Missionaries are normal people…

We have enjoyed a number of evenings eating meals with short-term and long-term missionaries in Jos. the number one thing I have learned is that missionaries are normal people! If you were to meet them on the streets of your town you could not distinguish them from anyone else in your town. They are normal people…

Some are single, some newly-wed, some married with children. Their kids are regular kids, good some moments and needing correction the next. The adults have struggles just like I do and just like you do… they are normal is everyway that I can see.

I used to think that missionaries were spiritual giants… that they walked a little above the earth. That somehow the things I struggle with as I try to live faithfully to Jesus they didn’t struggle with because they are super-spiritual… NO SO.

Missionaries are every bit as human and regular people as I am and you are. I have met some who are generally positive people and some who appear generally negative people… hmmm just like home. I have met some who prefer western style of worship and others who like African style (sounds a lot like traditional hymn vs. contemporary back home). Some who are lax parent and others who are strict… My examples could go on and on…

This ahhha (which I should have know but somehow choose to avoid) is giving me a new appreciation for them and how I can be praying for them.

The one difference that I do note is that the missionaries I have met have said, “Okay Jesus, I will live oversees and serve you here in Nigeria.”