Tuesday Together: Time for Tea (or coffee)

Yes, I said I was inviting you over for coffee. Do you mind if I change that to chai? This recipe just sounded good to me. I'll actually try it after I finish typing here, so I can't tell you for sure what I think of it yet. What about you? Will you try it? (By the way, I find "chai tea" to be very funny, when we're in the USA. In Russian, chai IS tea, so when I hear someone say "chai tea" in English, I think "tea tea?"!)

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Get yourself some chai, or coffee, or whatever, and settle in to learn a little more about our community here. First, we'll hear from Melissa:
-What are some of the greatest joys and blessings in your life and calling right now?

Oh, how I love holding my children close and the great privilege of hugging them and teaching them.  I love naptime/rest time when I get to lay in a hammock and read the bible and listen to birds and quietly playing children.  I love hugging my husband and knowing that those strong arms are working so hard to serve both our family and the sweet people around us.

-What are some of the greatest challenges?

It breaks my heart to hear my Mom or mother-in-law mention how much they wish they could see their grandkids grow up and visit with them more regularly.  Seriously breaks my heart.  It is also hard to get laundry done and keep food in the house and all -- everything requires more physical work here it seems.  And then there is the lack of privacy - don't get me wrong, we are so blessed to have people stop by and come fix things and to clean our house!  Because people are here so often, though it really does change the dynamic of the home to have an audience while disciplining/potty training/sleep training/homeschooling and that has been hard for my introverted self to get used to.

-If you are serving overseas, what has it been like to learn to live and serve in another culture? Has it been easier or harder than you expected? What has been an unexpected joy? Has there been anything in particular that has been harder than you would have thought?

Unexpected joy - Never feeling 'alone' and a very joyful culture.

Unexpected hardship - Never feeling 'alone' and a kind of opinionated culture ;)

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Now Rosemary shares:

Greatest joys and blessings:
I'm a mom of two kids with oldest being two. My second is starting to walk. So a lot of my joy comes out of watching my kids grow up. But other things that bring me joy are seeing my husband succeed and grow in his new position. He is one of the Canada's promoters for Teen Missions (which sends kids of most ages on short term mission trips over the summer). I also enjoy seeing the summer mission trip fill with teenagers, especially Canadian teens. It makes me feel that what we do actually does have an impact.

Challenges:
Being away from family. I still feel awkward asking non-family members to watch the kids. Feeling like I am a apart of the ministry. I'm with the kids all day. So, I rarely participate in anything that happens at the office or at promotion events. I get the stories afterwards, but it is not the same. 

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Thank you, Rosemary! Next is Ashley:

-What are some of the greatest joys and blessings in your life and calling right now? Currently some of my biggest joys are the relationships that I get to enjoy as part of my "non-official" ministry. By that I mean that I am not able to attend a lot of our actual ministry events due to my kids' schedules and our family needs, but that God has still given me lots of opportunities to reach out to my neighbors and others that I interact with in my daily life. I feel like though I am less actively involved in vocational ministry during this particular season, God has actually given me more opportunity to share about Him with others than I have had in awhile! And since these relationships are ones that just happen in daily life, I am thankful for how natural they are and for the depth of relationship that comes with growing and building into these friendships over time. 

-What are some of the greatest challenges? I have been struggling with some health issues that have really limited my capacity. It has been a season of rediscovering the Lord's love for me and acceptance of me apart from my works. I of course know perfectly well that I am not saved by works and only by His grace, but I am amazed at how much the works mentality can still work its way into my practical theology. The long snowy winter is also very wearing on me, so that is another challenge. 

-What has it been like to learn to live and serve in another culture? Has it been easier or harder than you expected? What has been an unexpected joy? Has there been anything in particular that has been harder than you would have thought? Learning to live cross-culturally has been quite a process! My first year was so hard and exhausting. I didn't think we'd make it to see year two! It was definitely harder than I had expected. Then, to my great surprise and delight, I found sometime during our second year that I truly loved living overseas! What had originally been shock, hardship, confusion, physical and emotional exhaustion, frustration.... eventually transformed largely into adventure, peace, enjoyable challenge, and fulfilment. Of course life is never free from challenges, but overall I have been surprised after that first year to see how much God has given me joy and even great enjoyment in my life overseas. I would say that the hardest things for me about living overseas have been the initial hurdle of learning to communicate freely in a 2nd language, dealing with life in a snowy, cold, and dark climate, and the various seasons of loneliness that I've gone through, but God has met me so deeply through these struggles and used them to deepen my dependence on Him and to bless me in ways that I wouldn't have experienced otherwise.

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And Christie:

-What are some of the greatest joys and blessings in your life and calling right now?

Joys and blessings--our homeschool year is ending and we have a little break. Our youth coffee house is getting new kids all the time. The English class I teach has opened lots of doors lately.
-What are some of the greatest challenges?

My kids are having tough times right now, and trying to guide them through these teen years with the complications that our ministry adds to that, can be a real challenge.
-If you are serving overseas, what has it been like to learn to live and serve in another culture? Has it been easier or harder than you expected? What has been an unexpected joy? Has there been anything in particular that has been harder than you would have thought?

For the most part, it has been easier than expected for me, harder than I expected for the rest of my family. This creates a certain tension. Making friends within the culture connecting to the nationals has been harder than I thought. We lived in a rural, more traditional setting the first few years, and the people there were much more open and welcoming. They are still friendly here in town, but in a more stand-offish, superficial way. I miss having connections. I think the biggest challenge, however, is not having a solid church home. I didn't realize how much of my world revolved around church and friends from church, and now that we lack that, I sure feel it.

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Then there's me, Phyllis:

-What are some of the greatest joys and blessings in your life and calling right now?
My children! and being able to homeschool them. Also, for the first time in over a decade, I am able to minister outside my home, too; once a week I visit an orphanage for handicapped children, and I love that.
-What are some of the greatest challenges? 
My children? No, not really, but sometimes just parenting and teaching them seems to be all I can take. Really, the biggest challenge in my life right now is the unrest in Ukraine. War. It's a dark cloud hanging over everything. Please pray for our country!
-What has it been like to learn to live and serve in another culture? Has it been easier or harder than you expected? What has been an unexpected joy? Has there been anything in particular that has been harder than you would have thought?
This is terrible. I can't really answer, because I honestly don't remember my early days. (Please, if you're new to overseas life, keep a journal!) Of course, I'm still learning every day, but I don't feel like it's "another culture" anymore. Anyway... I don't know if this is an unexpected joy, because I always wanted to live in Russia--and I can extend that to Ukraine--but I really do just love life here; it's really is a wonderful joy and just what I always wanted. Some unexpected challenges: changing Russia to Ukraine over 6 years ago, and then the violence that has developed over the past year was definitely unexpected, and definitely hard. What is harder than I would have thought is trying to live with one foot in each of two countries. I don't do well with that at all.

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Thank you to everyone who participated! Now, if you didn't already send in answers, but still want to, please comment below with your answers. Also, please feel free to continue the discussion in whatever direction you want. I noticed that several answers here are very similar. Most of us can probably relate to them. Add your voice!

For next week, I would like to do another day in the life. Isn't there someone out there who would like to let us follow you through a day? If so, please email me (fylliska@gmail.com).