Missions 101: Part 3 – What is involved in the missionary family moving to the field and adjusting to the new culture and way of life and ministry?

Preparation to Leave for the Field

• They must prepare themselves spiritually for the transition through prayer, counsel, and studying God’s Word.
• They must prepare financially for the transition through selling, shipping, and/or storing their belongings.  They must save the necessary funds to start up an entirely new life in the country to which they are moving.
• They must prepare their families for the transition through spending time, saying goodbye, and seeking to communicate in new ways.
• They must take care of getting passports, visas, and necessary approval by the government.
• They must gain wise counsel at this time from their pastor, mission boards, and other missionaries on the field to make sure that they…
  • Get off to a good start with the right visas
  • Don’t leave under-supported
  • Don’t waste a lot of money on purchasing the wrong things
  • Don’t make alot of mistake due to inexperience and being a foreigner

The First Few Months on the Field

• These are very busy stressful months for the missionaries.
• They have many things to take care of when they land…
  • Setting up a house, buying a car, furniture and everything necessary to live.
  • Getting a bank account, utilities, phones, etc.
  • Learning where to shop for groceries and how to cook in a new country.
  • Finding a school or beginning to homeschool their children.
  • Trying to figure out how to do all of this in a place where they cannot understand the people or the culture.

The First Year on the Field

• They must begin learning the language.
  • They will go back to being an infant in this new language and culture.
  • They don’t know how to even ask for the most simple thing.
  • They will be laughed at and feel very foolish for a long time because they don’t know how to do anything.
  • This can be very humbling and difficult and keep many missionaries from learning the language.
  • They will go to language school 4 hours a day and practice with the local people another 4 hours per day.
  • A lot of pressure is on them as they deal with frustration, discouragement, tiredness, culture shock, and humiliation.
  • The missionary wife has the pressure of trying to be a wife and mother while also trying to learn a new language.
• They must learn to function in a new culture.
  • Everything is new to them – the weather, the food, the language, the smells, the sounds, the sights, and the culture.
  • They must constantly fight the temptation to make comparisons, reject the new culture because it is different.
  • They will have to rely on others to help them do everything.
  • The newness will eventually wear off and they will begin to despise their new country if they are not careful.
• They must deal with the stress of missing family, friends, and familiar surroundings.
  • They will be tempted to think that the cross they are called to carry is too great.
  • Their desire for their friends and family will be accentuated because they find it difficult to relate to the new people around them.
  • They will feel like they will never be able to have genuine friendships in the new culture.
  • The time change will make it frustrating trying to communicate with those they have left.
• They will be frustrated because they are not doing much productive ministry.
  • Their first year will be spending just observing and learning.
  • Until they can speak the language, the amount of ministry, preaching, and teaching will be severely limited – only through a translator.
  • They will struggle with going from doing much in the ministry to very little.

The First Term on the Field (typically 4 years)

• Randy Stirewalt – said that the first term is the most difficult.
• Veteran missionary to Japan, Kenneth Mansell, says that in many countries the number of missionaries returning for a second term is as low as 10%!
• Many missionaries said this on askamissionary.com about what they wish they had known before they went:
  • I wish I had had more realistic expectations.
  • I wish I had known how difficult missions really is.
  • I wish I had known more about the challenges of language learning & developing relationships.
  • I wish I had learned about spiritual warfare.
  • I wish I had know how difficult long-term fruit really is.
  • I wish I had known more about myself and being patient.
  • I wish I had known how nationals view the economic status of missionaries.
  • I wish I knew how to deal with conflict.
• Realistic goals for the first term
  • Become proficient in the language and culture
  • Develop a heart that loves the people and is at peace with the new culture
  • Win, disciple, and train a few men who can carry on the work when you return on furlough
    • Many of the churches Paul started were small but they were able to continue on in his absence.
    • They were not perfect churches and needed much maturing, but he ordained
  • Pattern of missions from Acts
    • Preach the gospel and teach many (14:21)
    • Confirm the disciples and encourage them (14:22)
    • Ordain elders in every church and commend them to the Lord (14:23)
  • Pattern of missions from Matthew 28:19-20
    • Go
    • Teach all nations
    • Baptize them
    • Teach them to observe all things

The post Missions 101: Part 3 – First Term on the Field appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

Genesis 16:5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

Sarai had offered her maid to Abram to have a child with her. Once Abram agreed with his wife and went into Hagar it started a chain of events that deeply wounded his wife. Sarai most likely hoped that Hagar would not have children proving that it was Abram that couldn’t have children but then she realized that she was the one that had the problem. She was embarrassed.

Not only was she embarrassed but she was angry and wanted Hagar gone.

I think that there are some lessons here for husbands. Don’t always believe everything your wife says! I think that Sarai said Abram could have another woman more like saying, I love you. I would never stand in your way or keep you from getting something you want so badly.

I think that maybe she never thought that Abram would betray her by really taking another woman. Now she blames it all on Abram.

I think another lesson is that jokes can lead to something that really hurts. We often say things without really thinking about what we are saying. We are sure that it is understood as being in jest but then someone takes it seriously, gets hurt and then there are problems.

Maybe one last lesson is never have a goal that is so big you would hurt someone you love to get it! Abram wanted a child and that was good but he should have loved is wife enough to say, are you crazy. I would rather never have any children as to betray you and hurt you that way. You are worth more than 10,000 children to me!

The post Important Lessons for Married People from Genesis 16:5 appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

I read this today on the Sonshine Bulletin and thought it was quite humorous.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE A MISSIONARY KID WHEN…

• You can’t answer the question, “Where are you from?”
• You have a passport, but no driver’s license.
• You watch National Geographic specials and recognize someone.
• You have a time zone map next to your telephone.
• You have friends from or in 29 different countries.
• You do your devotions in another language.
• You are grateful for the speed and efficiency of any postal service.
• You wince when people mispronounce foreign words.
• You realize what a small world it is, after all.
• After a couple of years in one spot you’re ready to move again.
• You are afraid to ask what you’re eating, but munch away with a smile on your face.

The post You Know Your A Missionary Kid When… appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

My wife, Teri, wrote the following for her devotions recently, and I wanted to share with you her perspective on sacrificing for the Lord.  I am so thankful for my wife and her submission to God’s will for her life.

Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

I love that phrase “living sacrifice.” I always thought a sacrifice had to be dead, but not so with us. We are to sacrifice our lives for Jesus while we are alive. Missionaries and Christians around the world do this every day.

I used to say that living on the foreign field is not a sacrifice. I didn’t want to make it sound too hard, because I didn’t want to put anyone off from surrendering their life to be a missionary. But I read an interesting article recently written by a missionary wife. She said that we should stop saying that living on the foreign field is not a sacrifice. Saying this degrades the value of the gospel. If it takes no sacrifice from me, then it must not be worth much. If it takes no sacrifice from me, then I don’t need God’s help to do it. If it takes no sacrifice from me, then I must be way more super spiritual than other Christians because I have some special power to handle difficult things. NO! That’s all wrong!

The gospel and the name of Jesus is WORTH sacrificing everything I have and everything I am to get it to people that have never heard. And yes it’s hard, but we are not alone! God is helping us. God is with us. We cannot do it without Him. I’m not more special than any other Christian lady. Sometimes living on a foreign field is TOUGH! And there is nothing I can do to get myself through it, but just depend on God. And God is good all the time!

The post Guest Post by Teri Snode: “A Living Sacrifice” appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

Teri and I have been privileged to:

• Live in Northern Ireland for the past eight years.
• Have all three of our children born here.
• See souls saved, disciples baptized, and a church started here.
• Develop some incredibly friendships here.
• Learn so much about God, ourselves, our culture, and the power of the gospel here.
• Prove the faithfulness and provision of our Heavenly Father here.
• Enjoy the bulk of our adult life and married life here.
• Put down roots for our family, the schooling of our children, and our ministry here.

Frankly, leaving Northern Ireland is going to be much harder than leaving America.  Not that we do not miss family, friends, and familiar things in America, but we just love this place, the people here, the work that God has allowed us to do, and the live God has allowed us to live here.

As we get ready to leave this week for American, here are a few thoughts going through my head:

1. God has been so good to me.  I cannot believe how blessed I have been to serve the Lord.  I cannot believe how He has worked in the church, usually in spite of me.  I am so thankful for all of His blessings and the privilege to be involved in the work He is doing.
2. Prayer really does work.  When I came over to Ireland, I never wanted to return in defeat and discouraged.  Though the results may not be numerically what I would have liked, I can honestly say that we can return with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us.  Those who have prayed, supported, and encouraged us will be thrilled to know that there are names written in the Lamb’s book of life and many more to come if Jesus tarries His return because of your prayers.  My one big regret about my time here is that I did not pray more.
3. Discipleship is the most important a work a missionary can do.  Evangelism is important.  Church-planting is important.  Pastoral work is important.  But discipleship is the method that makes evangelism, church-planting, and pastoral work possible.  It is the way that Jesus told us we would reach the world.  It is the way in which lasting converts are made, the way in which leaders are trained, the way in which churches are established, and the way in which the fruit remains.
4. The importance of family support for a missionary cannot be underestimated.  I do not look at myself as a missionary who happens to have a family; I look at myself living with a family of four other missionaries.  Our whole family is involved in this endeavour.  Teri is probably more attached to the work and the people here than I am.  It is breaking her heart to leave.  She loves is here.  She loves what we do.  She loves the people here.  My children are excited about going to America, but they have so many friends and pretty much everything they have known that they are leaving behind.
5. The future is as bright as the promises of God.  If Jesus does not come back, I am so excited about what is going to happen in the days that lie ahead that I almost can’t stand it.  I look forward to how God is going to use Sam Quinn to lead the ministry here in our absence.  I look forward to how the men in the church are going to grow and step up as leaders.  I look forward to seeing how uses our teenage men of God.  I look forward to many more souls being saved, lives changed, and churches started.  I look forward to training more men and being used to invest in others when we return, God willing.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support.  Thank you for your encouragement.  Please pray for us as we make the trip back this week.  Due to some complications, we have to get emergency passports on Tuesday in Belfast, and then we fly out on Wednesday from Dublin.  Please pray that God is guide us and direct us, and pray that we will just trust Him and rest in His care!

The post Thoughts As We Prepare to Leave for Furlough appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

Teri sent this list to me from a friend on Facebook who compiled a list of ways to be a blessing to missionaries.  The list was prepared to teach a Pastor’s Wives’ class in Bible College.  Maybe some of the ideas will help you.  Feel free to comment with other ideas you may have.

BEING A BLESSING TO YOUR MISSIONARIES

1. Allow your missionary to help around your kitchen or at the church if they offer
2. This makes them feel more a part of things and not so much an outsider. Besides, most missionaries are uncomfortable with being “served.”
3. Offer travel size toiletries.
4. Pastor’s Wife, please introduce yourself to the missionary’s wife as the Pastor’s wife. If you wish to be called “Mrs. ______” then introduce yourself as such, but if you prefer her to use your first name, then introduce yourself in that manner. You’d be amazed how many churches you go into as missionaries and come and go without ever meeting the pastor’s wife or even knowing who she is. This simple and polite gesture just helps to put her at ease.
5. Introduce her to a few friendly ladies. If a missionary is single, it is nice for her to be introduced to other single women in the church.
6. An invite out for coffee/tea is always nice
7. Pedicures and Manicures are usually a welcome treat that most missionaries cannot afford on their own.
8. Provide babysitting for the missionary’s children if you have an activity for the adults, or just to give the parents some much needed time alone. When you travel on deputation you are often together 24/7 and appreciate some time apart.
9. Give them a map of the area marking and listing grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, dollar stores, laundry mats, thrift stores, etc. Anything you think they might be interested in. These maps can be done up on the computer and updated as necessary with hard copies being printed as needed just before missionaries arrive.
10. Be understanding of their children. Being cooped up in a car for several hours can make any child a little rambunctious. We are not asking you to excuse bad manners or disobedience, but cut them a little slack and don’t be too quick to judge. Giving them a place and some time to run off some steam is always a good idea – McDonald’s playland, park, school playground, gymnasium, etc.
11. Offer laundry facilities or quarters/detergent/fabric softener to be used at a local laundry mat
12. Try to meet practical needs – diapers, thank you cards, Tide to Go Pens, small packets of Kleenex, mints for breath, bottled water, postage, etc.
13. Give plenty of notice if you want them to speak/sing. We are taught in candidate school to always be prepared, however, it is nice to have some advanced warning so you can be warmed up and organized. Our desire is to do our best at whatever we are asked to do.
14. A shopping trip with you (the Pastor’s wife) and your ladies is a great way to get to spend some “fun” time together. It is a bonus if you give them some spending money. Gift cards are nice too
15. Music CDs or Patch the Pirate for kids are a welcome gift since we live in our cars!
16. Books, or even Audio books or really good sermon series are nice too. It sure helps makes the travel time go by faster!
17. Invite the missionary’s wife to pray with you/your ladies
18. It is always nice to get to go out for lunch or supper (or enjoy a ladies night at the church) with you and the ladies of the church. One pastor’s wife did this and asked each missionary there to share her greatest blessing/lesson learned/answer to prayer, etc. from the past year as well as one prayer request. This broke the ice and allowed us to get to know one another better. It also knit our hearts together in a very special way as missionary wives opened up and shared. It makes it easier for you to relate to the missionary wife when you see/hear that she is “just like you!”
19. Don’t plan an activity for the men and women at the same time during the kids afternoon nap time if you can help it. If one or the other can stay with the kids wherever they are being accommodated and allow them to have their naps, everything will run much more smoothly.
20. If you have a cosmetologist/barber in your church, see if you can get them to donate hair services to your missionaries.
21. Don’t keep them out late every night; especially if they have kids.
22. If they are staying in the homes of church people, instruct the church people to not keep them up late talking every night after the service; especially if this is a conference. Though the missionaries enjoy getting to know your church family, it is exhausting meeting and greeting people all the time. Just be considerate.
23. If you have a Christian school, offer to allow their children to participate or sit in on what would be their class if they attended there. Most missionary mothers home school and would enjoy a break for a few days.
24. Provide homeschooling supplies.
25. Don’t fill the schedule so full during conferences so that they are all exhausted. I know of one missionary family who had two conferences that were jam-packed back to back and the schedule did not allow their children afternoon naps. By the end of the second conference, their two year old was so ill she had to be medi-vacced to a local children’s hospital because she was severely ill. I realize not all cases are this extreme, but the honest truth is, missionaries hesitate to say, “no” or not participate in all that you have scheduled, and sometimes the needs of the little ones are forgotten when the schedule is made.
26. Encourage their children. When you encourage their children, you encourage them!
27. If you ask them for gift ideas, give them a price range so that they do not feel uncomfortable offering ideas. We do not want to come across as greedy “moochinaries,” so if you ask, be clear on what you are offering.
28. If the missionary has teenagers, encourage the teens ahead of time to befriend them and invite them to any teen class/activities and even sit with them. Those teenage years are some of the most awkward, and anything you can do to make them feel more at ease is a blessing.
29. Some churches assign a host/hostess to each missionary couple during conferences. This person is simply their “go to” person when they need something. They also check with the missionary frequently to see if they need anything. If the missionary is speaking, they might provide them with a bottle of water/Kleenex/etc. or anything they might need to help with their responsibilities – copies/overhead projector/etc.

Read more helpful articles at bcwe.org.

The post Ideas for Ladies on How to Be a Blessing to Missionaries appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

Proverbs 31:10-11, “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.”

Have you ever wondered why there is almost an entire chapter in the Bible that talks about a good wife. I’m trying to think if there is an equivalent chapter that talks about a good husband. But I can’t think of any. I’ve been thinking about this for some time. I’m no counsellor, but recently I’ve had several conversations with wives who are concerned for their marriage. And I am convinced that the things that the wife says and/or does can make or break a marriage.

I realise I am NOT an authority on this subject, but I’ve seen in my own marriage that I as the wife can set the tone or regulate the temperature of my marriage. I’m not saying that is why God put this chapter in the Bible or that this is what this chapter is implying. But it seems to me that if a wife turns to God and asks Him to make her the wife that He created her to be, then God will give her the power to change a bad marriage into a good marriage.

Because of the influence a wife has on her husband and because most husbands like to please their wives, God can use the wife to make a weak marriage strong. It’s no easy task, and it’s impossible without God’s power. It’s nothing to be taken lightly or to rush through. So I’m praying for my own marriage and those of my friends’ that God will give us the strength to be godly, virtuous wives:

verse 11 Can your husband trust you? (with money, secrets, to do the right thing, making decisions)

verse 12 Are you committed to treating your husband right every day whether he treats you right or thanks you or even notices?

verse 13-19,24 Are you a willing, hard worker?

verse 20 Are you selfish or generous? Do you care about others or just yourself?

verse 21-22 Do you take care of the needs of your family properly so your husband won’t have to worry about such things?

verse 23 Have you uplifted your husband with your words so that others admire him because of the way you talk about him?

verse 25-26 Could people describe you with these words: strong, honourable, joyful (during trials), wise (in your words), kind?

verse 27 Are you idle? Do you sit around wasting time while there are important things that need done?

verse 30 Do you fear the LORD?

Prayer: “Dear Lord, I have a lot to work on in my marriage. Please give me Your strength and power to be the kind of wife that would please you and glorify Your Name! Help me to live for You so that my relationships will be what they ought to be. Thank you for my husband. I know he is a gift from you, and I cherish him. Please help me to treat him right and love him with Your love. Make me a virtuous woman. I love you. Amen.”

Read more articles at bcwe.org.

The post A Challenge to Wives appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

Proverbs 12:4 “The virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.”

In these verses, we are given a contrast between a virtuous woman and the woman that makes ashamed.  The virtuous woman is one who is full of virtue (of goodness, of character, or moral excellence, or all character traits that are desirable).

The virtuous woman is one who is a crown to her husband.  She realises that God has created her to help her husband, and her greatest fulfilment will come through knowing God and being a help meet for her husband.  This is not to say that she is a lower class citizen or inferior in any way.  On the contrary, she is equal and complementary.  There can be no comparison between a man and woman, and there should be no competition, because each as very distinct different role to play in the home.

The woman who is a Godly woman can be called a crown to her husband.  In other words, the husband is blessed by, proud of, and grateful for his wife.  He can try his hardest in everything he does, but his wife is like the crowing touch.  She can top everything off with excellence.

On the other hand, a woman can be like rottenness in the bones of a man.  She nearly has the power to make her husband or break her husband.  She can be so ungodly that she will be like an deep-rooted pain and bother in a man’s bones.

I am so thankful for my wife.  She certainly makes me, completes me, and helps me in so many ways.  Without her love, her encouragement, her help, her counsel, her prayers, and her example, I would be greatly hindered in everything I might want to do for God.  But her virtuous living is something that has been a crown to me ever since we were married.  I praise God for His gift of her to me, and I pray that I can be a Godly husband for her and for the Lord.

Read more devotionals at bcwe.org.

The post The Virtuous Woman Is A Crown appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

The sad reality is that often what people say is true.  Preachers and ministers can be the world’s worst at taking time off, needing to spend “family time”, running late, being lazy, and not working hard.  Not all are that way, but for some reason we have earned this reputation.  Could it be that we can tend to be lazy?  Could it be that many of the people in our churches work much harder than we do?  Could it be that we should repent of our sin of laziness and build some guidelines and schedules into our lives that keeps us accountable and helps us to be diligent in our business?

Below is what Martin Luther had to say about lazy preachers:

“Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They rely on these and other good books to get a sermon out of them. They do not pray; they do not study; they do not read; they do not search the Scripture. It is just as if there were no need to read the Bible for this purpose.

They use such books as offer them homiletical helps in order to earn their yearly living; they are nothing but parrots and jackdaws, which learn to repeat without understanding, though our purpose and the purpose of these theologians is to direct preachers to Scripture with such books and exhort them to plan to defend our Christian faith after death, against the devil, the world, and the flesh…

Therefore the call is: Watch, study, attend to reading. In truth, you cannot read too much in Scripture; and what you read you cannot read too carefully, and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well, and what you understand well you cannot teach too well, and what you teach well you cannot live too well.

Believe a man who has found this out. It is the devil, it is the world, it is our flesh that are raging and raving against us. Therefore, dear sirs and brethren, pastors and preachers, pray, read, study, be diligent. Truly, this evil, shameful time is not the season for being lazy, for sleeping and snoring. Use the gift that has been entrusted to you, and reveal the mystery of Christ.”

–Martin Luther, What Luther Says: An Anthology, comp. Ewald M. Plass (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), entry no. 3547, 1110.

Read more helpful articles at bcwe.org.

The post Don’t Be a Lazy Pastor or Missionary appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.

Song of Solomon 4:7 “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.”

In the late 1500s, Shakespeare coined the phrase “love is blind” which appears in several of his plays including Two Gentlemen of Verona, Henry V and The Merchant Of Venice.  ”Modern-day research supports the view that the blindness of love is not just a figurative matter. A research study in 2004 by University College London found that feelings of love suppressed the activity of the areas of the brain that control critical thought.” (source)

The wonderful thing about love is it covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).  Love hopes all things and believes all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).  There is no fear in love (1 John 4:18), because when someone loves us we do not have to be afraid of them.  We do not have to play a game of cover-up and deceitfulness because we know that no matter what we are loved.  Love is not a license to live any way we want; love is a motivation to live like we should.

In the Song of Solomon, the writer is praising the woman he he loves.  He describes how wonderful she is in Song of Solomon 4:1-6 and then concludes with “Thou are all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.”  I seriously down that there was no spot or blemish in this woman, but I think this man loved her so much that he was blind to those spots.

It reminds me of most couples who are in love before they get married.  They cannot believe that the other person would do any wrong.  They just think that each other “hung the moon”.  They are head over heals in love.  Then they get married!  It may take a week, a year, two years, or more, but one day the penny drops and the question is asked by one or both, “Who is this person?”  ”Now all I can see are faults and spots. This is not the same person I loved before I got married.”

What has happened is the other person has not changed; you have changed.  Your perspective has been altered, and you have the power to get back to where you were, if you will choose to view them through eyes of love.  You will find what you are looking for.  If you only look for spots, you will find many.  If you only look for goodness, you will find much.  The key is to focus on the Lord and be grateful for his blessings, and he will help you see your husband or wife with the blindness of love one again.

Let me know what you think in the comment section below.

Read more helpful articles at bcwe.org.

The post Love Is Blind appeared first on Into All The World | Travis & Teri Snode.