Mission Work Really Isn't All Kicks And Giggles

“Wow, you're going to the Caribbean on a mission trip!? Lucky! Really suffering for the Lord. Haha!”

Missions work really isn't always exciting without the pain. Granted, some outreach locations make outreach “nicer” (I'm glad I haven't been called somewhere cold!), but there really is a pain that comes with missions regardless of where your location is. But it's hard to imagine until you've experienced it yourself.

I've missed so many birthdays (and births), weddings, holidays, family togetherness, and just sitting on the couch talking to a friend. Counting from October 2014 - June 2016 (which is the soonest I'd get home), I would have spent 8 months out of state for various mission training's, 6 months out of the country on outreach, and only 6 months home interspersed between the times of being gone. And if I do go home in June, it would only be for a month or so before leaving again for 9+ months.

Missions work really is I think the most rewarding job on the face of the planet, but it also can be the most painful. Holding someone else's baby and realizing your nieces and nephew aren't that little anymore. Singing at church on Sunday and missing your church family back home. Talking to a new friend and hoping your old friends don't forget about you. Wishing you could just go for a walk with your sister and talk about everything that has been happening. Missing seeing your nephew take his first step, your little niece learning how to ride a bike. Getting a call from home and hearing your niece ask when you're coming home. It's one of the most painful because you're essentially starting a new life away from everything you're used to. And you become an outsider when you do return to your “home” because life continued on without you in your absence.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade this job for all the tea in China! But I still have to fight every so often the ache of missing home. It's not all glamour here.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:26, 27

So, next time you start romanticizing life as a missionary, keep in mind that they've left their family, friends, culture, and comfort to follow what Jesus called them to. They receive the richest blessings on earth, but experience some of the worst heartache.  

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”

Matthew 19:29