Miscellaneous Missionary

As I think over my life for the last several years, I wonder in disbelief. After arriving in America from Africa, I have farmed, worked construction, stocked and sold hardware, cut and hauled logs, worked in camps and VBS's, studied theology, missions, anthropology, linguistics, been to nearly every state in the USA (lower 48), traveled by train, bus, airplane and car, studied foreign languages, and invested literally hours of time and thousands of dollars in a future with little future. That is, I will yet have to invest more money in moving to Africa, and getting set up for work. The start up cost for this business is phenomenal. Well, that is how it is in all business. It takes a lot to get where you want to be. What makes missionary work such a bad investment is that it promises continuing financial failure. Rather than actually showing a profit from the time and money invested, the missionary continues to lose money by helping with healthcare and literacy programs, and paying for all sorts of things that the recipients will never be able to pay back. You may be asking yourself, "Arnie, if you cannot take it, why don't you just quit?" Well, you are right, I cannot take it alone, but I can do all things through Christ. Or worse, "Why don't you just dig a hole and pour your money into that? At least you can dig it up later, if you remember where you put it." Here is my answer.

That is where I have led you astray. I am not in this "business" for the business. I am doing this because all of this investment is worth the lives and future of a church that would not otherwise exist. I heard it once said that ministry is like this: "the pay stinks, but the benefits are out of this world." As cheesy as that may sound, I really agree. I am willing to risk the "wasting" of all that capital for the sake of the gospel. Rather than economic entrepreneurship or social entrepreneurship, I believe in spiritual entrepreneurship. It is like Paul said in Second Corinthians about motivation. He did not say that it was about the motivation of returns, but that "the love of Christ constrains us."

I do not know the details of my future. I do know this. I am so happy for having come this far, and I will keep trusting God to lead me into the future, and to keep me content no matter what the future holds. Right now, I am studying Portuguese for future use in Africa. I have found another hill to climb, which we call the subjunctive mood. But it is worth it. The gospel needs to be shared around the world, and I want to have an integral part in that.

Please pray for my Portuguese studies. Please pray for the continued work in Mozambique.