We just had a great consultation, from my perspective anyway, who knows what is great in the eyes of the king*, but anyway, I'm the one writing here, so we just had a great consultation.
We were meeting in Thailand as a group of counselors and caregivers in the Chinese world, and this time the group was weighted more thoroughly to people from the largest country than ever before. Really the biggest thing I saw happening was people meeting people and encouraging each other as brothers and sisters.
In this part of the world, it seems like one of the biggest needs is to rest and be replenished, as those who provide care are lonely, tired, and stretched. (BTW, if you want to support these consultations a few thousand dollars a year gets spread among people who are working for next to nothing meeting needs that are as big as anything, allowing them to gather and care for and consult with one another.)
So, there we were in the mountains of Thailand, and unseasonably it rained all week. When I say all week, literally it just kept raining all the time day after day. I grew up part of the time in the tropics and I've never seen it rain that way. Other people were also saying it was very unusual. Our daughter Sarah joined the consultation also as she has a keen interest in counseling in the chinese world, a motivation for the phd studies in counseling psychology she has started at Texas A&M. This morning the rain was barely stopped when Sarah and our friend Justine said, "Let's go see the elephants." Just down the road from us was a training camp for elephants that included some 28 including two new babies. Sarah actually had one of these babies approach her making fr a most heart-stopping picture. The mama elephant seemed unconcerned! Pictures hopefully to be posted on facebook and/or picasa!
Anyway, the result of the rain was that we were all forced to stay put and do very little--except meet with and care for one another. Laura and I found our Chinese stretched all week long, but fortunately we also had some willing and flexible translators, so that we spent most of the week with languages going all the time. Rather than having everything repeated, we usually had people that needed it getting translation from their neighbors, and we had small groups where people could operate in their preferred language--mostly, anyway.
I say all this to give you the flavor of this gathering. Unfortunately for Laura and I, it was also a reminder that we have left the Chinese world and are now more outsiders than ever. On the other hand, there were definitely invitations for us to come alongside for encouragement and consultation onsite in some of the major cities of our world where brothers and sisters are loving those around them through caregiving, coaching, and counseling. What do you think? Should this be a part of our minstry in the days ahead?
I have to tell you that it is still not comfortable for us to operate in Chinese. We miss a lot of what is said, and our own speech is even more limited. Translation is a great gift, but it is also a reminder of the barriers that language and culture place in the midst of our world and the communication of unselfish love in it. All the same, there are a lot of brothers and sisters for whom Chinese is the language of their hearts.
Right now we are waiting for the hours to pass so we can get on an airplane and wait for more hours to pass (while someone else stays awake and flies, of course!) We are in Singapore now, where we ventured into the city for the first time earlier tonight. Our route back takes us over the great circle route via Moscow to Houston, where we plan to spend a week before driving back to Colorado.
If ths doesn't make total sense, you can attribute it to writing in the middle of the night--but that would be the middle of the day if you're in the Americas, where we hope to be in another 28 hours or so.
Do keep us in mind as we continue to "flesh out" what it means to be a 'global care consultant" for TEAM, and ask that we be able to make significant differences one day and one conversation at a time.
Back on the far side for now, Steve and Laura
*"King" is a play on words. If you know Thailand, you know that their king is beloved by the people of Thailand in a way that is no longer usual in our world. What an example with eternal implications, eh?
Steve and Laura Spinella
9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920
719.528.1702, cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
TEAM, PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187, 800 343-3144
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu> <lauraspinella@alumni.rice.edu>
TEAM, PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187, 800 343-3144
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu> <lauraspinella@alumni.rice.edu>
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