“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” (Mark 1:17)

            My friends have asked me what am I doing here in Taiwan. Half-joking, washing asses is my frequent reply to them, and they end up laughing, thinking that I might be joking or maybe I meant something else. Here is somebody studying 4 years in graduate school in the US, and now washing other people’s asses. It led me to wonder what’s “wrong” with the work I’m doing. Probably because it’s a “dirty” job to wash somebody’s ass, or probably because it’s not a “classy job” to be doing compared to other “sophisticated profession” such as being an engineer, accountant, etc.  A friend asked me why I’m doing it. I told him I don’t do it on my own, or else I would have quit a long time ago. I had some help from above.

            After being in Taiwan for almost two years, I felt like I’m an "amateur in every field & professional in none." Probably that's what being a missionary is all about. Being in the ministry for several months now, I feel that I don’t have to be a professional or be a rocket scientist to be a minister. Almost two years ago, I arrived here in Taiwan with “professional ideas & concepts” about mission & ministry learned from school. Yet in AiJia ministry, those don’t matter much. Develop/mentally challenged adults doesn’t necessarily need a professional, they need a human companion, somebody who can “waste” time with them.

            The ministry at AiJia, of course, also requires professional nurse or a caregiver, and I learned both on the job. Probably it was my willingness & openness that I was able to take also that role, yet it was not easy coz being an adult, I don’t want to be told what to do. Yet being a “tongue-tied” foreigner, I depended much on others in the ministry. Yet in AiJia, a professional nurse, caregiver or social worker may efficiently care for the physical needs of a develop/mentally challenged adult but not necessarily their human need. It had been my continuous struggle in the ministry of providing them both professional care & at the same time be a human companion to them.

            In the Gospel story, most of the first followers of Jesus know only of one trade, and that is to fish. These disciples could have remained professional fishermen and serve the people by providing the hungry people with fish. But Jesus invited them to a whole new level of fishing, and that is to “fish” people. That is a whole new field beyond their professional expertise of fishing. It requires not much of their professional skills but more of their hearts & minds. It’s a tall order but they were willing & trusting. Despite being slow to understand, Jesus patiently journeys with them as they continue “fishing” people.

            Like the first disciples, I too am slow to understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Yet I continue this journey in trust & with help from above. We missionaries try to put some flesh on God’s love in this world. Each one does it in different ways depending upon the different gifts we have been given. One can be a professional, when the situation needs for one. But most of the time, people need a human companion, somebody who is willing to go an extra mile for the other.

Photos of Chris with the develop/mentally challenged adults

AiJia ( 愛家) Community.

AiJia core-members & assistants.

Posing after performing in a cheering squad competition.