Un escargot indépendant

I shall commence this tardy post by translating the title from French into English (for non-Francophones).
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Un escargot..?
A snail.
The kind of creature that, as a child, you learn about
- one that carries its house on its back.

Indépendant?
This is self-explanatory, in fact - it's just French spelling for "independent".

Thus the title reads as "an independent snail".
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The greatest lesson learned on this very short-term missionary journey was, ironically, not actually "mission"-related.
It happened, & indeed is still happening, as a result of my baggage being left by staff in Bangkok (current location still unconfirmed, but it's not in France or the UK).

What I learned is that, like a snail carries its house on its back (or so little children throughout the ages are told), I like to carry all my house/home things around too. Convenient stuff; basic stuff; towels, air-mattress, sheets, toothpaste, hygiene (*cough*) stuff, umbrella & boots for wet-weather, a few non-monochrome changes of clothing. All of these things were in my checked luggage, which never followed me beyond my first stopover/transit point. Consequently, I spent the entire week of mission in Paris without them.


The second part of what I learned is how much I value independence.

I feel VERY uncomfortable borrowing stuff from other people.
I've been raised (in a culture with a distinctively Chinese flavour to it) not to rely on others for things I should be able to provide for myself.
Actually, I just don't like having to borrow things from people; it all feels so inconvenient to them - in my opinion, that is.

So I didn't like having to rely on others for
*an air-mattress to sleep on
*a sheet to cover the mattress
*a towel
*deodorant (it's summer in Paris..)

In short, I didn't like it that I needed to depend on others for provision of the basic comforts (select those you agree are essential from list above).
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Some of you reading this are probably thinking, "So what? .. It's not a problem to be able to look after yourself or supply your own needs."

And yet, in my year's worth of thinking about O.S.C.C. mission, I begin to see that for ME personally, yes - it is a problem.

Because if I feel uncomfortable about having to accept the provision of my basic needs from other people
- if I have difficulty being gracious when it comes to depending on others -
how will I cope in the future, if being placed into an O.S.C.C. mission context where being fully supported by others (e.g. friends, bio./Christian family, link churches, missionary sending organisation) is all part of the deal?

*sigh*

Oh well. Better that I learn about weaknesses such as over-self-reliance NOW than later on..

L/T.


P.S. By the way, mission itself was very encouraging.
God graciously answered many prayers for our team.

I hope I was a little encouraging to others, too..but it sure didn't feel like it to me, at time!
At least God IS gracious..