Wednesday, 23 July 2008
-
Living With Terrorism: My Life as Missionary Kid, Pt. 2
from joshuahughes
Continued from My Life as a Missionary Kid
Now that I only have one semester of college left, I'm spending the summer in Kunming, China studying Chinese in order to graduate and earn a degree I never plan to use. As some of you may have seen in the news, the city was the recent victim of a terrorist attack, one that I might have been affected by had I not delayed my class schedule a week earlier. All in all, it's been an eventful week for myself and others in the community as we have been laying low until the motives and affiliations of the organization that propagated these attacks becomes clearer.
Events like these are common for anyone who lives overseas (as most MKs do) and every MK knows that there are several risks involved with their parents' occupation. Not all of us had the luxury of living in countries that respect our parents' work or even their lives. I remember days skirting government officials and nights (after having moved from the city to the countryside) when I'd hear banging on the door at 1 AM followed by loud yells and my dad's disappearance outside. At the time, I tried not to let my 12 year-old mind wander with all the possible dire outcomes - believe me, there were plenty.Most of us can tell you horror stories about “So-and-so who got deported and lost everything,” others can recount months spent in concentration camps during WWII. Despite the constant uncertainty, I never remember thinking, “This is crazy...” or “How could my parents put me in this situation?!” My family and I made peace with that fear before we left the States, but the shadow of possible consequences followed us wherever we went.
The necessity of relying on God's grace and protection is very apparent to MKs, as we have all witnessed some extreme form of his providence, whether it comes in the form of a delayed class schedule or an anonymous check for $100. Though the stakes for MK’s in my era are not quite as high as say, those growing up on the field 60 years ago, we still face renegade governments and extremist organizations that would love nothing more then to make an example of a young family of five living so seemingly unprotected in the middle of nowhere.How has God protected you (or your family)?
-
recommend
- recs 0
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to revelife's Revelife Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in revelife's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
Comments (9)
If you are going to go into a country that dosnt want you, then you should expect them to try and get you to leave.....so just leave they dont want your "Jesus" brand cookies or crosses
@Dillonwren@xanga - Because Love demands to be shared. He demands every opportunity to be enjoyed and deeply embibed.
The last time I went on a mission trip to India, my friends and I had just come back from a market in Delhi, when we heard on the news there was a bombing at the same market we had just left... if we would have stayed 30 minutes longer, that could have been us. It was just amazing to think how the Lord was watching out for us.
God has come through for us numerous times. In big ways and in small.
i guess i've been fortunate to not have been in situations like this, even though i've been on short-term missions to countries that weren't exactly open to missionaries. but keep writing/sharing - i really enjoy reading your stories and perspective.
I grew up in the Philippines--a country rife with terrorism (both political and religious). I tell my non-MK friends that my high school didn't have snow days, they had "bomb threat" days. A lot of people I know left in 2001 and 2002, mainly because of 9 / 11 and the Burnham's abduction.
Back in 1976, a bomb went off outside the Summer Institute of Linguistics house in Bogotá, Colombia. My girlfriend's father had just picked it up and set it back down. He and his family were shielded from the blast by parked cars, but the front door of the house was blown in, and windows were shattered on the whole block.
My family lived in the south of Colombia in the 60s, during the early years of guerrilla activity. One guerrilla decided to desert, so my dad helped him get on a flight out of town. Years later, while my dad was preaching at a church in Bogotá, a man identified himself as an ex-guerrilla, and said that there had been a price on my dad's head as a result of his helping the other man. When asked why no one had ever collected on it, he said it wasn't enough money to make it worth while!
My dad taught in the counseling program at a university in Medellín for many years. He received threats from leftists there, and I saw graffitti in the university restrooms that criticized him.
We were fortunate enough not to suffer violence, but several friends were kidnapped and/or killed over the years.
@AngelBeast777@xanga - ok
Keeping me out of jail or worse.
He has kept my family together, through strong faith and hard work. He has let my parents not abandon me when I need them most, NOW! If we dont have faith, this life isnt worth living.