“Being a missionary is not a sacrifice. Christ made a sacrifice. we have a privilege,” said Lisa Kappeler, a single woman serving on the field of Papua New Guinea. Lisa was our speaker for spring orientation. What a great perspective!
Being in training to join the Lord in his passion to reach the unreached truly is a privilege for us. Lisa shared about counting the costs of committing to live in a tribe. She said that life gets hard. When it’s hot and humid, and you’re lonely, isolated, homesick, and have answered the 50th knock on your door that morning from tribal people asking you for something, your patience can start to run thin.
Yet she shared how love for the people and job are not what will keep you on the field. Only the grace of God will sustain you. He is sufficient. A prospective missionary once asked some veteran missionaries in a tribe, “What’s the one piece of advice you could give me before we move into the tribe?” The missionaries responded, “Count the costs before you come, because once you arrive, the worst thing you can do is leave your people.” Sobering words to think and pray on.
Obviously, God does direct people to leave sometimes for various reasons, but those words have reminded us that the job isn’t going to be easy. No matter how awesome our training is, we will be in situations where we’re completely out of our depth. May we learn to rely on God in every situation…even the easy ones.
Check out the video “Footsteps” at www.ntm.org to see Lisa talk about life in the tribe!
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