Colors...

[ep_moruma]

COLORS (by Whitney Thomas)

I grew up in Yellow Country, but my parents are
Blue.
I'm Blue, or at least, that is what they told me.

But I played with the Yellows,
I went to school with the Yellows,
I spoke the Yellow language,
I even dressed and appeared to be Yellow.

Then I moved to the Blue land.
Now I go to school with the Blues,
I speak the Blue language,
I even dress and look Blue.

But deep down inside me, something is Yellow.
I love the Blue country, but my ways are tinted with
Yellow.
When I am in Blue land, I want to be Yellow.
When I am in the Yellow land I want to be Blue.

Why can't I find a place where I can be both?
A place where I can be me,
A place where I can be Green.
I just want to be Green.

[traveler]

Hi Ep

I remember that i have seen this before, but it is really marvoulles.
My brother is a missionary in spain and i spoke on the phone abouth this with his youngest son resently. Last summer he came over for a full study year here in the hague.

I asked him what country he prefer to live in, he replied, "spain"
To visit holland every two years with the family he likes to do that, but to live in no.

When my brother comes to holland with wive and children they like it here very much, like visiting me or the other members of our family. etc

So from the first hand i here the feelings from MK's what they experience when they visit the home country of their parents. (uh for the record; my brothers wive is spanish.)


I think that i send your poem to my brother in spain, i think they will appriciate it.

see you
_________________
Traveler,
-----------------
Connected in Him, Christ, my Saviour, as King of kings and Lord of lords.

[lydia]

Hi,
I'm Lydia. I'm from Holland and I live in France for 8 years now.
I really like the poem. It's true I just want to be in between the two cultures. On the other hand, I feel it's great to be an MK. MKs know what mission is like, we find it easier to adapt ourselves to another culture, to learn another language.
Greetz
Lydia

[TCK]

There are some advantages as of being an MK or TCK, however there are some struggles as well...

In one hand, I believe that it is very hard for a TCK to live in one place for a long time, there's a lack of sense of belonging to some place in the world - which can make missions a nice thing as well as a weird thing because you never know when you'll be 'home' or who are 'your ppl' - and you will always feel that nobody around you understands you, as long as you have someone 'like you' close to you.

In another hand, I think is a great experience because you acquire the capacity to understand different cultures, you have different 'eyeglasses' to watch the world and your ability to speak foreign languages is quite good. The fact that you don't know who are 'your people' makes you transfer all who you are to one 'nation' - the one you make on your own but you just don't have one geographical place for it, you have many places. Everytime people asked me where was I from, I always used to joke with what that famous Socrates' phrase of belonging, I'd say: 'Nor am I portuguese or brazilian, but a citizen of the Christian World.'

These are only some things about TCK's... I believe God can use us and our capacities to lead people to Him. We are not special people, we just have different needs than 'natives'... Let's pray, seek His will and love people around us.

Mirela.

[spyker86]

Hi everybody!!! I'm with TCK in this. I'm a Brazilian that has lived as a missionary with my parents in Morroco (8 years), England (2 years) and now Spain (8 years). I feel Brazilian but you know...... I also kinda feel Spanish cause I've been livin' here a long time.

Beeing an MK is not always cool, it's true, you can know places, languages, cultures and persons, but their can also be bad things, you can suffer racism or exclusion from the youth of where you live because of what you believe or how you think or where you come from. I also believe that God will use those bad times.

Personally I like beeing an MK, I just call myself an CMK (Cool Missionary Kid) . I believe that God can use me, but he also gives me understanding to what happens to me. So if you're in a bad moment, just give it all to God, He will help you, don't dought it GOD BLESS YA ALL!!!!!!!!! -- "Do not be afraid for I am with You" --
_________________
"Do not run away when time comes..."

[ep_moruma]

You guys said it!
For me the problem's also a bit that I don't think of myself as "blue", but I've been here too long now (almost 7 years... not even that long, but long enough to loose a lot of the "yellowness") to be able to live in the "yellow" culture without problems, even though I often wish I was there. Ah, it's just so complicated!
I think that the others around us can also learn a lot out of our "green" personalities. It just shows that the "blue" way's not the only way (as many seem to think...)!

Cheers