Adjusting to Missions Life in Southeast Asia

FEBRUARY

I have been here a few weeks now and am getting use to it. The staff and students have all been very welcoming to me and friendly. They are very eager to learn English which makes it difficult for me to pick up the local language, because they are trying to practice English with me. I arrived here during the rainy season and when it is raining the weather is fairly decent. When the sun is out it is hot (or at least to me it is). It is usually in the low to mid 90′s with high humidity. I am acclimating to it quickly though and am beginning to start to enjoy my time here.

I have been doing mostly maintenance work and repairs since I have gotten here. Because of the way the base is spread out and small I will quickly run out of work and focus primarily on learn the language. Most of the time that I think I am almost out of work Pastor Hekman finds another project for me.

Traveling from the Mission House to the BMW and the office have taken a little while to get use to, because so much looks the same. I can now travel by  the public transportation with a fair amount of confidence to and from the office. Pastor Hekman has had me drive from the office to the Mission House after the Wednesday Bible study every week.

MARCH

The beginning of the month started off much like February. About half way though Pastor Hekman told me I was going to be teaching the Missionaries to Canada English (MTCs are a national team preparing to tour North America) . He told me the night before they got here. I have been trying to teach them since the 15th of March.  Most of them speak English better then they think and I have been trying to get them to open up and practice more. They are also teaching me a lot. Everyday a different pair of people are on kitchen patrol (KP). Since there are only seven MTCs,  I also work KP once every four days. Learning to cook local food has been a lot fun and helpful with practicing their English.

So far all I have done is work with them and done small maintence jobs.