by Andy Johnson

Director of Worker Care

I love summer as a care provider. We generally have a somewhat steady stream of workers on stateside assignment passing through, many of whom we get to welcome into our home. One of those families, workers who live in north Africa, came not to rest but to participate in a 24-hour race that began near our home. Starting their run with a 102° temperature in the early evening, they ran through the night, eventually calling it quits after sunrise. After they showered up, they both put on these t-shirts.

I had never heard about the Types of Fun, but I’m always up for quantifying the previously unquantifiable, so I did some reading. Here’s a summary:

Type 1 Fun: Fun to do in the moment, fun to remember, and keeps you wanting more. Think: a great meal, a good movie, a day at the beach.

Type 2 Fun: Challenging in the moment, fun in retrospect, and often fulfilling. Think: a challenging hike, writing a book, or cooking that great meal.

Type 3 Fun: Neither fun in the moment nor in retrospect, but often makes a great story. Think: a torrential storm during your challenging hike, flight delays, or the power going out during your wedding.

This is, of course, a pretty arbitrary scale. For instance, I would put running all night in summer heat firmly in the Type 3 category, whereas my friends called it Type 2 and have the t-shirt to prove it.

All our lives involve all three kinds of fun. This is certainly true for cross-cultural workers. Thinking back on our time as workers in Burkina Faso, these spring to mind.

Type 1: seeing elephants in the wild from our pickup, annual retreat with other workers on the beach in Ghana, stopovers in Europe coming or going for stateside assignment.

Type 2: camping overnight with elephants walking around outside, riding my bike with fellow disciples to open new villages to the gospel, driving hours to the capital to enjoy nice restaurants.

Type 3: driving twenty hours to the beach in Ghana, failure in new villages, flights across oceans with not one but TWO lap children.

At times, I felt guilty about the fun parts of life in west Africa, as if somehow being an authentic worker meant I should never have fun and always keep my nose to the grindstone (which really is a terrible, gross saying). Thankfully, our family were blessed with a supporting church that encouraged us to take breaks (in fact, they even required us to leave the village and head to air-conditioned restaurants monthly during our first two years!). It took me a while to realize that it’s not wrong to enjoy the fun parts of the cross-cultural life.

Let me speak first to you workers who are reading this: do not feel guilty about the fact that God has called you to serve someplace interesting. You have listened to and obeyed and followed our Father into places where Light meets Dark, those ragged edges where the Kingdom is breaking in. All along the way, you will hopefully discover the beautiful parts of that life and culture, moments and places of joy and delight that our good and creative God has embedded around this globe. Make sure you see them and explore them and delight in them. Praise your Father for them.

I probably don’t have to say this – generally I find cross-cultural workers wired to work too hard rather than not enough – but do your job, also. Keep in mind that you are in that place not to enjoy that lifestyle but because your friends there don’t yet know Jesus. Enjoy the fun parts; embrace the hard work of disciple-making, too.

Now to you who support cross-cultural workers: do not make your workers feel guilty about the fact that God has called them into interesting places. In many respects, Thailand is cooler than Texas, Athens is more interesting than Alabama, and Da Nang does have better beaches than Detroit (the airport I’m writing you from). They are also hard places to live and serve far from family. Rather than dropping hints that you think your workers are somehow spoiled, encourage them to take advantage of the beautiful places and cultures by which they are surrounded. Make it possible for them to get the rest and special treats they need not only to be refreshed but also to be glad to be sent by you into that part of the world.  

And if you just have to see that beach, eat that food, or sleep near those elephants, get on a plane and go visit your workers. Just be sure to show up with a heart eager to serve your workers rather than be served on your visit.

I’ll wrap up here. My Type 3 Fun of a delayed flight is just about over, and I’m going to enjoy the Type 2 Fun of flying home to my family.

May you discover joy in your experience and pursuit of all 3 types of fun in the Kingdom!

Peace.