AKA What does it really look like to be a M1SS10NARY?
Back in Greeley, a group of us would go to a monthly college gathering called MudHouse that was put on by Christ Community Church. I honestly don’t know where the name MudHouse came from, but as a joke, Aaron started calling it MudHut instead of MudHouse. The name stuck, and we would always text each other and decide which of us wanted to be the one to drive to that month’s MudHut.
The first week or so of M1N1STRY here in Vietnam, I couldn’t get over the undying feelings of guilt associated with having showers, a washing machine, beds, a TV, the ability to make our own food, living in a secured apartment complex, and being able to lounge around on the couches in our living room.
We don’t deserve this. It’s only Month 3, and not only is this going to ruin us for all the months to come where we have to tent and live in the bush, but we haven’t done enough good to get this kind of reward. This is like, some Month 8 stuff right here… when we’re tired, smelly, broken, and homesick. Not Month 3 when we’re still relatively fresh, rested, and excited. And plus, M1SS10NARIES don’t live like this. M1SS10NARIES live in mud huts.
Thoughts similar to those plagued my mind throughout our first 8ish days here. I felt bad. I felt unworthy. And I felt like I wasn’t being a “real M1SS10NARY”. I’m so thankful for the experiences we had in India (check out Wrinkly Clothes + Dirty Toes) where G0D showed me that M1N1STRY doesn’t have to be verbal; the large majority of the time, sharing J3SUS with others happens through our actions and the ways that we live our daily lives. But at least we were “living like M1SS10NARIES” in India; bucket showers, mosquito bites, and vicious monkeys were the norm. Here in Vietnam, not only are we (almost entirely) loving others and sharing J3SUS through actions alone, but we’re living like rock stars. With all this pushed into a corner in the back of my mind, I asked our host to get lunch because I wanted to spend some more time with her and hear more of her story. She’s a mom of 2 from a military family, born in America and raised in different parts of the US and Europe. If she was my neighbor in the States, I’d want to be her friend, and not just because she can cook some bomb chicken bacon ranch pasta. She’s a genuinely wonderful mother, wife, and friend, and her love for the L0RD is evident, but in no way condemning or overwhelming. And without knowing what was on my heart, she spoke into all the questions I had about M1SS10NARIES and mud huts.
She explained to me that, at least in Vietnam and other developing countries in Asia, the people are coming to the cities in huge waves. And the people who are coming to the cities are the people who are looking for well-paying jobs, and the people who are looking for ways to feed the capitalism and materialism that runs so many of our lives. And the people who are coming to the cities are the students who are enrolling in universities and are incredibly lost and searching for things to fill their hearts. And the people who are coming to the cities are the people that J3SUS calls us to love. The people in the countryside are also the people that J3SUS calls us to love. But J3SUS doesn’t just call us to love the people in the countryside. H3 also calls us to love the people in the cities, and that’s where H3 led this woman and her husband and family. And J3SUS has allowed their family to be supported by those back home, and H3’S allowed them to have a beautiful apartment and buy two-ply toilet paper and have two showers with running hot water and H3’S allowed their family to be able to bless M1SS10NARIES who come through and to bless the men and woman that they meet and disciple through their coffee shop. And one of the sweetest things? This woman doesn’t feel guilty about any of it. She knows it’s a blessing from her FATH3R and she has traded in guilt for thanksgiving and hospitality and generosity. She has received much, and she has been faithful in much. And J3SUS spoke to me through her and showed me that this is what it means to (not be a M1SS10NARY, but to) live M1SS10NALLY.
G0D has called H1S children to live M1SS10NALLY. And for some people, that truly does look like living in a mud hut in another country and adopting children and giving up literally everything. And I’m so thankful that there are people who are excited to do that, because I’m not one of those people (just like I’m so thankful that there are people are excited to be middle school teachers, because I’m definitely not one of those people).
And for other people, living M1SS10NALLY looks like owning and operating a coffee shop in Vietnam that offers good coffee and an even better life in J3SUS, and also living in an apartment in the city with multiple bathrooms.
And for other people, living M1SS10NALLY looks like working at a job and being respectful towards the people (*cough* incredibly frustrating people *cough*) that you work with and work under, and also enjoying vacations during the summer.
And for other people, living M1SS10NALLY looks like teaching high schoolers with an attitude of love that only comes from having a cup filled up by the L0RD and not by the fleeting things of the world, and also paying for subscriptions to Netflix and Spotify.
And for other people, living M1SS10NALLY looks like getting up each day, drinking a cup of coffee, waving at your neighbors, and selflessly loving your four sweet kidoes even when they fight with each other and run around the house and make you question why on earth the L0RD wanted you to move to this town and do this crazy “mom” thing, and also buying and wearing clothes that you love.
And I’m so beyond thankful that I know these people; I know people who are loving their coworkers and their children and their clients while living in nice houses with air conditioning and a car or two and are eating out once or twice a week, but more (read: most) importantly, are loving J3SUS.
I can say in complete honestly that, at this point in my life, I can’t commit to living in a mud hut. I don’t believe that a mud hut is what G0D has for me. But I can live M1SS10NALLY. And I’d love to continue to share stories with you of people around the world who are living M1SS10NALLY, and I’d love to hear your stories of ways that G0D is calling you to live M1SS10NALLY. Mud hut or not, let’s pursue this life of living M1SS10NALLY together!
