Money Runs Out
There were rooms cheaper than ours, which cost $13.33, but none with walls
thick enough for spiritual warfare. Food was cheap, especially when cooked on
our portable hot pad on the hotel room floor. We washed dishes in the bathroom
sink, clothes
in two large rubber tubs, and rode on the backs of passing scooters, which cost
less than tuk-tuks, to
reach places that were too far to walk. We received some support, especially from
the Christian brother in France, but it wasn't enough to cover our expenses,
so the small savings I had eventually ran out.
In the Bible, while Paul collected donations for the Christians who were starving through a famine in Judea, neither he nor any other disciple of Jesus ever asked for money for themselves from any human being. So I believe missionaries should pray to God for financial provision and trust Him to move human hearts to bring it, if He wills. And if He doesn't, then take it as His sign to go and work to earn money, as Paul did at times.
Kristin didn't want to return to USA, which she called the land of her abuse, as none of her family members, teachers, doctors, etc., had intervened to stop her father from raping her for the first twenty years of her life. She wanted to stay as far away from her father, whom she said may be looking for her, has connections in the government, and would have an easier time locating her if she returned to USA. The recent attempt by the deliverance minister to get her to return to USA seemed to harden her resolve to stay away from USA.
Going to China, where I could teach college again, was an option but one with issues. Kristin had been spiritually attacked in China and had to be evacuated from there. I didn't know anyone who could help minister to her in China. And during my previous tours there, teaching college by day and the Bible thereafter had kept me very busy: there would be little time for me to minister to Kristin.
Two local men who had immigrated to and had academic careers in USA returned to this southeast Asian country to launch what was claimed to be the country's first Western-style university, which began to recruit Western faculty. The American lady they hired as president made me an offer but added that the owners have changed their mind and want all faculty, including Western faculty, to be on campus six full days per week instead of the advertised five.
The salary was fine and they would even provide a Western-style apartment, but I was wary of leaving Kristin by herself for six days per week. Since Sunday was for church, five working days would mean we could dedicate at least one day per week to spiritual warfare, which wouldn't be possible if I had to be at the school on Saturdays as well.
Kristin then proposed that we teach somewhere together so that we wouldn't need to be apart all day long. I admired her courage but was skeptical. Because she can see the demons in people and some of those demons attack her, she didn't do well in crowds of Buddhists. Besides, to break up the intensity of spiritual warfare and because she loves children, we had by then twice tried to have her teach a couple of mornings per week at nearby kindergartens. She had felt too spiritually oppressed and had resigned both times. But she insisted.
I couldn't teach kindergarten and she couldn't teach college, so we applied to a private junior high school, were interviewed and hired by its owner at his headquarters, and then took his letters of appointment to the school to meet its principal. But as soon as we entered the school, which was just a large office building in the middle of the city, I knew it wasn't going to work out. The building was crammed with so many kids that those in the corridors could barely move. There was no space anywhere in the building and the decibel level from so many kids talking and screaming was deafening. I took one look at Kristin, who was already fading out, so we resigned on the spot, and I took her out of the building.
On the way back, Kristin said she was sorry for being so weak. I told her that she had nothing to apologize for and told her that I was sorry for not having guessed that a for-profit school in this country would pack in students like sardines.
Out of other options, we decided to return together to China. I will be away from her during the lectures but be with her when preparing them, grading homework and exams, etc., so that she won't have to be by herself for most of the day.
We put our hot pad, water boiler, frying pan, plates, cups, clothes hangers, etc. into one of the two large rubber tubs, flipped the other one on top as the lid, taped the two shut, stashed it in the cheap hotel's warehouse, and then flew to China.