I haven’t done the best job of keeping you all up to date lately and I’m sorry for that. I will spare you the excuses though and just give you a little catch up blog 🙂
For March and April my team and I were in Laos and Indonesia. Both countries were amazing and beautiful in their own way but what really stuck with me and left a huge impact were the people we had the opportunity to work along side.
I can’t mention any of them by name. Both Laos and Indonesia are closed to Christian missionaries. So, as you can imagine, missions looked very different in these areas than what I have done in the past. In areas like these, missions is much more relational and individual. It is simple, casual, quiet. The people that we worked with were real, authentic, and transparent about their failings and insecurities. There was no showy-ness or performance-based living. There is no room for that in these situations. These people seldom have the opportunity to speak to crowds. Instead, they focus on intentional, genuine conversations with everyone they come into contact with.
In Laos, our hosts introduced themselves by saying they were the LAST people you would expect to be missionaries. They let us into their lives and their beautiful family in every way. We shared joys, fun, birthdays, sad stories, future dreams, tears, hard work, and so much more. We heard them laugh and fight just like our own families and it was beautiful and refreshing. They both encouraged and challenged us. They explained the whys and hows of their actions and decisions in ministry. Being welcomed so fully and lovingly is something that made a huge impact on me and will stay with me for a very long time.
When I first got to Laos, I, and another of my teammates, had lice in a real way. (Just a job hazard of the World Race lol) We mentioned to our host that this was something we needed help with (thinking he would simply tell us where to buy stuff) and he casually told us that his wife was experienced with lice and would help us. The very next day she sat me down, combed through every bit of my hair with a lice comb (not an easy task even with a normal comb!), poured cooking oil on my head, combed through again, and picked out all the lice by hand. This whole ordeal took her over an hour. All the while she listened to my stories, encouraged me, and basically just let me talk. Two days later she did it all a second time just to be sure. It was such a real, tangible way to show me love and care. There was absolutely no reason for her to feel obligated to help me in this way but she did it happily.
In Indonesia, we had the opportunity to actually LIVE with our hosts in their own home. This was something new for my whole team. Usually we see our hosts for 8-10 hours a day, or during ministry times, and then say good night and have time on our own as a team. But in this case, we were all on top of each other 24/7. You might think that this would be stressful, I thought it would be. But it ended up being AMAZING. My teammates and I were once again welcomed into the lives of wonderful, flawed, Christ-following people. The couple we were hosted by were truly great people. They poured into us from their own wisdom and experience every day. They took personal interest in each one of us and worked hard to give us the best experience possible while we were there.
One day while in Indonesia, I had to go to the doctor because I was very sick. (My throat was so swollen I almost choked and died on a normal sized bight of watermelon. It was scary, overly dramatic, and hilarious all at once lol) My host was so attentive and understanding. She told me logically that I shouldn’t feel bad because my body doesn’t know that I’m on the trip of a lifetime, it just knows that it’s been subjected to strange food and abnormal sleep patterns. This was exactly what I needed to hear. At the clinic she translated everything for me, told me when they were trying to over charge me for things I didn’t need, called her own doctor friend to double check things, and then drove me all over town to find the cheapest pharmacy. She even took me to a fun restaurant afterward, just like my mom used to do. Once again, I was overwhelmed by the love and care shown to me by someone I had known for less than a week.
These are the kinds of people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with over the last couple months. I have been SO BLESSED by all of them and the other connections they have introduced us to! I have seen what it is to be real, honest, and used by God to do great things. I have experienced the every day of ministry with people who have made it their life. I have seen the ups and downs, heard the pain and exhaustion that it brings, and been a part of the strain it can put on relationships. But I have also been made to feel a part of the joys, seen the celebration of breakthroughs, and experienced God’s faithfulness even in the darkest of moments. In all, the last two months have been about experiencing the reality of what it truly means to live devoted to full time missions. It’s not what I always expected but it’s beautiful in its own way.
