Are You A Missionary?
Author's note: You may consider reading “Let’s Check it Out” for a little background.
We finished our survey trip. To say that we are a little overwhelmed would be quite the understatement. We were up this morning at about 3:30 am to catch a 6 am flight from Lisbon to Munich. Upon arriving in Munich there was quite some confusion about whether our flight is leaving or if we have to find a new flight but after three trips to customer service, which is on the other end of the terminal, we figured it out. So here we are sitting on the airplane that is taking us back to Nebraska. So many thoughts, feelings, emotions, and questions are flooding my mind. “Are we really doing this? Is this what God wants? Is this going to work? Can I really eat fish three meals a day? Is Portugal a fit for us? Can we really leave our friends and family that we served with for 20+ years?” And then it happened, we met Andre.
Andre was our flight attendant just doing what he’s probably done a million times, walking the aisles checking on passengers making sure everyone has their seatbelts on, the usual. Andre started talking to us and one of the first statements out of his mouth was, “Are you missionaries?” And at that moment I was speechless. I really didn’t know how to answer that question… for a moment… And then I replied with a smile on my face, YES we are, we are going to be missionaries to Portugal. As he left to check on other passengers all the emotions hit me at once and the tears started. It was kind of embarrassing because I could tell out of the corner of my eye that my wife was staring me down like a hawk. Wow, we are really doing this.
The statement “Yes, we are missionaries” may be easy to say, but what that means is so much more. For sure it means figuring out a new world and a new language–yikes. It means selling our house and everything we’ve ever owned. It means traveling to raise support, hard times and fun times ahead, but more than anything it means saying goodbye to our home for over 20 years. God has been so good to us. He’s blessed us with a beautiful family, great friends, and an amazing church to serve in which is full of even more amazing people.
During the 9 hour flight we were able to talk to Andre a few more times and tell him our story. He was so supportive and thrilled at our journey.
It’s amazing how well my wife knows me. I knew she awkwardly saw me crying but not sure if she knew why. About a month after our trip we were talking to some friends and she said, “Hey Billy, tell them what that flight attendant said when we left Germany.” She gets it.
So yes, Andre, and yes God, we will be missionaries to Portugal.