You should read this

I am linking this post to my blog because truer words were never spoken in the missionary world. Even though tribal missions can be considered "sexy" because we have some pretty cool pics with people who have leaves on their butts and bones through their noses, our day in and day out can get pretty boring.

Do you really want to know all the details of learning a language on morpheme level? No. Do you want me to write about the countless hours that my coworker spends at a desk translating the Bible. No. And I don't really want to write about that either, so I understand. But it is the truth. It is the day to day.

Sure it sounds exciting and heroic to read about rescuing "witches" (aka innocent women and children accused of "eating someone's spirit" because they decided to hang themselves or died because they got bit by a flea that a rat brought into their home), but that halts most of the work we came here to do, and it TOTALLY stresses us out!

And I write about it because it is true and real, but I also know that so many times people wonder why this work we do takes so long and what are we doing when we aren't saving witches and doing "evangelism". The answers for that are not very interesting. Discipleship just takes a really long time when the people you are discipling have 1. Never heard of God AND 2. Don't have a Bible to read and study and grow from. And things you never dreamed you would have to guide and teach through pop up out of nowhere like, "Let's just kill ourselves and go to heaven now." But we have to stop and regroup and try to correct teaching with what little scripture the people have, because we are not running some sort of suicide cult here!

But this post also makes me think of all the support missionaries here in PNG. The pilots, the guys who buy my groceries, the doctors, nurses, teachers, accountants, dorm parents, and the family that runs the guest house who have been Jesus to me and my kids over the last very difficult year who may not have the most interesting newsletters, but whose feet I would kiss and wash (or maybe wash and then kiss) because of the blessing they are to me, all the other missionaries in the tribes, and the tribal people themselves.


Anyway read this post from Jamie the Very Worst Missionary. She says it way better than I ever could.

http://www.theveryworstmissionary.com/2013/05/the-sexiest-missionary-wins.html