CAITLIN WHITE
Assistant Living Editor
Missionary work isn’t something that many American’s come in contact with during their lives, but in sophomore Michael Brinley’s, it has always been prevalent.
Born into a missionary family, Brinley grew up in Moscow, Russia, where his parents helped plant two separate churches in Moscow. Springing from these roots, Brinley branched out on his own this summer to help teach God’s word to the people of the African country of Senegal.
The group Brinley went with included other Pepperdine students, through an organization founded in the 1980s called Let’s Start Talking, (commonly referred to as LST). It was generated off the principle that English can be taught overseas, and the program accomplishes this by using the gospel of Luke.
Colleges throughout the nation send teams to different countries. This year Pepperdine sent teams not only to Senegal, but also to Tanzania, Germany and Japan. The teams go for six weeks, and through one-on-one sessions each day, teach locals English through the Gospel.
When did you decide that this was the way you wanted to spend your summer?
Well this program is one that has been working with my family for the past 12 years, so I was really familiar with it, and it was just a matter of deciding whether I had the time to commit to do this.
But you had to apply in the fall if you wanted to go, and it was in November that I started to really feel led to it, so I decided to apply.
What is the application process like? Is there fundraising involved?
You have to apply for LST before December 1, and you put down a $50 deposit of your own money to secure your spot. Then you write a lot of fundraising letters, I was actually lucky because a lot of people from the church that supports my family in Russia also gave me money to pay for this trip.
But the overall cost for Africa is about $3,500, so you really do have to raise a lot. But money is never a reason for people not to go, they always make it work.
You said you have to apply by December, is there an extensive training process?
After you apply, around January you find out what team you are on, and you start having weekly meetings. Then there were actually two big weekend training trips, that were held at Canejo Church of Christ, which is near here, just in Thousand Oaks.
It was just an intense training time, and it was good team bonding, too. I felt like I maybe didn’t need it as much because I am already used to going overseas, but I think it was definitely helpful.
So you go through all this training, when you get there, what does a typical day look like?
Once we were in Africa, we had a meeting to introduce ourselves to the students, the people that we would be teaching. We explained the program to them, what a lesson would be like and how everything was going to work.
After that though, we got into a pretty regular routine. Tuesday through Saturday we would have lessons with individual students.
Then on Sunday we’d go to church obviously, and after that we’d host a big party with an American theme, and we’d invite not only all our students, but the church as well, so the students could connect with the church family.
So how were the students chosen? Are there specific criteria?
For every LST program there is a local church or a missionary there who hosts the team. So before we get there, they advertise in the local newspaper, and people are attracted because they want to learn English. But students could be anywhere from 18 to 70, there was no age limit. Most of our readers were older than us though, in like their 30s or 40s.
What did you do with your readers during their hour-long lesson?
You just go through the workbook you have that leads them through the gospel of Luke, teaching them not only English, but also God’s word.
Our job was more to live out what a Christian should be, you live the message you’re trying to convey. Our goal was to build relationship with them, and introduce them to their local churches where they could get plugged in.
What was the atmosphere like in Senegal, religiously and government-wise?
There were some issues, but not a lot. The government recently changed from kind of a socialist to a more democratic- capitalistic economic system, so that made things easier.
Religiously though, the country is 90 percent Muslim, and ten percent Catholic, but the country allows freedom of religion, which is fairly rare among Muslim countries so that made things easier.
So you’re teaching these people English, what language do they speak there?
French is the official language there, so I learned to speak quite a bit of that, they also have a dialect they speak too called Wolof. There are over fifty different dialects throughout Senegal, too, amidst different tribes.
Do you think your background as a “Missionary’s Kid” helped you a lot for this mission?
Yeah, I think it did. It’s different for me, probably because I did grow up in Russia, I don’t really ever get homesick, I’m used to adjusting. Our house was always full of people, almost like a hostel. If anyone needed a place to stay, they’d just stay with us, and people were always over.
Would you do another LTS trip in the future?
This work is the most important thing, and if I wasn’t going overseas to Florence, I would definitely consider doing it again, but I’ll be gone this whole year so I’ll miss the training. I will probably end up doing it again, but I really recommend it because it was a great time.
09-06-2007