able to sleep well, isn't it? And I thank God for that.
Well, I guess I've written enough - probably longer than what I should be writing for my papers, haha =) Thanks for reading - I'll try to update as frequently as I can, especially when my brain cells are soaked up by all the Greek and Theology ...
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