A Missionary's Perspective

The first hurdle

When you start working in another country, there are many hurdles to overcome. Although I sometimes thought about this when our friends were working in South Africa, I did not realize at the time what this must have meant to them. And now that we are working here in Aruba, I often ignore the impact of everything that has changed. I like to work and enjoy results. So my natural commitment is to create positive change. But that does not work here. Not if you come from outside, not if you don't know the culture well enough, not if you don't have the right relationships and contacts. Without knowing it, we have been working way too hard to achieve all those positive results. We had planted a plant and it had to grow. We put the plant in the right soil, we gave it enough water and we provided a little extra pokon. We just didn't pull the plant up so that it seemingly would grow faster, but we at least checked it every day to see if any growth was visible.

This week we had a conversation about how we can best help the families in San Nicolas. In the middle of the meeting, a good friend asked me: "Why did you keep saying in recent months that we had to wait without taking action?" This question got me thinking. I could have asked it to other people who wanted to achieve something here. What motivates me to no longer want to pull the plant? Am I still passionate enough for this mission? Fortunately, I can answer that last question with a resounding “yes”. But what's stopping me?

The answer to that question came for me two weeks earlier. During coaching that Hanneke and I received from two experienced YWAM-ers; a couple who, with at least twenty more years of mission experience, know how to pioneer. During that conversation I talked about how I really felt about being cooped up on this island for almost three years and feeling like I couldn't move forward. One of our coaches then asked the question: “Can it be that God lets you experience what it is like to live as an Aruban?” Phew, that came in. I knew the answer. That's exactly what happens. Do I like it? Absolutely not! But is it necessary? Absolutely!

It is important to realize that we cannot force this mission, no matter how much we may want to move forward. This applies to us, but it also applies to our fellow missionaries with whom we work and to our supporters. God has a plan in place and He knows what He is doing. He gives each plant exactly the time it needs to grow, bloom, and be fruitful. We can be ready to sow, water and harvest. But things will always happen a little differently in Aruba than in the rest of the world. We must, despite ourselves, walk the process as God intends it here. Fortunately, we were also able to explain that to our friend in the meeting as well. I hope that with this lasting realization in mind the first hurdle has been taken.

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