Missionaries, Glorious Missionaries

Once upon a time there was a girl named Helen who failed miserably at keeping up with her blog. So she decided one day to write 4 blog posts, put them all up at once, and pretend that she had simply forgotten to put the link up on Facebook for 3 of the posts. And she did. And it was devilishly clever and no one ever suspected she really hadn’t written a blog post in 3 months. The end.

Whew, now that I’ve sneakily diverted you all, allow me to tell you about missionaries. They’re pretty much the biggest heroes ever.

I have a confession to make. I used to think missionaries were lame. I know, horrible, horrible, vile, nasty, awful, person. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself and formally apologize to every missionary ever. You are all wonderful marvelous, brave, tough, brilliant, dear, sacrificing people and I don’t deserve to be in your club.

 So yeah, missionaries. I would like to present you all with just a little of the really tough stuff missionaries do all the time. But I would like to do this without making you think I’m some kind of saint. I’m here for one year people, the rest of the forward unit is here longer. I am a wuss. I complain about this stuff all the time. I would never choose this for myself like other missionaries ever have. Ok, so do not apply this to me but apply it to all the other missionaries who you run into.

Why Missionaries are the Bosssest Bosses this side of the nut house:

1.       They live in another country. Ok, so traveling the world is romanticized a great deal these days and indeed it is cool. But living in a country and traveling around a country are two astronomically different things. When you LIVE in a different country from the one you are raised in, you have to get visas and driver’s license, and work permits, and buy a car, and move stuff, and make connections, and learn languages, and all sorts of other crazy stuff.

2.       The culture is different. This means you have to work with things that seem absolutely nuts to you that are normal in the new country. And you have to deal with people thinking you’re nuts for doing normal things. You have to be conscious of what the nationals will be expecting and try to provide it. You have to figure out how to host company and buy things and greet people and go to church.

3.       Sometimes you get a lot more attention then you wanted. Nationals stare at you, take sneaky pictures of you, mess with your hair, laugh at your weirdness, etc. Sometimes it makes you feel famous, sometimes it makes you overwhelmed, sometimes you don’t notice it.

4.       Missionaries are far away from home. They miss stuff. They watch their kids have different lives than they had. Weddings, Reunions, Christmases, Family emergencies, friend emergencies….it’s rough to try to keep up with all the people back home without feeling so isolated. It’s sad to not be able to be there for people you love and have to send apologies again. Skype, email, phones, Facebook, all these things have made it easier to stay in touch with people but it’s still hard to be the one who isn’t there.

5.       Your children have a convoluted sense of home. They don’t fully belong in any one place. You have to drop them off at college and then go back to your field. It’s rough!

6.       Transition and change are always present. You finally adjust to your field and then it’s time for furlough. Sometimes you change fields, countries, or agencies. Then you have to re learn everything. And when you finally retire, you lose a great deal of identity by finally having a “normal” life.

7.       Most people don’t really understand. Like me, when I thought missionaries were weird people with old clothes and crazy pictures. You have so many skills most people won’t ever see. You know so much about a place few others do. Very, very, very, few people understand why you would miss a third world country when you are living in the US. It’s hard to not be understood.

So I would like to encourage all you missionaries. You guys are warriors. You are my heroes. You are worthy of respect. Thank you for doing the hard thing to improve lives, save souls, and obey Jesus. You are the farthest thing from lame. You are amazing, strong, inspiring people. I am honored to know you.

And to all you people who aren’t missionaries. Be encouraging. Try to understand. Love on your missionaries. Hug them. Tell them you respect them. Because they are awe inspiring and they do so many hard things that no one will ever know about.

End rant J
Love you guys!
<3
Helen