Not Your Stereotypical Missionaries

Our view

I have a picture in my head of what a missionary is. It’s stereotypical. I’ve grown up knowing missionaries. I remember when I was a young girl, my dad was a pastor, and we would often have missionaries come through and stay at our house. We’d spend Sunday afternoons listening to their stories. These were memory markers.

Then I got a little older and my parents became them. For four long years my parents and often just my dad traveled the countryside trying to raise the money to go to Africa. After years of anticipating this great adventure and even graduating a semester early, I never even got to go join their ministry. Such disappointment I felt. I was able to join them for a month my sophomore year in college. Loved it. But missed my man so much that I literally felt sick being away from him.

I married my man, assuming we’d always be “normal” and never do anything as radical as become missionaries. I mean, Britt’s as phlegmatic as they come. So what are the chances?

Then my sister, her husband, and two small children set out on that familiar road of becoming missionaries. It was fitting. They went to Bible college. So why not?

I remember my dad once told us kids before they moved to Africa that statistics show that parents of missionary kids normally have at least one kid go on to be a missionary as well. And pretty much all the kids become “movers and shakers” in their society. So when my sister headed off to Brazil, I was relieved. She took care of that one missionary kid statistic. Wasn't so sure about how Britt and I would fit in that “movers and shakers” part of the statistic. I figured we’d be the ones to ruin those statistics. However, when we started having kids...maybe even before…I knew our kids would be the “movers and shakers” to make up for all that we weren’t. Kinda why this blog is called Raising Seven Presidents.

I’ve always been inclined to adventure…well, until I’m in the thick of it and it just doesn’t feel quite so adventurous. Maybe call me the visionary adventurer. But, knowing Britt would be content living and dying in Clunette, Indiana steered my thinking more his way.

But. Then there’s the God factor. And just like He took the ordinary men and chose them to become his disciples. So God took ordinary Britt and chose him to be one of those to drop his “fishing poles”, “leave his father and mother and brothers and sisters” and follow Him. Who would have thought? Not me. I was rather shocked. Mr. Steady’s don't drop everything to do something that radical, do they?

When it’s not raining, it’s an awesome place to hang.

In the process, I’ve learned so much about what a missionary really is. I’ve come to the conclusion that there really isn’t such a thing as a missionary. I’ve read many books over the years…probably about 8 or so a year over the past twelve years…to my kids specifically about the lives of many different “missionaries” as culture has termed them. But in the end, or time as we know it, I’ve come to the conclusion that the term should really be “disciple”. Because that is what Jesus commissioned his disciples to go do…go make more disciples. He didn’t say, “Go get your master’s degree at a bible college, find a worthy agency, and then spend a few years raising enough money to live off of before you go.” Nope. He just said to drop what your doing and go.

So now that we are doing just that. I think you can call us disciples, not missionaries. Because if you want to be technical about it, He said to go make disciples. And that, my friends, is what we are doing. And you know what? That's what you should be doing too. Only. God asked us to come do it down here in Guatemala (and we kinda prefer it here…so thank you, Jesus for picking such a nice place for us!) And you get to be just that wherever you are. Being in another country doesn’t set us apart and put us in a special category. Sure, our sacrifices look different. And we had to learn a new language to fulfill this commission. But our job description is the same. We build relationships, share God’s love with them, and teach them what God’s taught us. It’s rather simple in a complicated kind of way.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that we are different, Britt and I. We’ve been shaped differently, each and every one of us have. Each of our experiences along life’s journey has molded us and shaped us into the people we are today. We’ve read books and dug in God’s word, learning and becoming who God is shaping us to be in order to fulfill His purpose for us. Growing up with stereotypical missionary influences were part of what shaped me and molded me into what I am today. It’s also part of what influenced Britt and I to think out-of-the-box in a radical sort of way. God knew we weren’t ones to be intrigued into the life of a stereotypical missionary when he invited us to move to Guatemala. He knew to get us here, He’d have to make it look different. He knew it would have to be fast and precise, quick with little time to think it through. He knew if He asked us to come as we are, we would listen. He knew that if it had looked like my parent’s experience or my sister’s experience, we would never have seen it or even heard Him whispering in my ear  as I jogged around our field that cold afternoon that we were needed in Guatemala. Or when Britt was as sure as ever that it was time. Time to sell his business, sell our things and do the impossible. All those things that were one day the most important things no longer seemed to matter. We had a new commission and all that mattered now was fulfilling it.

As we’ve obeyed and followed God’s lead each step of this journey, we’ve discovered much about ourselves and know God in a way we never could have imagined. He’s changed our direction in the course of obedience. He used our time in Buena Vista, Guatemala to teach us about the culture and prepare us for a new page in our journey. We’ve moved our family to Jocotenango (near Antigua) with the plans to continue God’s commission in another village nearby. God has a grand vision for us. We can only see part of it. We are pretty sure that the many years Britt had as a business owner are going to be very influential in this next step of our journey. We are both excited and apprehensive. Britt is more excited. I’m more apprehensive. Well, you know. I’m the mom. Reality check here.

I keep reminding myself. It doesn’t really matter right now. All the details. Right? Because, really, the plan is already there. God knows it. We follow His lead just like we have been. And what’s there to worry about? He’s got it. Right?

View of Volcan Agua from the 3rd floor terrace