For my whole life (and i suspect for a lot of other people out there) the question isn't so much 'why go?', it's probably more 'why shouldn't i go?'. about 5 years ago, my sister and her family (the Dicksons) moved over to Thailand as missionaries, and whilst i was fully supportive of them going, i came up with plenty of excuses as to why that would never be me heading over - 'i'm not good at learning new languages' (eg i had to repeat Chinese school Kindy 3 times before i quit), 'all my friends and family are in Sydney', 'there are so many gospel needs in Sydney still', 'i'm a single female, how would i cope overseas on my own', 'i haven't done any formal theological studies' and the list just goes on.
One thing i did always promise myself though, was to go do a short term mission trip with the dicksons in Thailand, so that i could have a better understanding of what they do, the people they work with etc. So Dec 06 that opportunity came, when a group from my church (Drummoyne Presbyterian Church) went to Thailand for 3 weeks to work with the Dicksons in Chiang Mai and a local Thai church in Khorat. And boy did my whole attitude change to overseas mission. Suddenly every excuse that i had ever thought up became irrelevant. Sure it's frustrating not to be able to fully communicate, but i was starting to get a handle of the language, even after 3 weeks. Besides, charades and pictionary can really get you places, and it's amazing how FOOD can break down all sorts of barriers. We had a night out at a restaurant with our language helpers (who spoke about as much english as we had Thai if we were lucky) and that has to go down as one of the most memorable, fun, humourous nights that i've ever had. i could always work hard and get over the language thing. And the whole thing about my leaving my friends and family behind - well, that still saddens me, but there are a whole lot of new people i'd be missing out on having a relationship with if i didn't go over. How lucky are we now to just be a phone call, email, skype - or now my new fav iChat away from each other. i know it's not the same as hanging out, but it's not a good enough excuse to stop me from going right now.
And not having done any formal theological training? as i spoke with the dicksons and went to churches and met Thai Christians, i realised that even me with no formal theological training had a much greater understanding of the bible then many of the Thai's and dare i say, even some of the missionaries over there. it made me realise how much i've taken for granted the great bible teaching i have received my whole life. It scares me now to think what is being taught to the Thai's. I've always been taught to build on a firm foundation and not to build your house on the sand. For me, that firm foundation is on the gospel and on the Bible. How can Thai Christians build on a firm foundation when those who are teaching them what it means to be a christian don't seem to even have that foundation?
So the question now is not 'why shouldn't i go?' but rather 'why shouldn't i stay?'. And the answer to that is: there are about 65 million thai people out there who need to know about the God of the Bible. i know that our God who created this world can do anything and work miracles and i hope that he works a miracle in me in sharing my life as a Christian with the Thai's. i can't just sit back and hope that they'll be zapped by some bolt of lightening that will help them understand the Bible (even though i know that God could do that if he wanted).
