Wednesday, June 26

Things not commonly known about missionaries

Missionaries love people but can struggle with loneliness, especially within the first couple years as they are learning the language and starting to develop relationships. Loneliness can be very trying.

There are days when you want to hop in your car and drive away. And just keep driving until you either reach home or the closest airport to take you home, no looking back. To return to people who will receive you with hugs in a place that is familiar. I can't count how many times I've had this thought.

Homesickness can strike at any time, over any little thing. For example, taking your car to the shop and being frustrated over not fully understood or not being able to fully understand the mechanic. Will my car actually be fixed? Will I be ripped off? Does it have to be so hard?

The first year of ministry is the hardest and often the worst.



This is all I can come up with for the time being...definitely a "Debbie-downer" post.

Thursday, June 6

Cordially invited to grieve

I know that I go on and on about the Oasis Boy's home and how much I love it and how much the ministry, the leaders, and the boys (oh-the-boys!) have become engraved in my heart. It is my happy place...I love just being there. And I love how whenever I go there, the boys will ask if I am going to sleep there (since I've spent the night a few times). I love when unknown new boys become another Oasis boy I adore. I love realizing that some of the boys have undergone this seemingly overnight transformation, getting taller, leaner, and older looking. I love hearing some of these boys, who each have different "scars and battle wounds", laugh fully and carefree. But there is one thing I dislike about the Oasis Boy's Home.

Oasis is a ministry which desires to transform troubled youth, through training and teaching, so that they can be rehabilitated back to their families and contribute positively to society. And the greater goal is that their lives may be transformed through the power and work of Jesus Christ.

So the goal of Oasis is to change lives so that they can go home. Away. From Oasis. Never to return (hopefully).
Which kind of stinks.
Actually, it stinks a whole heap.
I want them to stay at Oasis forever and ever.

My heart breaks whenever a boy runs away. And my heart grieves whenever a boy has completed the program and is allowed to leave. Will I see these boys again? Likely not, unless they get in trouble again and are sent back to Oasis.

I know that the grief is merely a sign that I have loved, but still...can I not just adopt them all as mine and keep them in my life forever? *sigh*