Tuesday 16 Jun
Candidate Mike shares how God is growing his heart for the people of South East Asia.
"Have you ever felt 'at home' in a place that is foreign to you? Perhaps you've been invited to dinner at a new friend's house. You walk in and immediately feel a sense of peace or 'home-ness'. I've shared with a few of you before that this is how I often feel when visiting South East Asia. A deep sense of peace. A resonance with the people and the culture. Perhaps this is part of the work of the Holy Spirit as He continues to prepare me for intercultural work.
It is hard to overestimate the importance of language learning in intercultural work. It really is the bread and butter of what we do. The reason intercultural workers leave their countries of origin and plant themselves in a host country is to share a particular message about a King and a Kingdom. And how is such a message shared? Through language. This past semester, I was able to begin learning the language of South East Asia online. It is through this language that I will be able to share the Good News message with a particular group of people. Learning this language has been such a joy!
As I sit down and watch my language nurturer's smiling face on the screen in front of me, I feel a great sense of motivation to learn the language he is teaching me. The more I learn the more I can listen and hear the deep foundational questions that people of this culture have about faith. And the better I understand these questions the better I can present the Good News in relevant ways."
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