In June, their oldest daughter, Charity, is getting married to a young man who also grew up as an MK in Kenya. Sweet story there!
Their next two children, Amanda and Timothy, are headed to Heartland Baptist College. So last night at church, painful goodbyes had to be said. The agony on their faces was killing me. I've been there. I know.
So what is it like for a missionary kid to leave home, to leave the people he's grown up with his whole life? Tim got to Kenya when he was three years old. Amanda was four or five. The only way to describe leaving your people is as if your heart is being ripped out of your chest.
I have memories of village people running behind our truck, hands outstretched, weeping and crying as we drove away with broken hearts. As the plane circled above my beloved mountains, I wondered if I would ever come back. I remember begging God to at least let me be a missionary somewhere someday. I knew that my aching, bleeding heart could find its home again on the mission field. It has.
What challenges await a missionary kid on the other side of the ocean? What is it like trying to fit into a culture you do not really know or understand? What is it like having your parents 12,000 miles away when you desperately need to talk to someone who understands you? Oh, there is so much I could say. MK's hold a special place in my heart, and today my heart is praying fervently for two MK's I've recently come to know. May God go with them and be their Source of strength because they will need Him more than ever before. Will you join me in prayer for Tim and Amanda Mickey? And don't forget to pray for their mother. She will be leaving two more of her children and coming back to the mission field with her husband. She lets them go so that they can serve God with their lives, but it is not easy.
3 comments:
I will pray for them. It must be sad for the children and the parents to let them go. When I was a teenager the church I went to had missionary's come back from Africa. It took a while for the kids to "fit in" They weren't used to the culture and had no idea what sarcasm was, it confused them for a long time.
Thanks for sharing. I will be praying.
Recently, our missionary colleagues just returned to the States and I ried for my children as oce again they had to say goodbye.
It's not easy but it does make them stronger.
Thank you for all the sacrifices you all make!!!
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