The Eurasia Experience: How did it go in Houston?

Our very first event as a new team would be at the tail end of summer 2015 in Houston, TX at Templo Aposento Alto for the Texas Louisiana Hispanic District of the Assemblies of God.

Those of you who are avid members of the Mary Beth fan club know I was called to missions in Latin America in Quito, Ecuador and then did my first longer term assignment with Castillo del Rey in El Salvador, porque los ninos necesitan conocer Jesus! So, I love me some hispanics, I even have several brown friends, but unfortunately my Thai language skills have intermixed with my Spanish language skills making even my English hard to understand and the rest of my team speaks easy languages like arabic or hindi so hurdle #2 (#1 is we're a brand new team!) is a bit of language and cultural barrier, but we were ready, we had bilingual monologists and ate a lot of the local cuisine that week to better connect with our new friends and because it was dang good! 

So we have translators and pupusas and horchata AND we have a.... wait for it... hurricane. We'll call that hurdle #3-#10 because the flooding caused major highways to close and several attendees from near and far to be unable to come, including some cast members, but both the conference and the event moved  floated forward. 

I'll quit being silly and get to the good stuff. At the end of the event we ask those in attendance what God is speaking to their hearts, what is He telling them their part is in reaching those yet to hear, is it to pray, to give, to go, all three?  Several people stood saying God was moving upon their hearts to GO, I watched as they began to stand, just a handful, like popcorn they popped up in the far corners of the room and one or two in the middle of the crowd. Each one of them was standing alone. Peer pressure is powerful, but evidently not so much in the "I'm going to pack my bags and move to India, because my friends are!" kind of way. 

Where they were sitting is significant, not because the Holy Spirit is stronger on the east side of the room or anything weird like that but because of something else.  The room was dark, the spotlights had been on the speakers, no one could really see who else was standing, plus friends and family typically get separated as they enter into this part of the experience because in most of our countries men and women would not sit together in religious gatherings and we want our attendees to experience this part of Eurasian cultures. 

The handful of individuals made their way out of the crowd into an annex to talk with some of our team about their interests. A middle aged man, a single guy in his twenties, an older woman, middle aged woman, a young boy, a teenage boy, and a mother all walked alone from their seats to respond to God's call.  I can't imagine what was going thru their minds. How on earth will this ever happen?How will I tell my family that I feel God is calling me or us to go and minister in Eurasia?  With hearts pounding both with excitement and fear of how those they love would react to what God was asking of them, they weaved thru the dark crowd into the light. This is the cool part or rather the God part of the story. Fear and uncertainty subsided and was replaced with astonishment as the middle aged man saw his wife enter the room, followed shortly after by their teenager, and then their youngest child. In the dark, in the chaos, in a crowded room, thru language barriers and a hurricane God had spoken to 4 individual hearts, one family, the same message,  His call to the nations. No hurdles are too big for God, not hurricanes, not finances, not speaking to the hearts of your whole family. When God calls us to crazy stuff like moving to Eurasia, He knows if we're single, or if we have kids, or health or financial hurdles, He also knows exactly how He's going to get us over the hurdles and into the adventure of His will. 

I'll spare you photos of our sopping wet team heading to dinner after the trailer was loaded back up, mostly because I look significantly drier than my male team members, not at all sure how that happened!

I Knew Being Single was Going to be the Death of Me: "Sacurity!!!"

I figured it would be from falling off two chairs stacked on top of one another while trying to change out the battery in my smoke detector, or from my unsupervised use of a drill, or maybe even from celibacy, but one afternoon taught me a whole new way being single is going to kill me. Due to my frequent travel abroad, it was requested of me to go thru a bit of a security training boot camp to better prepare me for what to do in the event that I'm taken captive while overseas. It's supposed to be empowering and while I highly recommend that anyone who travels abroad much go thru the training, I have to admit I had a bit of an adverse reaction to it all.

  You see it's taught by former FBI personnel,  and while the guy sounded just like Magnum PI; he unfortunately looked nothing like him. They kept referring to the speakers as special agent, so throughout the training I kept having to suppress laughter because I kept hearing, "Hi! I'm Very Special Agent Tony Dinozzo!"  There are several different aspects to the training, including some simulations for what they call "stress inoculation."

  I'll give you some of the training for free Donation to MB's Mission's Account:    If traveling, upon arrival ask for your hotel room to be switched preferably to the 3,4, or 5th floor.  This foils any preplanned robbery, keeps you high enough off the ground to keep someone from climbing into your window, but is still accessible to most fire ladders even in developing nations. Don't publicize your destination on social media and turn off location services for photos, etc. And last, but not least cooperate with and build rapport with your captors if you find yourself in a hostage situation. This is why in movies people at gun point always say stuff like, "I have a family!" Which I'm glad I now know because I always thought that was dumb, "Um, he wants to kill you, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to see a family photo!" Turns out family photos can be life saving IF you have a family. Oh and don't lie, try to always tell the truth to your captors.

  So, they train you and then they stress you out. Lucky for me I was taken captive with other people because while there are supposed only be two responses to stress, fight or flight, I, of course,  am unique and fit into a third category, FREEZE. It's just a simulation, I know this. I'm still in the same building I've been in the last 3 days, even with the black sack over my head I can still make out Magnum PI's voice as my captor. Yet, I still begin to have shortness of breath and find myself in need of my inhaler under this black sack, but I don't say anything, I just can't. Luckily when taken to our destination one of my fellow captives begins to build rapport and test the boundaries and ask if we can take the sacks off our faces. Captor says yes, due to my ragged breathing, someone else asked that I be given a bottle water, and I was given some water. The captors begin to talk to one another and my co-captives begin to do just as we've learned, they begin to build rapport. The man beside me begins to engage in conversation about his two kids and pregnant wife at home while the other couple literally pulls out pictures of their grandkids! I'm still frozen, but I don't have a husband or kids, and I'm not supposed to lie, so what would I say, "My mama would really miss me?!" I'm pretty sure if they have to kill one hostage to make a point it's going to be me! I'm panicky, mute with fear, and I don't have a family, this is when I realized being single was going to be the death of me. I've built ZERO rapport, so much for that expensive masters degree in counseling, I've even served on crisis management teams, turns out all that training is worthless on me. FROZEN.

  In all honesty, I went home after the whole ordeal and had a serious talk with the Lord. They told us all throughout the training that neither the Assemblies of God nor the United States negotiates with terrorists and that any proposed ransom would not be paid. I've NEVER been afraid to travel, but this "empowering" security training had done me in! All the sudden I didn't want to go ANYWHERE. As the Lord and I are chatting, I said, "well did you know they're not going to pay my ransom?" And He quickly reminded me that my ransom has already been paid, that He's ensured my freedom on calvary many moons ago,  that the real captives are the ones who haven't had the opportunity to hear about Him, the ones He was sending me to. It was tough to argue after that, but I still gave it a pretty good shot, but still found myself on 17 hour flight to Southern Asia just 2 short weeks later, but that's a whole other story.  I have to get off here and work on my e-harmony profile as it seems my life might depend on it!

In honor of this great "Sacurity," please watch the following video, you're welcome.