Bridges and Boundaries

Bridges and Boundaries

Missionaries move a lot. Our three-year-old Giant tagged along as we traveled from place to place. To place. From his home in smalltown Poland to a missionary-house in smalltown South Carolina where his tiny sister (Bean) joined us. Then we were off to Lithuania, merely dropping nine out of ten suitcases off at our new […]

Division Among the Ranks

Division Among the Ranks

People. Working with them can be tiresome. And you know what I’m talking about. Right now, you’re picturing someone who has made your life difficult—maybe because she can’t find anything pleasant to say. Maybe because his sarcasm grates on your nerves. Perhaps because she seems to willfully misunderstand everything you say, seeing awful intentions where […]

Recognizing God in the Language Barriers

Recognizing God in the Language Barriers

I am a grammar nerd. I have played this game for hours: Someone suggests I write a sentence meeting certain requirements (say, one including an adverbial clause, two prepositional phrases, a compound subject, an appositive, a reflexive pronoun, and a transitive verb in the perfect tense), and I do it. I love that. There are […]

Resentment (AKA I Didn’t Sign Up for This.)

Resentment (AKA I Didn’t Sign Up for This.)

Once upon a time, I had only three goals. (1) Become a teacher. (2) Become a wife and mother. (3) Become a missionary. I never bothered to prioritize. Any order in which the Lord allowed me to succeed was acceptable. Not succeeding? Not an option. And it never occurred to me that those two little […]

The Ultimate Bait and Switch

The Ultimate Bait and Switch

Depsite what many people think, missionaries are not the Navy SEALs of the Church. We’re really no better than anyone else. But when we arrive to speak to congregations about how the Lord blesses us, we often talk up our successes, tally our converts, and wax eloquent about innovative programs and church-starts. By those standards, […]