How to encourage a missionary...

Yesterday I wrote a letter to Mrs. Steiger's third-grade class at Friends Christian School. It was in response to their letter, specifically to their questions about me, my life and ministry here. What I didn't include were the comments and encouraging words they included with their questions... here's some of what they said:

• The land (Lesotho) seems really pretty.
• We like the way you preach God.
• We really like what you are doing.
• We encourage you to tell more people about God.
• We pray you will be safe on your journey.
• May God be with you and bless you.

These students are studying Paul and how he was a tent maker and missionary. Knowing that their study of Paul is what was motivating their questions to me, it's honoring and very humbling. They know I'm a missionary who does accounting so they were comparing how my life might be like Paul's - woah!

I believe God placed a call to missions on my heart when I was 8... the same age as many of these children. It happened when I heard a missionary kid speak about her life in The Philippines. It is my prayer that perhaps knowing about my life would resonate and ignite a calling in the lives of these children - who knows but maybe one of them will also become a missionary!

If you are a teacher - I'd love to be a pen pal with your students! Whether it is about culture, social studies, and history to a public school or about missions with a Christian school, I'd love to share a glimpse of Africa with your class. Shoot me an email kimberlybaker@maf.org anytime - I usually can respond within a week, though you can ask Karen Steiger, I usually respond much faster ;)