I'm in the Clear! I can Go!

Training is done! Wow. Tomorrow we give our final presentations of what we've learned. Team Asia has called theirs, "the Top 10 Reasons to be Asian in New York City." It rocks! Yes, we have homework, a big paper, and a presentation.

Now I can be a missionary...I have already become a New Yorker kind of. I can ride the subway, know what Bengali means, have eaten New York Pizza at least once a week, and look disdainfully while walking down the street. Yet, I still fight off saying "Good Morning" and smiling. I'll never fully inculturate.

The countdown begins as I touchdown in North Carolina tomorrow. Three weeks before I'm shipped out. I'd love your prayer....anything you think about, I could probably use prayer for that. Love me as I'm insane over the next three weeks please. Woohoo!

The End of Another Teaching Position

>
Our second, and last week of English class, doubled in attendance! Instead of one student, we had two! Marisol, seen in the picture, is a Colombian who is vacationing here and is a decent English speaker. She's a Christian and I really enjoyed sharing and listening as we talked about what God's doing in Colombia and Thailand.

We ended our English classes with a brunch at the local diner. Recently, during training afternoons, I read a Chinese student's impression of America, and it was insightful. As we walked to the diner, I thought of all the cultural mistakes we were going to make. There was no way to stop it, it was going to happen.

Overall, brunch was smooth. We struggled to converse with simple English. If a teammate told a story, two of us would then have to turn to our English students and explain again. We ordered Kwai Fong Ho banana pancakes. She spoke of how big the pancake was the whole time and would not even open the "too sweet" syrup. Expected, but I hope she enjoyed herself. Marisol had to ask the Spanish waitress to speak in English with her only because she was practicing. :)

Both eager students will continue English classes with Living Faith Church. As MTW missionaries, we were offering ourselves to serve them and also learn some about English teaching. Our trainer trains new English teachers this Sunday to begin classes themselves soon. May our short-term work produce long term effects for God's kingdom!

Preview of Cultural Confusion

Tim and Rhianna Mills, future teammates of mine in Bangkok, visited a park in Thailand this week and shared some pictures on their blog (link to the right). I had to share this one for laughs!


"This is a great sign. Apparently you are not allowed to shoot a fellow parkgoer in the backside as he picks flowers!" -Tim

During this last week of Pre-Field Training, I am learning about cross cultural awareness. This sign is a good metaphor of the confusion I'll be facing soon with the very different cultural signs of the Thai culture. Our speaker this week compared learning a new culture to learning to play baseball left-handed. I must wear my culture lightly, embrace it until I feel as if its my own, and melt with the masses, culturally speaking.

Lessons Learned in NY

1. When your phone breaks, check the language of the Verizon Store before you go there to get it fixed and find yourself in the middle of Chinatown.
2. Things aren't as they may seem. Don't be dismayed when you reach the Verizon store address and realize its not that at all. It's a Chinese Lunch Box Buffet.
3. Never eat pizza while walking. The Five Second Rule does not apply to NY City streets.
4. There is still sympathy in NY. The two guys beside me did go "Aww" as my pizza fell from my plate on to the pavement.
5. No one in NYC really knows where they're going. After all this, someone actually asked me for directions!

With these lessons, you will be a smarter New Yorker.

Living Faith Church

I gave my testimony last Sunday at the church. It was tough not knowing my audience yet the Lord used it to touch many of the congregation members and it went right with the sermon. Isn't God amazing?

My ministry team, all serving in Asia soon, are doing English classes for this church plant, Living Faith Community Church. It is a Korean American church, been around about 7 years. The services are in English.

Are you a team player?

In efforts to help us with working in teams, MTW has us in lots of teams over this month. Pictured is my mentoring team--at least most of us. The family at the end of the table is ministering to a Muslim refugee community in Georgia. The blond on the right is going to South Africa. The blond gal on the left is going to Mexico. Our mentor on the left, Susan, meets with us individually weekly and in a group to process the experience with us.

I feel like this month has been a trial run of the real thing that begins August 21. In small teams, dynamics can be difficult. I have noticed my trigger moments and am getting better at working on them and knowing their causes. Some key trigger moments: finding directions, hot weather, and even hunger. Surprisingly, I like to be the one who's right!

What's the Difference in these Two Words?

Language acquisition class began today taught by Dwight and Barbara Gradin. Eighty years old, yet they have such experience. We were introduced to the world of sounds! English has only 44 sounds, while tonal languages such as Thai have 90 sounds! Everyday this week we will be learning about learning a new language. No, I won't be learning Thai, but I'll be preparing to learn Thai. I'm the only one here that's going to a country with a tonal language. With fear and excitement, I'm glued to the teacher this week.

The following video is our first day drills of sounds. We are practicing two words, "pama", and "bama." One has a "stopped consonant" while the other's beginning consonant can be heard "winding-up" at the beginning. Our teacher, Dwight, is going around the circle listening to our pronunciations while we laugh so hard. His job as he states is to "graciously nail us to the wall" as our teacher of language acquisition. I'm near the end of the circle he's listening to. Laugh all you want, we sure did today!

'>http://

Kwai Fong Ho

Introducing our one and only English student! After 300 flyers and various unavoidable limitations, we are providing English classes for Living Faith Church to one student. Let's not underrate the amazingness of Kwai Fong Ho. She comes here from Jamaica. Ok, Jamaica is a district of Queens. She's from China, with much of her family still there. Sixty-four years old, but she gets on that bus everyday, for half an hour, and comes to learn English from twenty-something year olds.

We meet in the church office, the upper room of an office building in Flushing, NY. Sitting around three couches, Kwai Fong Ho is taught English by her three teachers. Day by day, we smile as we say to each other, "Hello. My name is _______. What's your name?" We have learned greetings, directions, food, clothes, and family. Even pets, which were pretty hard to explain if we didn't have any. So each of us has created imaginary pets, mine being two cats! And I'm not even a cat fan. She still doesn't have "How are you?" down. When she was the teacher asking us about animals, she'd say, "How are you. What is this?" Yet everyday she comes back for more.

And everyday we pray that God may work through Kwai Fong Ho. That through us, God may reach her, her family, and the many other Chinese immigrants found together in this little chinatown of its own called Flushing, New York.

Personal Bubble

Ok, so this guy totally drew his own personal bubble for me on the subway the other day! It was rush hour and I was so squished that my feet couldn't even find places to be. I was doing a very strange balet positioning with my feet where one's facing forward and the other is sideways. Anyway, so then my one sideways foot is itching, so while holding on the rail, my own ballet pole, I lift up the other foot to itch. This really buff guy with shades on (those subway shades where no one can really see you) to my right taps my shoulder. I look over and he says "Excuse me" and then with his hands, draws his own little personal bubble space that I'm assuming I invaded! How crazy!

I feel like my personal bubble is invaded often here, or at least my personal schedule, my personal abilities, and my personal way of doing things. But, hey, that's the mission field, is what I hear! This week we're learning about team dynamics. We did this exercise where we had an assignment of running around the whole city preparing in advance for a year long mission team. We were observed like fish in a fishbowl to see how we react, handle conflict, and lead in the experience. I thought we were doing well, but come to realize, I still have some things to know about asking everyone's opinions and being task-oriented under pressure rather than process oriented! Welcome into my personal bubble, may the fun begin!

Humility by Accident

"Humility is a dedicated acceptance of who you are." -Bill Yarbrough

This very strong statement made by our this week's speaker during our training times on church planting has laid awake in my mind ever since. With this kind of humility, I can allow others to poke at me, speak of my weaknesses, and not feel like I must justify myself. I am a sinner. I know that. Not going to become perfect any time soon. Christ thankfully died for me so that I may live still freely. May I be more ok with others seeing the sin still in me. A characteristic I value highly is transparency. A couple girls in my college bible study were always so honest about issues that at times was TMI (too much information). But since, I have realized how valuable it is to see others' struggles and show your own. Everyone has them, lets just be frank.

The illustration of it came from the speaker himself today. As my group walks back from eating most excellent NY pizza, we hear a crash behind us by the street. Looking around, we see a guy that's done a total wipe-out on his bike into the curb. Being the second bike accident witnessed today, we looked to see the state of the injured. With only a slight wound to his pride, we realize its Bill Yarbrough! He said he misjudged his abilities to jump the curb and laughed at himself.

May we be able to forgive our misjudgements and find humility in them.

(right) Sharing the Fourth of July with the 10 million American citizens of New York City. Due to this crowd, we only were able to cram in between them to see an obstructed view of the last 10 minutes of the fireworks. But the experience was worth it. Wow.

Flushing Flyers

No, not the verb for what to remember after using the toilet. Flushing is the name of the town that my ministry will be in during the training month. I have been assigned to a Korean-American church plant to begin a English Language Ministry.

Today and tomorrow we are passing out flyers around the neighborhood which is very similar to Chinatown. Only about six white people can be counted after standing on a street corner for half an hour. The town is mainly Korean and Chinese.

Visualize me with my fifty flyers in front of a subway exit and a busy Main Street calling out "English Classes!" and holding out green flyers written in four languages to passerbyers. This one guy screamed out that I shouldn't speak, just hand them out. If they didn't know English, they don't understand me anyway! :) Overall, people responded well, some ignoring me and one lady slapped it out of my hand!! I just stood there watching the paper fly off down the sidewalk, mouth open, and just started to laugh! Another lady behind her walked beside me and said "What an attitude!"

New York is fun, mostly because I'm a minority and that's a good thing to be so I know how it feels.

New York City Senses

Dark subway tunnels into bright crowded skies.
Wide boardwalks with narrow gaps between people.
All colors represented in people.

Mariachi bands playing over the subway drone.
Homeless and forlorn mumbling on the road.
Languages within earshot from all over the world.

Korean Jab Chae
New York Bakeries
Fruit Market Blueberries.

Hot muggy underground.
Bumps, squashes, knocks around others.
Each step walking, walking, walking.

Exhaust behind, in front, go, go, go.
International fumes competing for audacity.
Awaken the city senses.

The Big Apple- PreField Training

"My soul waits for the Lord; he is my help and my shield. For my heart is glad in him, because I trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon me, even as I hope in you."
-Psalm 33:20-22

So thankful today. I type within my apartment at Union Seminary in Upper Manhattan next to the window overshadowing their awesome garden. Flying in yesterday, I have seen God's hand caring for my needs and fears since I came. I know I'm going all the way overseas which should make me brave but nope. Still a coward many a time. Once an amazing pastor honestly described his view of himself as a skint dog cowering in a corner. Thanks be to God for each step I take alone here. Yet not alone. God gave me a fellow missionary at the airport to take a taxi to my apartment with. He gave me five friends old/new to call to hang out that night, Korean food and Central Park! It has been wonderful to "live" here already.

Training begins this afternoon. Who knows whats involved but there'll be lots more awesome people to meet and reunite going to all corners of the globe real soon as I am. Stay tuned.