Over the past few weeks, our kids have experienced the early stages of their transition to being “Missionary Kids.”

Our kids enjoying the local park earlier this year. The map to the right represents the international awareness we hope God will foster in them in the years to come.

In early May, I preached at the Chinese Christian Church of Germantown (CCCG). Sam spent two hours in a new class with kids he didn’t know. Madeleine spent the first hour in the toddler class and the last hour playing at the back of the high school Sunday School class I taught while Melanie tried admirably to keep her quiet and entertained! The next weekend, Roger & Caroline Lee hosted a dinner for almost 100 people to hear more about our calling.

After the Sunday School class at CCCG, Sam shared with us he was “a little scared” because they spoke “words he didn’t understand.” When we probed further he said they spoke Chinese, and he didn’t know Chinese. “I wish they spoke Spanish…or English,” he told us (he attends a Spanish immersion pre-school, is comfortable in an environment with Spanish, and often blends Spanish and English). He expressed a desire to know Chinese, and he seems very passionate about learning French too!

These early experiences underscore, something I said in my sermon during Ambassador’s Missions Month:

We are drawn to missions in part because we want to bless our children by giving them a heart for the nations. We desire that they would grow up knowing that the bond of the gospel is stronger than the bonds of geography, culture, or citizenship. It’s our desire that they grow up knowing a second language, and connecting with people across cultural and language barriers.

I shared this sentiment, and a cute story about Sam in the sermon excerpt included below.