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Before I Was a Missionary

Thoughts from South Brazil Missionaries

Before I was a missionary—I never realized how much of a difference having Jesus in my life made.

Before I was a missionary—I never knew what it felt like to be a race car driver. I never realized that stop lights were only suggestions. I had never known the real value of being able to ask for directions. I didn’t know that the glove compartment was really made to hold toilet paper for those emergency stops.

Before I was a missionary—I had never seen my breath while worshipping in church, or panted between songs to keep cool.  I did not know that all creatures great and small attended church.

Before I was a missionary—I never knew the real value of screens.  I never had to decide which to kill first, the spider creeping down my wall or the cockroach scampering across the floor. Checking my children’s rooms for monsters had never before left blood stains with tiny smashed mosquito imprints on the walls. Bats, slugs, and other flying-icky-things stayed outside.

Before I was a missionary—Learning to cook from scratch never seemed a necessity of life. (That was what take-out was for.) I drank water out of the tap and did not worry about the ice in restaurants. At the market, I never had to choose my spices by smell alone. I did not know that you could eat stomach or tongue in bean soup. I did not know that what I threw away would later be gone through and eaten.

Before I was a missionary—I never knew the joy of quoting John 3:16 in the Portuguese language to a group of Brazilian children. I was never awakened by the phone only to be asked the meaning of a particular verse. I did not know the true meaning of the passage “Heaven is my home.” I did not take Mark 10:29-30 seriously—now I do.

Before I was a missionary—I had never experienced the excitement of watching the birth and growth of a church. I did not realize how similar the problems in different places could be. I had never been blessed to disciple a lost soul from the first week of salvation and watch as God transformed a life controlled by sin into a beautiful reflection of Him.

I had never seen love expressed through actions when words could not be shared.

I never completely understood the sacrifice Jesus made leaving his home in heaven.

I had never known that I could fall so in love with my “job.” 

I had never known it was possible to be so homesick and at the same time be so content knowing, I am a missionary!