Missionary Life

"You don't get mail!"

 I recently said these words to one of my best friends, Sarah, who is a YAGM (Young Adults in Global Mission) Coordinator alongside her husband in Cambodia.  (Read about them here).

We often exchange emails and try to find time to Skype to discuss our lives as missionaries.  We were roommates in Seminary and have perfected the art of having two different conversations at the same time.  I was super excited when she and her husband moved closer to me.  (Cambodia is in Asia and only two hours behind!!)

Recently we discussed the challenges and benefits of being a missionary and expat.  I had just been to the library and was feeling down because I was in a room full of books that I could not read.  I really missed my local library and being able to communicate in my language 24/7.  So I gave Sarah a call to vent and cheer myself up.

But then she took me back to reality when she explained the way of getting mail in Cambodia. They've been there almost a year and never received mail.  We get mail two times a day, everyday and can have a package redelivered the same day within the two hour time frame of our preference.

Really, neither of us lack anything in our lives.  It's hard to be homesick when Shake Shack and Taco
Bell both opened in Tokyo this year.  This also makes it hard to explain to people why we are here in Japan.  People often think of missionaries in impoverished remote places.  But just because we have drinkable running tap water and trains that are never late, doesn't mean we can't bring God's love here.

Japan has many things, but religion is does not.

The people here are very spiritual poor.  Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world. People are lonely. Fewer people are marrying and having children.  The birthrate is declining and the economy is not doing well.

Sarah and I at Luther Seminary Graduation.

We've worked really hard to let the Holy Spirit work here.  We have invited people into our lives and home with the message that ALL are welcome and accepted without condition.  It's a blessing and a daily challenge to be able to see God work in people's lives. The Holy Spirit comes in many different forms, and here in Japan it comes in friendship and acceptance.

People back "home" may not understand or "get it," but we are in the right place doing God's work with our hands and it's a blessing to have friends to share our journey.