Posted in Childhood, Faith, Family, Third Culture Kid

1,246 Missionary Slides (The Best and the Worst)

Posted on by Esther Goetz

“You know you’re a missionary kid when you see a picture of your family on random peoples’ refrigerators.”  (Anonymous)

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, Jared scanned all of my parents’ slides from Africa.  It’s one of those projects that keeps getting put off, but we actually tackled it and got it done.  They were coming here for the holiday and all of my siblings and my parents were going to be together.   So, on Thanksgiving Eve, we spent most of the afternoon viewing them on the large TV screen in our family room and heard stories about each one.  Needless to say, we made a pretty good dent.

That same weekend, in conjunction with the slides, I asked my parents about the “Five Best and Worst Things” about being a missionary in the latter half of the 20th Century.   I seized the opportunity to listen and learn what it was like from their perspective.   I have had my personal kid’s-eye-view and have spent years processing my own experience (good and bad), but I was in the dark about theirs.  Truth be told, I heard stories that corroborated my memories and beliefs and learned many things that were new and unexpected.

Here are their Top Five(ish):

Mom Worst

  1. Deputation. Dragging the kids around to all kinds of churches in the USA trying to raise money. (This seems nuts to me and I remember how we all didn’t like it either.)
  2. No converts.  Questioning what they were doing there.
  3. Terrible food.
  4. Leaving her kids at boarding school.  It was a heartbreak.
  5. Not getting along with other missionaries.

Mom Best (she only had Four)

  1. Freedom not to be encumbered with constant schedules.
  2. Teaching in the school.
  3. Experiences that you were exposed to that were “out of the norm.”
  4. Getting to know people from all over the world.  The friendships they developed.

Dad Worst (he only had Three)

  1. So few converts.  Asked himself, “what are we doing here?”
  2. Deputation.  (see above crazy-making)
  3. Not getting along with other missionaries (I’m seeing a pattern).

Dad Best 

  1. Learning another language.
  2. Traveling to new places.
  3. Seeing kids learn in the school where they were teaching.
  4. The experience with the death of a close friend who was gunned down in front of his wife by an extremist and how God protected him and my mom. (sounds like a best and worst to me)
  5. Meeting people from other countries (missionaries and nationals) and all the friendships they made.

I learned a lot about my parents over Thanksgiving and continue to.  This past week, we plowed ahead through more slides during a visit as my mom is recovering from surgery after being diagnosed with cancer.  It makes our time even more precious and the learning and gleaning even more pressing.  So far, here are my top five takeaways which are for all of us, missionary kid or not (sorry, the new correct phrase is third culture kid).

My Takeaways

  1. There were a lot of slides of animals I only now see in zoos.  Growing up in another country meant having a different experience than your average American kid (like my husband).  Attending boarding school, living as a minority and foreigner, knowing people from all over the world, being surrounded by war and poverty, vacationing in exotic places, and eating strange food is not your average American childhood.  But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  I’m sure you wouldn’t trade yours either, no matter how or where you grew up.  It makes us into the people we are today, both broken and beautiful.
  2. Those 18 years my parents spent serving God in a far-away country was exciting, hard, beautiful and complicated all at the same time.  Like all of our lives, my parents’ lives were filled with struggles and triumphs, joys and sorrows.  I draw comfort in knowing this.  My “normal” adult life has looked very different from theirs on the outside.  But my own life has been filled with the exciting, hard, beautiful and complicated as well.  It’s not what’s happening on the outside that matters most.  It’s what’s happening on the inside.
  3. They matter and all their experiences matter.  It was really good for me to take a peek from their point-of-view, to understand all of this effected them, as well as us four kids, for both good and bad.  I have been so wrapped up in my own “how this effected me” for a long time.  It was helpful to step out of that for a moment to see the view through another lens.  I want to do this more often with all those I know.  My life will be richer when I do.
  4. Our family mattered to my parents.  My mom wants to delete every slide that doesn’t have one of us in it.  She keeps saying, “What does that matter to our family?”  I love this.  For a long time, I had a warped perspective on this.  My view was that “God’s work” was more important than our family.  It’s just not true for the Marets at the very core.  It’s so good for me to know that.  It brings great healing to me.  Yes.  They made mistakes.  Yes.  It was very hard and unusual.  BUT.  Yes.  They did their best.  Yes.  They loved us.  (Doesn’t sound very different from my own family and my own children.)  This is where grace comes in and wins!
  5. Life comes down to people.  People are the hardest parts of our lives.  People are the best parts of our lives.  It doesn’t matter where we are in the world, what cultural differences we have, or what we are trying to accomplish together, it all boils down to people and the relationships we build with them.   People bring the most frustration and hurt, but they also bring the most joy and healing.  We can try to avoid people and all the “bad” stuff they bring, but in doing so, we miss out on all the hope and healing and love that they bring to us.  People are worth it!

My heart is for greater healing for each of us.  This project is bringing me much.  It brings me back to what matters most:  being fully-known and loved, but with a twist.  This time was not about me being known, but getting to know another.  That’s my unexpected surprise.  I hope this will prompt you to take on a project (person) of your own.  Who knows what will happen?

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Author:

Sappy, sarcastic, serious and spiritual hope-bringer. Eat my potato chips with milk.

23 thoughts on “1,246 Missionary Slides (The Best and the Worst)”

  1. Love this! I remember you told me about this over dinner and it’s so good to read about how you expanded your view by asking about their experience and that it gave you understanding and brought you closer! Life and people, as you say, are messy but beautiful. Love you!

    Sent from my iPhone

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  2. I just happened across this. My parents have been working on scanning and annotating all their slides for some time now. It’s great that you can do this.

    By the way, the original quote is “You have this deep, sinking feeling that someone, somewhere, still has that fifth-grade braces-and-stringy-hair picture of you on their refrigerator.” It’s from “You Know You’re an MK When. . . .” by Andy and Deborah Kerr. We’re not all that anonymous. 🙂

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    1. Oh my gosh. I found that quote on the internet in a google image. I can attribute it to you. I am excited about your parents’ slides. How fun! It’s great that they are annotating them. We are doing all that together. 🙂

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    2. We moved here 18 years ago, the area where both my parents were born and raised, and, thankfully, got most of their support so we didn’t have to be carted around too much to speak in churches. One evening I was in one of those supporting churches for an event. Our family prayer card was on their bulletin board. The one from 1979. This was 2001. I sighed and laughed. But I did notice, the next time I was at that church, that I was no longer there.

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  4. Esther- I love this! Such an interesting life your family has had. I vividly remember your mentioning that feeling you had that your parents’ work was more important than the family because I remember the feeling of sadness I had for you when you said it. I am sooo happy that you spoke to them and uncovered all that you did! Isn’t it amazing the things we can learn by simply asking? This is a great lesson and reminder to me about the importance of “checking in” with people and asking them about their perceptions rather than solely focusing on my own (which I have a tendency to do!). It sounds like you had some wonderful moments with your family viewing all of the pictures and sharing your memories. Oh, and I had no idea of all that missionaries go through (deputation sounds the worst 😫). And also, you were a cutie as a child🙂

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  5. It seems to me like I read this somewhere before. I agree with your parents that one of the hardest things on the mission field is working with other missionaries. Working with missionaries from different home countries and different mother tongues complicates ir even further. I grew up in Bolivia (1955-1965) and have served as a missionary here from August 1973 to the present (July 2018).

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    1. Thank you Anna! I love Bolivia. I have visited about five years ago on a short-terms missions trip with my daughter. It reminded me so much of Ethiopia, where I grew up. I love that you are still there! WOW!

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      3. Oh my! I knew your grandparents and was at the school for missionary kids with Miriam Jeunnette. She often talked about her older siblings in America, though I never met any of them. Our family was close to the Watkins family and David, the oldest is one of my closest friends. We visit each other usually once a year, though he is on the east coast and we live in California. I never knew that your mom had gone to Ethiopia as a missionary. I saw Miriam in 2010 at a reunion for mks in Wheaton, Illinois. I would love to know more about your family and what happened to all the Jeunnette siblings–Philip, Jimmy, etc.

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      4. Oh my goodness! This is amazing! My friend Jody’s dad is one of the Watkins and we found out our connection sitting in a little women’s group in my living room about 10 years ago. I can’t believe it. Are you on FB?

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      5. Yes, I am on FB. Will you send me a friend request? I am Marvae Olson Sutherland. I knew Jody’s dad, Dan, very well. He was only 8 months older than I and we were in school together in Africa and were in a home for mks in Wheaton, Illinois, also. Dan just died last June, but his older brother Dave is my good friend. Are you in touch with your Aunt Miriam?

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      6. Yes. I was at Dan’s daughter’s wedding at the end of April and met both he and Dave. So sad that he passed so suddenly. I do not regularly speak with my Aunt Miriam, but can let her know that I’ve met you now. 🙂 Such a small world!!

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