Mennonite Mission Network—After serving for nearly a decade in a particular country among people you bond with, it can be difficult to realize God has called you to move on.
For James and Michelle Stabler-Havener from Pasadena (Calif.) Mennonite Church, who ended their seven-year China assignment with Mennonite Mission Network in August, confirmation that it was time to end their assignment came in the fall of 2010, while James attended a Sichuan University of Science and Engineering banquet.
James sat with Chinese students and professors who had attended Goshen (Ind.) College and Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va. They had rekindled relationships made during the 1980s.
“There was really a sense of family,” said James, who had played a key role in restoring the college friendships. “It gave us comfort … it’s relationships that truly matter. For us finishing up in China, it was confirmation that our relationships would carry on.”
Both English professors, the Stabler-Haveners will head to India in September where James will be a Senior English Language Fellow for Georgetown University and the U.S. State Department. Michelle will join him, but take the first year off of working. Mission Network talked with them during their recent visit to the United States to ask more about their time in China.
MMN: Reflect on your initial goals when you first went to China.
Michelle: I was in China from 1997 to 1999 with the English Language Institute of China, and began with Mission Network in 2004. I definitely was very interested in educational development when I first went out. One of the deeply felt needs there is having English-speaking teachers at all levels. I really was able to be a part of seeing that happen.
James: Building bridges of trust and reconciliation is one of the themes. In our classrooms, one of our goals was to teach students to build those skills and communicate in ways that do not cause offense. One of the surprises for me was how I needed to be more sensitive. In some of the things I was telling my students, I was like, “Wow, I need to pay attention to that in my own life.”
MMN: Other surprises, revelations?
Michelle: Something I found continually surprising is how many questions I got asked about faith. My students have been bolder and bolder each year, whether they were Christians or not. They asked whether I was a Christian and where I went to church, and shared openly whether they went to church.
MMN: How have you both evolved individually?
Michelle: I didn’t realize how dependent I was on my church congregation, going to church on Sunday, and the availability of Christian bookstores [in the U.S.]. I hadn’t realized how much I relied on all of those resources for my own personal relationship and spiritual growth with Christ. Going to China forced me to rely more on Scripture reading, meditation and prayer, and not rely so much on the other resources I had in the United States.
James: Over the years, I have learned, through many trials and errors and banging my head against the wall, that one of the gifts you gain through networks and relationships is people that you can rely on to problem solve. It can be some mundane task or it can be something like an earthquake and working with people who want to help. I value more the importance of relationships for getting things done. I think I may have thought I could do more on my own. …One thing that is exciting is seeing the ways of our friends in working together with other pastors in the community, and how they’re dreaming of ways to be connected with the greater body of Christ in the world.
MMN: What have you learned working together as a married couple?
James: It gives you an opportunity to communicate in new ways, and if you can learn those new ways to communicate, you can go even deeper in your relationship.
Michelle: I think you learn how to rely on each other more. You learn directly that you have to work through things, and you need to be patient when you’re communicating.
##
Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
