Goodbye High Heels

I can still remember pulling up at the Bible school in Jackson, Michigan for the first time.  I had driven from Florida with my little Honda filled to the brim with all that was left of my worldly belongings.

I had accepted Christ at the age of 24 and committed my life to missions 18 months later.  In my limited understanding of NTM and missions, I thought Bible school was for folks like me who were saved later in life and needed Bible instruction before moving on to the more nuts and bolts of working with tribal people who have no written language.  So I was shocked to arrive and find out I was one of only about five other people over the age of 22! 

I had lived on my own with a full-time career, had already graduated from college with a marketing degree by going to night school and now was moving into a dorm for the first time in my life.  My very sweet RA (resident’s assistant) was 19 and not quite sure what to do with me.  I finally had to tell her to treat me like all the 18-year-olds and just tell me what to do because I really didn’t know what to do either. 

I remember trying to cram all my clothes into the closet with the three other girls I shared a room with, while trying not to step on the clothes lying all over the floor. Then one of my dorm mates walked in with combat boots and short spiky hair. I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. How could I have guessed that the rather alternative girl with combat boots would become one of my dearest friends?  Or how much I would learn from the gentle, soft-spoken RA that was seven years my junior? The Lord used that time in my life to grow me in Him and prepare me for the ministry in ways I never could have anticipated. 

As I look back at both the Bible school and missionary training afterward, it would be impossible to lay out all the individual lessons that makes ministry among the Uriay people possible. But even more important than each of those lessons, have been the underlying principles I came away with. When our team has found ourselves in situations far beyond the scope of what the training could have prepared us for, there were basic principles we were able to lean on as we looked to the Lord for specific direction. 

In Bible school, the main principle that the Lord taught me about was patient endurance.  I really didn’t understand what that looked like. But through situations both inside and outside the classroom, He helped me see it was a moment-by-moment dependence on Him – and pressing on no matter what. I wonder if I would have remained on the field had I not learned those valuable lessons. And I’ve seen that principle of patient endurance carry me through the frustrations of living in a third world country where time is never important – and nothing ever happens according to plan. 

There were also valuable lessons learned during the missionary part of the training.

We were often divided into groups and given “What would you do if …” scenarios to discuss which had really happened on the field. One case study was about two missionary couples on a team and how one had a much higher support level than the other. Tensions rose when the couple with lower support became judgmental of how their teammates were spending their funds.

Discussing topics like these and thinking them through during the training helped our team avoid some of the same pitfalls later. Expecting our teammates to do things like we would or projecting our standards onto them can tear a team apart. On several occasions I have caught myself thinking critically of how a co-worker is doing something. Then I remember that their way isn’t wrong, just different.

Coming into the training fresh from a sales job, wearing a dress and heels every day, I also had to learn practical principles I had never experienced as a single “city girl.” So my afternoon work study included driving a tractor to pull logs out of a jammed river, using a chain saw as well as an axe, building a plastic house, and framing a wall in a new building and a host of other things. And each lesson has proved valuable on the field – from being able to help build my house and office, to knowing what to look for when the outboard motor stopped running and I was out on the river.   

Another important aspect of the training was the “mock” situations that were set-up to mimic what it would be like in a tribe, so that we could actually experience using what we had learned. Our class studied the Yurok people (a native American tribe) and practiced learning their culture and language and prepared chronological lessons for them. And everything we had learned about the principle of keeping the people’s culture in mind as you plan the Bible lessons definitely came into focus as we later planned the Uriay lessons.

I know missionaries from other agencies who have focused on learning the language of the people but didn’t see the necessity to understand the people’s culture or how it would affect their view of Christianity.  This led to much frustration and uncertainty as to why the new believers were still trapped in their previous world view, mixing His Truth with their old animistic beliefs and ways.

But being taught the importance of understanding the world view of the Uriay people here in Papua New Guinea has enabled us to anticipate the animistic views that would clash with Biblical principles and make sure those issues were addressed as we taught the Bible and presented the Gospel. Otherwise, the Uriay people would have been confused and not placed their faith in Christ alone for salvation.

 The NTM missionary training can sound like an eternity when you’re anxious to get out there and start sharing Christ with those who have never heard. But tribal ministry is unique. Everything that goes into planting a tribal church and discipling a new body of believers to maturity is far from instant. And it’s not something I could have walked into and done after a short orientation. I could have tried but I probably wouldn’t have lasted very long.

But instead, God took a single woman with a marketing degree and no Bible education, and gave her what she needed to know to become a woman with the absolute honor and privilege of being used on the other side of the world among the Uriay people group. I’m glad I didn’t miss that.