"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15
I realize every country is a unique field. At the same time, I feel that though the reports we received at our church from missionaries when I was growing up, though truthful, only give part of the story. (And this is necessary.) Because, when a missionary gives a report, they tell the church the "fruit" of the work, a "business report" so to speak. This is good, because the church has invested funding and prayers into the missionary and wants to see that the missionary is stewarding their resources in a wise and godly manner. Additionally, missionaries want to share the enthusiasm and burden God has given them for their individual field, in hopes of awakening more Christians to God's heart for everyone to reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are all good things. However, as a young person, I allowed these reports, and short term (one year or less) mission trips to form my view of what being a missionary looked like. That was not a good thing, because the picture is missing several significant puzzle pieces. A missionary wife almost never speaks, so one has to reach out to her to find out what her life is like.
God has given me a most wonderful husband to with whom to share life and serve along side. He is a full-time missionary, which means his "job" IS reaching people with the gospel. There's a lot that goes into that, especially at first, when we are learning the language so we can actually talk to the people heart-to-heart without a translator. My husband spends hours of the day studying language, getting out to talk with people to both practice language and talk of spiritual things as he can. He writes sermons and researches illustrations. He also supervises the renovation workers who are fixing up our house. He is a busy man. My job is to make his job as easy as possible by removing distractions and providing the tools and atmosphere he needs. I'm his friend and his sounding-board, his confidante and his lover. In a very real way, he IS my life. As his wife, I strive to please him and to keep our relationship the top priority.
Missionaries are simply Christians living in a specific part of the world with the explicit purpose of reaching those people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Usually, the missionary is fully supported by several churches, much as pastors often are, so that they can devote their time singly to witnessing and other ministry-related activities. You can learn all of this in a college missions course. Unfortunately, what you don't learn, is how a missionary's wife life changes, what her unique challenges are, and how she is expected to act.
So, I wanted to share with you just what I, as a missionary's wife, do.
Life on the mission field is different; that is undeniable- but some things are the same. In fact, I often feel that my life is rather ordinary. I find it hard to balance home and ministry, and constantly make adjustments to make everything smoother. I strive to steward my days and time in the way that God desires, and not just let things happen. At the same time, there are definitely days that I feel I move from one "interruption" to another and have to realize that God orders my days.
First and foremost, I am a Believer. My loyalty is to the King of kings. I need daily time in His Word to grow and receive my "orders" for the day. I pray throughout the day, but I find that a dedicated time of prayer is helpful. Also, on a practical level, early morning time with Jesus sets the tone for my day, and I find myself humming hymns throughout the day even when the days are difficult. Over and over again, I am reminded that God determines my steps- my schedule is His!
God has given me a most wonderful husband to with whom to share life and serve along side. He is a full-time missionary, which means his "job" IS reaching people with the gospel. There's a lot that goes into that, especially at first, when we are learning the language so we can actually talk to the people heart-to-heart without a translator. My husband spends hours of the day studying language, getting out to talk with people to both practice language and talk of spiritual things as he can. He writes sermons and researches illustrations. He also supervises the renovation workers who are fixing up our house. He is a busy man. My job is to make his job as easy as possible by removing distractions and providing the tools and atmosphere he needs. I'm his friend and his sounding-board, his confidante and his lover. In a very real way, he IS my life. As his wife, I strive to please him and to keep our relationship the top priority.
We have three little boys with whom God has blessed us. They keep me on my toes. My job is to care for them physically, emotionally, and spiritually (along with my husband of course, but the day to day falls to me- just as in many homes in America). It is technically illegal to homeschool in this country, so the boys attend school; yet, as you know, Corona has forced everyone to "homeschool," and we have also! Planning lessons takes at least a couple hours each week, even with videos, and of course, time is needed every day to read together and do the activities. Schooling aside, I enjoy thinking up activities to do with the boys just to have fun and enjoy this age with them. And of course, as any parent can understand, some of my day is training, discipling, disciplining, and playing umpire with these little ones. Some days, this is ALL I do, like when we are potty training, sleep/bed training, or dealing with an attitude or obedience issue.
Our children like to eat at least three times in a day, and often as many times a five or six. They are growing! So, it falls upon me to make sure they have healthy, balanced meals or snacks. My husband helps with cooking a great deal, and often does the grocery shopping. Still, he often needs to study or is out doing something else of importance, and meals are left to me. I don't mind cooking, though I'm not a great one, and I really enjoy baking. Sometimes, we eat out, (though not much lately, as you can relate!) and we budget for this. Fortunately for me, bakery hot food take-out is cheap here, about the same cost as making the meal myself; so for many lunches, khachapuri it is!
We have a large yard, wonderfully, and a garden. It is common here to have a tall, brick wall around the house, so it is very safe and private. I love having a place the boys can safely be out of doors, not looking at a screen, for hours in a day. This too, takes maintenance. As we recently moved into this area of town and bought an old house, our yard has taken a significant amount of work to clean out. Honestly, I probably prefer working in the yard or garden to cleaning inside the house- something about working hard... This spring, we are beginning to see the fruit of our labors as the yard and garden have become a peaceful, inviting place to play or rest.
Basic upkeep of a house, sweeping, laundry and dishes, are normal and constant demands upon my time as well. We are renovating an old house. I think you can imagine how much added work that is. Someday, it will be the center of both home and ministry, but right now, it's a construction zone! I clean up, and straighten, and keep toddlers out of the way... and that construction dust somehow permeates even the food! We are still trying to decide where to store everything, and our "storage room" is not weather sealed, so there are still boxes and bags and piles in our bedroom.
Of course, we also need regular time to spend time together as a family, doing a puzzle, playing a game, or going on an "adventure." Occasionally, we need vacation time, just as someone doing a "regular" job takes off days for health, family, or entertainment reasons. These need preparation and planning as well.
Added to the usual home duties, are the "work of the ministry." Essentially, I am a stay-at-home mom, who works from home.
A language tutor comes to our house, or calls by Skype, twice a week, for a total of at least seven hours of lessons a week. We have been studying the language for three years. A taxi driver told me the other day that in another two years we'll be fluent. I hope so (my, that's a looong time)! My husband is fairly conversational, because he is out and gets lots of practice. I'm mostly at home, and when I'm out, I'm shy to use language, so I am WAY behind. I feel so swamped with words and phrases that I have studied so long and still can't get in my head. Ideally, I would like to get 1-2 hours of study in every day. Realistically, it's rarely that long, because I'm either distracted by littles, or I just can't concentrate that many minutes at a time. (I'm sure I would have been labeled "AdD" had I gone to a public school, lol.)
Sunday school for children is a relatively new idea in this country. One of the churches we help has a class for school aged children, but for the little ones, it's basically a free-for-all "nursery" for children six years of age and under. It's so wild, that really, there's no babies actually in the nursery. The other church we help has no Sunday school at all, or anything else for children/babies, unless I do it. There are limited curricula and literature in the local language, but not much. I write lessons every week or every other week as I can in the local language, translate Sunday school songs, and research crafts and activities to go with the lesson. This takes several hours each week, as I'm not yet fluent in the language.
Every week I have discipleship/Bible study in English with a young lady attending college here. This is one of the enjoyable things for me, as she is very eager, and it's all in English. We learn together now, as she has completed discipleship and we have moved on to studying God's Word book by book. Some day, I hope to be able to do Bible studies and discipleship with other ladies in Georgian as well.
As I'm able, I'm also working to write or translate new hymns into the local language. They have many familiar ones in Russian, but only a relatively few in the language here. Also, there is no sacred recordings that I'm aware of in their language. This is a need I hope to meet eventually, as I write hymns and children's songs original to their cultural purview and language. My desire is to build up their doctrine and encourage their walk with Christ through the music to which they listen. This is a huge work and requires many hours, albeit not always consistent demand.
Truthfully, many of these things I would be doing in America, if God had chosen to leave us there. Language aside, almost all of these duties and ministries which compose my days are "ordinary" activities which I would engage in regardless of location.
And so, my dear reader, I come to a close of this short analysis of my time, with an invitation for YOU to "do the work of the ministry." Get involved in your local church. Whether you can cook for different activities, clean toilets, or volunteer to help with children, teens, or other ministries, I implore you to do something! The old song "Be a missionary every day!" is applicable to every Christian's life. If you love Jesus, and you are dedicated to serve Him whatever, whenever, however, then you TOO should have full days doing ordinary things in the name of the King of Heaven.
"Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:14-17
"The Lord is... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9
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