I’m a Missionary, Not a Travel Agent

Posted by C. Holland on May 22, 2009

Perhaps because we live in a mission field that also is a popular tourist destination, we tend to receive an email every so often that looks like the one I received last week. It read, in part:

“We’re friends of [someone I actually know], and we’re coming very soon to [your mission field] for a week vacation. Would you email me the Top 10 things to see in your country? Should we drive, take a tour, get a taxi or use the train when we go to all these places you suggest? And we need to find a very good Bed and Breakfast; here’s our dates that we’ll need one. Offer any advice that you have.”

I wanted to honestly answer her very last sentence, but it wouldn’t have been a very polite response.

There’s a few things wrong with this kind of contact that I wish to address. First, I don’t know this person, although it is true we have a friend in common. We’ve never interacted before. Even if I were living here for a secular job, I’m just not very motivated to do heavy research and the essential work of a tour guide or travel agent, especially for someone I don’t know who is arriving very, very soon.

Secondly, I’m a missionary, not a travel agent. While I have had the opportunity to travel a bit and see some of the sites, I pretty much stay in my neck of the woods and travel about six miles away from my house. I don’t live in a part of the country that has many tourist attractions. Any of the places to suggest would be listed on any decent travel website’s “Top Ten” for my country, though to see all ten would take more than a week’s visit due to distance. And because our fact-finding trips were so long ago, it’s been ages since we would have stayed in a hotel, and we don’t keep up on current rates or quality levels, especially in other parts of the country where these sites would be.

Thirdly, I’m a missionary, not a tourist. No where in the email did the writer acknowledge that coming up with the detailed information she required might inconvenience me, nor that I might be too busy to respond to her considering how quickly she was flying over. While my schedule is not as “locked-in” as a desk job, I still work with a busy ministry that requires weekly planning, secured dates for meetings, and deadlines. Meanwhile, we’re currently juggling three, possibly four, mission teams from the States who are going to help us with construction and specific ministry needs. One group will be here in just over a month. When mission teams show up, we don’t just sit back during the time they are here. Our part in each group is to coordinate travel, accommodation, food, and scheduling of supplies or people for each day. For these people, I have no problem offering travel agent-like advice. We’ll make sure each team, though they’ve emphasised they are here for work, will get a “tourist day” to relax and see some of the local sites. But this is because they are helping us out, and, more importantly, they have communicated far ahead and built a relationship with us.

Lastly, because our friend-in-common is also a financial supporter, it put me in an awkward position. I have to be honest; if this person did not know me through a friend and just found me on the Internet, I wouldn’t even have responded. But because of my supporter-friend, it gave me pause to think. If I don’t do all this stranger asks of me, would she “report” me to my supporter? It took me a bit of time, but I realised that I wasn’t going to be motivated by money.

I did respond in this case, politely directing her to check out travel websites that might help her and explaining that we don’t really travel much in our country. I have not heard back and do not expect any response.

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