My friend Marie and I have been going through some similar struggles: we worry about our families back "home" and we've been worrying about them even more than before because of events that happened during Christmas Break.
Our families are quite different, but they are both missionaries and they're both getting worn out -- a common occurrence among those involved in missions.
Marie's family lives in Nigeria, her sibling go to an International Christian school where her mom works and her dad is a doctor. The thing is, they are living is Jos, the city which is right in the middle of a war. The Muslims in the North of the country are trying to take over the Christians in the South and both parties are fighting for Jos. While Marie was visiting her family during Christmas break bombs went off just down the street from where they live; they could hear and see it from their house. Marie's father took in a flood of people, many of whom he had to amputate. I can't remember when exactly she said the bombings happened but I'm pretty sure they were on Christmas Eve and again a few days later. She told me no one went to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas 'cause everyone was scared they'd get bombed. The pastors were actually telling their congregations not to go. Bombings have kept going on and Marie's parents aren't sure how much more they can take while her siblings, however, are all used to it. At least they're all safe.
My family is in Portugal. Ever since I can remember, my mom has had Fibromyalgia, a chronic disease that makes her whole body be in pain all the time and, depending on the weather and what she is doing, the pain can worsen, causing her to have to stay in bed. Last June, my parents and siblings moved in with some friends and the two families have been looking for another place to live in ever since then because the house they are currently in is too small, among other things. They still haven't been able to find a house. They keep searching, because soon (in about a month) my parents need to leave for the States for four months, so they want to move before that, as soon as possible. In addition to their on-going result-less search, the weather has been terrible, making my mother feel miserable. And let's not forget the robbery that happened three days before Christmas in which my parents' laptops, money, documents, phones, and other valuables were stolen. All of my parents' work is on laptops, so getting things done has been hard because where they are living at the moment there is only one computer for 7 people. The loss of their Italian driver's licenses and their Portuguese residency papers is a big deal too, not only because they need those documents to be able to drive and live in the country legally, but also because bureaucracy in Southern Europe is terrible and so, for the last month, they've been trying to get a hold of someone who can help them, but the process is very complicated. The mixture of trying to get documents back, finding a house, trying to organize their trip to and time in the States, and the everyday bad weather is very discouraging and stressful.
Our parents are going through very different struggles but they are both very stressful hardships nonetheless and we both know fully well how they're affecting our parents. Marie and I both wish we could help in some way, but we know we're where God has called us to be and we know that no matter what, God is taking care of our families. It's still hard to hear about all this stuff from so far away and it gets hard to think about the fact that these are people working for God and yet it seems God's not helping them at all at this time (though, of course, He is, and we know it).
So Marie and I both pray for each other and our families and we ask each other how we're doing and how our families are doing.
The exciting thing is that we are also both here, at Azusa Pacific University to get our degrees so that we can help others going through situations we experienced ourselves. I am studying to be a teacher so I can teach at International Christian schools, helping students have the best education I can possibly give them and also being there for fellow MKs (Missionary Kids) going through rough times (which I'm discovering more and more happens to every MK). I would love to teach elementary/middle school and be a youth group leader for high school students. Marie is studying to be a psychologist so that she can work with missionaries and either help during burn outs or prevent them altogether from happening because she (and I both) knows that there are SO MANY missionaries that get burned out who consequently leave the mission field forever and are heavily affected by they crash. The sad thing is that many times there is no one there who helps these missionaries.
I am excited to see how almost all of my fellow Missionary Kid friends are all studying to be able to do something about things that through our own experiences we know need help. One friend of mine here who grew up in South Africa and is only 19 is going to be graduating in May and is going to go work with AIDS affected children in Zimbabwe. Another friend of mine is in the nursing program so that she can some day go to places in the world that have no people with medical background and be able to help them. And another friend of mine feels called to settle here in the States (even though she wants to travel and live abroad) and support missionaries around the world.
The more I think about all the missionary kids out there who are doing something wonderful in the world or who are preparing to go out there and start something that will change things, the more excited I get. Of course I'm not saying that Missionary Kids are better than everyone else and that we are going to completely change the world and make it all better; the Bible tells us that things will just keep getting worse. But I feel like, with the experience we've already had, and the passion we have to change or help things we know very well about, God is going to lead us to do great things! It will definitely not be easy, but we already know that and we have the tools that others before us didn't have. So, hopefully, with a lot of God's help, we can bring change to this world in some small ways and inspire others to do so as well.
May we all be open to and passionate about whatever God calls us to do, no matter how insignificant it seems!
Here's a picture taken during the retreat of my friends and I contemplating God's wonderful creation (click on it to see it bigger.)
