D squared + J squared = Anderson

David shared with me that a man was coming to serve for a little over a month here to conduct an aviation survey. We host many people in our home for meals, so it’s only natural to have him over for a welcome meal. He came over and we started to chat. He shared about where he has worked and served. He shared how he taught at CMSU (UCM) in Warrensburg, MO from 2002-2006. I was shocked! Not only is CMSU my alma mater, I taught there in 2001-2008. When I shared that, he was shocked! He was teaching aviation geography and I was teaching group tour operations. I asked if he knew of my home town of Leeton, MO (population 600). He knew Leeton and shared how he would pass through Leeton on his way to visit friends in Windsor, MO. I was born in Windsor, MO. My cousin and cousin-in-law were both aviation majors at CMSU and he knew and remembered my cousin-in-law. I felt like crying tears of joy how God answered an unspoken desire of my heart to have that familiarity and comfort while living in Cameroon.

It was a huge encouragement to be able to share about my past and have someone know what I’m talking about. It felt good to have a moment to share about my days teaching at CMSU, feeling like someone more than a mom and wife. Generally when I share that I’m from Missouri, I get many jokes about being a country bumpkin or asking if there are more cows or people, or asking me to pronounce pin and pen – the language gifted like this question because I pronounce them the same. Many of the people serving in missions with us are from east coast, west coast, deep south and extreme north of the USA– very few people are from the mid-west. What an incredible high note to end our service in Cameroon, God brought a complete stranger to Cameroon into our home who knows my hometown and college town. He also knew the Air Force Base where David spent his Air Force career, Whiteman AFB. I felt it was an incredible gift!

40 days ago I started a social media and blog writing fast. I was convicted of how negative I was – the blogs I wrote were negative and I couldn’t see the positive. Also, I was growing quite judgmental at status updates from FB (Facebook) friends and I wanted to keep FB friends so I knew I needed to stop looking at FB. During the fasting time I focused my attention not to what’s new in FB world, but what’s new that the Lord wants to show me. I read a book titled Expectations and Burnout. This is an excellent book that I highly recommend to anyone thinking of serving in foreign missions, has served in foreign missions or would like to understand more those who serve in foreign missions. I gleaned from that book many things, however, one thing that stood out is how many times foreign missionaries are disillusioned.

Recruiters who recruit potential foreign missionaries don’t share negative things, but only positive things. Initial training is also positive, not the realistic. We had a training that did share more of the realistic, potentially negative pits that we could fall into. When potential foreign missionaries have that adrenaline excitement flowing through their veins of being called, it’s hard to hear the hard things that could potentially be a pit fall. When one reads the biographies of foreign missionaries, it’s another form of not hearing the whole story, so all this leads to unspoken and maybe unknowing expectations. These unknown or unspoken expectations rest in that person and that person may not even know they are lying there until they are unmet. Once the expectation is unmet, the person goes into a tailspin and many times can’t identify why he/she is on a downward spiral or why they are reacting so heavily in a certain situation. Layered unmet expectations, along with daily life struggles (because life takes about ten times longer to live than in their passport country) all lead to burnout. I will admit that we are in a burnout state and need time to decompress. We feel we have lived a whole life of experiences, struggles, joys, etc.. in the past six years of living overseas. So reading this book written by women who have served a full career as foreign missionaries and sharing what they have learned was much appreciated.

I had three colleagues who loved on me through bathing prayer during this fasting time. I also was able to connect with a fellow missionary who has been serving in Cameroon for about 18 months. I really didn’t know her and we had an opportunity to share deeply with the common denominator of both our families are in the midst of transition leaving in the next several weeks. It was great getting to know her and sharing with her as well about the aforementioned book. I’ve also been able to dig deeper into God’s Word through different Bible studies and have been able to enjoy a fun book written by a colleague who serves in Papua New Guinea. It’s been a great time of refreshment and attitude adjustment.