The struggle of short-term missions.
Here’s an excerpt from my blog Not at ALL what I Expected…:
“I thought I was going on a year long missions trip. I thought for the first time in my life I was transitioning from short term to long term missions.
Lol nope. That didn’t happen.
Now don’t go get your panties in a wad freaking out about where your generously donated money went (and please hear the humor in my text!). I am on a missions trip, but it’s not a year long/long- term trip. It’s actually 11, mini, short- term, month- long trips. They all just happen to be back to back.
I did not at all think about how this was going to affect me in the long run. 6 months have come and gone, along with 6 different ministries, 6 months of relationships, 6 months of integrating into new cultures, just to have them all seemingly ripped away as soon as I settled down into one. 6 months of a constant broken heart as I create new relationships with people in each country just to have them end after just a few short weeks. A continuous journey of opening up my heart to new people and new ministries just to be left with a small gap in my heart as each month comes to an end.
This makes the race so much harder than I expected. I thought the constant jumping from country to country would keep things interesting and fun- and although that part is true- I think now I’d much rather have 11 months in one place in order to really build and grow relationships in a more meaningful lasting way.
(Just a fun shameless plug to the big guy upstairs, through the constant moving, leaving, changing, etc. I have really experienced in such a fresh way the realness of the truth that God is constant. Our only real constant in this world. I’ve seen how he stays constant and consistent no matter what continent I’m on, what city I’m in today, what time zone it is, versus where we were yesterday. He is the same and wow that’s a comfort to hold onto as everything else changes so frequently).”
This month I have especially noticed the struggle with being in short term missions. Here in Serbia I have seen a lot of discrimination and racism among white people and those with darker skin known as “Roma people.” The Roma people can’t get jobs, and they just walk up and down the streets begging. My heart has been touched and broken all at the same time through meeting these families.
First of all look at this precious girl, as soon as you hear her laugh you will fall in love with her too. This little girl followed us all the way from the grocery store almost home, and every time we are at the grocery store she runs into our arms! The joy we see on her face when she sees us just touches my heart like none other.
The part that breaks my heart is the lifestyle she’s born into.The parents can’t get jobs, so they make their kids go on the street to make money by begging. Parents will have up to 8 kids, so they can have more out begging at a time in order to make more money. Children as young as 3 years old, as soon as they can speak, are out on the streets begging, and I recently learned that each kid is given a specific amount of money they are supposed to raise each day, and if the kids don’t come home with it they’ll get punished/ beaten. It absolutely breaks my heart to see their situation.
I don’t speak her language, and it frustrates me to no end knowing that I can’t help her (or others like her) in the long run with the limited amount of time and resources I have here. Seeing these situations lights a fire in me that I can’t contain giving me the yearning to help and make a difference for these children. The problem is, I can’t do much in the short term to make a long term difference. If I give them tons of money every time I see them, I’m just feeding the cycle and treating it as if it’s okay. If I stand by idly I look like I don’t care. I know if I was here for the long term, I could learn the language and brainstorm ways to try to help the people, maybe even get the government involved and really do something to help these people get out of this lifestyle.
However, I know there’s a reason God only has me here for the short term- and who knows maybe I’ll get to come back one day- but I know what I do have is a hug, a smile, a high five. I may not be able to speak to her and tell her the love of Jesus and all he can do for her, but I can show her by treating her with love and showing her the worth she has. I can make her laugh and smile and allow her to be a kid again.
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Yesterday, when we went to the grocery store, she along with one of her siblings ran up to us to hug us. As my friends went inside to purchase our food for dinner I got to play outside with the girls. I don’t know Serbian, and they don’t know English, but love transcends languages (because God transcends languages). We skipped, and swung in circles. We played ring around the rosey and patty cake. We were kids. And at 3,4,5 years old, they did not have to act like adults fending for themselves alone in the city or striving to make money to survive, they simply got to be kids.
Meet Sophie and Bella; I’m not certain of their real names since I can’t speak their language, but aren’t they precious!
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My heart breaks that I can’t do more to help these kids, but I won’t limit God to what I can’t do. I’ll leave space for what he will do. I can cover them in prayer, and shower them with love. When I’ve seen store workers show them out of a store, and other civilians walk past them like they’re invisible, I can show them that they’re seen. I can make them feel included. I can shower them in hugs and love them unconditionally. Their race, their color, their economic class does not define their worth. And even if I don’t have the words in the language to speak that over them, I can say it through my actions.
