lundi 1 mai 2006
A non-comprehensive list
I just got back from a really late night dinner with my friends and this is what we ended up chatting about:
You know you're a missions major when you...
- have trouble speaking English because you're mixing it up with the language you're learning
- know someone who is in or has recently been in a country with major political upheaval
- think nothing of owning music in at least five languages, even if you don't understand them
- have read William Carey's "An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens"
- consider potential boy/girlfriends based on which field they're interested in
- know John Piper's mantra by heart
- drop words like modality, apostolic, language acquisition, indigenous, redemptive analogy, nationals, bicultural, tentmaker, ethnography, and mobilization into your conversations
- sing worship songs in English and wonder what it would sound like in a different language
- get into a debate with another missions major over the benefits and problems of short-term missions
- have used a squattie toilet
- fundraise like crazy and are up to your ears in food, crafts, etc.
- frequently mention, "Well in (city/country/etc.), they do things by..."
- tend to bring up Abraham's call in Genesis 12 a tad bit
- can classify whether your missions trip is E-0, E-1, E-2, or E-3 (alternatively P-0, P-1, P-2, P-3)
- wonder which country your professor(s) will be in this time
- get excited over finding a new Christian song that sings about missions because now you have more options than Audio Adrenaline's "Hands and Feet" or MercyMe's "Here Am I" or "Go" for your slideshow presentation
- want another Haystack Prayer Meeting (or Student Volunteer) Movement to happen
- read missionary biographies for fun
- know what truly good coffee tastes like outside of the North American chains because you had the authentic thing in El Salvador, Colombia, etc.
- talk about SIM, SIL, TEAM, GEM, SEND, OMF, NTM, AIM, or IFMA
- refer people to the Joshua Project site on more than one occasion
- take out the Operation World book and pray through it
- have had a chance to practise writing support letters
- hear of a country and think you know of a missionary there
- can pronounce the names of people around the world that no one else can repeat
Note: A lot of these would probably be similar to the experiences of missionary kids. This list isn't definitive but after sitting in a car with four other missions majors tonight, I think we fit into a lot of these :)
