Joshua Ballew
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Joshua Ballew's Blog
Summer Summary / Aug 24, 05:34 PM
This summer has been jam packed just like all the other summers that my family and I have spent in America. But one thing that has been different than the other times was that a group from Macau (the pastor of Macau Baptist Church and his family along with another family from the church) was able to come visit us. It has been a great experience. They wanted to come to the States not only for vacation but to also visit my family’s supporting churches and thank them for their support of my family. Besides the visit to churches we showed them around Washington D.C. for a few days then went to the West Coast for more church visits and also made a stop in Sacramento to see where I will be for Mission Year.
This was the first time that we have taken a group from Macau around the States. Previously I had only been a part of taking groups from the US around Macau. This probably provided the most valuable lessons for adapting to my new life. Showing people a new place can be very enjoyable. To see a known environment through someone else’s eyes who is seeing everything for the first time is very enlightening. Although the situation was the same with only the place and people reversed, I didn’t expect them to be so similar. A foreigner coming to my place can’t be the same as those from Macau coming to this place.
But the experience was so similar that I am now of the conviction that people are people wherever you go. The differences in culture, race, background and intelligence are all insignificant. And this was a depressing conclusion. Or would be if there wasn’t the one true defining characteristic that make a difference in people; the presence of Jesus Christ in someone’s life. I will no longer think of my time here as a time of culture shock. That would be too much of a waste of time.
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Important Note:
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During Mission Year I was planning on sending out my blog updates through email so that people wouldn’t need to keep visiting the website and would be able to get the updates as they came. So if you would like me to send you my blog updates to your email please email me at macauspiderman@gmail.com with that request.
Culture Shock - Part 1 / Feb 28, 06:35 PM
All over the world people have just finished celebration Chinese New Year. One of the traditions during this time is for married couples to give 利事 (red envelopes) to children or single people. The “red envelopes” contain some money and it’s a way for children to get pocket money for the year.
Last week my family ran into with a family who have two little girls. They were visiting from the States. When my parents gave the “Red Pockets” to the two girls they immediately opened them to take the money out. This caused a slight reaction inside of me. You see, in Macao it isn’t culturally acceptable to open gifts in front of the people who gave it to you. Although I know that there isn’t this expectation in American culture (it might even be the exact opposite) I was still taken aback by it. This brought to my attention that if the things that I already know are different can affect me then how will I react when I encounter an unknown difference in culture.
Please pray that I would be able to overcome culture shock when I return the the States and that the people around me would be understanding of my situation.
On a side note. I just had two of my wisdom teeth removed. I must now read a few chapters of Proverbs to make up for the loss.
Comment [3]
Preparing for Mission Year / Feb 8, 11:30 PM
The hardest step so far is just beginning.
I’ve got to raise my own support.
I am so blessed that some people have come to me asking how they can support me.
It is truly a humbling experience and I am so grateful to these people.
I’ve got to get going with writing those Support Letters.
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