I Would Gladly Say No

Being a missionary kid is quite different than any other experience, and most people can not claim to be associated with this group of people. As a missionary kid, I had to move from the town I grew up in, to my grandparents’ lake house, which was a lot more painful than it seems. While my family is raising support, we are traveling to many different churches. This is the start to a long road of feeling uncomfortable because it’s not my normal. Different and uncomfortable are typically two common words used as a missionary kid. Being a MK means eventually accepting a new culture, language, and lifestyle. I attended some conferences…and all the advice given to me is great, but I won’t really know how I will respond until I reach the field. Confusingly, I ask myself “Does all of my family and friends look at me differently now? Do they look at me the same? Is this the group I once felt like I belonged in?” Different is probably the best word to describe this new identity that I would have never imagined myself being. “Giving up” many of my comforts are my main struggle. Meeting new people, and visiting new places are my biggest, most uncomfortable obstacles. Learning to accept the unknown is the one thing all MK’s share. Another thing that changed for me was my spiritual life. When I first found out, I blamed God and was mad at Him. I figured that He called my parents, and I was forced to be dragged along. But through time, God opened my eyes that He was calling me too. The main outcome of this was the way I looked at everything. It was not a horrible thing at all, in fact it was probably one of the best blessings that came out of this! It was like God placed a pair of eclipse glasses on my eyes. If you’ve never looked through a pair, all you see is black and darkness. You’re moving your head all around to try to detect anything. Then you finally find the sun. That’s all you want to look at because everything else is dark and lifeless in comparison to it. God opened my eyes that He is the only thing that matters and without the Son everything is dark and pointless. Most of the time we think of different and change being awful but truthfully, it’s a great thing. Missionary kids go through many different changes, but God has worked, is working, and will work it out all for His wonderful plan.
Being a missionary kid is an excellent experience and honestly if I had a choice to travel back in time to change things, I wouldn’t. As a MK I get to explore a new culture and examine how diverse people are. Also, one thing that I’m excitingly waiting for is trying all kinds of different and unique foods! Visiting new places and meeting new people who I can build relationships with are some of the things I’m looking forward to. One of the best blessings that came out of this new journey in my life was meeting my MK family. It’s quite a funny story how God showed me that if I would trust Him, He in the end would bless me with all these wonderful people. Hopefully I’ll be able to share that story with all of you soon. Gratefully I know that these people will be my life-long friends. Because of all these changes, my spiritual life has grown and made me rely more on Christ. Like my Mom always tells me, “You can either let it drive you to the cross or away from it.” Jesus has helped me realize that He is so much more comforting than my comforts, He is so much more reliable then my normal, and that He is so much wiser than my plans. Sometimes I pray that God would use me in ways that scare me. You are probably wondering why I would ask for that. Well, here’s the answer, because I’ve seen Him do it. Through it all, I’ve been blessed, and I have grown so much deeper into Him. Being a missionary kid is awesome because I get to see firsthand Jesus’ name being proclaimed to the world. Missionary kids (kids of missionaries), as I am identified as this, I think a better term would be kid missionaries. We have the privilege of being used by God just at an early age. Jesus has molded me more into a person who now has such a deeper relationship with Him; so yes, if you asked me would I change things I would gladly say no.

Ava J