6 Lessons from a New Missionary

Justin Burkholder • May 27, 2014

It has been six months since my wife, Jenny, and I boarded a plane in Chicago and moved to Guatemala City. Our lives have changed dramatically since then.

In the last year, we both stepped away from full-time jobs, liquidated everything we owned, and said good-bye to the place we called home for the seven years. We left behind the best friends we have ever made. And we did so while Jenny was six months pregnant. It’s been a wild ride.

We’ve learned a lot of lessons in six months about missionary life. Here are some of them. And we confess, we’ll continue to wrestle with them as we learn them over and over again.

1. Culture Shock is Real
I always thought culture shock was for people who moved to the desert in Africa, or the jungles of South America. I mean, Guatemala City has a Wal-Mart, how can there be culture shock there?

But culture includes much more than food, clothing, music and traditions. Culture is this sort of ambiguous substance that shapes how people think and feel. The differences are often very small, but their apparent smallness doesn’t change their significance.

For example, when a Guatemalan walks into a room, he greets everyone in the room personally. When he leaves at the end of an event or workday, he says good-bye to everyone personally. This is a small thing. But if I walk into a room and just issue a blanket “Hey, everybody,” people will probably think I’m rude. Every time I walk into a room, I make an effort to individually greet everyone.

The words we use, the jokes, how we process emotions, ideas, what we value and don’t value, how we work, how we play — all are nuanced from culture to culture. When you move from one culture to another, it’s like jumping from a hot tub into a cold pool.

2. Doubt Is Everywhere
I never expected this one. I’m sure most missionaries go through this. After all of the emotion and festivities of moving away and saying good-bye, you wake up one morning and think to yourself, “Uh oh, what did I just do?” Doubt is everywhere. Did I move into the right house? What will people think about me? Am I actually accomplishing anything? Why am I here in the first place?

It is amazing the amount of doubt that goes into just an ordinary day. I am a very confident and decisive person, and I even grew up in Latin America. But moving to another country will beat the man-made confidence out of just about anyone.*

3. Walking By Faith Is Hard
I don’t like to admit it, but I have rarely actually felt the need to walk by faith. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have the need; I have the need and it is enormous. However, I have never felt so far outside of my own comfort zone that I was grasping for something that made me feel stable or secure. In most ministry contexts, I have too heavily relied on my abilities or strengths. When you move to another country, it feels like your abilities and strengths are neutralized.

All of a sudden, I felt an enormous pressure to trust that God would use my stumbling efforts. It is a pressure that I should have felt a long time ago. My talents or abilities, apart from the grace of God, produce nothing for eternity. When I previously would rely on talents or abilities, it was mostly to give myself a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment. I felt like I had plans, or stability or vision. But here, we wake up every morning and have to trust that God has the ideas for our day already planned out. Walking by faith is painful, but it is a good pain.

4. The Things You Miss Are Funny
I miss carpet. I know it seems odd, but carpet has always given me a sense of home. Carpet doesn’t make sense in a Guatemalan climate, so there is no carpet.

We also miss Walgreens. There’s no similar convenience store in Guatemala. You have to go to a grocery store. Jenny misses licorice. She also misses Chick-fil-A, Chipotle and Diet Coke. I think you can see the theme.

5. A Sense of Belonging Has Never Felt So Important
I wasn’t able to live in community most of my life, having moved around a lot. Jenny grew up in the same town until college. Both of us were able to settle down in the Chicago area for the past few years, where we fully experienced community. We had people around us we cared deeply about who cared deeply about us. For one of the first times in my life, I didn’t feel like an outsider.

Moving to another country means you have to start all over. You move to a place where people already have their family traditions, groups of friends, plans for the weekend. We see the importance of feeling like you belong.

Slowly but surely, God is shaping a little community for us. To quote our director at TEAM, “One of the first things that God says in all of the Bible is, ‘It is not good for man to be alone.’” We have felt the truth of that statement.

6. Everything Is an Adventure
When you move to another country, absolutely everything is an adventure. Probably the first seven times we left the house, we got lost. We’ve found doctors in another country. We’ve had a baby in another country. We’ve filled out immigration papers, had to get passports for our baby. We’ve had to discover where we will shop, where will we eat, where will we go see a movie.

We’d be lying if we said the past six months haven’t been tough. However, God has used them to chisel away those calcified corners of our hearts that keep us from hearing his voice and trusting him. God has used them to confirm our giftings, strengths and even our weaknesses, and to shape and form us into the kind of Christ-followers He wants us to be.

*Tip: When you go to encourage a new missionary, remind them of why they are there in the first place. It may sound silly, but I can assure you that new missionaries wrestle with the “why” questions.

Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024
TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024
Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.
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