I didn’t expect…

Hey lovely people.
So now as we are preparing to leave SouthEastAsia for the first time after moving out here almost two years ago, I thought I’d take the time and reflect and share a bit with you about some of my experiences.
   These last two years have been extremely stretching and honestly very difficult, but I’ve seen God’s faithfulness as he has been taking me thru my time here in SouthEastAsia.

There were so many things I never expected, before I moved out here.

 I didn’t expect...
...to see so many M Workers leave for different reasons and that them leaving would make me feel so discouraged and sometimes hopeless. But I have also seen God call new people out here and as they have obeyed and moved here I have been encouraged. Praise God.

I didn’t expect...

...to miss home and people so much. In 2013/beginning of 2014 my Co – worker from L.A., Carrie came out here with a Skate team for 3 months. At that time a lot of the other long term M Workers left to visit home and take breaks. So it was practically only JP and I out here by ourselves for a while. So besides Carrie I had no friends at all. It is so challenging to find friends, who don’t just want to be friends with you, because you are “white”. (our city has around 6 million people living here, with roughly 300 “white” people/” foreigners”)
 When Carrie left I cried for almost two weeks straight, just feeling very lonely. But God gave me hope and provided me with “Jia Yin”, a local girl, who I became really close friends with. On top of that Carrie has returned a year later to begin working out here long term. Yay God, you rock!

I didn’t expect...

...the culture shock. I never truly appreciated the vast difference between my “German” culture and the Asian culture. It’s the combination of a million little differences that drains your energy and melts your mind. I didn’t expect, kids peeing on the side of the road or in trash cans in the mall, always being pointed out and called “foreigner”. Being cut in line all the time and having people get really close to you and sth. like “personal space” does not exist. Being told, that I shouldn’t drink cold water or I shouldn’t eat raw vegetables, because it’s not “good” for your health. All those things combined can be quite challenging to deal with. But God showed me grace and that he loves every single person in my city and he gave me thru my local friends a better understanding of the culture.

I didn’t expect...
...that being a housewife would be so challenging. Having an apartment and to keep that clean takes up ¾ of my time!! Having to cook all your food (bread and lunchmeat rarely exist) and that I can’t just go to the supermarket and buy frozen food and toss it in the oven. First because ovens don’t really exist here and second there is no frozen food. Anywhere. Local people don’t believe in freezing food. But God provided me with “amazon”, haha, don’t laugh, where I can buy a lot of my stuff online and just have to pick it up from the delivery guy.

I didn’t expect...

...how long it takes to learn the language. I never imagined how difficult and lonely it would be to build a home or to live in a community where I could not speak the language. In our City very few locals speak English. Most people just know “Hello” and that’s it. For the average western person it takes two years just to get a good foundation in the language. It feels sometimes like learning three languages at once. There are the tones, pin yin (Romanization of Chinese characters) and Chinese characters. As an extra challenge English is not my mother tongue. But God provided me with an excellent teacher and with understanding and having patience.

I didn’t expect...

...that I would be so dependent on other people. In the beginning it was very difficult, from being so independent and being able to do everything on my own to almost complete dependency on others. When we first moved out here I couldn’t go anywhere without my husband to help me get anything done. I praise God that he gave me such a loving husband of mine who is so very patient and graceful with me.

I am so excited to be pregnant, it also interferes with my schooling a bit, as the language is coming slowly, so does the rest of it. But I trust in God that my language skills will be continuing to grow and I am thankful to have a Chinese roommate.

      So what I have learned and experienced is that if I want to be able to live out here for a long time and achieve Gods calling, there are a lot things to do and a lot of challenges to overcome. It can be hard for people to imagine, what it’s like to move to a different country (completely new food, completely different language, completely different climate, community etc.).
      Now it has been nearly two years and I have seen God provide for every single one of my needs. God has been so faithful to provide financially, to provide friends, to provide us with a home (an apartment I really like and feel like I can call my home) and so many other things.

     If I would have known in advance how difficult it would be, I might have not come out here. But God is good and worth it and the people are worth it. I am living proof that anyone can do it. God doesn’t call the qualified but the willing, because I am definitely not qualified. But God has so much Grace with me.

So just be encourage and if you think you can’t do things, you feel called to do, I tell, with God you can do it. It might not always be easy, but it is so worth it because you are doing what God called you to.
Thanks for taking the time and reading my blog.

Lots of love from Asia, Evi