Missionary Lock-Picking

So what do you do when you are 10,000 miles from the States and July 4th is coming?

You invite fellow missionaries over and plan an adventure!
OK, so I invited them over to teach them how to steal, pick locks, and plunder. Let me explain.

Holidays like the Fourth of July can be tough for missionaries. No fireworks. No familiar decorations in the stores and no large family cookouts.

Many missionaries make the best of what they have. Their family dons the red, white, and blue. Mom finds a way to make a red, white, and blue dessert. They grill a hamburger if they can. And they pray to thank God for His goodness on America.

Many missionaries live quite a distance from other missionaries, so they celebrate quietly as a family.

What does our family do? We have chosen to reach out to other missionaries from around the valley and invite them to celebrate with us. Some of them have to travel long distances to get to our home, so we try to make it worth their trip.

The first year we hosted this event, we had confetti poppers filled with treats and played a trivia/charades/Pictionary style game to earn the right to pop the confetti poppers.

The second year, there were tons of children, so we planned a carnival with a ring toss game, knock the cans over game, and more. The children earned prizes when they won their game.

We could not host the Fourth of July party in 2015 because of the national disaster we had here. It also fell on a church day, but we we were all so busy with disaster relief work that it would not have worked on any day of the week. We missed getting together with them. In 2016 our family was on furlough. Again, we missed this special event with our friends.

It's 2017 and our family refused to miss another year. We longed to see our friends smiling, laughing, and enjoying fellowship around the goodness of God for our country.

Once again we planned a special day that I hope they will remember for a long time.

Here is what we did:

Food:

Everyone pitched in on the food. We had barbecue sandwiches, potato salad, fruit, veggies with dip, corn on the cob, cole slaw, chips and dip, fried apple pies, and no-bake cookies. Since everyone pitched in on the food, no one was overwhelmed with preparation.

Devotion:

Yes, missionaries treasure any time we get to fellowship around God's Word. The devotion was wonderful! We are thankful to be Americans, but we also long to see God exalted in our host country.

The Games:

For the younger children we set up a play room. One of the moms of two of the younger children helped me set this room up. Toy train, Hot Wheels cars, a road floor mat, Tinker Toys, a puzzle, balloons, and more.

Game #1

Red, White, and "You"
About half the people were given white clothes pins to wear on their shirts. If they said the word "you," someone without a clothes pin could steal their clothes pin. If they kept the clothes pin throughout the game time, they got 5 points. (Limit one clothes pin per person)

Game #2

Oh Say Can You See?
I had hidden red clothes pins around the house. If they found one, they got 5 points. (Limit one clothes pin per person)

Game #3

Wear Oh Wear?
If they wore red, white, and blue, they got 5 points. It had to be clothing, not accessories, nail polish, or undergarments.

Game #4

Freedom
Have you ever heard of the escape/breakout rooms that are so popular in the States right now? We created our own version. Instead of locking people in the rooms, we locked our little dog MoMo in a room with a combination lock on the door. (Everybody loves our sweet dog, MoMo. She was good motivation to rescue her from her prison.)


Here was the story line:

Captain MoMo of the American Army was captured by the British. She has lots of information that the American Army doesn't want the British to have access to. The Army has selected three groups to try to rescue Captain MoMo. They have to solve clues to figure out the combination to set her free. The first group to set her free gets national appreciation as well as a promotion in the Army.

We divided the missionaries into three groups. I set up three rooms with all the exact same clues. I also included some distractions that had nothing to do with the game just to make it a little tougher.

The three groups went to their assigned rooms and began working feverishly to solve the clues. There were eight clues total. They had to have all eight clues in order to get the combination. 

Here are the clues:

Clue #1:

I taped numbers and a plus sign on the spine of books in a series. To get the right number, they had to put the books in series order with the math sign at the beginning.

This clue was +267.

Clue #2:

I removed covers from DVD cases and put white paper on the inside. Then I used permanent marker to write the number for the clue. I wrote other numbers on the case with dry erase marker. In order to get the number, they had to figure out that some of the numbers could be erased. The answer to this clue was -982.

Clue #3:

I wrote a thank-you note thanking my mom for a shoe. This clue actually held a hint for clue #4. On the left side, I drew a picture of a shoe with Morse code that when solved read "plus 12." They would have to use their phones to look up Morse code. The solution for this clue was +12.

Clue #4:

In the room I had a couple of pairs of shoes against the wall, but then with those shoes I had a single shoe. Inside that shoe was a paper that read "-117."

Clue #5:

Hidden in the room were two index cards. One card had numbers and math signs. The other had holes. When the holey index card is placed on the other card, it reveals the correct numbers.

The solution to this one was -181.

Clue #6:

I wrote the number on the back of a greeting card cover. Then I cut it into a four-piece puzzle. The pieces were hidden around the room. One piece was hidden in the dry erase DVD cover.

The solution to this clue was +345.

Clue #7:

I opened a hymn book to a patriotic song. I took some wooden letters and wrote the number for the clue on the back. In order to get the order of the number right, they had to remember from music class "Every Good Boy Does Fine."

The solution to this clue was +1037.

Clue #8:

In the room, I placed batteries and I placed a flashlight without batteries somewhere else in the room. The goal was to get them to try to place the batteries in the flashlight. But inside the flashlight battery compartment was a small part of an index card with a number on it.

The number was -45.

The solution to this clue was -45.

The lock was tried many times.

When all the numbers are totaled, the final number is 336.

That was the combination to the lock.

Distractions in the room:

A receipt

a pile of coins

Other books

Other DVDs

A plate, bowl, and fork

Other greeting cards

A pencil

It took them 45 minutes before someone solve the puzzles. Many said the time seemed to fly by because they had so much fun.

The winning team members all received 5 points each.

We tallied the points up from all the games. The winner received a basket full of American goodies that everyone pitched in and donated. Ranch mix, chili powder, banana nut muffin mix, nutmeg, a Yankee candle, Bath and Body Works lotion, and much more!

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From our field to yours, we hope you all had a wonderful July 4th. Please remember to pray for missionaries who may not have other people to celebrate this special day with each year. Reach out to them and encourage them.

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Laughter Is Really Serious

A long time ago when someone was interested in possibly joining our ministry here, our team compiled a list of what we thought were missionary "essentials" in order for our team to work well. If you wanted to join our team, we hoped that you would agree with these essentials and have them in your own life. Since then, I've sometimes thought of other "essentials," or at least, good-to-haves. I thought I'd share them with you when the mood strikes.

So what makes a good missionary?

One of the original points on the list was a sense of humor. We were not made to carry the gravity of the most serious task in the world without a break of merriment. Steel can only be stressed so long and so hard. Now this point does not require that you would be expected to perform extemporaneous stand-up comedian routines, but can you recognize humor and have an appropriate sense of humor?

This is actually an important issue in team ministry. What we laugh about says a lot about us. Likewise, what a culture in general finds funny communicates their worldview and character. So in a mission team, when there is only one other person or couple in your large area who understands both your home culture and your host culture, it can be extremely frustrating if the teammate laughs at things that you deem un-funny, or highly disappointing if they don't see the humor in something you find obviously hilarious. In fact, we can get very angry about what others laugh at or don't laugh at.

You won't be sorry if you read this very long quote that says this much better than I can:

...I propose to cut through it by considering one of the raw materials from which culture is built, namely laughter. All rational beings laugh--and maybe only rational beings laugh. And all rational beings benefit from laughing. As a result there has emerged a peculiar human institution--that of the joke, the repeatable performance in words or gestures that is designed as an object of laughter.

Now there is a great difficulty in saying exactly what laughter is. It is not just a sound....Nor is it just a thought, like the thought of some object as incongruous. It is a response to something, which also involves a judgment of that thing. Moreover, it is not an individual peculiarity....Laughter is an expression of amusement. Laughter begins as a collective condition, as when children giggle together over some absurdity. And in adulthood amusement remains one of the ways in which human beings enjoy each other's company, become reconciled to their differences, and accept their common lot. Laughter helps us to overcome our isolation and fortifies us against despair.

That does not mean that laughter is subjective in the sense that "anything goes," or that it is uncritical of its object. On the contrary, jokes are the object of fierce disputes, and many are dismissed as "not funny," "in bad taste," "offensive," and so on. The habit of laughing at things is not detachable from the habit of judging things to be worthy of laughter. Indeed, amusement, although a spontaneous outflow of social emotion, is also the most frequently practiced form of judgment. To laugh at something is already to judge it, and when we refrain from laughing at what someone nevertheless believes to be funny, we may thereby show our disapproval of that person's stance.

~Roger Scruton in Culture Counts, pgs. 6-7

When stressful events rain down all at once like it's trial monsoon season or it seems like your life is an all-too-frequent example of Murphy's Law (we had nine machines break in a short period of time one year--car, fridge, stove blew up, etc.), sometimes you have to crack a sarcastic joke about it.
When you're going nuts because of some element of the host culture that you're not used to or even think is rude, sometimes it is cathartic to laugh with your teammates until the tears come to your eyes at the unexpectedness of this or that happening. Just keeps you sane sometimes and helps to release the anger or bitterness that shouldn't be there.

Those are examples of how you might laugh at events out of your control, such as elements of your host culture. But being able to laugh at yourself is perhaps even more important. Isn't that really an element of humility? To be able to laugh at yourself when you make a language mistake or harmless cultural gaffe or have a most embarrassing moment on furlough, etc., is very important as well. Be humble, and laugh at yourself.

I was embarrassed to see this proof of my failure to tie my baby to my back African style that my teammates took of me while I was keeping score at a Bible Quiz tournament. But it WAS funny!

Seth has tried before to pin down what people may universally find funny, and he came up with this: "Connecting two things in an unexpected way." You weren't expecting those two ideas to be put together like that. Let me give you one example recently that our team found funny in our host culture because it was unexpected. There is danger in giving examples because someone may miss my main point in shooting down the example, but here goes:

Recently our team laughed until there were tears in our eyes over someone's account and imitation of a song blared at his house. Here is an event that frustrated the missionary couple: neighbors 20 meters away put up 4-foot high speakers and blared an inane, offensive song so loudly in the direction of their house that the speakers went staticky; and this continued for hours, including the kids' naptimes. (I'm sure this is a common issue for missionaries, not only in Africa.) Now, this is actually a very frustrating occurrence, and we began by expressing our sympathy for them. The funny part was when the narrator told us, and then imitated, what was in the song: belching.

Completely unexpected. Songs and belching don't go together. Add to that volume. These Africans liked this music so much, they wanted it to be heard loudly by everyone! Who produces this music??? It's just...funny.

Now some people at this point may object. "You're judging their culture. You're laughing at them!" Our politically correct culture doesn't like to laugh at other people's cultures. But as that quote above begins to express, we are making judgments all the time in what we laugh at. Every culture does this. Some things shouldn't or can't be laughed about. For example, when someone is hurt or when something is sinful, we shouldn't laugh at those things. Some people have a cutting sense of humor that only makes fun of others in a belittling or demeaning way. That's inappropriate. But some things can and should be laughed at.

And that brings me to the next objection: "Are you saying someone shouldn't be a missionary if they don't have a sense of humor? What if they just don't have the same sense of humor as you?" Exactly. This is the issue.

It isn't enough to say that the teammate must have a sense of humor. Even though we may judge another person with the statement, "He doesn't have a sense of humor," what we mean is, "He doesn't appreciate my sense of humor." Or "I don't appreciate his sense of humor." So that is the key. Can that teammate laugh at things that you deem important to laugh at? Can she laugh at herself? Can you laugh together over similar things without one squirming with discomfort or another blankly staring in misunderstanding?

Remember that excellent quote above: "And in adulthood amusement remains one of the ways in which human beings enjoy each other's company, become reconciled to their differences, and accept their common lot. Laughter helps us to overcome our isolation and fortifies us against despair."

Yes, some things shouldn't be laughed at. But on the other hand, "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine."

When Friends Become Enemies

Job 42:10  "And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends..."

This verse has always intrigued me.

Earlier in the chapter, Job repents and confesses to the Lord, but his troubles were not removed until he prayed for his friends. I mean, wouldn't it make sense that God would fix it after Job repented?

(My husband's first time baptizing someone here.)