Is "missionary" a noun or a verb? A friend on furlough in the U.S. told me this true story, which cracked me up. It’s a conversation between two MKs:
The second day we were here, an 8-year-old girl from that family (staying in a mission house right down the street) knocked on our door to introduce herself and see if my kids wanted to play. Her opening line was:
"Hey! My name is ________. We missionary in Armenia. Where do you missionary?"
It’s hilarious in its innocence, and we could have some serious fun using missionary as a verb, couldn’t we?
But it does make you pause and think. Is the term “missionary” who we are (noun) or what we do (verb)?
That’s one question for you.
Another question this raises is whether our children have any idea what a missionary is or does.
Once we were on furlough, and when I went to check on the children in new Sunday School classes with complete strangers, I found my five-year-old in front of the class answering the teacher’s questions about “being a missionary in Guatemala.” Those are the moments when I forget to breathe. (Being the first-born, I’m sure he rose to the occasion and did just fine. I have no memory of his answer.)
Another trip, a nursery worker was trying to figure out where my daughter (a first-time visitor in my home church in Dallas) was from. She had no idea how to answer that. Then they said, “Where do you live?” No answer. “Honey, where do you sleep?” Ah, that one she knew! “In the van,” she responded, thus painting the image of a homeless family under a bridge somewhere.
“What does your father do?” the persistent teacher asked.
“He fixes the van,” she replied.
Obviously it was one of “those” trips when we must have broken down a time or two between Oaxaca and Dallas.
IRL*Where do you missionary?
Oooohhh...good one. :) My kid thought that people just sent $$ for us to have a good time traveling around and offering all kinds of cool places to live, animals to catch, and people to hang out with. Not. Kidding.
ReplyDeleteI debated including your "testimony" in here, so I'm glad you shared it instead. I'm laughing even though you are serious. I love your children!
DeleteAwesome post/blog! We tell our kids, "home is where ever we are sleeping that night, but more importantly is our eternal home..." It will be interesting to hear/see their perspective more as they grow up (oldest is 7 of 4). When people ask us (parents), "where are you from?" We give them a blank stare too. LOL Then we say Home base is _____ and we're missionaries in GUA. LOL Makes life interesting and a time to witness and share HIs Word/Plan!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Jackie
"Home is where..." would make an interesting side discussion. I'm currently reading Heaven, by Randy Alcorn, which is making me more homesick than ever!
DeleteMy kids, when asked what their daddy does, answer, "He writes emails". ;) He is a professional emailer, I guess.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my kids have told people straight out that we were "homeless" or "we don't have a home"---meaning in their kid-minds we didn't have a home here in the States. But, what it communicated to those hearing that, one can only guess?!! :) lol I love the picture of the van under the bridge. Totally!
ReplyDeleteMoms of the homeless, unite! At least they think he writes emails. Mine probably think we are just playing on the computer.
DeleteMy oldest loves answering the question, "Where are you from?" When he answers "Mexico" people often say, "No, but where are you FROM, like where were you born?" He gets this grin and says, "Honduras." The look on Mexicans' faces is just priceless!
ReplyDeleteBeth
That's great! My last three were actually born in Mexico which further complicates things. I still laugh over my teens getting picked up by the police when they were lost in the U.S. and telling them they were from Oaxaca. When asked where my son was born, he answered truthfully "Guatemala" - and wasn't believed. Sigh. These poor kids.
DeleteSometimes we live in places where we can not tell our children what we do, especially if those children are very young and don't know not to talk. We served two years overseas in one location with only telling our kids "daddy works on computers" and "don't talk about Jesus to people without asking us first".
ReplyDeleteOur kids were in and out of our house, in the office, in and out of hidden areas and public ones, but they still had no clue. When we moved to a safer location, we told them what we do, and they were totally surprised - had absolutely no idea we did that!
Sometimes we can't tell our kids, and that is just the way life is.
We did the same thing, telling our kids they should not use the M word down here since we do not have M visas. When the police asked my lost boys what their parents did, they evaded the question, probably raising suspicions we were doing something rather illegal.
DeleteMy kids had also no idea we were "M's" or "workers" for about the first 6 years we were in the Middle East. They thought that Dad didn't have a job.
ReplyDeleteWhen the kids at my son's pre-school were supposed to draw pictures about their fathers' jobs, my son drew a picture of my husband cleaning the balcony at home.
It's not much easier now that they understand the security issue.
The whole security issue just further confuses these poor children. Oh, my.
DeleteThis is so hilarious and classic! Where my oldest 2 kids get confused is where their baby sister is from. Since she was born in Russia they keep insisting that she is Russian where as they are American since they were born in the US. It is cute and funny and slightly sad at the same time how confused MKs are!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog, Jamie Jo! Thanks for creating such a great and fun place for discussion!
Love the comments. I am an MK, now an M in the same country I grew up in, and married to a man from a neighboring country (as a result I have citizenship in his country) Sometimes I do the blank stare, and others I have fun telling people that I am a national of _ (my husbands' country) (I have the wrong skin color for it to work in peoples brains.) Yet I imagine what my children will go through when they come along. May God give them a huge sense of humor!
ReplyDeleteWell hello there! It was so great to visit your personal blog and especially to read this blog entry. And there is also one thing that I wanted to ask you. Do you practice guest blogging?
ReplyDelete