“I will always be grateful to Australia for sending volunteers to my country. One of them changed my life.”
Rescued
The young woman, her long hair pulled back in a pony tail, a friendly smile, and two bags of groceries, had just rescued me. She had grabbed me, pulling me out of the way of a speeding motorbike as I approached the songthaew, a share taxi of sorts common in Thailand. Let’s call my rescuer ‘Linh’.
Linh was catching the songthaew too. She was delighted to hear that I was from Australia. And I was proud that a fellow Australian had turned this girl’s life around.
It happened when an academic in the area of international development had volunteered for a year in Vietnam, Linh’s home country. She had helped Linh and others in her community recognise problems women faced there and mobilised them to do something about it. And then she had used her connections to get Linh a full scholarship to study international development in New Zealand.
All that is how Linh herself now works for a non-government organisation that strives to empower women. And why she has such excellent English.
A conversation
I had caught this songtheaw to go to church. Linh’s ears almost visibly pricked up. Leaning forward, she asked, “Are you a Christian?” I responded enthusiastically in the affirmative. “Then we have so much in common,” she gushed. “I’m a Buddhist. We all like to do good things in our communities. I work with a lot of Christians, and I see this all the time. What else do you think is similar in our religions?”
What a question. I pointed out that she and I share a desire to do good and a general sense of peace. But as tactfully as possible, I pointed out that there are significant differences between our religions too. Christians believe in a God who created and sustains all that is. Many Buddhists have a strong sense of the spirit world but not of a creator and sustainer. Our motivations for doing good are different too, and relate to our beliefs about eternity.
“Oh, I’m not a very devout Buddhist. I’m just a general Buddhist,” she said. “And I like the Christians I work with. We have a lot in common.”
I wish that there was a neat and happy end to this tale. However, there is not. The songthaew pulled up at my stop. As I clambered ungracefully out of the red vehicle, I urged Linh to find a church – either one that her Christian colleagues went to or the international church that I was headed for – and explore this question further.
A prayer
Do you know any Christians working cross-culturally? If you do, and if you pray, could you place two matters before our Creator and Sustainer right now, even as you read this little tale?
- Ask God to give your cross-cultural worker friends wisdom about how to balance ‘word’ and ‘deed’. Linh has seen lots of good deeds done by Christians and knows of the faith that motivates them, but she has yet to hear and grasp the ‘Word’.
- Give thanks for the academic who volunteered her time and expertise and, in so doing, changed the trajectory of Linh’s life. Ask that many more like her will go to communities like Linh’s, but that they will also bring with them the good news that Jesus offers – eternal life.
May God hear and answer our prayers, and may he turn Linh’s heart to himself too.