One afternoon in 1995, I held a piece of paper in my left hand and phoned three churches, with a word of prayer in my heart, "Lord, open me a door to start a Thai ministry in Singapore." I got those phone numbers from Dr. Florence Tan who was my field education director in Singapore Bible College. Since I was a nobody in Singapore and my idea - a Korean pastor trying to start a Thai church in Singapore - was not understandable, two churches had already turned down my proposal. I dialed the phone number of the last church. That was how the Lord used me to start a Thai ministry with the Glory Presbyterian Church in Singapore.

I never dreamed that I would start a Thai ministry in Singapore. Since my calling from the Lord is for Thai people, I thought that my wife and I would probably spend the rest of our life in Thailand. But it was not as I had planned or expected. When my wife and I were serving the Thai people through church planting in Thailand, we faced a situation which forced us to evacuate from the country. It happened so suddenly that one of my senior missionaries purchased an air-ticket for me to go somewhere - which was how I came to Singapore. Although I left Thailand in such a trauma, my heart kept on burning for the Thai people. At that time I met a Korean pastor who informed me that there were tens of thousands of Thais in Singapore. Six months later I came to Singapore to start a Thai ministry. I did not know where and how to start. However I was sure that our Lord would use me to start a Thai church in Singapore and that the Thai church would eventually reach the 76 provinces in Thailand.

Personally I believe that our Lord has worked among Singapore churches like the church in Jerusalem and Antioch. What I mean is that God is using Singapore both as a centre of reaching out to all the different nationals living in Singapore, and as a base sending out missionaries to all the nations. In 1995, Glory Presbyterian Church started a Thai ministry. Now it has become a model of mission at our doorstep among Singapore churches. Two churches shared about the doorstep mission at the Missions Convention 2002 for Presbyterian churches. Glory Church shared about the Thai ministry and Covenant Church shared about the Sri Lankan ministry. Today the power of the Holy Spirit is among the churches in Singapore. People from many countries come and stay in Singapore and the situation is similar to the early church in Acts 2:5-12. Like the twelve in Jerusalem, God is preparing Singaporeans and some other nationals to speak in their languages to proclaim His great things. Many people groups in Singapore have heard the wonders of God in their own language. They came to know the Lord and believe in Him. Eventually when the foreign believers return to their home country with the gospel, they themselves become evangelists. Praise the Lord!

Since God called me and my family to the Thai people, we started to look for them when we were in Singapore. At first, we went to Golden Mile Complex where many Thai people gathered everyday and especially on weekends. Realizing that there was a Thai ministry named Thai Good News Centre, I tried to look for a place in the west of Singapore. We went to look for Thai people in Woodlands, but it was too far away to invite them to Glory Church, which is in Bukit Timah. One day my daughter shouted with joy while my family was travelling in a city bus. She said, "There is a Thai market!" From that time onward we went to meet the Thai people at the Thai market which is at Bukit Timah 6th Mile. Then we visited the Thais staying in Bukit Batok, Chua Chu Kang, Boon Lay, Jurong Island, and Tuas to share the gospel with them. Wherever there were Thai people we went.

The Thai is one among the many people groups. Thai workers left their country and came to Singapore to make a living. Some Thai ladies got married and settled down in Singapore. To reach the Thai people in Singapore it is important for us to know what their needs are and how we can meet their needs. The approach of the Thai ministry of Glory Church is to know the needs of the Thais in four major areas – physical need, emotional need, intellectual need and spiritual need. To meet all the different needs, Glory Church Thai ministry has developed different areas of ministry - such as teaching English (intellectual need), music class (emotional need), meal fellowship (physical need) and evangelistic concerts (spiritual need).

To know the Thai people’s needs is one thing, to meet these needs is another. In general Glory Church has provided most of the needs such as church premises, ministry budget and manpower. However there were difficult areas to cross over. For example, to meet their physical needs, my wife, Mayuree, cooked Thai food for dinner every Sunday for the Thai workers. However the taste was not authentic, because she is a Korean and she seldom cooked when in Thailand. At the dinner table, I observed the Thai people one by one whether they enjoyed the meal. I was worried that nobody likes the food except I. As time went by, God sent us a Thai lady who was a devoted Christian and who had committed herself for the meal ministry. To meet their intellectual need, we provided English class. In the beginning I taught them English by myself. Later there were too many Thai people to teach by myself alone. So I asked some of the Singaporean Christians to help teach English. Most of them turned down my request because they did not know the Thai language. I taught them the Thai language until they were prepared with the language and culture and confident to teach the Thai people English. Through these ministries, many Thai people came to know Jesus Christ. Their lives are being changed even now. The purpose of their lives has changed. They realized that knowing and believing in Jesus is far more important than anything else in their lives. How blessed they are! God has used Glory Church Thai ministry. Thousands of Thais have heard the gospel through Glory Church Thai ministry. More than fifty Thais have been baptized through the past seven years.

The Christians in Jerusalem faced an unexpected persecution and they were scattered. The persecution became a cause for a social movement. In the eyes of the church leaders, it was a great threat not only against the young Christians but also against the young church. How to handle this situation and what would happen next was their major concern. They preached the Word wherever they went! And because of these scattered people, the gospel moved forward not only to the Jews but also to the Greeks.

The Thai ministry in Singapore must cross over this hurdle. We give thanks to the Lord for the freedom of worship in Singapore. Though there is no persecution against the church in Singapore, a situation quite similar to the first church in Jerusalem happened to the Thai people. It took me not too long to realize that by the time the Thai workers became Christians, they had to be sent back to Thailand as their contract period had expired. The contract was usually two years. It takes time for the Thai people to come to Christ. Usually they became Christians during the second year of their stay here. Thai workers were going home soon after they became Christians. It caused a social movement. For me as the pastor, there were two major concerns. One was about the young Christians who had just been converted. If they returned to Thailand, how could they survive as good Christians without any church or other Christians nearby? The other was about the Thai ministry in Singapore. Whenever there were some converts, I had to be prepared to send them away soon. Under this situation, how could I build up a leadership without any trained leaders staying for a longer period?

God gave me an answer to these questions - use the social movement of Christians. When a Thai becomes a Christian, we have to train and help him to go back to Thailand with a vision from God: How to bring the gospel to his own family? How to bring the gospel to his neighbours and his village? They are the bridges of the gospel to their home village. Some of them have invited and led teams from Glory Church for mission trips to visit their home village. We have visited several families in Northern Thailand and North-Eastern Thailand.

Glory Church sent their first mission team to Thailand in 1997. English teachers for Thai ministry and some others formed a mission team. Since then, Glory Church has sent mission teams twice a year to minister to the returned Thai Christians to encourage them to keep on being faithful in the Lord and to visit their family members, villagers and even school teachers and students in their village, to preach the gospel. God has given us such wonderful opportunities to bring the gospel to the Thais in many different ways such as evangelistic concerts, bazaars for the setting up of new ministry, English camps for their schools, etc.

We all know very well that the church in Antioch was the first church which sent Barnabas and Saul as cross-cultural missionaries. Actually Barnabas was sent by the church in Jerusalem to Antioch for church planting.

I want to bring back to the year 1990 when Jung Bu Church in Korea sent my family to Thailand as missionaries. One Sunday, Jung Bu Church invited a Korean missionary as a speaker. He shared about his ministry in Thailand and then talked about the need for missionaries to Thailand. Jung Bu Church responded to the challenge. My family got a calling from the Lord and became the first missionary to be sent by Jung Bu Church. My wife and I had no cross-cultural experience before. All we knew was that Thailand is a Buddhist country and they need the Lord. At that time my son, James was 4 years old and Annie was 7 months old.

When we heard about the need of our mission field, we had to pray for it and asked who was the right person to go. There are 60 million Thais and over 99% of them do not believe in Jesus. Many of them never heard the name of Jesus. They need the Lord!

Now and then I challenge young people to be a missionary. I do so because it is one of the ministries the Lord has assigned to me. During mission trips to Thailand, I challenged the members. Some of them responded to the calling. Sooner of later they will go out as missionaries from Glory Church. Pray for them and their preparation to be sent out as missionaries.

The Thai ministry of Glory Church in Singapore is our doorstep. It is a seedbed for missions to Thailand. I pray that we may see the completion of God’s missions to Thailand in our age. My challenge for you is this: There are 76 provinces in Thailand. To bring the gospel of Jesus Christ, to deliver the people from their sins and transgression, 152 missionaries are needed if we send out two by two to the 76 provinces, as Jesus did. They will learn the language, eat Thai food, and live among the Thais. They will bring the salvation of our Lord to the unsaved. They will turn the Thai people from their sins. They will plant churches in the 76 provinces in Thailand. They will make history in the mission of Thailand. Are you ready to give the best part of your life as God’s ambassador for the salvation of the unsaved people?

I have always lived in "another culture", as the majority of my life has been spent in Asia (I’m a TCK {Third Culture Kid}). Even back in Canada I have often felt I was in a culture other than what I was accustomed to. So how have I responded then to ministering to women in another culture? Is there a key? I tend to be someone who asks a lot of questions, so I thought of words that have been important in my ministry, then asked myself several questions.

COMMON GROUND - Am I the same as these women? Do they think the same way I do? We were all created in the image of God, therefore many similarities between us women that make ministering possible. Most women worldwide, no matter which culture, have the same maternal instincts and goals – we care for our husbands and nurture our children. So God has given me the best place to start – the HOME!

My own home! This is the place from which I am able to make the primary focus of my ministry. Here is where I have the privilege of being the example to those around me. As I encourage and love my children with teaching and proper discipline, providing stability and security, other women will notice and learn. From my home I have some of the best opportunities to minister to others.

In the home I also have the responsibility of protecting the gospel from slander. My purpose in being in this other culture is to present the Gospel, and the home, my territory, is the place where the Gospel is going to shine the most. As I love my husband and uphold his authority in our marriage and home, others will witness and learn. Sometimes this may be a difficult issue in a culture where the wife and husband roles (gender roles) are very different from my own. I need to be open and vulnerable to those I am ministering.

FRIENDSHIP/FELLOWSHIP - I am on a basic level with these women, but am I even connecting with them? I want to go deeper than just a normal friendship. I know I have needs for fellowship, as I am sure they also have, but where do I start? It is easy to isolate myself from the women, the community, and the culture just by the fact that I am different and it takes time to learn a new way of life. I cannot exhibit Christ’s love and compassion by isolating myself from the women and community or culture that I have adopted. I must be a present reflection of who Christ is, not an unattainable something that others only see from afar.

Some of the most precious times in my life have been those when I was sitting on the floor in a village home, eating out of the same bowl as the other women, sharing fun moments in our families’ lives and truly enjoying each other’s company! I have enjoyed wonderful fellowship while waiting along with many others the birth of a child in the village. It is amazing what one can gain when sitting in an environment of joy and expectation!

In any type of fellowship also, there is always give-and-take, and if I am always on the giving end, there will soon develop an unhealthy dependency of the other women on me. I also need to be sensitive to another’s feelings, to know how to listen and respond, within the context of their way of thinking and feeling, their cultural norms. Sometimes it is difficult to be a gracious "receiver", but imagine the blessing we are allowing others to have by us learning to receive the way they show love – then also encouraging them to do the same to each other. When I know that they are giving and receiving with me the same way they do with each other, then I know that I am truly a part of their fellowship circle!

PASSION - What can I do to effectively reach these women? How can I touch them, get to know their hearts? The Bible says to "love your neighbor as yourself". What are the ways in which I can lavish love and care on these women?

I wonder how often we allow ourselves to display our love, to let others "see our hearts", to open our souls. This may mean a lot of risk-taking – to be like Christ and allow Him to help me be what He has intended me to be with these women. I may be rejected, but I remember Ruth, who chanced all in her relationship with Naomi. This will also mean I need to prove myself as trustworthy, that I will draw others by my openness, steadfastness, and reliability, even though others may not respond.

As I minister to others, do I wait for them to come to me, or am I a "seeker-outer"? Do I take the initiative? I know that many women will not automatically come to me, so I must be out there looking, seeing what the needs are of the women around me. As they see me coming to them and wanting their fellowship, they will begin to see that my passion (my heart) is for them as individuals and eventually that the Lord’s passion (His heart) for them as individuals is even stronger than mine!

I love the word, "cherish". This means that whatever is cherished is also valuable. There are many things in life that each one of us cherishes, sometimes it is our children, sometimes things, sometimes our own way of doing things; but do we really "cherish" the people we are ministering to? What if they do not seem valuable to my life, my ministry, my friendship – can I still cherish these women that Christ died to save, no matter how valuable (or not) they are in the eyes of the world? I must value the person – the woman, and cherish her heart, soul, and body in order to fully be able to nurture her into the family of God.

NURTURING - Women of all cultures know what nurturing means. In the area of ministering, how can I see another woman’s potential to be all God has designed her to be, then encourage her to that extent? Mentoring other women is something that is so very important and I am slowly learning how I can mentor even just by my daily living.

This I can only do through my own humanity, exhibiting each and every day the love of Jesus and His life through me to this "other-culture world" He has put me into. I can nurture other women by being who I am (whom God has created in His image) and then portraying that image to others.

I need to allow God to equip me to care. More than often it means being a servant, and this can only come from my heart. Many times those of us who are in the ministry will be seen as being "above" those we are ministering to, as leaders, not as servants. Yet, in order for another woman to see that I have the heart of Christ in me and to attract them to His heart, I must be a servant to them. My attitude will show and my actions within that community and culture will be evidence of whether or not I have a servant heart. Here is where I can learn to be a true mentor, nurturing and guiding others to learn to depend on God rather than on their relationship to me as a teacher, mentor, or missionary.

When a mother nurtures her children, she is ever-present to see what their needs are and then tries her best to help her children fulfill those needs. To effectively nurture and mentor someone else I need to be a part of their lives, living among them, laughing with them, sharing their special times of life.

COMMITMENT - Must I change and be exactly like the women in this other culture in order to reach them? In many ways I will need to change, because I am in their culture, not my own. One of the most important things that needs changing is my thinking pattern: about the culture – am I willing to accept many new things?, about the women of that culture – do I see myself committed enough to be one of them?, about myself – am I committed to change or am I stuck in my own cultural rut?, about God – am I committed to what He wants me to be and do in this "other culture"?

A natural response in many situations is to give up trying and either run from the situation or just do my own thing in my own way, but I need to be reminded of the Lord’s everlasting and unfailing love and commitment towards me. He came into "this world’s culture" and committed His life in its entirety to all of us, to reach us and lead us to the Father. Can I then not do the same? Commitment means following through in whatever direction our ministry takes us, just as Christ did not give up on any of us.

In "another-world culture" ministry to women, I must carry through on the basic principles Christ has set before me. He came to us on common ground, showed us what true friendship and fellowship was all about, passionately sought us out and cherished us, nurtures us to be more like Himself, and proved His commitment all the way to the cross. Can I not do the same?

As part of the training in ACTI, the staff and trainees with their families went on a four day mission exposure trip to Batam and Bintan from the 17^th to the 20^th of March this year. I will share some personal reflections as well as some things the Lord had shown me during this trip.

I am single and as such, I have always seen things from that perspective, including what my life may be like as a missionary. In the past few years, the Lord has been demonstrating to me the power and effectiveness of the minister who is single. He also showed that those who had gone on to minister while giving up their rights to be married are very precious to His heart. However, during this trip, I witnessed the struggles of missionary families and how much they had to give up for the sake of the Gospel. I could see that they were torn between the ministry and taking care of their children. There was no way that their children would ever have a ‘normal and secure’ upbringing the way our society defines it, and that was another huge sacrifice. I know it’s one thing to give up one’s own life for the Kingdom of God but it’s really another to give up someone else’s on their behalf, and even your own flesh and blood. The Lord showed me that this was a deeper level of sacrifice and it is precious to Him; He did say this two thousand years ago.

Although I am Chinese and thus have East Asian roots, I was born and brought up in South-East Asia and have been exposed to various South-East Asian cultures for many years. I have grown to love and respect the ways of the South-East Asians. They are so gentle, so full of grace and elegance and the people and their culture are a beauty unto themselves. I love the ‘people’ people, the common folk, the country folk, I feel God’s heart for these; no pretence, no guile, no arrogance….in contrast to the ‘modern’ society that I grew up in….. this is Biblical!( believe me!) This trip gave me an opportunity for my soul to renew those ties with the people of South-East Asia and the Holy Ghost burned within me an even deeper love and fire for them. I told the Lord that I would be happy if He sent me there for a season. "Father, Indonesia is crying out for You!"

"…. Precious in the sight of the LORD are the death of His saints ….." One thing which has always made a deep impact on me during all of my short term mission trips is God’s heart for His servants. They gave up everything for the love for Jesus and many struggle and are lonely out in the field. It was no different in this trip, God poured out His heart into mine as we shared a few days with a pastor in rural Bintan. We knew he was struggling, we knew he loved God, we knew he loved the people whom he was not indigenous to, we knew what we must do. We knew that we had to lay aside our own schedule and agenda to serve him. As we left, I felt as if I were leaving a long-lost brother, both he and I knew that we were family, in Jesus. From my minute amount of Indonesian vocabulary, I kept on repeating " Tuhan berkati, Tuhan berkati….", the Lord bless you my brother…..

Dr Liew Shern-Ern, Ernie is a trainee at ACTI. He is a trained doctor/surgeon. He will be serving in Zambia with SIM after his training at ACTI. Dr Liew worships at St John’s-St Margaret’s Church, Singapore.

In January 2002, Chumdan Church organized a mission trip to Thailand. It was the third mission trip following the medical mission trips in 2000 and 2001. This mission trip was different from the last two medical mission trips as the focus was an evangelical worship concert. For about six months, about 20 young people prepared for this concert. It is very encouraging that the young people sacrificed their time and substances for this purpose. And the mission trip resulted in four men determined to sacrifice themselves for God in the mission field. Two ladies have already been sent from their church to the mission field.

The 2002 mission trip had a special meaning for me. This mission trip was a trip for me to explore and understand Thailand before going there to serve as a missionary. For these reasons, I began to see things differently that I was unable to see before. I was interested in the natives' life, something which I was unable to focus on previously because I had to care for our church members and ministries. That may be out of a sense of duty but from now I should think the way of the natives.

I had a special experience when I visited the region south of Thailand where our missionary has visited regularly. I felt very kindly even though the people were indigent. The simple smiles of old women, their kindness by welcoming us with cool water, their feature that listening closely to scripture humbly and asking to be prayed for. As a missionary, it is not easy introducing to them who are without the gospel but still look happy. But I must tell them the gospel because they are lovely.

When I was returning to Korea from short term missions, there were four other mission teams in the same airplane with us, nearly 100 people altogether. Together, we made Thailand full of praise and words' wave, even though we didn't know each other well. Probably there were more over words' strength on all sides.

I pray against the demolishing of strongholds in Thailand for the past 180 years of missions history. Through the wave of Gospel such as this, evangelization of Thailand may be fulfilled through missions trips and the fruits thereof.

Rev Kwon Jung Hyun and his wife Ji Sook are trainees at ACTI. They are from Global Mission Society, Korea. They plan to minister in Thailand after their time at ACTI. They have three children, Daniel (7 years), Joseph (5 years) and Esther (1 year).

This story about a missionary working among a tribe in Africa always makes me smile. The missionary pointed to a canoe and asked, "What is this?" using the only phrase that he knew in the local language. They said "idai". He pointed to a tree and they again said "idai". Then he went over to the house and pointed to the wooden stilt and they said "idai". He was so proud because his analysis showed that "idai" must be the generic word for "wood" since they were all made of wood. It was after he got the response "idai" every time he pointed to something, even things which were not wooden, that he realized he must be wrong. Eventually he found out that the word "idai" meant finger.

This story demonstrates how even the way we culturally learn the language can create confusion and lead to unexpected results....amusing but unexpected.

This brings me to the first area of preparation to learn a language in a cross-cultural setting:

It is important to note that how we learn a language is as important, if not more important, than why we learn a language. So our attitude in the learning process can make a great difference to the relationships we form and the witness we are to those who are involved in teaching us.

These three characteristics are very important:

1a) Humility - Have the attitude of humility and recognize that you are there to serve and not direct, learn and not teach. Only when you can humble yourself and put yourself under the guidance and authority of the community will you in due time achieve the credibility and respect to be considered an "insider" among them.

Therefore it is better to spend more time being involved in daily activities and chores with the community rather than 'employing' someone to teach you the language in your house or attend language classes in a language school. This would include activities such as going to the market with them, building a house, fetching water or doing laundry at the water point, sitting in the coffee shop, going shopping, farm work, gardening, painting a house etc. These activities will also serve to show servanthood as you offer to help them. You can then experience their life and culture as you learn the language. You should then supplement these activities by having a personal tutor and/or attending language classes (if they are available).

1b) Vulnerability - Being honest and open is important. It helps for you to share your problems to others. It is all right for you to admit disappointment or hurt and ask for help from others. People will feel needed by you and they can feel part of your life and see Jesus. Initially your language ability will not allow you to share emotional struggles but you can try to communicate other problems such as health or practical things that are hard to do in the new culture. Feel free to ask for help from them. Through this they will sense your love for them and know that you do have struggles and are making sacrifices to be there among them. This attitude is critical to allow the reality of Christ in your life to be seen through your honest sincerity.

1c) Amusing curiosity - Being lighthearted and able to laugh at yourself as you make mistakes helps to endear the others to you. It makes the learning experience enjoyable instead of tiresome. Showing that you are curious and want to learn in a fun way helps you to get the people to teach you interesting things. They will also not be afraid to correct and guide you since they know that you recognize that making mistakes is a good way to learn.

These three attitudes are important if you recognize that the process of learning the language and culture is a ministry by itself and not just a means to the goal of becoming more effective in spreading the gospel of Christ among them. So it is how you learn that matters more and not why or what you learn. These attitudes form the foundational motivations for the language learners. From there, we need to follow a certain process of learning to achieve effective and early progress so that discouragement does not become a major problem.

There are three processes that are essential to learning a language in a cross-cultural setting –

2a) Useful and efficient learning process - It is important that when you start to learn a language, that you first get words that you will need to use often on a daily basis. When I was learning the Umanakaina language the phrases that I needed to use often were "Good morning", "Thank you", "Sorry", "Never mind", "Where is the toilet", "What is your name", "Please help me", "Father", "Mother", "Brother", "What is this", "What is that". You then use these phrases often, repeating them with everyone till they understand and confirm you are saying them right. After that you can progress to another level of learning, which will be phrases which will help you describe everyday activities and can be used often in speech "I am going to the river", "Where are you going?", "What are you doing?", "Where is _____ now?", "My house is that one", "Where are you from?", "I am full.", "The food is tasty." This level of conversation is also very productive and practical for everyday use. It will also lead you to learn new responses when people reply to your questions, so you will quickly improve your language.

As you progress at this level of speech and use it often among many people, you will eventually improve to where you can begin to express your feelings. This will help you to feel part of the community and develop deeper emotional attachment to them. At this stage you will be able to say statements like "I am quite sad that my neighbour is having financial problems", "Do you feel this is a good way for us to discipline our children?", "I am missing my mother very much, she used to visit me every week."

Therefore the three levels of progress for effective and productive language learning are:

• Simple phrases that need to be used often in daily life
• Sentences describing common activities
• Sentences describing opinion and/or emotional feelings.

Following this sequence will ensure useful and effective progress in learning the language.

2b) Use a variety of methods - Each of us learn in different ways; some of us are visual learners and so writing the data down phonetically or otherwise helps us a lot; others of us are tactile or experiential learners and so need to be involved in doing the actions to remember and learn the phrases well in a relevant setting. Others of us are auditory learners and learn best by just listening and repeating words and phrases to ourselves. Therefore the best way to develop good skills and practices is to mainly use the method you feel helps you the most. However you also should develop your skills in other ways of learning so that you are using all of your God-given senses and abilities in the process of learning a language. When my wife and I learnt the Umanakaina language in the mountains of Papua New Guinea in 1989, and then the Daga language in 1993, we used a variety of methods :

• Recorded conversations on cassettes, then listened and repeated the phrases repeatedly.
• Asked people to repeat phrases we were trying to learn and recorded them on cassette. We also wrote these phrases down using phonetic symbols. We then repeated the phrases to ourselves when we were at home as we listened to the tape. We also used the recorded cassette tape to correct the written phonetic phrases and read them to ourselves. We used the phonetic phrases to go around the community, repeatedly practising the phrases with many people.
• Got involved in activities around the community by learning the language as we did the activities. We asked questions as we learnt more about the activities. Later we would record some of the new phrases on tape and also write them down on paper so we could listen as well as read them to ourselves.

By employing a variety of methods, we improved very quickly in our language learning, since all the various God-given senses of listening, speaking, acting and seeing were involved. Language learning was not boring or full of meaningless drills.

2c) Follow a consistent and constructive pattern - How your data is written and indexed is important so that you can find it later to correct mistakes. This will help in your sense of progress. You must be able to catalogue your information by day and topic for the recorded tapes as well as written data. It is important to be able to look back and learn the patterns of mistakes you have made and correct past data so that all your data is consistent. You also need to use past data to help you improve present data and guide you to know what data you need to get next.

Learning the pattern of mistakes in sounds of grammar early will help you to improve your weaknesses first. You will make early improvement which will then encourage you and those who are helping you. Being honest about your weaknesses and not comparing with your spouse or partner is important so that discouragement does not hinder you from making progress to the best of your abilities.

There are certain tools which can help you. Getting some training in these tools will make a very big difference. These tools are:

3a) Phonetics is the study of how sounds are made and this will help you to represent each sound with a phonetic symbol, which is internationally recognized. Training in using phonetics will help you to repeat sounds as accurately as you hear them because you are able to tell how the sounds are made with the mouth, throat and nose. It will also help you to write down words and phrases, which you can refer to later to practise and remember them. Recordings of conversations can also be written down phonetically and this will help you to analyze the grammar or the pattern of your mistakes in certain sounds.

Sometimes your upbringing in speaking certain languages can make it either easier or harder for you to learn the new language. I know Tamil and Malay so I find it hard to learn Thai because it is tonal, while my wife Wei Lei knows Mandarin and Cantonese so she finds it easier to learn Thai because the grammar is similar and it is tonal like Mandarin. However Wei Lei has trouble with speaking sentences in Umanakaina because its grammar is complex in the verb, like Tamil. Umanakaina was easier for me because the sounds and grammar were similar to Tamil and Malay which I already speak, so my progress was faster in Umanakaina compared to Wei Lei, while Wei Lei's progress in Thai was faster than mine.

Even though your past history of language abilities plays a part, all of us also have various levels of gifting in learning languages. This will make a difference in our performance. So learning phonetics will also help to determine your skill level and ability in hearing the differences in sounds and repeating them accurately.

Phonetics can be taught in a way which helps an individual to identify patterns of weaknesses and work on those to create sensitivity in hearing and producing those sounds accurately. So mapping consistent errors early in your learning process can help you concentrate on overcoming the weaknesses in hearing and producing certain sounds.

3b) Phonology is the study of the sound system of the language. Certain sounds are significant and certain are not. So you need to take the trouble to learn the sounds that make differences to the meaning of the words first, or else the people will find it hard to understand you and will not have confidence in your speech abilities. One example is that in Tamil there are three or four kinds of 'T' sounds. This is similar for 'R', 'N' and 'L' sounds which make a difference in meaning in words when pronounced wrongly. Most Chinese people have trouble with Tamil because they do not have many 'T' or 'R' sounds so their communication is not so good or clear. While in Mandarin the tone is more critical and if early attention is not paid to realizing this and concentrating on the tones, then very slow and discouraging progress will be made in language learning. Sometimes it can lead to cycles of mistakes and a sense of hopelessness.

3c) Grammar shows how the ordering of sounds produce meaningful words, phrases, sentences and stories. This is critical for early progress. Some languages are ordered as SVO (Subject Verb Object), as in English "He is eating food" as compared to Umanakaina "Me taba naiwan = He food is eating", which is ordered as SOV.

By comparing data such as "I am going", "He is going", "She is going", you can learn the pronouns first. Then by comparing data you can learn the tenses for the verbs, such as "They are going", "They have gone", "They will be going". In some languages the tense is marked on the verb. Here is an example from Daga for the same sentences above "Mu amuiwanum", "Mu amone", "Mu amoin". The verb changes to denote tense, so the root word for ‘go’ is the sound "a" and the rest is a tense marker. This is confirmed for the series with the verb for ‘build’: "They are building" for the three tenses would read "Mu tuiwanum", "Mu tumone", "Mu tumoin", which means the root sound for ‘build’ is "tu". So learning the grammar will help you to substitute and create new sentences so that you can become an intuitive speaker sooner than later.

By getting data in a constructive way you can become creative earlier and therefore become fluent sooner. Here is an example:

He is eating eggs "Me kum kum bagua naiwan"

He is eating corn "Me peop naiwan"

If you know that the word for ‘mushroom’ is "dom", then you can create the phrase "Me dom naiwan", and this will start to give you confidence to experiment more in the language. This creates challenges and can make language learning very exciting and fun.

I have listed the many aspects of language learning above, firstly by outlining the healthy attitudes needed, then mentioning the processes which will give early success and finally by explaining the tools which will help ensure accuracy and fluency in the processes used in learning. Being consistent and constructive in the above approaches has proven to be very successful for me, but ultimately we need to call on the Lord to develop our abilities as we seek to be diligent in learning the language, which is the door to the culture and life of the people we seek to minister. The process of learning itself is a ministry to the people for the sake of the Lord. And this will eventually allow us to be accepted as 'insiders' of their world. And once they give us that recognition, we can then shine more for Jesus and help them to receive the Light, which will bring them out of darkness.

Daniel Jesudason is an Indian Singaporean. He and his wife Wei Lei, with their son, Joshua (8 years), have served in Papua New Guinea since 1985 in Computer Programming, Literacy Consultancy, Curriculum Development, National Training and Bible Translation work. He is currently the Strategic Partnership Facilitator for the Asia Pacific Region of Wycliffe Bible Translators International.

For one week in December 2002, I had the privilege of joining a small group of young people from my church (Bethesda Pasir Ris Mission Church) on a short missions trip to Bangkok, Thailand. All eight of us (four guys and four girls) had at least two things in common: we all were excited about missions, and we all loved to play "street bandy"... and its more refined form: floor ball. We used floor ball as a vehicle for making contact with various groups there.

I was impressed with the preparations for the trip, directed by the youth leader, Poon Pek Ya: several Bible studies on missions topics, several coaching / skills workshops, fund raising activities, all planned for a year in advance. This was not just a "come along if you want" type of arrangement, and mission trip participants had to complete all the requirements in order to go on this trip. Each person had to be prepared to help teach the game of floor ball in a very simplified way to children and youths for whom English is a second language, and each had to be prepared to at least give their testimony to a crowd of people. Team work was also stressed, and I believe the atmosphere of the entire trip proved a positive expression of this.

Our journey took us to one of the suburbs of Bangkok, where we taught the basics of floor ball at five different schools to students of various ages. I found it amazing how many of them were at least familiar with the English language. Our host, the principal of Global English School, arranged a schedule of meetings for us in which we could teach the students and meet with the teachers. Of the five schools we visited, three were run by Christian organizations, though the students were predominantly Buddhist. One of these schools had 5,400 students, all boys, and 300 teachers! Their campus took up three city blocks, including one 18-story building. Needless to say we did not teach everyone how to play. Two other schools were Buddhist schools and had 3000 students each, all at Secondary 3 to Junior College level (grades 9 to 12).

Here are some of the lessons we learned from our short trip:
1) Sports activities are a common ground across cultures, especially among the younger generation, on which one can build bridges for sharing the gospel.

2) There is a lot of potential for reaching the younger generation of Thailand through the medium of teaching English as a second language. Many schools were asking for English teachers.

3) One of the key lessons learned by our group was that in another culture you should always be prepared for anything. Our plans were changed almost daily, and often several times a day. We were forced to be very flexible and creative, and patient as we waited for news concerning our schedule for the day. Things were not as efficient nor as organized as they are in Singapore, and we had to adjust to that. This did not, however, put a damper on our experience. We were also given the opportunity to share testimonies, talk to large groups or lead prayer meetings without much prior notice. It pays to be prepared, if not with the actual material, at least with the mind-set that you may be asked to do something.

4) My own perspective of short term missions trips is that the mission trippers usually are ministered to more than they minister. l feel that any substantial long term results from a short missions trip will be experienced mainly by those who have gone on the trip. Their world view is enlarged significantly, they have some opportunities for limited ministry, and they come in contact with another culture and the people of that culture. From my own missions experience of more than 20 years, I find that a significant impact on the host culture takes several years. Christianity must be lived out amongst the people on a day to day basis over a number of years, through good and not so good experiences; Christianity must meet the people where they live. A short missions trip cannot provide such an environment. Meaningful relationships do not normally develop with only a day or two of personal contact. However, I found this time that a lot of seeds of interest were planted. Predominantly Buddhist children and youth saw Christian attitudes and love in action as they learned about a sport they could easily play at their schools. The willingness of the team to spend time with individuals, to joke with them and listen to them made an impact on some of them. The generosity of our church in providing equipment for some of the schools gave our host an open door for further dialogue with these schools, and even gave us the opportunity to speak to an assembly of 3000 students.

All in all this was a great experience for all of us. I would encourage every church to plan cross-cultural exposure trips for their members and especially for their youth. The participants have a wonderful opportunity to experience life in another culture, while at the same time a zeal for cross-cultural ministry can be cultivated. Be it "street bandy in Bangkok", "volley ball in the village" or some other activity, a missions trip can be a good investment in people's lives.

Rev Henry Armstrong and his wife Janet are residential training staff at ACTI. While in Singapore, the Armstrongs worship at Bethesda Pasir Ris Mission Church. The Church is actively involved in missions and have sent out missionaries to Thailand, the Philippines and other parts of Asia, in partnership with other mission agencies.