Anxiety?
Are you starting to get anxious? If you are anything like me, you are starting to get a little bit manic... "What should I pack? How are we going to get from the airport to where we are serving? Is the hotel going to be a scary pay-by-the-hour place? How am I going to communicate? Am I going to have to eat bugs? Is this trip going to resemble Fear Factor? How am I ever going to implement all of the things I have learned during training and devotionals? I don't think I can do this..."
Calm down! You can do this! If God called you to this team, He has paved the way for you. You trust Him, right? "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11 You have already learned (devotionals Week 2) that you are a part of the body and an important part of this team, whatever gifts and talents and special things that you have to offer from your heart. Don't let fear and anxiety grip you... you can do this! We're praying for you and we're waiting to meet you face to face. Can't wait to see you!!!
Calm down! You can do this! If God called you to this team, He has paved the way for you. You trust Him, right? "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11 You have already learned (devotionals Week 2) that you are a part of the body and an important part of this team, whatever gifts and talents and special things that you have to offer from your heart. Don't let fear and anxiety grip you... you can do this! We're praying for you and we're waiting to meet you face to face. Can't wait to see you!!!
Prayer
Let's talk some about prayer... When you are in Peru, you are being closely watched by the Peruvians around you. Let me illustrate this with a short story -
We have a Peruvian woman who helps us cook and serve short-term teams when they are here. She loves this part of her job. However, one day she said to us, "Are all of the people on these teams Christians? I don't think that they are. Because the team that was here didn't pray when they sat down to eat. They just started eating and talking and never prayed or thanked God for their food. I don't think they were all Christians."
What is our response to this statement and observation? She was watching and observing how "north american christians" behave and she was deeply concerned with the lack of prayer. So much so that she decided that they weren't Christians at all. And this, in turn, effected the ministry and the witness of this team to the Peruvians. Something so simple as praying before lunch became a serious question of Christian values.
You are coming to Peru to minister to others. Sometimes, that will be in words and sometimes, that will be in actions. Because you are new and different, you are under a microscope of sorts. Carefully examine yourself and prepare for each and every aspect of your time here, including the everyday things like praying before a meal. It is an important part of your witness.
Another aspect of prayer that is very important... Your prayers for others are VERY powerful. Prayer is not a "last resort" or a "hail mary effort" when you don't see any way to fix something. Prayer is the "first line of defense"! Prayer is your A-TEAM. Prayer is the number 1 item that you pull out of your bag of tricks... not the bottom of the barrel, last thing you can think of.
Sometimes this is difficult for us as North Americans. Our culture has down-played the spiritual aspects of life. For many of us, being asked to pray out loud is something to be feared. And being asked to USE prayer before we use our skills and talents is just unheard of.
In Peru, I urge you to turn the tables. Flip your North American mind-set upside down. Pray first. Pray before you do anything here. Pray over your food. Pray over your translator. Pray for guidance before you do anything. Pray before you use any skill or any talent or anything!!! Peruvians have a very strong tie to the spiritual aspect of their lives. They believe in prayer, and your prayer over them is powerful. Prayer comes BEFORE you heal anyone on a medical mission. Prayer comes BEFORE you teach anyone your special skill. Prayer is the front-runner. Prayer heals. Let God go before anything that you do.
We have a Peruvian woman who helps us cook and serve short-term teams when they are here. She loves this part of her job. However, one day she said to us, "Are all of the people on these teams Christians? I don't think that they are. Because the team that was here didn't pray when they sat down to eat. They just started eating and talking and never prayed or thanked God for their food. I don't think they were all Christians."
What is our response to this statement and observation? She was watching and observing how "north american christians" behave and she was deeply concerned with the lack of prayer. So much so that she decided that they weren't Christians at all. And this, in turn, effected the ministry and the witness of this team to the Peruvians. Something so simple as praying before lunch became a serious question of Christian values.
You are coming to Peru to minister to others. Sometimes, that will be in words and sometimes, that will be in actions. Because you are new and different, you are under a microscope of sorts. Carefully examine yourself and prepare for each and every aspect of your time here, including the everyday things like praying before a meal. It is an important part of your witness.
Another aspect of prayer that is very important... Your prayers for others are VERY powerful. Prayer is not a "last resort" or a "hail mary effort" when you don't see any way to fix something. Prayer is the "first line of defense"! Prayer is your A-TEAM. Prayer is the number 1 item that you pull out of your bag of tricks... not the bottom of the barrel, last thing you can think of.
Sometimes this is difficult for us as North Americans. Our culture has down-played the spiritual aspects of life. For many of us, being asked to pray out loud is something to be feared. And being asked to USE prayer before we use our skills and talents is just unheard of.
In Peru, I urge you to turn the tables. Flip your North American mind-set upside down. Pray first. Pray before you do anything here. Pray over your food. Pray over your translator. Pray for guidance before you do anything. Pray before you use any skill or any talent or anything!!! Peruvians have a very strong tie to the spiritual aspect of their lives. They believe in prayer, and your prayer over them is powerful. Prayer comes BEFORE you heal anyone on a medical mission. Prayer comes BEFORE you teach anyone your special skill. Prayer is the front-runner. Prayer heals. Let God go before anything that you do.
Worship and Devotional time
Although you have done much preparation and devotional time to get ready to come on this trip, it doesn't stop when you board that plane! We will be having daily time set aside for devotionals, worship, and sharing. In 2010, we are going to have morning devotional time (before we begin any work) led by the Peruvian national missionaries. In the evenings, the career missionaries (Billy & Laurie Drum, Ash & Audra McEuen, and Arthur & Mary Alice Ivey) will be leading you in worship and a time evening devotional and sharing. It is important that we stay focused and connected to our Lord and to each other during our time of service. It is easy to get focused on our jobs and tasks, and somehow our time with the Lord gets squeezed and shoved to the back of the stove, or completely forgotten. This is also a time to become more relational - remember how important relational ministries are??? We are going to grow closer to each other and, at the same time, grow closer to God.
Lost in Translation???
You will have a group of Peruvian translators assigned to work with your group. You will also have the career missionaries with you for translating purposes. But there is more to translating than that. Watch this video and see if you can find some of the issues and difficulties that your translators will face...
Scary, huh?! But seriously, here are some tips for working with a translator (these tips are actually FROM your translators, so pay attention):
- Please try not to use contractions. Contractions are really two words smashed into one and the Peruvian translator isn't trained to "hear" them correctly. Attempt to use full words. Also, be aware of your use of words like "gonna" and "gimme" and "gotta".
- Please use short sentences. I'm not talking about "Go Dog Go" sentences, but sentences that aren't compound sentences with several parts. Simple sentences. Try to speak like 3rd and 4th graders write.
- Slow down. One translator said, "She talks like those dolls with the pull string in their back... once she starts, she never finishes. She just keeps going and going and I can't think fast enough to translate." Don't talk like a robot, but slow down and only give your translator a sentence or two at a time - then wait for their translation before you start up again.
- Speak in complete thoughts. For example, in your attempt to slow down and speak in short sentences, don't actually speak in broken sentences. Spanish requires that the speaker knows the complete thought and the complete verb usage before the sentence is constructed - so you need to speak the entire sentence, not a fragment of it.
- Louder is not any clearer or any more "Spanish-like". On a recent trip, a gentleman asked the lady in the kitchen for sugar. "Would you please bring me some sugar?", he said in a really sweet voice, speaking English. The lady made a face signifying that she did not understand, so he said again, only louder and with more facial expression, "Sugar. I want sugar. Bring me sugar." Still not understanding, she began to look around for a clue as to what he needed and point at items on the table in an attempt to help him. "SUGAR! BRING ME SUGAR!", he yelled, half scaring her to death. Loud English won't be any better understood than whispered English. Please don't yell at people in an attempt to make them understand your foreign language.
- As you saw/heard in the video, cliches and local phrases don't translate at all. Neither do puns and play-on-words and jokes. All of these things are very cultural. Speak in plain bland English. Don't cutsie it up or use sarcasm or slang.
Serving vs. Being Served
You are coming to serve the Lord by serving the people of Peru, right? Well, there is a flipside to that... there are people here who are giving up their time to serve you AND serve the people of Peru. There is a team of Peruvians that are preparing for your arrival. They are on your team - you just haven't met them yet. They are ON YOUR TEAM... did you hear that? They aren't a separate team. We aren't going to call them "the Peruvian team". We don't have an A-team and a B-team. We are ONE team, just as we are ONE body in Christ.
The Peruvians who are on your team are making sacrifices to work with you on this mission. Just as you are giving up time from your job and family, etc., they are leaving their jobs and schools and families to serve alongside you. The difference is, they don't have vacation time and they won't get paid in their absence. They are truly giving up their time to be with you and to serve the Lord at your side. We don't pay them to work as your translators and we don't pay them to serve you or their countrymen - they are doing this as volunteers. They consider this a privilege to work for the Lord and to work beside their North American brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is important for you to treat your Peruvian peers as exactly that - peers. They want to be your friends. They want to serve you and they want to serve WITH you. And, although they are technically "servants", they are servants of Christ. Please do not treat them as your own personal servants, but instead work in partnership with them. They eagerly await your arrival and they are eager to meet their brothers and sisters in Christ.
You will build relationships with your Peruvians friends as the mission progresses. It will be difficult for some of you to say goodbye at the end of the week. You may wish to show your love and appreciation to the Peruvians on your team. Here are some thoughts:
Recently, a short-term mission team decided to honor all of the people who had worked with them during the week by holding a foot-washing ceremony on the final night. We are STILL hearing about this ceremony - in a very good way. People were very moved by this outpouring of love. People were crying left and right. My best friend went home and told her whole family about it and her whole family cried. In the words of one Peruvian, "I didn't know that North Americans were that warm and sentimental. I thought they were cold people. It was so special for them to do that. I'll never forget it." Your acts of kindness and warmth are so important to the people here. Consider how you can convey your love for them and the love of Christ. Make plans now to show your love and compassion while you are here.
The Peruvians who are on your team are making sacrifices to work with you on this mission. Just as you are giving up time from your job and family, etc., they are leaving their jobs and schools and families to serve alongside you. The difference is, they don't have vacation time and they won't get paid in their absence. They are truly giving up their time to be with you and to serve the Lord at your side. We don't pay them to work as your translators and we don't pay them to serve you or their countrymen - they are doing this as volunteers. They consider this a privilege to work for the Lord and to work beside their North American brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is important for you to treat your Peruvian peers as exactly that - peers. They want to be your friends. They want to serve you and they want to serve WITH you. And, although they are technically "servants", they are servants of Christ. Please do not treat them as your own personal servants, but instead work in partnership with them. They eagerly await your arrival and they are eager to meet their brothers and sisters in Christ.
You will build relationships with your Peruvians friends as the mission progresses. It will be difficult for some of you to say goodbye at the end of the week. You may wish to show your love and appreciation to the Peruvians on your team. Here are some thoughts:
- A gift of a team t-shirt is great! You might want to give this at the beginning of the week rather than at the end, to show unity as a team and break the ice. Be sure to bring enough for each translator and the cooks, etc.
- Anything with your church or team logo on it would be very nice... ball caps, plastic thermal coffee mugs, notebooks, etc. Usually the church has some items like this that they give to visitors or guests.
- Photos are always appreciated. It always amazes us when we return to our former mission field in Mexico and families bring out the photo that we gave them 10 years ago. It is a prized possession to them. They can always point to each person on the team and name them, and they always ask about how each person is now and if they are going to come back to visit them. Photos are a great item to consider leaving behind.
- A Peruvian mission worker that works with us often says that his favorite and most treasured gift from a team was a table runner that the women of the church made. It is cross-stitched with the church logo and name and the year. Even though he is an unmarried man in his 20s, he has this table runner on his table always and he regards it with great memories.
- PLEASE DO NOT give money to your Peruvian peers. It is demeaning and it destroys the bond and the love that you have built during the mission. I know that it is very tempting and that you mean to do good, but we have seen this go very badly. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!
- PLEASE DO NOT bring all of your hotel shampoos and soaps and try to give them away as gifts to your Peruvian teammates. One Peruvian recently asked us, "Why do the Americans always want to give us soap and shampoo for gifts? Do we smell bad to your people?" Again, we know that you mean well, but it isn't received in a good way.
Recently, a short-term mission team decided to honor all of the people who had worked with them during the week by holding a foot-washing ceremony on the final night. We are STILL hearing about this ceremony - in a very good way. People were very moved by this outpouring of love. People were crying left and right. My best friend went home and told her whole family about it and her whole family cried. In the words of one Peruvian, "I didn't know that North Americans were that warm and sentimental. I thought they were cold people. It was so special for them to do that. I'll never forget it." Your acts of kindness and warmth are so important to the people here. Consider how you can convey your love for them and the love of Christ. Make plans now to show your love and compassion while you are here.
GREAT JOB!!!
You did it!!! You have completed the 5th session in the training. Before long, you will be on the plane and headed for an adventure with Christ. Are you ready? Of course you are!!! If you have been faithful to your daily devotional time during this training and you have completed each of the five sessions, you are well on your way to having a fruitful mission here in Peru. Don't stop now... you have the last week of devotionals to complete and you need to stay focused and prayerful. We can't wait to see you! It won't be long now... En su marca, lista, FUERA!!! (Get Ready, Get Set, GO!!!)
Download the last week of devotionals by clicking the link below...
Download the last week of devotionals by clicking the link below...
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