Many people back home have no idea what life is like on the foreign mission field. Home folks adjust to the missionary family’s absence and go about life as usual.
The missionary family’s everyday life, on the other hand, may be very unusual. Five years later they may still be adjusting.
Language is often an obstacle. The missionary may only be learning or, at best, not be fluent. Home folks don’t realize how comfortable it is to express themselves without giving attention to the words. They have not experienced the fatigue and frustration involved in studying how to say every sentence.
Though a missionary may have thought he was prepared for cultural differences, he may often find himself frustrated as he copes with new customs and new ways of thinking. The missionary is used to starting meetings on time. The nationals may arrive on their own schedule.
The missionary does not want to offend the nationals, but their ways are not second nature to him. He must keep reminding himself… In this country, I must not use my left hand when I eat or when I give or receive a gift– they consider it unclean. Dining with neighbors, I must leave some food on my plate so the hostess will know I am satisfied. It is inappropriate for a woman to shake hands with a man. I must not touch a child (or anyone else) on the head- that is considered sacred. Moving the head from side to side means “yes”; up and down means “no”. Pointing at some thing with my index finger is considered rude… and more.
Adjusting to a new culture, a new climate (which may include new diseases), and new foods, and lacking home comforts such as running water, electricity, comfortable beds, a one- family car, and easy access to the supermarket, may not be the hardest tests a missionary faces.
In many locations more workers are needed. When a family serves alone, Dad may be the spiritual leader at home, the Sunday school teacher, and the minister in charge of all Sunday services.
When two or more families serve together, there is more fellowship, but also more potential friction. Mission families must plan together for their individual work as well as group activities. A family is not free to decide their own course of action based on their perception of needs. The mission group must be united in their ways of carrying out mission policies. Satan loves to see a work hindered through jealousy, personality conflicts, and disagreements.
Many missionaries can identify with Paul’s concerns: “beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily,the care of all churches.” So many needs crowd into their schedules that the missionaries may find it difficult to maintain their own close relationships with the Lord.
Foreign missionaries often struggle for answers to questions their home church never faced.
How can a needy mission congregation provide for a widowed church member with six small children? How can they encourage Christian teens or mothers standing alone in the midst of immorality, dishonesty, distrust, broken homes, and threats from anti-Christian family members? How can missionaries strengthen each other in the face of physical dangers, robberies, kidnapping, and threats against them? How can missionary parents meet the educational, social, and fellowship needs of their older children in a foreign country?
Missionaries may struggle with discouragement when a sizable number forfeit church membership in order to vote in national elections. “Where did we fail?” they ask themselves. The devil knows discouragement can hinder progress.
What is the answer to all these pressures and perplexities? The missionary should trust God. Home folks may glibly say that, and that missionaries firmly believe it. With sincere hearts they are trying to cast their cares on the One who has many times been their fortress and their deliverer. But demonic spirits are often a very real spiritual opposition. And missionaries are human. Pressures, sleepless nights, and the constant battle against evil take their toll physically, emotionally, and spiritually–they may lead to burnout. In addition to these things, the missionaries may feel out of touch and forgotten by the congregation who blessed them and sent them on their way!
What can home folks do thousands of miles away?
Jesus, who said “All power is given unto me,” also said, “Lo, I am with you always.” The same all-powerful Lord is with the missionaries and with us–a direct link. Holding their needs up to the source of power is supporting them, much as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms until the victory came. Does our failure to pray enough sometimes limit the missionaries’ ability and successes?
One mission board chairman says, “Praying regularly with compassion about needs of specific persons and places is better than simply praying for “missions and missionaries all over the world.”
Praying is a most important service, but contacting the missionaries themselves is also needed. In Paraguay Ponderings, Miriam Schrock reminds us that letters from home supporters bring encouragement. A people, starved for news, soul-hungry for fellowship, lonely in the hidden corners of their heart. No visitors to bring news, no fresh ‘Budgets’ to read, no telephones to contact far-away friends and family. No mailboxes. No fax machines. No visiting ministers for months on end.
And then, letters come!
“Letters! Letters!” The cry resounds through the house, flows through thin walls, and is joyfully echoed by each one who hears. “Letters!”
Quietness falls, interrupted only by rustling papers, a chuckle, or by a tidbit of news to share, interrupted also by little voices asking wistfully, “Did I get anything?”
And the happy squeals of delight as we joyfully hand them a bit of paper with their very own name on it. The little ones were not forgotten. We were not forgotten. Far from it! The dear folks at home wrote that they are praying for us daily. Our hungry hearts are still. Almost reverently we return to our forsaken tasks and find that they, too, are lighter, for we have gotten letters.
Jesus was moved with compassion for the fainting and scattered multitudes. Will we be moved with compassion for our workers before they faint and are scattered?
“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10: 2b).
©2004 Christian Light Publications, Inc.; 1-800-776-0478; www.clp.org. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Tags: foreign cultures, mennonites, missionaries, spreading the gospel