Sam Rong: The boy who misses his brother

Sam Rong is Tilek's brother. When we first saw him in the English camp (people are now calling it DVBS) three years ago, he really looked like Tilek. We learned that Tilek and Sam Rong have another brother in another orphanage in Kengtung. Their parents died of a motorcycle accident in Chiang Rai three years ago. For some reasons, the three of them ended up seperated living in different orphanages in Mae Sai, Tachilek and Kengtung.

The owner of the orphanage (we'll just call her Sayarma) in Tachilek brought Sam Rong to Mae Sai because he was sick. She claimed that the doctor had seen him twice and he was treated for a common flu. However, he was not getting better at all. She told us that he was crying all the time and wanted to see his mother and brothers. Maybe, she thought, that his sickness was nothing but emotional and seeing his brother would make him feel better. So we met him to bring him home to see his brother. However, when we saw him, our hearts melted. His sickness did not look like a flu at all. He was very sick. He was literally skins and bones.

We brought him right away to our friend doctor. When he saw Sam Rong, he advised us to bring him to the hospital without delay, we could not afford to wait. It was a matter of life and death. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with chronic and severe case of TB. After several tests and x-ray, he was immediately confined in the isolation room. He stayed there for two weeks. We visited him every day and we lcame to know more about him and his family background. His parents were on their second or third marriages when he, Tilek and their brother were born. They have many step and half brothers/sisters. The brother and sister who visited him at the hospital were not related at all. The family background was so confusing that we think it was better not to talk about it anymore.

Anyway, after two weeks at the hospital he was released by the doctor but his medication continues. He seems to be recovering well until last week he was turning yellow. The medications was causing complications to his liver. He might have had hepatitis before and the medicines he was taking made his liver so weak. The doctor didn't know for sure.

Yesterday, Syarma came and told us that she would take Sam Rong to the village in the jungle (her word). She frankly told us that she did not have the capacity to take care of Sam Rong anymore. Whether she meant it financially or emotionally, we did not know for sure. But she had decided to do it without asking for our opinion. She knew we were strongly opposed to her plan. Bringing Sam Rong to the village was just like signing his death warrant. We do not want to ba part of it. We already helped him and we intend to help him all the way.

Sam Rong is now staying with us, in our home. We know his disease is contagious and we need to be extra careful so that the other children will not be infected. We will take care of him until he will be completely healed and he can decide if he wants to stay or go back to Tachilek. Please help us in prayer for Sam Rong's fast recovery and complete healing.

Missiology as theology

For those of us who still think that we can do mission without theology. We should think again. Luzbetak argues that most mission theorists consider missiology to be basically theological. Schliermacher considers all study of mission as a form of pastoral theology. Although today there is no agreement as to how missiology fits into an overall scheme of theology, it is a fact that theology will always occupy the central place and will always play the determining role. He argues that the object of missiology must repeatedly be examined, tested and re-tested, not so much in the light of human wisdom but in terms of how God understands mission. The most important themes in mission are what God regards as genuine salvation activities and what God means by the "kingdom of God."

Thus, "theology is the real acid test inmission and holds the place of honor among the disciplines involved. All other fields, including anthropology, are essentially supportive in nature and have a cross-fertilizing, expanding, strenghtening, and integrating function. In a word, the other fields are essential, but they are supplementary dimensions of a basically theological field."

Although we do not like theology (or even mentioned the word), we can not deny that theology is central in doing mission. If anybody claims that they can do mission or any of its activities, they need to do serious thinking because mission without theology is impossible.

The Church and Cultures: New Perspectives on Missiological Anthropology by Louis J. Luzbetak, p. 14.

AiPang:The Little Boy in a Big Man's Body

My sister Nori, wrote this story when she was here last year. AiPang's uncle came early that year and brought him to Myanmar. We don't like the idea of the children going home to their relatives during school break. It is just not right. They had literally abandoned the children and gave them up to us. But they still want them to work for them. We gave them an ultimatum, if any of the relatives would take any children from us, they should take care of them and they should not return them to us anymore. We asked AiPang if he wanted to return to Myanmar. With big hesitation, he said "yes." We cried our tears and let him go, expecting that we will not see him again. Here is a story of how we were able to take him back.

Wanting to see a proof of child labor? Look at Ai Pang's muscles. His biceps and triceps are so visible when ever he moves his arms. When new visitors or missionaries come, that is how we introduce him. Ai Pang show your muscles, and he will just make some little stretching here and there... His abs are in layers.

Ai Pang is ten years old. He can tell stories -- especially how his mother died in the field while working. He can share how for three days, his father could not stop crying over the dead body of his loving wife. According to the story, Ai Pang's mom complained of stomach pains and headache. She also had fever... possibilities? appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy, infection, (?????) but no one knows since she never had the chance to see a doctor. Although Ai Pang's father pleaded her to stay home, the mother continued to work in the field and when she failed to come home at an appointed time, they went to the farm to see her dead. How can Ai Pang live the rest of his life with such a story to tell and re-tell about his loving mother who wanted to help her husband provide a good life for their family.

Ai Pang is also a hard worker and he too worked in the field during school breaks. Last year, he went home to help in the farm and when Narlin and her team held an English camp on the other side, she saw Ai Pang-- thin, very dark, and would not even look straight at her. I saw Narlin's misty eyes... "Ai Pang, come back home with Nanay, now!" She immediately talk with Sayarma Angela and said, "I will bring Ai Pang back home... i do not like the way he looks. This is the reason why I do not want to let him to go back to his family. They make him work hard. I want to take care of him and see the sparkle in his eyes again... i do not see it now. He looked sick." All of them work hard in the family. All the children work with their parents in order to survive. Sayarma Angela made some arrangements and promised Narlin, she will bring back Ai Pang to Mae Sai as soon as possible.

Ai Pang loves sports. His muscles are well coordinated and strong. He likes climbing, tumbling, jumping, and other physical activities. He likes soccer and basketball. He can be trusted in doing his assigned household chores, arts and crafts, and also in massaging Nanay Narlin when she is having cramps or muscle pains. He also is responsible for feeding the guinea pigs and in cutting the grass. if we can only bring a child home, i want Ai Pang -- Ycoi will have someone to help him become physically active and not just sit in front of the computer ... but Ai Pang will have to stay.

Talking about intelligence, Ai Pang easily catches instructions and can remember things well. He can reason out well and can express himself in so many ways. When he is happy, his eyes twinkle and his dimples make him more handsome and cheerful. Ai Pang is a bundle of possibilities. I remember a song in the album "God's Project" that goes like "Only God can count the apple in a single seed, only he knows just how many there will be. All the possibilities are the treasures that He sees when He looks inside of me..." I am sure when God looks in Ai Pang's heart, he sees all those possibilities in this little boy. God has planted the seed... but some people will be sent by Him to water, to nurture, to care for, and to see the full fruition of the work He had started in Ai Pang.

Can you be one of those who will help see Ai Pang's possibilities come to reality. Adopt him in your prayer life. Reach out to him and pamper him with your loving prayers.

May God continue to see your own potentialities so that you can see what is in others...

Love for others

One of the requirements for a true spirituality for mission is a genuine love for others. This is clearly stated in Christ's second most important commandment which is to love your neighbors. This commandment demands selfless dedication to the needs of others. Love of neighbor is not something accessory to mission and is not primarily a kind of lure for winning converts; it is in fact, nothing less than a basic constitution of the very Kingdom that the Church wishes to extend through mission. According to this constitution, the Church as a community of love must not only believe its faith; it must do it. Christianity is by its very nature a faith of love, whose adherents are to be recognized by their Godlikeness that is reflected especially in their genuine care and active compassion for others.

The Church and Cultures: New Perspectives in Missiological Anthropology by Louis J. Luzbetak, p. 4.

Deep and living faith

One of the challenges of being a missionary is living what we are  preaching. We can proclaim to the people how to live by faith but if we  ourselves are not living by faith, then our teaching become questionable at least and false at most. It means our life will show what it mean to live by faith. It is believing God in every aspect of his life including trust in God's provision. It means following God whatever it cost. As I have observed, many Christian workers have left their ministries fearing that they need to work  to meet their financial needs. And we really could not blame them. We have been in the same situation. However, as our needs become bigger, God assures us that his provision is bigger than all we will ever need. As Luzbetak says:

Those engaged in mission must be, above all, individuals of deep, living faith, sincerely believing what they preach, with God as the very heart and center of their lives, the mainspring of their innermost selves. It is a basic theological assumption of the present approach to mission that every Christian, but especially those engaged in a ministry, must strive to be of “the mind f Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16) to such an extent, in fact, that he or she can say with Paul, “for me 'life' means 'Christ' “ (Phil 1:21) and the “life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me” (Gal. 2:19f). To emphasize such personal theocentric oneness and wholeness is merely to re-echo the words of Jesus to the scribe who inquired about “the first of all Commandments” (Mk 12:28).

To illustrate his point Luzbetak tells a story that clearly tells us what it means to have God as the center of one's life. The story is about the response of the wise guru to the question of a young man who approached him.

“Master,” the young man asked, “when can I say that I truly love God?” Instead of giving direct answer, the guru signaled to two of his disciples, saying, “Give him the answer I gave ou when you asked me that very question. Yes, when can we say that we truly love God the way we should?” Compeletely bewildered, the inquirer allowed himself to be led by the two disciples to a nearby stream, where he was at once submerged and held under water for a very uncomfortable length of time. When finally released, the inquirer, coughing and sputtering, and wondering what all this meant, was brought back to the guru. “Now,” the guru solemnly said, “now you are ready for an answer to your question. tell me, my son, exactly what where were you thinking when you were held under water?” Still coughing and gasping for air, the young man half-smiling replied, “What could I have been thinking about, but about air, air, and more air?” The wise guru looked sympathetically at the young man and said, “Now you have answer your own question; you love God truly, the way you should love him, as soon as you seek God, and only God, the way you sought air and only air.”

This is what oneness with Christ through the Holy Spirit and completeness in the Father means. This is also what Paul meant when he said that life and Christ were synonymous. This is what it mean to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And although this can only be achieved when we die, this must be the goal of every true follower of Christ, especially those who want to succeed in the ministry. Without this God-centeredness even the best programs, methods and movements applied to the ministry are nothing but an exercise in futility, a gimmick, and a sham.

The Church and Cultures: New Perspective in Missiological Anthropology by Louis J. Luzbetak, pp. 3-4

The Primacy of the Holy Spirit in MIssion

I was invited to attend a church planting consultation. I guess the main purpose of the meeting is to convince the local pastors, missionaries and church leaders regardless of denomination, organization, and whatever. However, the goal was not accomplished because most of the Pastors and church leaders did not stay to respond to the invitation. The presentation focused on the incredible accomplishments of the movement in Asian countries (some of them are statistically impossible).

I believe that church planting or mission for that matter is never truly a human accomplishment. And thus, we do not really need to brag about it. It is because it is accomplished by the Holy Spirit through his servants. As Luzbetak says:

The mission of the Church is essentially a spiritual activity--the work of the Holy Spirit. Effectiveness and true success in mission, we maintain, cannot be measured except in terms of the supernatural. Behind every human effort there must be the Power and Free Gift of God (the Holy Spirit and and his Grace). We wish, therefore, to emphasize and declare loudly and clearly, leaving no doubt behind whatsoever, that the scientific planning so strongly emphasized in our approach to mission is in no way meant to be a substitute for the Holy Spirit. Rather, we acknowledge the truth of the Lord's warning that "apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Without the Holy Spirit, the Church would be but a lifeless body, a corpse, and at best a "noisy gong, a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:1) and not the vibrant Church of the Acts of the Apostles. Not the scientific planning, however cleverly executed, ever force the Holy Spirit to act in any particular manner. (Lumen gentium, no 1-5; Gaudium et spes, no. 2) Such a task can be carried out only in and through the Spirit (Evangeli nuntiandi, no. 75).

The Church and Cultures: New Perspectives in Missiological Anthropology by Louis J. Luzbetak, S.V.D.