Missionary Confidential

Halfway through the furlough presentations, he showed up again. I thought we were done with all of this.

About a year and a half into our mission in Western Europe, one of our supporting church pastors arrived in our country. Out of the blue. With three other people.

In fairness, he had contacted us in an email a couple of months prior, simply stating that he thought he might come over to our mission field. That was it: no dates, no mention of whether it would be a “fun trip” to visit us or a “mission trip” to do something, and no indication of who else would be coming. Honestly, we got so many of those half-hearted emails from many pastors and Christians that went nowhere, so our response to him (and others) asked for clarity on those details (especially the dates), and, like most of the others, we never got a response. That had always meant they dropped the idea and weren’t coming.

But this one was different. His secretary emailed us two months later to let us know that Pastor and three others were arriving the very next day. All the secretary provided us was the phone number of the hotel where they were staying and instructions to call Pastor once he arrived.  » Read the rest of this entry «

Furlough. Wow. Ugh.

I had a lot of trepidation about the demands of furlough. Some of them proved to be correct, others must have been myths, or churches are changing how they treat missionaries.

We learned a lot through the time, and for the few who seemed interested in what their church had been supporting for up to six years, I’m glad we got to speak.

If you remember from the last post on this subject, “Yet Sometimes God Closes the Door”, we spent our first few months catching up with family and friends. Still reeling from the circumstances that made us leave and also from reverse culture shock (by the way, it’s exactly as described), the time was much needed. A lot of prayer and waiting on God revealed that we were not going to return to that field or continue fundraising support for now. Despite the fact that this particular mission was over, we felt that we should still report/present to each supporting church, all of whom maintained support over most (in some cases, all) of the time we were in the field. In other words, not asking for more money, just letting you know what you paid for.

Considering the confusion this caused, I’m assuming this isn’t usually done in Missionary World.  » Read the rest of this entry «

The latest newsletter from The Body Builders talks about the importance of sending gifts to your supporters, not only to encourage better relationships with your financial partners but also to help maintain giving. I have to be honest; in our almost five years in the field, we never sent Christmas gifts. As much as we communicated and made sure to send letters, postcards and make phone calls to our supporters, we just couldn’t afford to buy and ship packages from our field. The cost was too high.

But not every missionary is in Western Europe. So I’m curious: do you give/send Christmas gifts to your supporters?

And here’s the link to the newsletter: ‘Tis the Season…For Giving!

I’m rethinking a lot about missions these days while back in the States. Much, much more to come, but a friend recently sent us this:

“Girls Night Out – Bunko With a Mission”! Mark your calendars for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at [church]. Prizes and raffling off gift baskets from [Local Restaurant], Starbucks, Lacome, Mary Kay, [Tutoring], Bath & Body, [Football Team tickets] and much more. Suggested donation $10. Feel free to invite a friend…Please R.S.V.P.

There are so many ways to fundraise, I know. But in the case of missions, what are we conveying to people? This isn’t very important to you, so I’ll have to bait you with prizes and useful, fun items you receive in return. We’re so desperate, we’ll try anything.  » Read the rest of this entry «

This month’s fundraising newsletter from The Body Builders suggests raising support through the power of a community. Essentially, the concept is to meet regularly with a group of other missionaries that are fundraising to swap ideas and encourage one another. I think this is a brilliant idea and wish we’d had this opportunity when we were back in the States. You can read the entire newsletter here: “The Power of Community in Raising Support”.

I wonder, however, how this looks once you’re in the field. We view support raising as something that doesn’t stop, and while a meeting could be of great benefit while on furlough, I’m unfamiliar with the community concept while in the field. Has anyone else had experience of encouraging each other in a group setting while fundraising?