In my island, making decisions comes after you have responded to a person. It is easy to say yes to a person just get rid of but its hard to say no. Although sometimes the truth is, we all forget what we said. However, it all depends on the situation, who you are talking to, what will happen, and if you are in a hurry, then it happens.
For example, one of your classmate from high school back in the days found you in a store somewhere in the island. This person notices you but you didn't really recognized him/her. This person had a party coming up this week. The person thought of inviting you so she/he approached you and told you about it. At that point, you are very nervous but you don't want to hurt his/her feelings. Finally, he/she starts to talk about the party and the person wanted to invite you. Now this is where the situation happens. You feel like you don't want to hurt the person's feelings, you don't want to let the person feel rejected, so you just say yes. Although that was not your final decision, it was just an answer either to make the person feel better or to get rid of him/her. In a way its bad or good. But it all depends on how you deal with it. But that's not the end. In the long run after your response you start to think about it. You think of things your doing on that day, or other things that comes to your mind. You know you said yes to your classmate, but this is where you get to make the real decision. The real choice of whether to go or not.
I grew up doing the same thing. Sometimes I say "yes" to people just to make them feel accepted. Sometimes I say "yes" to people just to get rid of them because I have something to do or just because I'm nervous. Sometimes I say "yes" because I really mean it and I want to spend time with the person. Usually it's hard for me to say "no" to things. What do you think?
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Small groups that were created for the reason of getting to know other students from other places. One of the group that I was in had each individual different nationality. Different students from different schools. More often we got to know about each other and had great discussions.
Students from all over the United States worshiping. Over 1900 students were there. Some were saved, others recommitted their lives to serve God. I was one of them. Couldn't have been more blessed on this day! God worked throughout the lives of those who were there. Amazing!
So what is Glorieta? Or what did I do in Glorieta? Well, in my opinion, Glorieta is a beautiful place where I had a wonderful time worshiping God and be with a large group of wonderful Godly people. The name of the ministry was "Baptist Collegiate Ministry" where many students all over the United States came together and had a wonderful time worshiping God and learning more about having a great and better relationship with God.
Glorieta: Prayer Garden
this is called the "Prayer Garden!" People walk through this place, spend their time praying and hanging out here just being with God. I was walking on this place just spending my time praying for certain things. It is so beautiful!
Glorieta Buildings
People worshiping in Glorieta!
Worship in Glorieta!
I know how it feels to want to deal with people who pressure you or annoy you passive aggressively, and how many people deal with everything that way, but I would say go about it biblically- let your "yes" mean "yes" and your "no" mean "no." For me, I feel as though someone doesn't respect me if they say yes and don't mean it, but then I again it makes me question myself. Try to go about all things the way Jesus would and when you find yourself doing things in a culture other than Christian, work on correcting it. You have integrity and I know that if you believe it's an issue, or can be wrong to some, you will be led to solutions. Thanks for this post- it was very honest and a good insight into Micronesian culture :)
ReplyDeleteDude Leeman...didn't know u had a blog. This is a nice piece. Just to bring an input. Usually in cases like we would know if the yes is meant or not. It depends on the body language, the hesitations etc. And usually we won't be fazed by it. Must be the laid back islander life-style...
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