A few months ago, we were at Bible college. One of the advantages of this Bible college  is an Asian lector who has been a Buddhist for 20 years. At University he became a Christian, served the Lord in different countries and is now teaching at an English Bible college. One of the modules he is teaching is Buddhism….we were eager to learn as much as possible.

I will never forget his first lecture. He said that we can learn a lot about Buddism from books, absorb the theory and fill us with every detail. But if you talk with Buddhists never pretend that you know what they believe. The theory,  beliefs and practice of this in daily life seem not always to match with each other. Knowledge is very good, but you have to relate to the people if you really want to know how the theory worked out in their lives. Then you will know how to connect to them in telling the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do we have to do a psychological test as well? A dental check-up again? A blood test too….? Another meeting to talk through possible fields? 

We have started the preparations for our new life overseas full of enthusiasm. But our to-do-list became bigger and bigger. We felt overwhelmed and sometimes discouraged: are these tests and checks really necessary? Closing doors to go overseas? Do people doubt about us going overseas?

There are probably all kind of situations to ask these questions. Two things we would like to say about it at this moment: when you’re finally on the plane with all these tests behind you, you know that there are people and tests results that encourage you to go – you look suitable for living and working overseas (but you’re still not perfect J). The other thing is that this process teaches patience, perseverance, faith and trust in God – disciplines you definitely need (in life and) on the mission field.

Besides all the official preparation, here are some fun things to do to prepare for life in Thailand:

• Eat a sandwich with chopped chillies
• Enjoy a cold shower on a warm day

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When we had the idea that God was preparing a place for us in Thailand, we started doing the preparations. We started to work through the checklist to get ready. A lot of (more…)