When the children were very small, Dave and I used to take the family camping in a remote area of national forest in Oregon. We would load up the ’69 Ford pickup with everything imaginable. For two nights, we would pack food and clothes enough for a week! We carried a first aid kit for us and tools to remedy a sick vehicle if need be. We felt pretty secure in our preparations. With a pocket of money, a tank burping with “petrol” and a topographic map we were ready to tackle the wilderness. Of course, our feisty Finnish dog would protect us from the “wild things.”
But taking a journey into a land of unreached peoples is quite a different undertaking. Our mission is not to visit exotic places, then return to display a fantastic, eye-swelling slide slow; rather we have the task of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. When Jesus sent out his twelve disciples, he told them: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic” (Mark 6:8,9). This tells me, “travel light” even though you will be traveling far.
On the mission field the Bible is our staff. The Bible keeps us moving when we are weary. Just an ordinary day in Mongolia can leave me weary long before it’s time for bed. My day begins early with prayer. Then I need to get the water boiled for the day’s supply of drinking water; at the same time I cook breakfast. I try to have the milk mixed and biscuits made before starting school lessons. The laundry needs to be started early because often the water is intermittent during the day or the electricity will cut out. By 9:00 a.m. I get Stephen going on his lessons; he usually does not finish until mid-afternoon. However, with two teenagers lunch-time spells “h-u-n-g-e-r”! We usually have a soup and bread meal.
Afternoons are reserved for quality time with Sam and Elizabeth’s math and science courses. On Tuesdays I tutor a teenage boy in math. Occasionally I help a Mongolian teenager with English.
Finally at 4:00 p.m. I need to think about dinner. I say “think about” because that’s usually when I’m ready to call it quits for the day. There are no quick fix-it burgers or frozen meals. So while I “think about” dinner, I have a cup of tea and a word from the Bible. This refreshes me, helping me through dinner, evening paperwork, or whatever other items need to be dealt with before bedtime.
The words of the Bible are a path of wisdom, especially when a friend comes to have a four-hour conversation over a mound of questions she would like answered. For example, my dear Mongolian friend once asked me at four o’clock in the afternoon (remember my tired time?), “How can there be three persons in one God? Who do I pray to – Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?” Be assured, I am no Bible school graduate! My response was, “I am a mother, a wife and a teacher, all at the same time. When I teach school lessons, I am still a mother as well as a wife. I cannot be separated from being mother, and wife, and teacher. I am one person but I have three different identities. God is one, but is of three natures – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Our conversation continued on to other questions.
Jesus told his disciples to wear sandals on their journey. Sandals were sufficient when we lived in Nepal, but in Mongolia boots are the essential footwear. The shoes we wear are the foundation; they determine how long we will be able to endure the path. I believe the foundation that enables us to walk in the mission field comes not only from God directly, but also from the support of churches and individuals through prayers and tangible gifts. How often we have remarked, “Someone must be praying for us,” because we have felt “lifted up” in a situation, and it was not because of our own prayers.
Sometimes the “shoes” may wear thin but that’s okay too; Paul wrote about learning to be content whatever the circumstances (Phil. 4:11-13). During our first winter in Mongolia we felt the pains of hunger as we searched for food. I would leave in the latter part of the morning when the bread would be out for sale. Sometimes I waited an hour in line, smelling the aroma of hot baking bread. When the bread was brought to the counter, it was sold out in a matter of 15 minutes. “Lord, give us this day our daily bread” took on a new, literal meaning for me. Some days I got bread, other days not. Walking back to our hotel in the freezing cold – a thirty-minute trek – with an empty sack, a terrible hunger pain and tears in my eyes, I would ask God, “How will we feed the family today?”
Another time we all went together “hunting” for food. The system for buying food in some shops can be very complicated, especially if you can’t speak fluent Mongolian. You look over the counter at what you want to buy, then go pay a cashier. You get a ticket and return to the counter to collect what you paid for. Each counter requires a separate ticket. There are few items, so by the time you pay and go to collect the item, it can very well be gone. There is no reclaiming of your money. After a full hour of trying to buy potatoes and cabbage, we had the clerks and shoppers laughing at my blunders. I managed to get only a bag of biscuits. Our kids gave us the most puzzled look, like “I hope you get this figured out better next time.” We had so much to learn. But God was faithful to give us the strength needed to persevere in those times. It was a joyous time when we moved into our own apartment after two and a half months of living in hotel rooms. There is always so much to be thankful for.
The staff and sandals (boots) continue to keep us journeying where the Lord wants us to be. As we read his Word we are protected from the temptations of wanting to quit or being led astray. His Word renews our strength when exhaustion floods us. You, our supporters, supply us with the “boots” that keep us walking in this land. Your prayers help us; far greater, though, are your prayers to implore the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of those still in spiritual darkness…