I have been in East Asia more than four months now, and one thing that I really miss a lot is big group fellowship. I miss having a consistent large weekly meeting where I get to see friends and family.
Here things are different for obvious reasons. We do get chances to get together with English-speaking friends—Americans, Australians Kiwis and others—to fellowship at least every other week. Even when that happens, people’s schedules here constantly are changing, and also it seems like people are often sick. So, we hardly ever have the exact same people at two meeting. It’s all very inconsistent.
But once every three months, there is a gathering of most of the foreign believers here in the city, which in total is around 400 people. It is just so great to go to these gatherings. I can feel a connection to all these people, most of whom I have never even met, because I know that we are all sons and daughters of the King. And the worship at these things is just amazing, because when you look around at the people there and you hear the passion with which they sing, you just know that they’re there to worship. The most recent meeting was great, because it was held two days before Christmas, so we got to sing Christmas songs and celebrate the birth of Jesus together.
All of this just reminds me how important it is to have regular fellowship with people. It reminds me that we are better off with it than without it. Even if we aren’t extroverts or don’t like waking up early, we should be thankful for the easy access to fellowship that we have in America.
Jon, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, is serving in East Asia with Go Now Missions. His last name is withheld for security reasons.
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