Tag: overseas
#BestoftheBestFriday: Mind of a Hindu; Orphan Care; Modernizing Dictators; Social Justice & Evangelism
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Just in Time for Diwali: Understanding A Hindu Mind
Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, is November 6-10 (interested in praying during this festival? Click here for a free guide!). Indian neuroscientist Sai Anand communicates about God’s ingenius design of the human body, using it to share the Gospel. He’s written a fascinating article about his time as a Hindu, and how to share Jesus with the Hindustan population.
Are we really serving orphans well?
Opposition, Rejection, & the Voice Silencing All the Rest (with FREE Printable)
Reading Time: 3 minutes
At the time, I was drowning in lists. I no longer had a kitchen table; we’d sold it (or given it away? I don’t remember). We were getting immunizations and snapping passport photos of wiggly preschoolers and typing elaborate packing lists into spreadsheets. I found myself longing for the moment I would snap my seatbelt buckle on a Uganda-bound plane: At least then, even if there was more to do, I couldn’t do a single thing about it.
In the midst of said hurricane, I retrieved some medicine from the pharmacy. My kids were bouncing up and down like little pogo sticks. “We’re moving to Uganda!” one of them brightly announced to the pharmacist.
#BestoftheBestFriday: Prosperity Gospel in Africa; Animism 101; Diwali Prayer Guide; Medical Missions History
Reading Time: 2 minutes
It’s that time again, y’all–where we corral good stuff from around the world that matters for your journey over there. But we’re not just spewing it out there: We want your dialogue. Check ’em out–and give us some thoughts.
the frightening effects of the Prosperity Gospel in Nigeria
If you’re headed to Africa, here’s a must-read. After my own [Janel’s] time in Africa, I was amazed at how the prosperity gospel was often furthering poverty and hindering the genuine growth of the Church. As Lindsay Steele reports, “As people have become desperate to rise out of poverty, many have looked to churches and seen their ticket to prosperity….This shift in focus is not only affecting believers and the Church, but it’s tainting opportunities for ministry to others, specifically to Muslims.” Read more here.
My Story: “If only I could hear His voice”
Reading Time: 4 minutes
By Denise Rhoades
Eleven years ago was a long period of searching for truth about God to feed my own soul. I’d lost my grandpa. My (now former) fiancé had called off our wedding four months before we were to be married. In short, I was in a state of life- altering confusion.
One night alone in my room kneeling by my bed, when I was at a point of final desperation, I cried out to God, tears waterfalling down my cheeks.
Help Your Marriage Thrive Overseas! Part III
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Missed Part I and II? Grab ’em here.
Moving to Africa was like seeing a new version of my husband.
Sure; in some ways it aged us and strained us in ways we could have never experienced. But it was also extremely cool to see my husband as the guy tooling around an African metropolis, learning to navigate the streets to care for his family. I would have never anticipated the overwhelming generosity he possessed; the crazy-cool gifts of cultural understanding and helping Africans through heartbreaking conflicts and difficulties. What if I’d never seen the African version of him? And as I at last realized my dream of moving overseas, we laughed out loud about the “Afro-disiac” it was for our marriage!
Help Your Marriage Thrive Overseas! Part II
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Missed Part I? Grab it here.
Like going overseas, marriage is a form of faith—even more in God than in your spouse.
And as C.S. Lewis has written, Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods.
All of us encounter those days where we’re thinking, if he throws his socks beside the hamper one more time, I am going to tell him exactly where he should put them. Or, Honey, I get hormones. But does PMS really last all month?
Help Your Marriage Thrive Overseas! Part I
Reading Time: 3 minutes
While living in Uganda, we paid a trusted African friend to watch our kids while we went on date nights. At first, she looked at us like we’d grown horns.
“He still takes you out on dates?”
She opined aloud that if I were Ugandan and had borne four children, my husband would probably be looking for another woman to…entertain him. So believe it or not, our consistent dates and happy marriage were a fun and refreshing testimony to those watching us.
Different Strokes? Marital Differences as You Look Overseas, Part II
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Missed Part I? Grab it here.
“Should My Spouse Go Through Language Training if Not Headed into Formal Ministry?”
Someone asked my husband and I recently if they should both be enrolled in language school. Our answer? Unquestionably. Both spouses will be interacting with the culture–and both need to be mobile within that culture. Conversely, whoever doesn’t have language or cultural training will be handicapped at whatever level caps their interaction–not just for everyday life, but for ministry capacity. Imagine a person coming to your passport country without speaking your language. They’re reduced to functioning even less than the hearing impaired (who have sign language); they’re on the outside looking in, utterly isolated from anyone by their inability to communicate.
Different Strokes? Marital Differences as You Look Overseas, Part I
Reading Time: 5 minutes
One of the biggest stresses on my engagement wasn’t really the normal stuff–the wedding planning or whatnot. It was a phrase I’d rerun over in my head a hundred times: I don’t feel called overseas. Evangelism is not my gift. My husband-to-be surpassed the one I’d been looking for so many times over. And it really did seem God was leading us to marriage.
But was he?
Was I…selling out? I’d been headed in an overseas direction for years. What was I missing?