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How Can I Move Somewhere I’ve Never Been?

Trent has been answering lots of the questions that we’ve been asked since we announced our decision to move to Singapore. However, today I’m going to address a question that is most often pointed to me:

How can you move to a foreign country where you have never been?

If you read Trent’s post about his survey trip to Singapore you know that I did not go. Instead, our oldest daughter, Ella, travelled with him. Although ideally I also would have been able to go, we believe (and know) there was great benefit for Ella going with him. For instance, with Ella at his side, Trent was constantly reminded of what life in Singapore would look like with children in mind. Ella was also able to make friends and connections as well as experience a taste of life in the big city of Singapore. When Ella returned from the trip she became a great ambassador to her siblings about the possibility of moving to the other side of the world by describing Singapore to them through a child’s eyes.

But really, how can you move to a foreign country where you have never been?

I’ll admit that the answer is complex. There are a couple of big answers followed by lots of little things that come together to allow me to be comfortable with this move. Of course, I haven’t been there yet and haven’t lived there yet. I know that there will be a great adjustment period, but I’m ready to tackle that challenge.

There is work to be done. We wouldn’t be moving across the globe if there wasn’t work to be done. We love God, we care about souls, and we desire to build up the body of Christ. Our family’s desire has always been to work as part of the church (whether that be in an official “position” or not). And, we’ve decided that we want to join in the good work that is already being done in Singapore.

I trust my husband. The work in Singapore is something that he has seen. It is a work that, before he saw it, he wanted to be a part of, and after seeing it, still wanted to be involved. The work in Singapore is something that he believes our entire family could be involved in because of the multifaceted nature of the work. The work in Singapore is something he thinks will be a blessing to our family. The country of Singapore is somewhere he has been and thinks that our family could live.

I have the benefit of a little international travel and living. I’ve had the blessing of traveling to several countries outside of the United States. I’ve seen a variety of cultures, modes of transportation, homes, grocery stores, foods (though I know Asia will definitely challenge my taste buds), and languages. Although I fully expect to go through culture shock when we move, I also feel like it is something that I can work through and overcome. When we lived in Paraguay for three months, I was absolutely overwhelmed in the beginning. However, by the end of the three months it was easy to see how comfortable things had become for our family in just the daily routines of life in Paraguay. Did we have more room to grow in comfort and understanding of the country and people after three months? Most definitely. But, the ability for our family to grow to the point that it did in those three months gives me confidence that we can do the same elsewhere.

Today’s technology allows me to remain connected to family and friends who aren’t in Singapore. Blogs. WhatsApp. Email. Reliable snail mail (unlike Paraguay). Daily transpacific flights (if you want to come visit). Facebook. Skype. Cell phones. FaceTime. And, Singapore has fast and reliable internet which makes most of those ways that I can connect with family and friends even better.

I’ve seen it on T.V. You know, there are always folks on House Hunters International who move somewhere they’ve never been. 😉

-Lisa

Answering Questions

Answering Questions: Part 3

A Quick Trip:

Our interest in Singapore and working with the church and school there was very real. The opportunity and potential seemed like they were so great that we needed to diligently check it out. So, after summer school finished at Texas State, we booked two tickets in August to Singapore to meet with Peter Chin (Director of Four Seas) and his wife who serves as the secretary of the school. While there, meetings were set with congregation at Jurong church of Christ, elders of Jurong, congregation at Lim ah Pin, student body, local preachers, local members with children, and even a local homeschool mom. This trip was booked for the only week we had free, and we knew that if the possibility of moving to Singapore became a reality we would have to get the ball rolling on raising support to take our family of six to the most expensive city in the world.

However, the two tickets we booked were not for Lisa and me. We felt that it was a bad time for her to leave our children and some of her other responsibilities stateside, but my work only afforded me the opportunity to go in early August. So, instead of taking Lisa to see Singapore and visit in person with the people, the place and everything else, I took our oldest child, Ella. As of this writing, Lisa still hasn’t been to Singapore and her first time to visit in person will be when our family moves there. She has great faith in God and a lot of trust in my ability to communicate to her the realities of Singapore from 10,000 miles away.

As we prepared for this quick survey trip, Lisa and I put together a list of questions to see if we could live in Singapore and be a useful tool for the church and school. Some of those questions we needed to see with our own eyes or hear the answers with our own ears. As almost anyone who has traveled to a foreign country knows, when you visit everything usually seems perfect. So, we needed to see if we could look behind the curtain and see the reality of living there in a really short visit. Though these challenges were before us, the people of Singapore made our trip informative, useful, and special.

We were greeted at the airport, bright and early Singapore time by Peter and Pooi Fun Chin. Mr. and Mrs. Chin treated Ella and I to a traditional breakfast. The eggs, coffee, and toast were wonderful as we worked on getting our land legs back after the 17 hour flight from California to Singapore. The airport, Changi International Airport, was beautiful, practical, efficient, clean, and friendly. After breakfast and conversation, the Chins treated us to a quick tour of parts of the city and some light shopping. Since we were not too tired, we went to the Jurong church building (where the Four Seas College is located) and toured it as well. We were able to drop off our luggage in the guest room and then head back out for lunch and some sightseeing. The Chins were gracious and accommodating hosts who prepared us well for our week long trip. We had all the necessities in our room, an itinerary for our trip, and a cell phone to use while in town.

On Sunday we met with the Jurong congregation and found out that Barry Hatcher was in town doing a Fishers of Men seminar and teaching the weekly Lord’s Day Bible class. I was asked to preach and did so over our association, attitudes, and actions on social media using Ephesians 5:1-16 as the main text for the lesson. The children’s bible classes were full, and we were excited to learn that our children would have peers, soon-to-be-friends of their own age, in their Bible classes. The brethren at Jurong treated us with great kindness and seem genuinely excited that we were considering relocating to Singapore. After worship we were able to have lunch with the local elders and get to know them a little better. They proved to be men who are concerned about spiritual matters and well equipped to oversee the school. Lisa and I are very excited to be working with them in the future.

The rest of the week was a whirlwind coordinated by sister Chin that allowed us to visit Chinatown, the bird park, many beautiful gardens, the zoo, the Supertrees (Ella’s request), Marina Bay Sands, the financial district, a local homeschool family, various condos and apartments, and so much more. In all of these sights that were able to see and experience, nothing compared to the warmth, kindness, and hospitality of our Singaporean hosts. We were served by the Chins, the elders, Eddy Ee, the Paul Goh family, Alvin, David, Yung Yao, the second year students, Jedidiah and his young family, and even more people. We were treated to homes, meals, conversation, information, tourist attractions, local dives, and very special lives. They all went above and beyond to make sure that we were taken care of while in town and that Ella felt especially special that week. I know that people are great all over the world. I know that when we meet Christians from anywhere that it is a joyful occasion. Even though I know all this, I would say that the people of Singapore, especially the Christians, make me want to be kinder and more hospitable.

Chinatown.
Flower Dome.
Singapore night skyline.

Most of our very limited free time was spent at the school. Each day we were able to sit in on and participate in the chapel period. I was blessed to sit in on brother Peter Chin’s lecture and see how he taught international students. We talked to the students and ate meals with them most mornings and some lunchtimes. I was able to sit down with Peter for well over an hour as he patiently answered (as much as one man could) all the questions we had. Lisa (over FaceTime), Peter, Pooi Fun, and I were able to discuss what it would look like for our family to live and work and serve in Singapore.

Brother Chin teaching.
Ella with female students from Four Seas.

Though we didn’t not make a final decision for about two months after we got back to the U.S., the discovery work from this survey trip allowed us to make the final decision. So, let’s see if I can answer some of these final questions:

Why are you going so Singapore?

We believe we can be useful servants in the hand of a mighty God. The work at Four Seas and the potential in Singapore is exciting and something we want to be a small part of. The church is strong. The work is sound. The people are amazing. There are places all over the world where we would love to go and work, but right now, Singapore is hard to beat.

What about your kids?

Part of the reason we are going is because of our kids. We want them to experience different people, language, culture, food, and more. We want them to see with their own eyes what they might have only seen on Wikipedia. Singapore affords us the opportunity for new experiences and new sights and new language (kind of) and new culture. This is exciting. And, if things stay on the current trajectory, they will have kids their age, raised in Christian homes, that they can grow closer to, connect with more, and develop lasting friendships with. While we are leaving behind good friends and close family (especially grandparents), we are so very thankful for technology that allows our children to communicate with their loved ones 10,000 miles away.

-Trent

Answering Questions: Part 1

Answering Questions: Part 2

Answering Questions: Part Two

How did you even hear about this place?

Some Background

Campus ministry affords unique challenges and opportunities. The young people who are often seeking and searching offer a fertile ground, amazing potential for churches and workers. Among other unique opportunities of campus ministry is the schedule. College work allows me to work 60-70-80 hours many weeks during the fall and spring semesters. Days that are 10-12-14 hours or more are common occurrences. Office hours, campus time, one on one with students, no days off during the week, hosting college students in our home, social and recreational events many nights, and meetings upon meetings are all a part of the work from day to day and week to week. On the flip side, when the semester is not in session, our family has amazing flexibility. It is kind of like earning comp time from stacking long hours during the semester. The elders at University church of Christ have been very understanding allowing us to immerse ourselves in the work and then to take some time during the summer to back away a little. A perfect example of this is in the summer of 2015 when the elders allowed our family to spend an entire summer, three months, in Asunción, Paraguay working with the church and bible college there. Those three months gave us an insight into mission work; that insight is something that we have built on and discussed for years. We have always loved to consider the potential that exists in foreign mission fields.

*Our family in Asunción, Paraguay. (2015)*

A Passing Comment

This past summer, 2018, Lisa and I were visiting family after another long semester when I had the opportunity to have lunch with a good friend, Tim Burroughs. Tim works with the North Main congregation in Weatherford, TX and has encouraged me in many ways. He is also a true local worker who is trying to build up the body of Christ in every way where he is located. During the course of a lunch conversation, Tim asked me a fairly innocent question, “Have you ever considered foreign mission work?”

Unknown to Tim, since 2015 Lisa and I had talked about the abstract possibility of doing foreign mission work, and even more so over the preceding year. When I told him yes, he was somewhat shocked. Tim insisted that there was a work that I needed to investigate which was badly in need of a willing worker or two: the Four Seas College of Bible and Missions in Singapore. Tim has been visiting Singapore and the East for nearly two decades and has long been a proponent of the good work there. He gushed over the work that Peter Chin is currently doing as director of the college as well as the local congregations in Singapore at Jurong and Lim Ah Pin that support the work and the good student body. Unfortunately, the work of the school is currently being carried on short handed as only brother Chin serves as full-time faculty. From our conversation there was one thing that stood out to me aside from the great need: potential. The potential to be busy about the Lord’s work. The potential of working in an Alpha City with millions of people from dozens of countries and cultures. The potential of getting trained local workers into countries all over Asia! Potential. The gospel is powerful and the church must hold that light-giving Word to the world.

So, that lunch conversation led to another conversation at home between Lisa and me. That discussion provided questions that needed to be researched and re-asked. Good brethren who have long worked with the school and church in Singapore who are located stateside were able to provide us with answers and insight through phone conversations and email. The history of the school is recorded in a few pages of brother Ira Rice’s biography, so I decided I needed to refresh myself with his book. The internet is a wealth of knowledge. There are YouTube videos and forums and more that answered many questions we had.

Here are some random answers to questions you may or may not have asked:

Singapore is located in such a place to influence almost the entire Asian continent, and Four Seas counts as alumni students from over twenty different nations. When I checked Wikipedia for the populations of those nations, the totals were in the billions. Billions. {That is amazing potential!}

*Map of Southeast Asia. Singapore is a small star located off the tip of Malaysia.*

The school has been training Christians continuously since 1965. {That is some serious consistency.} Singapore is not in China. It is also not in Malaysia and hasn’t been for fifty years. Singapore is a separate and distinct city-state just off the Malaysian peninsula. It is a hub of industry, finance, culture, food, and education. The church is strong there thanks to efforts of missionaries long ago and continued dedication from Singaporean brethren. Classes at Four Seas are taught in English and most of the population speaks English. Singaporeans are very well educated and amazingly hard workers. The city is extremely expensive.

You can learn more. I could tell you some or you could Google it.

We still had some questions that could not be answered through phone or email with brethren in the US or in Singapore. The need at the school was real. The potential of Four Seas to affect Asia and the world was (and is) very great. The city seemed to be a place that our family could live. The church seemed to be a people our family could fit with. The school’s needs seemed to be a compliment to my experience and interest. But, some things you really need to see for yourself because Google can’t answer every question. So, last August, I took a trip to try to answer those questions and more. But, that’s another blog post.

*Skyline of Singapore.*
*Photo by Marco Verch. Used under CC License 2.0.*

How did you even hear about this place?

Tim Burroughs.

Where is Singapore?

Just off the tip of the Malaysian peninsula.

What was on your mind while you were asking, praying, researching, Googling, emailing, talking, and praying?

Potential.

-Trent

Answering Questions: Part 1

Answering Questions: Part 3

Answering Questions: Part One

When we started to tell some people close to us that we were considering packing up, moving across the world, and starting a completely new work in a foreign country, we were faced with an onslaught of questions. Since then, as we have committed to moving, began talking to more people and congregations, the questions have only increased.

Why are you leaving?

How did you even hear about this place?

Where is Singapore?

Why are you going there?

Couldn’t you find a job closer?

What about your kids?

First things first:

On July 15, 2007 I graduated from the Southwest School of Bible Studies. That night Lisa and I finished moving our final things from Austin to San Marcos, TX. Monday morning, July 17, 2007 at 8:00 a.m., I started my work with the University church of Christ at the McCarty Student Center as a Campus Minister. We have been fully engaged in this challenging and rewarding work ever since.

McCarty Student Center, a campus ministry of the University church of Christ in San Marcos, TX. — *McCarty Student Center (2014) located next to the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas*

When we first came to San Marcos, we did not know how long we would stay, if the elders would keep us around, or even if the students would eventually welcome us. But, after a year or so of getting our feet on the ground, we began to see that we fit here. Have you ever picked up a baseball glove and worked it in and noticed that it had potential and took it out for a game of catch? And then took it home and worked it and reworked it with some leather oil and put it on the second time and knew that it fit perfectly? Really, that is how we began to feel about the work at McCarty, the people in the area, and the University congregation. The relationships we have developed and the people we have served and been served by are truly special.

*McCarty Alumni with Trent at Focal Point. (2016)*

A LOT has changed over the past twelve years. Experience brings knowledge and (hopefully) growth. However, very little has changed about the way we feel in regards to the good potential and work at McCarty. The Texas State University campus is a temporary home to almost 40,000 people. It is a great mission field full of good people who believe and practice wrong things. College campuses provide one of (if not the) greatest mission fields in the US (especially in states where the church is strong), and I firmly believe the church must not, cannot, relinquish this ground to the Adversary. The work at McCarty and sound church work being done on any college campus is truly vital.

College-age students on a retreat in Leakey, TX (fall 2018). — *College retreat in Leakey, TX (fall 2018).*

We have been personally blessed by the students who have passed through McCarty over the last twelve years. Many now serve as Christian husbands, fathers, mothers, wives, preachers, pilots. accountants, soldiers, sailors, airmen, engineers, teachers, stay-at-home moms, entrepreneurs, coaches, counselors, and more. These alumni are serving the church where they are, and we have been blessed to watch them grow and walk in truth. The work at McCarty has been our work, but not ours alone. We have happily shared it with area congregations (who often host our male students to preach), local members (who adopt students as their own), staff (Wayne Jones, Andy Baker, and Jordan Moore with whom I have had the privilege to serve have all been teachers and mentors to students), and elders (who not only have oversight but involvement in the college work at University). The work at McCarty has been truly rewarding.

McCarty Jamaica Mission Trip — *Members of the Jamaica Mission team and local brethren from Jamaica preparing for canvassing and Bible studies in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. (2019)*

In other words, we did not begin looking for any opportunities because we wanted to leave. We believe in the people and mission of the church and how it is being carried out at McCarty.

Our decision to leave San Marcos, to leave University, and to leave McCarty was not and is not one we took lightly nor made quickly. We love the people and the work here. We do not even necessarily feel that “it is time to go” as though some unseen force was pushing us away. Through prayer, discussion, wise counsel, and human wisdom, Lisa and I have decided that this is a good time for us and McCarty (the University congregation as well) to take on new challenges and opportunities.

When an opportunity to investigate the work of the Four Seas College of Bible and Missions in Singapore was presented to us, it was an opportunity unique, challenging, timely, and fitting.

So, that’s why we are leaving.

Couldn’t you find a job closer?

Probably. Maybe. Truthfully, I don’t know. I was not looking for a new job, but if I had been, I likely could have found one closer to family or closer to our comfort level or closer “to home.” I know the Amazon facility in San Marcos is hiring weekend graveyard shifts.

More questions to be answered soon…stay tuned.(

-Trent

Answering Questions: Part 2

Answering Questions: Part 3