missionary

As my husband and I send our daughter and son on our 8th Teen Mission team this summer (they are going to the same country, one as leader, one as team member) I wanted to share what I’ve learned from this experience over the years.

First, if God wants them to go he will provide. We have so many God moments watching him provide the funds needed to go that I could write a different blog post on them. It’s hard to trust him in the beginning with covering $5000 (or one year $10,000). My human self wants to worry and control how this plays out. But each year God said “hey, I got this…”, and boy did he. From small donations that came just when we needed them to large ones that came late in fundraising when we were struggling to find donors and I was doing a bit of panicking. But each year I was reminded of how God is Jehovah-jireh and wants to provide for his children. Certainly we needed to do our part, but we needed to TRUST that God had this.

Second, I learned that my children are strong and independent even when I didn’t see them as that yet (remember, they were young teens when they started). Like I said before, our first to go just loved to stay at home, but God knew inside was a strong young man that HE could grow in the field. They faced trials at boot camp with long days, hot weather, bugs, and teams that didn’t always fit well together and they came out stronger for the adversities. In the field, they had injuries, illness, and were homesick, but God carried them in those moments and blessed them for moving forward. They learned that they could not just survive without their parents/home but thrive and do so much good for the people they were serving.

I also saw hearts turn towards him when I worried they were lost. One child struggled to make right choices in his daily life and only went (in my opinion) because his brother went. Oh how I prayed that summer that God would capture his heart and he would choose to follow him more closely. God did work on his heart and the experience did grow his relationship, but it was only a seed planted as he continued to find his way. But I’m not sure that without Teen Missions he would be where he is now if it wasn’t for the support of some great leaders that stayed in his life after he returned home. He was even blessed to meet his now wife on that trip who patiently waited for him while he continued to search for the right path for some time after coming home.

I also learned to trust God to protect them. We’ve sent a teen to a remote island country I’d never heard of, to another that road boats along a large river to remote villages, to ride motorcycles on sandy, cliff filled lands, and this year to a country that has had large genocides of people that believed differently that the government. It’s the one area I never struggled with trusting that God would protect them. They could get sick or injured – and have – but I know that it won’t be a surprise to God.

If your child had the chance to go on a mission trip – send them. It can be life changing for them and you. There are many great organizations out there for teens (although I’m biased to Teen Missions). Do your research and talk to your teen about serving in a short term mission!

I was the little girl that dreamed of being nothing more than a stay at home Mom. Seems crazy in our day in age, but my dream came true times 4 as I have two sons and two daughters. It has been a blessing raising them and although I’ve worn many hats throughout the years I never thought “missionary mom” would be one of them.

My journey to this point surprises me still. I think it will always be a good story to tell and a reminder to others that you never know God’s plans for your life or your children’s but if you trust in him the plans will be better than you ever dreamed of for yourself.

Now, I was surprised to be a homeschool mom and that connects to this story so I mention it. I’ve managed to graduate three of my four children and never thought that would happen (me homeschooling them that long, not that they graduated!). This child, my second son, that would make me a missionary mom though, he is the one that society worries about. You know the “stay at home, does not like to talk to others, would rather hang out with his family than anyone else” child. Not to say we did not push him out of the house into all kinds of activities and events. He is not lacking, but in the end he preferred to just be home…. sheltered, but not. Home was his quiet place where he could be anyone he wanted to be.

So when, in 2013, I read about Teen Missions and the amazing summer trips they offered I talked about them to him. You see he dreamed of becoming a zoo keeper since he was young and Steve Irwin was someone that he loved. That makes going to Australia a bucket list “some day” item. And here, on Teen Missions he could cross that off at the young age of 14!

Now, he had experienced week long summer camps which grew his courage to be in the world and know he could survive without his family. Did I really think he would say yes to an 8 week mission trip? Was I crazy to even suggest it? I’m not sure how he said yes, but in the fall of 2013 he signed up to go for 2014 and had to start raising over $5000 to make the trip happen. This would mean he would have to talk to people…. lots of people and leave me… er, our family for 8 weeks.

God provided abundantly as those in our lives got behind him 100% and he quickly raised all his needed support. Drop off day in Merritt Island came much to fast and his journey began. To say the summer was amazing wouldn’t be totally true. He missed us and normal life greatly. Boot camp (two weeks of preparing the teens for the field in Florida) was hard.

Now, we can only communicate with our teens through snail mail and two phone calls. One before they leave the country and one when they get back. But these phone calls would be the ones that would start to prepare my heart for my son going into the mission field.

The first phone call I asked if he would do Teen Missions again (remember, he hasn’t left for Australia yet, just finished boot camp). He responded with a quick and strong “No!”. But he was enjoying himself and looking forward to Australia.

The phone call once back into country he shared two things with me. First “God is not calling me to be a zoo keeper, I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s not that.” Second “He is clearly calling me to go to Vanuatu with Teen Missions in 2015.”

And that started our families journey with Teen Missions and Caleb’s path toward following God’s calling into the mission field. There certainly is more to share especially since we are 5 years after this story began, but I’ll save that for another post.

Tag: missionary

Lessons from Teen Missions

A Surprising Title . . . Missionary Mom