Praise God from whom all Blessings Flow [PNG]

Ben and I can’t say that we particularly heard a call from God to go into missions in any audible or vision-type sense. Rather, we both went on short-term mission trips in 2006 that opened our eyes to missions and to the world, and we both returned thinking that God was going to use us in missions. The process since then has been that God has slowly, but in His perfect timing, revealed to us what that path would look like.

So while we didn’t receive any amazing calling to missions, we do know that God wants the whole world to hear the gospel, and that means that some people must go and some people must send. Through our time here, seeing the incredible cost it is to allocate into and work in a tribal location, we are so thankful for those who stay home and work hard to keep missionaries on the field. However, we feel confident that God is leading us to be those who go. He has blessed our family in abundant ways that will allow us to survive in difficult, bushy locations, and we want to praise him for these blessings.

1.     We are healthy. We don’t have any chronic illnesses, we don’t have any recurring serious sicknesses, we have good eyesight and hearing, we have all of our limbs and bones in contact. I (Alisha) even have extremely healthy and fairly easy pregnancies. We have so much to be thankful for in this category.

2.     We have high pain tolerances. We both can handle quite a bit of discomfort and pain before breaking.

3.     We are adaptable. All of us- Sophie included. So thankful for this. We are laid-back and can take new situations in stride.

4.     We have childhoods that have helped us to prepare. We both grew up on hobby farms and worked outside often to help with chores, animals, and gardens.

5.     We do not become easily attached to people or things. While we will miss our families, friends, and homes immensely when we move overseas for long-term, we are able to let go of things easier than others and are not home- bodies. While it is sometimes hard and sad to leave and sell things, we are thankful that God helps us to quickly move on and adjust.

6.     We are independent. Working in tribal missions means that you must be willing to spend time apart from your significant other. With meetings, survey trips (trips where you look into different tribal locations), building trips (to build your own home but also to help others build if you have skills), and the amount of time that you must spend language learning, you will be apart from your significant other a number of times. While we sure do miss each other when apart (absence makes the heart grow fonder), God has been good to give us independence that helps us endure well when apart.

7.     We have skills that can be used well. Ben has great construction and hard-working skills, I have a  fairly good memory that should help with language learning… we are thankful for these skills.

8.     We both grew up in the church and have had good Bible training. While there is still much we could learn, God has equipped us well with knowing the Bible.

9.     We have extremely supportive people in our lives… family, friends, Christ’s Covenant Church, Merriam Christian Chapel

10. Other small blessings that certainly aren’t necessary but that we appreciate so much… neither of us  appear to get rashes easy, neither of us gets bit by mosquitos easy (I – Alisha – think I only got one mosquito bite the whole time), neither of us gets burnt easy… Sophie’s skin doesn’t seem to fare quite as well, but thankfully she does not get super upset by bug bites and rashes.

     We are so, so thankful to God for all of these blessings and hope that we will never lose sight of the fact that these are blessings that should be used for his glory. We are not special people or more important because we plan to head into missions. We simply have been blessed in specific ways that allow us to be those who go. And we recognize similarly that God has blessed others in different ways to be used in different positions to get the gospel to the nations.

     Romans 12:3-5
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.