{"id":873,"date":"2013-09-26T15:06:51","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T19:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-ketcham\/?p=873"},"modified":"2013-09-26T15:06:55","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T19:06:55","slug":"poor-vs-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/2013\/09\/26\/poor-vs-rich\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor vs. Rich"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago I was reading a blog (I can’t even remember what it was to be honest.) & I must have been really interested in it, because I actually took the time to read some of the comments as well.\u00a0 Although the subject was NOT about this, the comment section became about this….poor missionaries vs. rich missionaries.<\/p>\n

Being a missionary myself, I found it very interesting to see how others view this life we live.\u00a0 And it made me want to share with you (those who know us) a little bit more.<\/p>\n

We (my family) are not in the ‘rich missionary’ category.\u00a0 We do not get all the recommended support our mission suggests.\u00a0 We save up for YEARS to be able to go back to the States.\u00a0 However, I can see how someone without knowing our story might see us differently.<\/p>\n

Last summer we went to FL.\u00a0 We stayed in a nice hotel and\u00a0we went to SeaWorld.<\/p>\n

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Swim area at our hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you saw me on Facebook or Instagram, you would have seen what we were up to.<\/p>\n

We also went to Boston for a day (while visiting family nearby).<\/p>\n

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We walked ALL OVER Boston that day!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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We also saw movies, ate at restrunts, bought new clothes (for bringing back here) & last but not least, we even went to Branson, MO for a week.<\/p>\n

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We had so much FUN!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BUT HERE’S THE DEAL….We could NOT<\/em> have done those things if they were not gifts.\u00a0 That’s right.\u00a0 Those fun things were PAID for by others.\u00a0 The restruants= gift cards.\u00a0 Branson condo= gift from a family member.\u00a0 SeaWorld= gift.\u00a0 Hotel= gift.\u00a0 Things we did in Branson= discounts, gifts & only a little of ‘our money.’\u00a0 We DID NOT ask for these gifts either.\u00a0 Some were given by people who support us each month.\u00a0 Some were given by people we were surprised by.<\/p>\n

There are some people who sometimes say (yes, we have heard this), “Why don’t you ask them to give you the money instead?\u00a0 That way it’s not ‘wasted’ on something unimportant.”\u00a0 To this I say, “My family IS important.\u00a0 Making memories and having a time where we can have fun & relax is NOT a waste.”<\/p>\n

I also don’t feel like it’s my place to tell people how they want\/choose to serve the Lord.\u00a0 If they feel this is a way to serve the Lord…by allowing our family to rest & be refreshed (which we needed)…who am I to say they are wrong?\u00a0 Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we (missionaries) should be all about ‘living it up.’\u00a0 We would not have taken any more ‘vacation’ days last summer.\u00a0 What we did was enough.\u00a0 But if you didn’t know us.\u00a0 If you didn’t know that we eat simply, only buy discounted clothing (usually a size larger than normal…so the kids can grow into them), that we saved for FOUR YEARS for one summer of living (& shopping) in the States, you might have thought that we were ‘rich missionaries.’\u00a0 But you would have only been partially<\/em> right.\u00a0 On one hand…the financial side, you would be wrong.\u00a0 So wrong. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 However, on the other hand, you would be right.\u00a0 We are rich.\u00a0 We are rich because of the people in our lives.\u00a0 The people who not only love the Lord, but love us as well.\u00a0 And even more than that, we are rich because the Lord Himself loves us too!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

So there you have it, things are not always what they seem.\u00a0 We looked like we were ‘living it up’ only because God & His people were lavishing us with love.\u00a0 We are so thankful & humbled by our experience.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u00a0pray that\u00a0each of us remembers to show the love of Christ to others in both big & small ways each and every day.<\/p>\n

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A couple of weeks ago I was reading a blog (I can’t even remember what it was to be honest.) & I must have been really interested in it, because I actually took the time to read some of the comments as well.\u00a0 Although the subject was NOT about this, the comment section became about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":464,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/angela-ketcham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}