This past week was one of ups and downs and more adjusting to missionary life. We have continued to struggle with setting up and understanding the vast variety of amazing technologyavailable to communicate with the entire world. We have learned alot about having dual SIM cards, even though we still understand very little about the science of having/needing SIM cards for different countries. What we do know is the internet makes the world a very small place and we appreciate that connection we are able to have with family, friends, and missionaries in the Asia area!
We spent many hours starting to work with missionaries and creating processes for working with missionaries. Having Sean as my advisor and working in pastoral as opposed to licensed counseling has allowed us to work closely together. Sean is scheduling appointments, sending out assessments, and helping me with the required note keeping process. It is really nice for me to share that work load. As for the missionaries I have counseled, I have been so touched working with them. They are anxious to learn, to improve, and to grow. I am also grateful to be able to start each session with prayer, and to rely on the Holy Spirit to help me know the right things to say. I have always relied on God to help me in my counseling, but this is stepping to a new level and I really enjoy the direction I am receiving from the Spirit.
On Saturday we went on a fun hike from our apartment to the Strait of Johor where you can look across the water and see Malaysia. It was about 5 miles round trip and we enjoyed seeing new sights in Singapore. The bad part of that hike happened when we returned home and discovered that Sean had lost his EZLink card from his pocket. The EZlink card is what we use to access transportation on trains and busses, and also is programmed to get us in and out of the gate at our apartment complex. Fortunately Sean had registered the card online the day before, so we were able to transfer the funds from the lost card to a different card. It was a hard experience, but led us to some new learning about how things work...so still not ugly!
We also learned a lot last week about the ways to shop for and buy food in Singapore, which LOVES its food. There are SO many restaraunts and lots of little food court areas which they call "hawker centers". The hawker centers have countless stalls with different types of food and the prices are generally really reasonable. The number of choices is absolutely overwhelming to us and we don't know what to order much of the time. On our first attempt we tried a hawker station near our office. We had heard that there was a place with delicious naan bread so we stopped there. Like many, the man working there spoke minimal English and was wearing a mask, so it was a bit difficult to understand him. We told him we only wanted naan (as we were planning to go to a different stall for other food). He replied that we should get something to dip our naan in. We didn't understand him very well and Sean said "oh, that's nice," not realizing that he had just agreed to purchase a bowl of butter chicken. Fortunately, it turned out to be pretty tasty and a decent meal to feed both of us!
So far my favorite part of our mission is having tender experiences with missionaries where God is clearly in the details. Last Sunday we were able to speak with our son Ryan, and he shared a story from his mission where his companion's sibling passed away in an accident. He told us that he felt very inadequate to help his companion grieve from such a sudden and painful loss. The next morning we met in a Mission Health Council and learned of a missionary whose sibling had just passed away. With the conversation with my son still fresh on my mind, I recommended to the mission leaders that I work with the missionary AND his companion to help them learn about grief and how to help someone who is going through crisis. It was then further witness that God is in the details when we saw this article come out in the Church News. I know that God truly cares about each one of us and has many ways to reach for us in the very place we are standing.
Weekly photo dump!
You are where you are suppose to be. You are a blessing there to the missionaries and to us here in the states!
As a missionary in Indonesia during the late 1970's, I traveled to Singapore every six months to renew my visa. For me, it was a little slice of heaven - I could safely use the tap water to brush my teeth, I could find real milk and root beer at A&W, and the city was so clean and didn't smell of raw sewage. I traveled to Singapore twice on business during my career and really enjoyed both visits. Take good care of the missionaries in Indonesia. They are fortunate to server there. Also, any progress updates on the Singapore or Jakarta temples would be appreciated. Maju terus!
I'm not sure if my first attempt at sending this message got through, so here's trying again: Your missionary work sounds fascinating from the get-go.
Your mention of the (hawkers: food vendors) reminded me when Sally & I lived in Bandung, Java (in the mid-1970s) in addition to the many pasar (bazaars) where anyone could buy all kinds of food, vendors with little carts also came around our neighborhood . . . and sometimes Sally & I (along with the old Indonesian couple who lived right next to us) would stop the mein guy (i.e., the noodle man, as in ramen). It was always delicious; the only catch? We each had to bring out our own bowls. Of course, saimin and ramen are very popular in Hawaii (and…