Archive for Curried Missionary

Curried Missionary Part 9

March 11, 2006 / Molly / No comments

Photo: My parents Trevor and Estelle Burns, sister-in-law Candy (middle) and nephew Malachi who are missionaries in Papua New Guinea

This is Part 9 of Curried Missionary, a booklet I put together on ways to encourage your missionary friends. In the booklet, this section is called ‘Straight From the Horse’s Mouth’ as it’s quotes from over 60 missionary friends on what they found encouraging or discouraging. I hope it’s helpful for you.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Straight From the Horse’s Mouth…

“After writing to over 60 missionaries and asking them to tell of the most encouraging thing we can do for them (or that has been done for them), here are some quotes from their letters.

“ …write a short letter, e-mail or send a card. And, if possible, don’t make it mandatory that the person write back to you right away…a little something ($5 or $10) to my support account…MAYBE IT IS JUST ONE GIFT IN 10 YEARS, BUT THE MISSIONARY WILL REMEMBER AND BE ENCOURAGED”.
~ D. Hill, former American missionary in Niger

“…food that we can not get…favourite magazine or newspaper (eg; New Life)”.
~ K & J Hammen,former Aussie missionaries in Kunnunurra.

“…the best way we have been encouraged while in PNG is through a group of friends who about twice a year e-mail to ask us what the can send each of us. THE FACT THAT THEY ASK, ARE INTERESTED IN OUR PERSONAL LIKES/NEEDS, AND REALLY DO SEND THE THINGS WE MENTION, MEANS THAT THEY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT US PERSONALLY AND IS A GREAT BLESSING TO US. Many people have asked “what can we send or what can we do for you?”, but usually for-get about it”.
~ P & T Harris, former Aussie missionaries in Papua New Guinea.

“For us the best was having visitors. They always brought a little bit of home with them. It always kept us going…” ~ S & J Jay, former English missionaries in Ethiopia.“

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

Curried Missionary Part 8

February 28, 2006 / Molly / 2 comments

Pic: My brother, sister-in-law and nephew arriving in Papua New Guinea as missionaries with New Tribes Mission for the first time.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Part 8 is a summary of ways to encourage missionaries. I would normally print this out to give out to people in meetings, suggesting they pin it up somewhere in their office.
“Ways to Encourage Missionaries

1. Get to know your missionary PERSONALLY. Find out their birthdays, anniversaries, how long they’ve been overseas, what do they exactly do? Ask questions!
2. Find out their likes and dislikes, what are their favourite colours, hobbies, foods etc..
3. Find out what TV shows they might like to watch. News? Sit-coms? Sports events? Movies?
4. What are their children’s likes and dislikes, how old are their children? Favourite colours etc..
5. What products (food, cosmetics, magazines, school products, hobby supplies etc) can and can’t they get where they live?
6. Letters – the simplest card is enough to be encouraging.
7. Small Parcels – with a simple thing such as gravy mix or chewing gum.
8. Bigger Parcels – with something such as a recorded or shop bought video/DVD.
9. Special Gifts – not always just for Birthdays or Christmas!
10. Food – you can send things such as chocolate, lollies, packet foods, specialty foods, (eg; vegemite or nice tea-bags)
11. Cosmetics – soaps, chap sticks, mud packs etc..
12. E-mail – just a short personal note of ‘How are you’ is enough, make sure you ask specific questions such as ‘What kinds of things do you eat over there?’
13. Sermon Tapes – often a missionary can’t get hold of these and they are in need of Spiritual encouragement too.
14. Newspaper articles, cassettes of you speaking, video recordings of yourself/DVDetc…”

Next – Straight From the Horse’s Mouth – 60 missionaries tell you how they’ve been encouraged or discouraged the most.

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

And We’re Off….

February 15, 2006 / Molly / 3 comments

Tomorrow we fly to Sydney (for those non-Perthies it’s around a 4hr flight) and it will be Keziah’s first plane trip. We’re going there to do orientatin for our new roles with SIM. I’m really looking forward to it as we will get to meet the other State Ministry Directors for SA, Tas, Qld, NSW and VIC who are all mostly new to the role as well.

I’ve spent this week doing a lot those little things that are important for the trip and I’ve made about 5 different lists (what to take -us, what to take – Keziah, Nappy Bag contents, what to read before we go, what to do before we go!!!) so I ‘feel’ organised. I’m sure though that I’ll get on the plane and remember something I should have done.

Oh well, I’ll see just how much blogging I get done from Sydney. Oh and Curried Missionary will be taking a break till we get back.

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

Curried Missionary – Part 7

February 12, 2006 / Molly / No comments

Part 7 of Curried Missionary covers some effective ways to send parcels to missionaries including some practical suggestions. I hope you find this a little helpful.

Pic: Me on top of a camel during a trek we did in Niger, West Africa

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

“Postage ~ How to Send

There will of course be a postage cost involved here but it does depend on what you buy. Obviously if you are sending a magazine it may cost more (which is why a subscription would be cheaper) whereas if you are posting a packet of gravy mix it will be lighter. When purchasing things to send always consider weight.

In some countries the missionary may have to pay a customs duty for parcels over a certain weight. ALWAYS CHECK ON CUSTOMS DUTY BEFORE SENDING ITEMS. The last thing you want to do is end up costing your missionary a lot of money at the other end!

If you can’t afford postage, perhaps you could do a small fundraiser in your church (cake stall, craft stall etc…be creative!) and raise money specifically to encourage a missionary.

You can collect an information sheet from the post office, which will let you know weight costs for each country and then weigh your parcel at home to make sure you don’t get stuck with an overweight parcel!

Finally, don’t forget that just as Australia has quarantine restrictions, each country will have theirs too. You can ask at your post office for a list of these items. “

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

What’s Up With Me?

February 8, 2006 / Molly / 5 comments
Lately most of my posts have been a combination of ‘Curried Missionary‘, Illustration Friday and Photo Friday so I thought it was time I put in a general post updating what’s up with me.

Michael and I have been busy collecting furniture which has been donated for our new SIM WA office. The Lord has provided an amazing array of shelving, desks, lounge suites and other things. I think the only thing we don’t have so far is a microwave. We went op shopping this week and bought cups, glasses and cutlery (no plates yet) and I think it cost us a total sum of $11.50 which was pretty good we thought. We still need to buy curtains and are in need of an air conditioner as the room has a tin roof and fibro walls (and poor little Kezi has to sleep in there so it will limit how much time I can spend there with her at this time year). The office is starting to look more ‘officey’ now if you know what I mean. (pics below)

Current view looking towards the entry (looks better now though!)

Slightly different angle (notice the brightly coloured walls, you can tell it was a kid’s club!)

Looking backwards from the first view, this will be the bookshop/library area

And another view of that


Michael and Keziah (and as you can see, the other wall is bright yellow, I love it!)

We are also in the process of joining SIM as long-term missionaries which includes writing out what we belive in a long list of doctrinal statements. It’s actually an enjoyable experience to look at what I believe in about certain areas. We’re off to Sydney for a week soon too to do orientation with the other new State Directors. The Lord has blessed SIM with new directors in Tasmania, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia all at the same time. There’s already one in NSW. Our new Australian Director (Dr Omar Djoeandy) is quite visionary and asked the mission staff to pray for new directors for each state and that’s what we have!

Anyway, that’s our current focus at the moment. We’re looking forward to our start as State Directors for SIM WA after we return from Sydney at the end of February. We also have a commissioning service and dedication of the new office on Saturday March 11th . If you are in Perth and are interested, you’re welcome, just email me for details.

That’s about it really, oh, inbetween feeding, burping, soothing, playing with, dressing, changing (and redressing and rechanging) and bathing Keziah!!

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

Curried Missionary – Part 6

February 4, 2006 / Molly / 7 comments
I’m not sure if this booklet is being of any use to anyone so if you’ve gained a bit of inspiration from it could you let me know? This is part 6 of ‘Curried Missionary, How to spice up your missionaries’ life’.

Pic: Michael (hubby) involved in street drama in Belgium with OM (Operation Mobilisation).

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

“Postage – What to Send Part 2

Sermon Tapes/CDs/DVDs – Often a missionary can’t get hold of these and they are in need of Spiritual encouragement too. In some places a missionary is isolated and learning a new language so hearing an outside voice with an encouraging message is wonderful. Remember to ask if your missionary is in need of these as there are those who prefer not to use them.

Newspaper articles – A missionary who receives news from home will find it easier when they return to their home country. Perhaps you could cut out a collection of local, national and world news and post it to your missionary. When we had people send this to us it was very exciting and we used to read the back and the front of the article, especially the adverts. Don’t forget to send the cartoons page, not just for the kids!

Cassettes/videos/DVDs with recorded messages – Often phoning your missionary is expensive and what better alternative than taping yourself saying hello!

Church bulletins/newsletters/prayer lists – Find out if anyone is sending your missionary the bulletins from your church.

Magazine subscriptions – What interests does your missionary or members of your missionary’s family have? You could organise a maga-zine subscription for them for a year.

A note about (movie) Videos/DVDs – When sending video’s/DVDs consider what you are sending and ask yourself whether the contents are offensive in any way, useful and interesting. Many missionaries do not have television program access due to isolation but they do have a TV and video/DVD or access to one. At nighttime, when things are quiet it’s wonderful to be able to watch a video/DVD. If you send a movie, expect that it will then be passed around the missionary community until most people have borrowed it! What a useful thing to send.

There are other types of videos/DVDs that are very useful. There are many schools on the mission field that have limited resources. If there is a science program on TV, record it. What about recording and sending the news? Remember, it is always good to leave in some adverts, as your missionary will watch each and every one of them. It’s amazing what you miss from home when you are so far away. You may need to check if the customs of the country you are sending to use x-ray equipment that may effect the video. You will have to label the package clearly to avoid damage.”

Next – Postage – how to send!

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

Curried Missionary – Part 5

January 31, 2006 / Molly / One comment

This is part 5 from my booklet entitled ‘Curried Missionary, how to spice up your missionarie’s life’. Other parts to this booklet can be found here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

“Postage ~ What to Send (Part 1)

Letters – The simplest card is so encouraging to a missionary. In some places mail is only received once a week or in others, once a month. This means that MAIL IS A HIGH POINT IN THEIR WEEK. If you are not a letter writer, a card with something small enclosed such as stickers for the kids or a newspaper article is enough.

Small Parcels – With simple things such as gravy mix or chewing gum (remember to find out if these things are available in your missionaries country first) enclosed.

Bigger Parcels – With something such as a recorded or shop bought video, an Australian souvenir or an item of food that you know your missionary loves and cannot get.

Special Gifts – Occasionally it’s nice to send a gift out of the blue, not always just for Birthdays or Christmas. We all love surprises.

Food – You can send things such as chocolate, lollies, packet foods and specialty foods, (eg; vegemite or nice teabags) but always check that these items are allowed to be sent into your missionary’s country. You can find out from the post office which products cannot be sent.

Cosmetics – In some places there is only one choice of soap whereas others have a bigger selection. In many places both the men and the women will use chap sticks (of course the men would use unscented ones with no colouring!) but they may be expensive to buy. Occasionally something special such as aftershave or talc would be appreciated but always find out whether you can post these items (and find out what your missionary’s favourite scent is).

E-mail – If you have access to e-mail, use it for the Lord! Use it to en-courage missionaries every week. Send them updates of news items or perhaps what the Pastor spoke about on Sunday. Just a short note of ‘How are you’ is enough, make sure you ask specific questions such as ‘What kinds of things do you eat over there?’ Whatever you do, DON’T USE IT TO SEND GOSSIP.”

(Pic: Michael and I with the Sahel Academy sign in Niger, West Africa)

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

Curried Missionary Part 4

January 26, 2006 / Molly / No comments

This is part 4 of my booklet ‘Curried Missionary’. Throughout the booklet there are quotes from missionaries I know personally that I collected in my research. This section starts with one of them. (Pic: Michael on a camel in Niger)

“Personal, Genuine Interest

“…THE FACT THAT THEY ASK, ARE INTERESTED IN OUR PERSONAL LIKES/NEEDS, AND REALLY DO SEND THE THINGS WE MENTION, MEANS THAT THEY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT US PERSONALLY AND IS A GREAT BLESSING TO US.” ~ P & T Harris, Aussie missionaries in PNG.

Getting to know your missionary PERSONALLY is very important. Find out their birthdays, anniversaries, how long they’ve been on the field, what do they exactly do? Find out their likes and dislikes, what are their favourite colours, hobbies, foods etc.. Find out what TV shows they might like to watch. News? Sit-coms? Sports events? Movies? What are their children’s likes and dislikes, how old are their children? Favourite colours etc… What products (food, cosmetics, magazines, school supplies, hobby needs etc) can and can’t they get? What is the temperature like where they live? Is it a tropical, hot or cold environment? Be creative with what you send. All of these things are important to know so you can send gifts that are useful and so that you don’t waste the Lord’s money.

Once you have collected this information (and most missionaries would love to be asked these types of questions!) you can put it to good use. Here are some ways that you can do so.”

Ways to do this will be in part 5.

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

Curried Missionary – Part 3

January 23, 2006 / Molly / One comment

This is part three of my booklet entitled ‘Curried Missionary’. Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 can be found here. (pic: us in PNG when visiting my parents)


“Discouragement
It is very easy for a missionary who is a long way from home to become discouraged. An overseas missionary (or one in their own cultural context) is not a super spiritual person who is immune to this but someone who the Lord has called to minister in another country and culture and who, like all Christians are prone to the devil’s attacks from every angle. If that person receives little or no news from home the discouragement increases.

In a missionary environment the feeling of failure to produce ‘results’ rears it’s head often. The devil will attack in any way possible and from every angle. As with all Christians, a missionary is fighting a spiritual battle every day but often without the constant physical support that is available to us here in Australia. If we are discouraged we can go to a number of sources to be encouraged such as our church Pastor, family members, friends or even go to our Christian bookstore and pick up an encouraging book.

Your missionary is most likely not able to do these things and therefore, the spiritual battle is very wearing and tiring both physically and spiritually. It is up to us as part of our missionary’s support system to encourage them in every way possible. Unfortunately we have often failed at this and so we can be ‘in part’ responsible for many missionaries leaving the overseas field discouraged. In the following pages I will share way’s to encourage missionaries physically through what I have found out in my own experiences and through speaking to many missionaries personally.”

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /

Curried Missionary Part 2

January 19, 2006 / Molly / One comment

I thought I’d put up the next part of my booklet for you so here it is.

“Introduction

If we are unable to go to ‘the field’ (specifically focussing on the overseas field) then we can do many things to support and encourage missionaries. There are those of us who support them by sending money or praying regularly but there is much more we can do to ensure that they are encouraged from all sides. From my observations there are three major reasons why missionaries leave the field even after long-term ministry overseas. These include, medical reasons (such as malaria, allergies or childbirth), educational reasons (especially during or at the end of high school) and discourage-ment. In the areas of education and medical we are able to help through prayer and financial support, discouragement is another matter alto-gether.”
(pic: us at the airport leaving Niamey in 2001)

Category: All Sorts of Things, Curried Missionary /
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