Being prepared to say yes, and no

Saturday

Tomorrow I’m preaching at a church I’ve never been to. Not an uncommon task for missionaries. What is also apparently not uncommon is being asked to do so with two days’ notice. Yes, only yesterday I was asked to preach tomorrow. And that highlighted a key lesson I’ve learned as a new missionary: you can get asked to give a talk at any time, and you need to be prepared to say yes.

Thankfully I am prepared for tomorrow’s talk. Hence why I’m writing this article and not the message itself. That was written a while ago, checked by my Japanese teacher, printed out, and waits on my shelf. All I had to do was find it and check I had a clean shirt to go with it.

Now, you need to appreciate that administration is not my gift. I work surrounded by piles—actually, mounds is probably a better descriptor—of paper, books, business cards, and occasionally senbei. Being organized does not come naturally.

But I have come to realize that as a missionary you need to be prepared to say yes to requests that are unexpected and, at times, not entirely reasonable. Sometimes that’s being asked a sudden question about the gospel. Sometimes it’s being asked to give the closing prayer to a meeting. And sometimes it’s being asked to preach a full sermon the day after next.

I think this is one of the ways we serve the Japanese. We put in the hard work beforehand so that when those unexpected requests come we’re prepared to say yes.

Sunday

The above was what I wrote yesterday.

Then this morning I happily drove down to the church in question, leaving said sermon script on the floor at home next to where my bag was. A journey that further drove home (pun unapologetically intended) the need to be prepared since I had no electronic backup besides a brief outline I managed to retrieve from my email sent box.

By God’s grace I got through the talk and it seems like my main point at least was communicated, but from now on I am going to ensure I always have a paper and electronic form of a message with me at all times. Because, as a new missionary with limited language skills, I need to be prepared.

Last month

I had a similar experience last month that taught me what to do when you really are not prepared for those unexpected requests: be prepared to say no.

I was at a youth gathering for the church of one of my Japanese teachers. I thought it was just going to be banter with her family and some students while we enjoyed some Japanese home cooking. In hindsight I should have anticipated the pastor’s last-minute request for a Bible message.

“It doesn’t have to be long and it can be on any passage. It’ll allow me to relax if you do it. But of course, you can pass if you want.”

I was not prepared for such a request. I had no notes on me at all, just a vague memory of a youth message I’d given a few months previous. But because I wasn’t prepared to say no, I said yes. And needless to say the talk was a horrible, horrible mess. I avoided saying anything heretical, but I also didn’t say anything particularly comprehensible. Whatever the pastor had planned to say would have been much more of a blessing to those gathered.

Now we all give talks that flop, right? It was a good learning experience for me. But for the students who had come to hear God’s Word—students who are assaulted daily by doubts and temptations—it was not. And it’s them I’m here to serve. It would have been a knock to my pride, but I should have been prepared to say no to that request.

Today

So I’m now committed to being as prepared as possible so I can say yes to requests for messages, prayers, and such. And when I’m not prepared to say yes, I’ll be prepared to say no.