Real Missionaries

The SMs spent so much time and energy at the beginning of the year discussing whether or not we were "real" missionaries. Can you still be considered a missionary if you have hot showers at the push of a button, free meals in a cafeteria, monthly money to spend, and weather that is reminiscent of paradise? I've always thought this was a dumb question, but it's started to creep up again with the arrival and departure of Janice and Cody.

They came from Tanzania where the didn't have electricity, spoke swahili with the locals, and got dirty on a regular basis. I'll admit, it was super impressive to hear Janice speaking swahili in the market while she was here. It made some of us feel like maybe they had gotten the real taste of Africa, and maybe we had somehow missed out. But what is the "real" Africa anyway? How can you summarize an entire continent?

My Africa might not be Janice's Africa, but my mission was not Janice's mission. I was sent to serve the students at Maxwell. I didn't learn a language, but I learned so much about communication. I might not have built any churches, but I still built relationships. I didn't preach on sabbath morning, but I lived and taught one crazy group of high school freshmen for a full school year. My year might not have been what people think of when they hear the word missionary, but that's okay. I wouldn't ask for any other experience because I still know that the environment does not determine the missionary; God does. And He's the one who sent me.