We have been involved in a lot of ongoing discussions about the various philosophies of cross-cultural ministry and what they look like on the field.  There are a broad range of views on what the role of a Western missionary should be and we are working through the implications of various opinions.  The direction of our team is reflected in our Vision Statement: "To promote God's kingdon in Belize by laboring with the national church in its movement of establishing and strengthening churches that are vibrant, mature and reproducing" which is sound and, we believe, Biblical.  But it is much easier to say in words than it is to agree on what it practically looks like. 

      Two different illustrations have helped me recently in developing and shaping my own view on ministry philosophy.  The first comes from a book entitled, On Being A Missionary, written by Thomas Hale, which I am reading and working through with my mentor here on the field.  Hale addresses a common objection to sending Western missionaries:

"Some people say, 'Why not just send money to support missionaries from the Third World? They are usually cheaper and more effective.'      True. Supporting a Third World missionary costs a fraction of what it costs to support a Western missionary, and the Third World missionary is often (but by no means always) more effective in evangelism that his Western counterpart. But there are simply not enough Third World missionaries to do the job alone, even giving their increasing numbers. And there are many places Third World missionaries can't easily get to. Sending missionaries is the responsibility of the entire worldwide church: 'All nations to all nations.'      Furthermore, if Western churches were to begin sending only checks, their vital commitment to missions would decrease. Our commitment will only be maintained by sending our own sons an daughters out as missionaries - and ourselves as well. God didn't send a check; he sent his Son." The other illustration was given during today's team meeting.  It addresses the purpose of laboring with the national church:      If someone asked you the question, "What do orange trees produce?" what would be your answer? Most of us would answer, "Oranges, of course. Wrong. Orange trees produces more orange trees. The whole purpose of the fruit is to be a delivery method for a bundle of seeds. The cheif end of an orange tree is not to bear fruit, but to scatter seeds which will grow into new orange trees. The fruit is a neccessary means to the end, but not the chief end itself.      We often fall into the trap of evaluating how we are doing in our role as missionaries by what we see as the "fruit". But we cannot stop there.  We must go further and ask ourselves, is the fruit then being used to plant more trees?

      We are coming to believe that, as missionaries, we must constantly check ourselves and ask if what we are doing is going to be able to be reproduced by Belizean believers.  If we are simply here to "fill a spot" where there is a task-oriented need then no progress is really made.  At some point, every foreign missionary will leave the field, either on a plane or in a box!  If our work here is done in such a way that it could only ever be done by a missionary, then we will have done nothing significant for the national church.  If our role here cannot be eventually reproduced by Belizeans, then we have just contributed to continuing dependency and not helped strengthen the church at all.  This does not mean that there is no place for task-oriented work, such as within institutions, but we do believe that the most consistent  way to effect lasting change is through relationships that model Christian discipleship with the purpose of having those types of relationships reproduced.

      Please pray for us as we continue to develop our understanding of the role of a missionary and work to develop practical strategies for our daily work here. 

      "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickeness in high places."  (Eph. 6:12)

      We ave never been ones to 'look for the devil under every stone'.  But it is becoming apparent that we are definently being assaulted by the enemy of our souls.  In some ways it is encouraging.  Perhaps Satan would not bother too much with us if we were not being prepared to be used by God to further His kingdom.  Whatever the reason, we can hold onto the promise that if we put on the whole armor of God, which He has provided, then we "will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  In six weeks we have encountered what you might think of as 'normal' issues in moving to a new country and acclumating to a new culture.  But recently it has seemed as though the trials of the initial period of transition just keep on coming.  In just the past few days we have had a massive outbreak of thousands of ticks all over the house and the children.  (Kimberly had nests of ticks numbering 100's on her head!)  Broken plumbing pipes resulting in a gueyser in our front yard.  Hordes of giant leaf-cutter ants invading our house and cutting a path through the children's bedrooms and bathroom.  Problems with domestic help and day laborers.  Difficulty with schooling.  Electrical problems with wiring in the house.  A literall 'waterfall' coming through the upstairs patio door and flowing over the landing and down two flights of stairs to our family room during a violent thunderstorm at 10:00 at night.  Our dogs constantly escaping the yard and running all over town with us chasing behind.  And most recently, Rebekah being attacked by a dog just two doors down the street from our house.  Individually these things might be considered minor inconveniences or small concerns.  But collectively they are a mounting assault against our family and our presence here.  We are more aware than ever of our da ily need for God's grace to take these things as they come and to respond with patience, endurance and hope.

UPDATE ON REBEKAH: Rebekah's arm is in a sling to help with the throbbing pain in her wrist and hand.  She is able to rest comfortably and does not complain much.  Her attitude though is a little somber and she is fearful of our dogs today.  We are praying that the Lord would heal her physical wound as well as her emotional wound.  Please agree with us in prayer for her.

An interesting sidebar to the attack is that Scott went looking for the dog's owner to find out its history.  It turns out that it is one of the many dogs around town who isn't really claimed by anyone, but 5 months ago was owned by the little girl down the street who is Rebekah's friend.  Her mother is the single mother that I mentioned in our last newsletter.  The dog has attacked at least 4 other young children and the mother basically turned the dog out, but it keeps hanging around.  She was terrified that we were going to try to take legal action against her.  Scott spent half an hour or so talking with her about her situation:  she works six days a week at a local tienda (small grocery store) and has hired a babysitter to watch her daughter, Angel.  The sitter has been unreliable and is not staying at the house with Angel.  In fact, yesterday, Angel, who is 6, was at home by herself from 2:30 when school let out until 4:30 when her mother returned from work.  Scott assured her that we would not take any action against her and he feels like we should reach out to her and try to develop a relationship there.

      Already it seems like we could write a book about various experiences of culture shock.  Many of them we had already experienced to a degree during our time in New York.  But one that we had never even considered was language.  Belize is sometimes considered an easier field because most people can communicate to some degree in English.  But what we have found is that even though we are officially speaking the same language, we are not always communicating.  It has been eye opening to see how much one's culture affects their language.  There are some obvious differences that are easy to get used to, such as "a few minutes" does not really mean 3-5 minutes, it can mean anywhere from 20 minutes up to an hour!  More subtle differences are not immediately identifyable, and often do not become apparent until the differences in understanding have caused conflict.  For instance, our household helper was listening to me talk about letting the older children ride their bikes down the street by the bay to meet some friends at the square.  She interjected, "Miss, it would be better for me if you would not let them go like that!" and then proceeded to tell me all about the dangers of having children by the bay because of the risk of drowning or crocodile attack.  My immediate thought was, "I didn't ask you what you preferred and it really isn't about what is better for YOU!"  Instead I responded a little more politely and told her that I was perfectly comfortable with TJ and Elizabeth going off together on their bikes.  Several other times she put in her two cents worth with the same, "It would be better for me if..."  After going through several of these conversations I realized that what she meant was not what I had interpreted.  If I were to express what she meant I would say, "In my opinion" or "If I were you" which is still giving me her two cents but not in such a self-centered way.  She meant it to be helpful advice for a newcomer and I took it to be a possessive, controlling attitude towards my children and a judgement of the decisions I was making.  All that to say - we still have a LOT to learn!

Thank you all for your constant prayers, your calls and emails and even Skype calls!  We cannot tell you how much it strengthens and encourages us when we get even the shortest note from you.  We also thank you for your faithful financial support.  Several of you have asked about sending in periodical support appart from your monthly pledges.  If you ever desire to send in periodical gifts you can do it by printing out the form below and indicating that what you are sending is one-time support.  Make your check out to Mission to the World and mail it to the address indicated on the card.  Some of you have also asked about sending personal financial gifts for holidays, birthdays, etc.  We are maintaining a bank account in the U.S. that is accessible to us here.  Sarah's father is overseeing the transactions and maintenance for this account.  If you desire to send a personal gift you can make it payable to Scott or Sarah Arensman (note: this type of gift is NOT tax eductible) and mail it to:

Personal Gifts:
Scott and Sarah Arensman
c/o Mike Lowe
1241 New Covenant Court
Lenoir, NC 28645

Many blessings to all of you. We love and miss you!

In His Grace,