The Luckiest People on Earth

The past couple weeks while living at Mission Training International, (MTI), I have learned so much. First and foremost I have learned how missionaries' responses to simple everyday questions are much more complex than the, "Average Joe's." Here are just a few examples...

Where are you from?

Well…it DEPENDS…do you mean where did I grow up? Or do you mean where did I spend the first few years of my adult life? Or are you referring to where we came from this leg of our 12 day journey? Or are you inquiring about which of the 10 nations I have lived in, has captivated my heart and therefore I now refer to this nation as, “home.”

When do you head out?

Are you wondering when will we, “head out,” from our home of the past 20 years, or 2 months to undergo further training somewhere in North America? Or are you interested in hearing when we leave for language school in Canada, South America, Jordan, China, Japan, Indonesia, or do you want to know when we are headed to the actual continent we will be living on for the next 4 years or so?  Or when you say, “headed out,” are you referring to when will we move from the larger city where we have been living in a third world country, and move to the remote village where our actual ministry will begin?

What language do you speak?

By this do you mean what language I learned first? Or are you referring to the national trade language I speak fluently? Or are you referring to the 5 remote tribal languages I slide in and out of with little or no thought? Or are you referring to the language I am now trying to write for the first time in history so the people of one of the most obscure places on earth can see and read the Gospel for the first time?

How is your family doing?

By this do you mean how my current family unit is adjusting to all the changes in our lives? Or are you referring to the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, and uncles, which we have just left behind and will not see for several years? Or are you asking how the people closest to us are dealing with losing us…the people who are not blood relatives, but have become closer than blood to us over the years? Do you want to know how they are getting on with life without us? Or are you wondering how our marriage is holding up under the pressure? Or are you inquiring about our extended missions family...the other missionaries whom we have formed meaningful relationships with whose callings have taken them to the ends of the earth? 

How many kids do you have?

Are you referring to the number of live children I have birthed, or the number I have carried and lost and are in heaven? Or are you wondering about the number of children that we work with in the orphanage who have nobody else to call, “mommy, “ and “daddy," who we feel guilty for leaving behind and coming back to the USA for furlough…knowing they probably feel as though we have abandoned them as well. Or are you referring to the plethora of young missionaries who have come through our doors that we have connected with, grown with, and continue to pray for daily, just as we do our biological children?

*So many on the outside of the mission culture consider missionaries odd, and that we are! We are different, in the sense that all the social norms and predictableness of the human journey we throw out the window. We do not look at life or even this world the ways in which most do, but I believe we are all the better for it. It is difficult, and at times the transitions are crushing, but I truly believe that judging from the missionaries I have grown to love who are fanning out all over this globe,….as we were told this week at MTI,       "We are the LUCKIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH!"

Senorita Becca has been heaven sent. She has been Aden, Aron, and Abe's teacher at MTI.

Miss. Tarrah uses her amazing talents to get kids like Alex ready for life in other cultures. 

Isaiah 6:8 "And I heard the voice of the Lord and it said, 'Whom shall I send, who will go for us?' And I answered and said, 'Here I am Lord; send me!"'