Missionary Life

I’m way off topic on this one, but the title remains appropriate from a completely different take. My truck broke down last week in the most peculiar of locations. Actually I limped it over to where my mechanic, Carlos, was working for the day. As he peered inside the engine compartment, he whispered to me, “Don’t freak out, but they’re selling drugs on the corner.” “Nah, it’s all right,” I quickly replied to prove my street savvyness. I figured I hear about drugs and drug addicts all the time; I can handle this. I dropped the brim of my cap down on top of my glasses and sneaked a peek of the action. One look and look away! Good golly! Did I see what I think I saw?—I panicked to myself. I looked again. Miss Molly, they’re running a drive-thru operation with cars in wait. Blowing my cool, I queried Carlos about the scene. “All day long, Ben. They sell the whole day,” [...]

I’ve just spent way too much time browsing the Web. Somehow I started reading random missionary journals, blogs, updates, and newsletters; and I noticed something I’ve never noticed before! Yah, you’ll never read about it (as far as my official 1-hour of research was able to tell). Missionaries from Agency A never talk about their work alongside missionaries from Agencies B,C,D, and Z. I could not find a single case! [...]

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been pouring through Jim Cramer’s book, Confessions of a Street Addict. Chapter 8, titled Desai, tells the story of how Ravi Desai, ripped Jim Cramer off for a boatload of money and heartache. Desai is a big-time con. Plug his name into a search engine, and you’ll read about the rest of the scams he’s been involved in.

But that’s business. Cramer lost (at least a few inches off) his shorts (and that’s not a pleasant picture). But he bounced back with tenacity, amassing his fortune. I think it’s almost proven that those who reach great heights, fall quite frequently in the process of arrival.

While working as a volunteer or missionary, the same occurs—only in smaller, but just as painful, quantities [...]

…create a lot of competition. And competition creates marketing. And marketing creates manipulation.

A good friend of mine works in marketing. I respect him, and his work, greatly. Saying that, I always had a running joke with him that marketers would be more appropriately named manipulators. But where and how does marketing fit into non-profits? —Especially Christian organizations?

I just returned from the funeral of my uncle-in-law. He died suddenly of a heart attack. Didn’t know the man too well, I think we’d met three or four times. Other than a few cultural twists, the funeral was fairly straight forward—last night we had the viewing followed by the burial today. The scene crossed cultural lines. There were people openly crying, others dry-eyed. Somebody said how great it was he went so quickly. “Didn’t hardly suffer a thing—hope I can go that fast, without suffering.” Many chimed in. “We are the ones that are sad. He’s in a better place.” And on and on went the usual funeral small talk.

If I were a Youth Pastor leading a mission trip to Tijuana (as thousands do every year), I would not make a stop at Disneyland on the way back home. I’m not ready to condemn the leader who does greet Mickey and Minnie, but I think it’s a sketchy move for several reasons. [...]

Newton’s Third Law states: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Tomorrow I’m going to hand out a ton of Number 2 pencils in a very poor area. They were donated to us from a source in the States. It’s a cool story how and who rounded them up—but that’s for another article. But we’ve literally got bazillions of pencils; so each kid’s gonna get at least a few of them.

All good up until now? Maybe not. There’s always pros and cons to everything. In the case of giving out pencils—albeit a relatively insignificant gesture—there are negative effects. Bare with me.

On my first ever short-term mission trip, I was part of a team that built a house for a single, young mother of a handful of small children. At the time I would have done just about anything for the family. In fact, I did—sort of. Just a few months later I was back down in the same neighborhood where our group built two more homes. To my delight, I was able to find the young mother after a couple hours of searching. I was thrilled! The experience was super emotional. She asked me for money to buy food and I unloaded my wallet. Wow, was I grateful for the opportunity to be there and help. For the years to follow I thought about this family and their little home frequently.
 
I believe this is common of short-term mission trips. They’re impacting, stirring, unforgettable, and life changing. However, now that I’ve lived in Mexico for several years, I look back on my short-term mission trips with some embarrassment. I don’t boast that I now have belt-notches of wisdom, but I do look at the same scenery through a thicker lens.

Back in college I took Debate 101. The national resolution for the quarter was “Technology degrades the quality of human life.” So for our final grade we had to debate both sides of the issue against a fellow student. I could think of nothing else the entire quarter—continually trying to out-debate myself. And when it came down to the real debate, I convinced myself pro-technology that day of the debate, and anti-technology for the next day.
Outside of the university scene, however, I find myself in the middle, struggling between the pros and cons of technology—except for last Sunday. Pastor Miguel told us a story that flipped me back into debate-day mode [...]

A garbage truck stopped in front of my house just in time the other day. I had a plastic grocery bag filled with broken glass and dirt that I’d swept up from the street. The night before, someone busted out the window of an abandoned car that has been in our view for the last [...]