Admit it. It’s a question you’ve been wanting to ask us.
“You’re missionaries. Sooooooo you don’t work, right? What in the world do you do all day???”
Yes, we’re full-time missionaries. “Career missionaries,” to be exact (although it’s probably not what you think of when you think of a career).
No, we don’t work in the traditional sense if you think of work as going to an office for 8 hours a day, coming home, and getting a monthly, predictable paycheck. But we DO “give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord,” because we know that our “labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).
“Great,” you might think to yourself, “doesn’t that sound noble and spiritual. But what do you actually DO all day?!?”
Fair question. I’ll try to answer.
Here are snippets of a typical day: Get up early. Drink coffee. Talk to God. Read his Word. Pray together. Have a “team meeting” about what’s on the schedule for the day. Make breakfast. Get kids who have been yelling “Maaaama, we’re awaaaaake” for the last 15 minutes. John goes to the cabin next door to use it as an office. On his schedule: phone calls, emails, set up meetings. On our schedule at home: read, sing, color, play, read some more, learn, explore, do housework, create messes; some days: library, play dates, doctor appointments, ladies’ fellowship group. Lunch. Nap time for boys. More coffee for us. Another team meeting. Coordinate our schedules, make plans for the rest of the day/week/month. More emails, phone calls, thank you cards, practice presentations, lists (lots of them), write blogs and newsletters, preparations for moving overseas. Boys wake up. Read, play, train, raise up. Evenings = either hosting or visiting people. Hang out. Laugh, talk, share life. Get back home way past the boys’ bedtime. Put overtired kids to sleep. Tidy up house. Regroup. Last email and Facebook check and some more work. Read a bit. Fall asleep.
Definitely a different kind of life. One that can be incredibly rewarding and incredibly frustrating. It’s been a joy and a test to find the balance between working and resting, between being a married couple and being co-workers, between being with people and finding solitude, between being a mother and being a missionary.
Thanks for supporting us in this journey. And keep on asking the tough questions :).
