Moment of truth: One of the most difficult things about missionary life is often…
other missionaries.
Of Loss and Landslides: Marti’s Story
Letter to a new missionary: “Dear newly-arrived me”
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Dear new missionary me,
Oh, you look so beautiful! I love that you’re still wearing makeup and your toenails are painted. I bet your legs are shaved too!
Ooh-la-la! Soak up those feminine vibes now, my dear. But don’t fret. As you lose your American shine, you’ll be gaining plenty in its place.
Enjoy where you are now, new missionary me. Be fully here.
“Trust and Obey, Mommy”: Gala’s Story
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Our family had been in Ethiopia for about two weeks one February when we decided to visit the village where we’d soon be living.
My husband John is a water engineer. Our task was to put in a water system for the Tokay area and surrounding villages. We had just begun language school in Addis, so our skills were limited–but we were excited to see the village where we’d live for the next three years, about four hours west.
When You Don’t Share Your Spouse’s Calling
What’s Your Sign? (Here’s Mine)
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared on Rebecca Hopkins’ blog, Borneo Wife, when she and her husband served in Indonesia. Her pieces have appeared in Christianity Today. She now blogs from her new American home at www.rebeccahopkins.org .
I was so tired I don’t even remember which of my kids was throwing the fit in the security line in some airport somewhere in America.
A Money-and-Missions Mindset: This Means War
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Editor’s note: We’re stoked to feature this post from another one of Go. Serve. Love’s round table partners, Support Raising Solutions. (Yes! That organization is a thing.) In our quest to present you overseas fully-funded, we’re hoping to open the discussion about a money mindset that gets you there.
Here’s what Support Raising Solutions has to say via Steve Shadrach, their founder and the author of The God Ask.
Excellence in Missions: 7 Standards [INFOGRAPHIC]
Reading Time: 2 minutes
We’re all about bringing you tools you can use to truly go there, serve Him, and love them well. So we’ve partnered with Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission to bring you today’s (totally printable) infographic: 7 Standards of Excellence in Missions.
Then why do standards like these matter?
You might feel frustrated, too, by patronizing “help” that actually hurts. Or by work that makes us feel better but makes them worse. Or by global work that continues cycles of poverty. Maybe you’re angered by missions trips cannibalizing local employment, or blind to cultural norms so people are turned off to the Gospel. [su_pullquote align=”right”]Christianity, done well, doesn’t destroy culture. Christianity makes culture come alive–and development, too.[/su_pullquote]
My Big Dream (that Starts Small)
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared on Rebecca Hopkins’ blog, Borneo Wife, when she and her husband served in Indonesia. She now blogs from her new American home at rebeccahopkins.org .
A window in my kitchen faces our backyard. Much of my days are spent cooking and watching, washing dishes and listening, making granola and checking. The kids are often dangling or running or whooping outside, playing on our mini-playground with the zipline.
Make Local Friends Overseas: 6 Ways
Reading Time: 4 minutes
We had been living in Cairo about a year and a half when friends visited from Uganda. We ate at the mall food court when they asked how it has been meeting and making friends with Egyptians. I told them it’s been hard: Where do you meet people you can make friends with?
I mean, you don’t just make friends in the food court.