Log in to your Account

Amanda’s house helper leaned close and whispered a question that caught her off guard: “Can you touch religious things when you are on your period?”

In 2021, Amanda* was finally ready to travel to her new location, full of great plans for using ethnodoxology, culturally appropriate artistic expressions of worship, to introduce people to the gospel in meaningful ways.

Even with TMS Global’s training, Amanda assumed God’s calling in a different culture would look the same as in America—clear outcomes, measurable milestones. The training gave her tools, but experience taught her that God works most powerfully in relationships.

“There was still a part of me that thought, ‘I’ll do better than other first term workers,” Amanda remembered. Sometimes, it felt like she had driven a bargain with God: I’ll be a great cross-cultural worker for you, and you’ll bless my work with lots of fruit. Deal?

Almost five years later, she can laugh at that way of thinking. Now, instead of clarity, milestones, and outcomes, God’s calling looks more like waiting, forming relationships, and showing up daily with her friends who are not yet believers.

It looks like chai by the river and a conversation about karma vs grace with Shaalini, an overworked salon employee. Or like sharing thoughts about art with Soni, a student seeking peace. Or like a meal with Sonakshi, a student who is sure of her faith but doesn’t believe in Jesus.

None of these moments is flashy. They’re slow, fragile, and ordinary. But Jesus keeps showing up in classrooms and chai shops. Calling is less about a lightning bolt, more about what author Eugene Peterson called, “a long obedience in the same direction.”

Reflecting now, Amanda said, “It’s harder than I thought, and better than I imagined.”

She still thinks often about her house-helper’s question.

In her religious tradition, women are barred from idols and icons during menstruation—considered untouchable, unclean. Instead of dodging the question, Amanda told her the story of the woman in Mark 5 who had been bleeding for twelve years. She explained how that woman touched Jesus’ cloak, how He didn’t recoil or shame her, but welcomed her in faith and made her whole.

The helper listened. And in that messy, awkward exchange about daily life, Jesus became the center of the conversation.

Everyday life in South Asia asks hard questions. Amanda’s presence means Jesus is part of the answer. For Amanda, John 1 describes what calling looks like now:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

*Pseudonym used for security purposes.