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Missions runs deep in our family.
Josh grew up as a Pastor's Kid, but his father has since been a world-wide evangelist for nearly 20 years. In turn, Josh has traveled the world with his family, serving the Lord.
I grew up falling in love with the mission fields during our yearly Missions Emphasis Sundays at church. Then, several years ago my parents became one of those families through Equip International.
Josh and I have been on several short-term mission trips together since being married. And then, of course, was our stint living in Uganda as we worked on our adoption. I'm pretty sure Areyna would live in Africa if she were to be given that choice today. 🙂
But our family goes far beyond the traveling missionaries and short-term now. My brother and sister-in-law now live in Uganda, and have for almost two years. I have another sister and brother-in-law who lived in Haiti for a year and yet another brother and sister-in-law working on raising funds to get their family to Haiti next April.
Missionaries are no longer those people standing on stage in cultural outfits from the countries they serve in. They are no longer the strangers giving Power-Point presentations of the conditions that they are surrounded with or the people we don't know who they serve alongside. No, these missionaries have faces, names, and even bloodlines that tie to ours! They are real people with real needs and a deep desire to love others in Jesus' name. They are the cousins my kids used to play with and the hugs I miss receiving on holidays or family cookouts in my backyard.
So, for our family, missions is real, and we incorporate it into our lives often.
We have photos up in our dining room of our missionaries that we financially and/or prayerfully support. The pictures hang on pins under our world map where we can easily refer to them. We have the kids take turns grabbing a family photo to bring to family devotions so we can specifically pray for them and the requests they send us in their monthly updates.
We have recently taken it a step further. We know how isolating it can be to be in a far country, away from friends and family, and we know how far a letter of encouragement can go for someone who might feel forgotten. Some we will never be able to actually mail, but we can at least take photos and email or message them on Facebook.
Josh had each kid choose a family/missionary from the map and gathered some paper and markers. They spent some time drawing pictures and writing letters to a handful of our own missionaries just to let them know that they are NOT forgotten! Their obedience is not going unnoticed. Their requests have been brought to the throne by our family. And not only the mom and dad, but the kids too!
We want our kids to be aware of what it means to sacrifice the American way of life for a third-world life if God calls them to that. We want our kids to learn to think of others and gain perspective from them. We want to do this even better than we do now, but at least it is a start.
Do you incorporate missions into your family with your children? What kinds of things do you do within your family to raise awareness of missions?
