The Bucket List

Learn to play an instrument... Check.

Go whitewater rafting... hmmm... need to work on that one.

Tour the Biltmore Estate... Check.

Go to Disney World... Check.

Go skydiving?

No way. That's not going on my list.

Bucket List: (n)
A list of accomplishments or achievements a person hopes to complete during their lifetime.

I admit it. I have a list of things I would love to do sometime in my life. Now it isn't written down or anything. It's just in my head. Some people actually write their list down and work on it. They probably have a better chance of accomplishing the items on their list that way.

As I recently read a bucket list someone typed up, it got me thinking. Most of the items on the list were adventure, entertainment, or interest-driven. I have to say, my unwritten bucket list also looks pretty similar.

Go to a professional football game.
Go to a Carolina/Duke basketball game.
Run a 5K race.
And so on...

But what if missionaries made a bucket list? How different would it look?

I asked some fellow BMWs to help me come up with a bucket list... a bucket list that is a little more... um, missions-minded! Only BMWs could come up with a bucket list this bold... adventurous... and this hilariously true-to-life! I actually had to delete several for safety reasons... after all, driving with six people on a scooter isn't exactly legal in most places. And driving on the opposite side of the road while shifting gears with your left hand... well, only the truly crazy attempt things like that. (Skydiving doesn't look quite so scary after reading this list!)

BMWs all over the world are putting the challenge out there for you to get involved, walk in their shoes, and get a little crazy!

So here it is...

The Baptist Missionary Women Bucket List

How many items can you check off the list?

Every one of these items has been done by at least one of our BMWs. Most have been done by many of them! And most are done on a regular basis!

Getting Involved

• Read a missionary biography.
• Go on a short term missions trip in a foreign country.
• Visit a missionary on the field.
• Write a letter to a missionary.
• Send a Christmas card to a missionary family.
• Collect missionary prayer cards and make a prayer card photo book or box. (Then actually PRAY for the missionaries.)
• Send some KoolAid packets to some MKs. (Missionary kids!)
• Skype call a missionary.
• Send a care package to a missionary.
• Send a care package to a college MK separated from his or her family who is on the field.
• Take a missionary on furlough shopping.
• Fill a furlough or deputation missionary's gas tank.
• Reach out to a missionary woman to encourage her.
• Financially support a missionary.
• Go out with a missionary woman for a special ladies day... mani/pedi, massages, coffee, etc, and just get to know her.
• Add a missionary to your smart phone: keep up with her weather, her time zone, and her special events calendar so you can pray for her.

Getting In Their Shoes

• Wash a full load of laundry by hand and hang it out to dry.
• Take cold showers for a week.
• Shower completely using only a gallon of water.
• Walk somewhere you would normally drive.
• Go all summer without AC.
• Go all winter without central heat.
• Design a prayer card.
• Buy your favorite candy bar, but do not eat it until you have your next visitor.
• Make a truly foreign/international dish (we're not talking about spaghetti or tacos.)
• Learn a new language (Or at least several phrases and a Bible verse.)
• Cook every meal from scratch for one week (no packets, no cans, no pre-made ANYTHING... not even self-rising flour or sour cream.)
• Go without fast food for one month.
• Communicate an entire day only using three words/phrases: Hello, Thank you, and I'm an American (Yes, BMWs are professionals at playing charades.)
• When going out to eat, order something from the menu that you have no idea what it is... and don't ask.
• Grocery shop in a NON-American grocery store.
• Pay all your bills in person, not online.
• Buy your veggies from one store, your meats from another store, and your household items from another store.
• Go a week without a WalMart, a SuperCenter, or a supermarket of any kind.
• Cook meals for an entire day in a rice cooker.
• Bake 100 cookies to give away.
• Go 24 hours without using any electricity or internet.

Get a Little Crazy!

• Eat an insect.
• Sleep under a mosquito net.
• Fill out a church missionary questionnaire.
• Use a squat toilet (squatty potty) (You may have to improvise on this one!)
• Learn to drive a scooter.
• Buy a 5 lb block of cheese and grate it by hand.
• Flush toilets only once a day for a week (Gotta save that precious water!)
• Eat every meal with chop sticks for a day.
• Wear the same outfit to church for a month.
• Record your pastor's sermon, and listen to it five times in one week.
• Buy the most expensive jar of peanut butter you can find (You'd be surprised how thin you can spread peanut butter that costs more than your shoes.)
• Eat with your hands at a church potluck dinner.
• Take a cold, bucket bath.
• Learn to parallel park in tight spaces (6 inches to spare.)

So, how many of these did you check off? Let us know in the comments.

Also, see if you can improve your BMW Bucket List score this month. Let us know if you are up to the challenge.