I’m over at A Life Overseas today with a plea for our friends at home….
When we’re on furlough and giving presentations about our
ministry as missionaries, we always end with, “Does anyone have any questions?”
A hand goes up. And
the question is inevitable.
“How can we pray for you?”
Every. Single. Time.
Sometimes someone will ask to know more about our
ministry. Or a person we are investing
in. Or maybe, “What has God been
teaching you?”
The questions, almost
always, are spiritual.
This is not a bad thing.
Of course, we’re thrilled people want to pray for us. We are excited if they are excited about our ministry. But do you know what we long to be asked?
The non-spiritual questions.
Sure, our ministry is extremely important to us. But that’s only part of the picture of our lives overseas. We moved to the other side of the world. We landed in a country that most people only
see on the news. We had to learn new
ways of shopping, cooking, eating, sleeping, educating, traveling, parenting,
and talking. It was not easy. In fact, it was the hardest thing we’ve ever
done.
We are different people now. And it is bursting out of us. We might look the same on the outside, but we
are totally different on the inside. And
you know what? We long to talk about it with you.
We desperately want you to be
interested in all of our other life,
not just the spiritual parts.
My husband and I have been missionaries for 13 years
now. And I must admit: The people back home who ask us the
non-spiritual questions are few and far between. In fact, they are so rare that they stand out
in my memory by name.
I’m not sure why there are so few people who ask the
non-spiritual questions. I think that
sometimes, folks just don’t know where to start. Or maybe they think that they already should
know all those things and they don’t want to look stupid. Or maybe they just assume that we don’t
really want to talk about such mundane things.
(After all, we’re super spiritual…right?)
So let me just re-iterate:
Please, ask us the non-spiritual
questions. We missionaries would love to answer them.
Not sure where to start?
That’s easy. Start with what you are interested in.
Read the rest over here at A Life Overseas.
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