Last fall, I had the opportunity to chat with Alina and Caleb (not their real names), a newly married couple who were visiting my part of the world for a few days. When I was a newlywed, I was mostly occupied with things like furnishing our home and understanding each others’ habits and quirks (let me just say that the “over” versus “under” toilet paper debate is cliche but painfully true). For Alina and Caleb, who spent time in Afghanistan and Thailand respectively, their conversations about married life might still sound like mine, but with an additional dimension: exploring a future as missionaries in Thailand together.
When I met up with the Singaporean-Canadian couple, I wanted to hear their individual stories of how God had placed a desire for missions on their hearts, as well as the joys and challenges they had experienced in living with, learning from, and loving the people they serve. My curiosity was also piqued by the fact that Alina had left home (i.e. Singapore) on her own and lived in Afghanistan by herself for a few years—a decision that single women would not often consider, and one that was clearly grounded on her sure and certain faith in Christ and her heart for the Afghan people, as the interview below will show.
My hope and prayer is that you may be encouraged and challenged by Alina and Caleb’s sharing. While you might not feel led to serve in overseas missions, missional living is integral to the Christian faith. May you discern and live out your God-given identity wherever He has placed you.
xx,
iz
Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo: Mohammad Husaini/Unsplash
Alina and Caleb, how would you define being a missionary?
Caleb: “The word ‘missionary’ is a loaded term. It might involve going overseas and living in a culture that is different [from yours]. It takes learning the culture and language of a people group that is different from your own context, and is characterized by making disciples.”
Alina: “By that definition, all of us are missionaries. We are all either missionaries or a mission field.”
What are some misconceptions about missions that you hope to clarify?
Caleb: “The missionary ‘lifestyle’ is quite misunderstood. Some might think that being a missionary means going to the jungles of South Africa and evangelizing to people who carry spears and walk around naked. While that is possible for some, the church was already established in Thailand; there is just a low percentage of Christians in the population. I have to do a lot of mundane tasks and experience a lot of frustrations there. Adventurous and fun? Perhaps. But I also deal with red tape and bureaucracy. Modern missions is different from what we’ve read about [in books].”
Alina: “I don’t like terms like ‘missionary’ because it is not in the Bible. Churches tend to place missionaries on a pedestal, but missionaries are ordinary people trying to obey the call of God on their lives. That takes us to places: overseas for some and offices for others.”
Rice paddy fields in Thailand. Photo: David Gardiner/Unsplash
How did God place a desire for missions on your heart?
Alina: “I went to a missions school in Singapore. I first heard the Gospel there and started going to church then. I attended a missions’ conference and remember feeling excited at seeing the faces of various ethnic people groups there. I thought to myself, ‘If God is God of the world, I want to know what He is doing in these parts of the world.’
At the age of 18, I read Genesis 12:1 where God said to Abraham, ‘Go to a land that I will show you.’ That was the first time I felt the call of God so clearly. I took my passport, my Bible, and my toothbrush and left the house immediately, although I did not go to the airport that day in the end! But I started praying and going on short-term mission trips.
One of the places I visited on such a trip was Kazakhstan. Over there, my eyes were opened to God’s heart for the Muslim people. In Kazakhstan, many students came to faith, five of whom were Muslims. I was blown away. I had never heard of a Muslim person coming to faith in Singapore. Even when we shared about Christianity in university, we would be warned not to speak with Muslims. But this experience was a paradigm shift for me. Then I visited Kyrgyzstan. In 2010, there was a riot in South Kyrgyzstan and I was advised to take the first flight out. This meant that I would be flying from Bishkek (note: the capital of Kyrgyzstan) to Istanbul.
On the plane, I sat next to an Afghan man. I had never met an Afghan in my life before then. He was so interested in the Gospel, and throughout the whole flight, I shared everything from the creation story to Jesus’ coming and His resurrection. Before the plane landed, he wrote three sentences to me in Dari: ‘Afghanistan is a beautiful country; please come to my country.’
I went on my first vision trip to Afghanistan in 2010. I just went by myself. I wrote emails to friends and gathered enough money for a one-way ticket. In my email, I wrote that I was called there and trusted that God would provide. Someone immediately paid for my return ticket. In 2015, I left my job in Singapore to go to Afghanistan, and was there till 2019 working with two NGOs. Whenever I wondered about what I was doing in Afghanistan, I would read what the Afghan man wrote for me on the plane and remember [my purpose here].“
Caleb: “I was a pastor for five years before being called to missions. At my last church, my ministry areas focused on Tibetan and Pakistani people in Toronto. What gave me joy was the opportunity for cross-cultural interactions and serving people in that capacity. Around that time, people were coming to church to preach and ask if people would go to Thailand [to be missionaries there]. After eight to 10 months of discerning, I went to Thailand. When I flew there, I had a vision from God, and I saw the people from my vision in the flesh. I never looked back.”
An Afghan woman. Photo: Isaak Alexandre Kaslian/Unsplash
“At the age of 18, I read Genesis 12:1 where God said to Abraham, ‘Go to a land that I will show you.’ That was the first time I felt the call of God so clearly. I took my passport, my Bible, and my toothbrush and left the house immediately.”
Alina, what are some of the cultural differences you experienced while living in Afghanistan?
Alina: “It’s a whole new world. In Afghanistan, it’s not okay to have men and women in the the same room. When you’re invited to a home, men eat first, then women. Offices are gender-segregated as well. The Afghans revere the modesty of women by keeping them safe. It was very challenging to get adjusted to this when you come from a society like Singapore.
Over time, the Afghans have come to see female foreigners as a third gender. Afghans drivers tell me, ‘What happened to you? You have no male representative. You must be so bad that you got exiled here.’ We are not like their women because we interact with people and government officials even though we are not men. So they see us as aliens. I was the only Asian expat in the NGOs that I worked in there. Many people thought I was Hazara (note: the Hazaras are a Persian-speaking ethnic group in Afghanistan). I felt very safe because I blended in, but I could also be harassed as a local woman. I needed to know how to play my cards right.”
With these differing customs and cultures, how would you speak about your faith there?
Alina: “One thing that is beautiful about Afghanistan is that they are incredibly resilient people. They also practice Old Testament (OT) traditions such as the Corban (sacrifice); they really revere God. It made me appreciate Old Testament customs more. I find that the people have a genuine faith in God, but do not have the revelation of Jesus.
There is no physical church in Afghanistan as the last church was demolished by the king before it fell to the Soviets. Just by being there, we are a witness. Afghans have never encountered Christians. What they see in the movies are images from Hollywood. They think we are very immoral, and they detest Westerners and Western media. You are there as a living testimony.
Lying is okay in their culture, so truth-telling is being counter-cultural. They observe how we as Christians live and interact with one another. For security reasons, we cannot openly share [about Christianity]. It would be very foolish and would endanger lives of our co-workers. But I have invited girls to my home and out of nowhere, through building relationships, they accept prayers. One girl was experiencing severe cramps, and after I prayed for her in Jesus’ name, the pain was gone. She told everyone that I had prayed for her—and she preached better than I did that Jesus had healed her. These are opportunities to witness.
One other time, in the middle of having tea, a 17-year-old asked me, ‘Did Jesus really die?’ After hearing from me that Jesus had to die for our sins and was resurrected, she said, ‘You are speaking the truth. Our teachers lied to me.’ It was the Holy Spirit who had revealed this to her. Why would she say that her teachers were lying?”
The Thailand countryside. Photo: Sippakorn Yamkasikorn/Unsplash
These encounters with God are so powerful. Thank you for sharing them, Alina. What was serving in Thailand like for you, Caleb?
Caleb: “Sharing the gospel in Thai requires learning Buddhism and animism. I hung around in church and learned how to speak with other people about the faith from Thai Christians. In my first few months there, I learned how to buy food, manage rent, and navigate directions in Thai. I travelled to most of Thailand and visited a lot of Thai churches to do research on the regions and the people groups I was hoping to reach. Mainly, I learned how to befriend people.”
What is it like to read Scripture in Thai?
Caleb: “The Thai Bible uses a lot more honorifics. You can’t just say ‘God’. ‘My Lord’ is comprised of six to seven words. There isn’t a word for God in Thai as Buddhists don’t have a concept of God. You have to say, ‘My Lord God who is the creator of the universe.’ It’s very formal. And when you pray in Thai, you say ‘I am your servant’. I’m very humbled by this. Maybe, compared to Thai believers, we often treat God irreverently.”
Afghan children playing. Photo: Farid Ershad/Unsplash
For both of you: what were some of your biggest challenges as a missionary?
Alina: “Much of the time is spent drinking tea until divinely inspired conversations come along. Things could be really dull. I would spend my time waiting for the electricity to come back on to do my laundry. Sometimes you see advancements, but projects have to be cancelled because of security issues. It gets discouraging because you don’t see outcomes. But I learned to just hang on, and God revealed himself in a very real way to tide me through difficult moments.”
Caleb: “I was assigned to Southern Thailand, a region which practices a mix of Buddhism and Islam. The challenge was reaching unreached people groups. This region has experienced 20 to 30 years of violent history with Muslims killing Buddhists. When we wanted to work alongside Thai Christians to reach these people, we had to be sensitive toward these Thai Christians and understand their fears. They have never thought about reaching the Muslim people in that region. There was no real material to reach these people either, and there were security challenges as well.”
A Kyrgyzstan woman. Photo: Frans Hulet/Unsplash
“Even though it is tough ground, God can use anybody, and He can heal and mend brokenness.”
What are some of the most unforgettable lessons you’ve learned from living as a missionary?
Caleb: “I learned that the Holy Spirit really moves on the field, and it doesn’t require me [to do something to make God work]. In one church, there was a girl who was into witchcraft. The town thought she was a nobody. A friend shared Christ with her and she turned away from witchcraft. People were surprised. She went from being an outcast to going through school and now runs her own barber shop. She also faced a lot of problems in her family. Her father was arrested for selling drugs and she had been praying for him for years.
When I arrived, it had been two years since she had seen him. It just so happened that the King had released 4,000 people from jail to commemorate Father’s Day and her father was one of them. She invited him to church. It was surreal being there; everyone was really touched. It was a beautiful testimony to see how God had brought her father out of jail and allowed her to meet and embrace her father again. All the other fathers came up to pray for them as well.
This was all done through the hand of the Lord, and it gives me hope that even though it is tough ground, God can use anybody, and He can heal and mend brokenness.”
Alina: “In Singapore, I functioned at 60-70% [capacity]. In Afghanistan, it was 200%. Even though I left in 2019, my experiences there still feel very real. The local believers broke down all my previous understandings of what a church is. We met together like the early church did in the book of Acts. There was no pastor. We just read from the Word, broke bread, and sang quietly—even turning on the generator so we could sing louder. When things happened in the community, such as a kidnapping, it affected the whole community. We acted as one. These people would literally put their lives out there for me and risk their lives to protect me. That is something I will never forget.”
Operating at 200% capacity all the time sounds stressful, Alina. Did it take a toll on your body and your health?
Alina: “Yes, we’re not meant to function at 200% all the time. We were encouraged to leave the country for four to five days every few months to decompress. I saw a counsellor in Singapore to help process my experiences there as well, which was certainly a privilege. Every person in Afghanistan faces trauma. This is their norm. But in the West and in Singapore, we have opportunities for psychological first aid. While I could decompress [overseas], the Afghan people are [unable to leave] and are still processing [trauma]. The Bible talks about counting the costs and that it is a joy to partake in the sufferings of Christ. I think it’s a privilege to experience the Gospel for what it is. We might be missing out on what a theology of suffering looks like here.”
Caleb: “I experienced way less trauma in Thailand, but I wrestled with not being accepted and being treated as a foreigner. When I say I am a teacher or professor in the church (there is no word for ‘pastor’ in Thai), it can really shut down conversations. Sometimes, once I tell someone what I’m doing, they don’t want to talk. That can hurt. I think there is an element of spiritual warfare at work. It’s good to have people to talk to and share life with. If you do it alone, it can be very tough.”
Children in traditional clothes in the mountains of Phetchabun, Thailand. Photo: Norbert Braun/Thailand
As a newlywed couple planning to do missions work in Thailand, what do you think are some issues or questions you will navigate as you look ahead to the future?
Alina: “When I went to Afghanistan, I did not expect to come back [to Singapore]. But, in 2019, I returned home for a six-month sabbatical. The situation became messy and I did not see how I could return to the field without church support. I’ve been praying for a sustainable way to return to the field and did not expect that it would come in the form of marriage. I also studied the Thai language for four years previously but never used it. I think I studied it for this season.”
Caleb: “The average life span of a missionary is five years. The number one problem is team conflict; number two is family or children, and number three is finances. Some might feel ready to move back to their homeland after five years, but I feel like mine is a long-term calling. To be effective, my conviction is that you have to be there for about eight years to see the fruits of your labour. You take four years to learn a language, but you need time to learn how to talk about emotions and how to connect with their culture as well.”
Death is a reality that missionaries will often face. What are your thoughts on this?
Alina: “10 out of 10 people die. If we know that [to be true], what’s there to be afraid of? Maybe in Afghanistan, death confronts you. In a more secure place, you might live under some illusions about life. Not having that illusion is a privilege.”
Caleb: “The average Canadian goes about their lives without knowing that their lives could be taken away now.”
Alina: “And that’s scarier.”
Caleb: “That’s more dangerous than someone finding out that you are a Christian and taking your life [because of it]. What motivates me the most in missions work: 19 out of 20 people in Thailand have never met a Christian. That’s my motivation. Many people have never had a chance to hear the Gospel, unlike people living in the West.”
Bamyan, Afghanistan. Photo: Nasim Dadfar/Unsplash
“[The Afghan believers] would literally put their lives out there for me and risk their lives to protect me. That is something I will never forget.”
What is some advice you have for someone who would like to embark on missions work but does not know how or where to start?
Alina: “Just go. Find out. How difficult is that? If you don’t go, you don’t know. I left my job in 2014 to go to Afghanistan. I remember crying at the airport because the goodbyes I exchanged then were real. That year, 12 missionaries were killed and two Finnish social workers were killed in Herat. 2015 was a difficult year as well as projects were cancelled. But it is something we all have to consider. We think that our lives are our own, but when we read the book of Acts, we see that suffering is inevitable and that we will be persecuted to death for your faith. That is a reality that is more real than the bubble—the so-called ‘safe’ environment—we exist in.”
Caleb: “Spiritual formation and personal development is way more important [than you might think]. If you are not deep in the Word and are not speaking to Him on a daily basis, the trials of missions will expose your weaknesses. Are you serving in a church? Do you have an accountability group? You will take this into the field. The years will really test you if this is your call. When you feel like you aren’t able to handle learning a new language, people, and culture, you really have to fall back on your calling.”
save for later:
life as a black christian in canada