Maybe I actually like raising support?!

Throw-back to Mae's 4th birthday party, surrounded by friends--many of these families now support us

I’m not normally a very emotional person (except when it comes to sappy commercials and movies where dogs die), but I found myself tearing up today as I was making a list of everyone who has supported our ministry financially this year. 

Raising support is not my favorite part of being a missionary.  I was a missionary kid for 6 years, and in that time raising support meant travelling around from church to church listening to my dad preach the same sermon Sunday after Sunday and my parents dressing us up in African clothing to stand in front of blank-faced Sunday School classes where we were asked “Do you speak African?” and “Do you ride an elephant to school?” Now, as an adult missionary, it means asking people for money, which is my mind is equivalent to going to the dentist. 

Over the last three years, I have been told over and over by very wise people what a blessing raising support can be, and although I always agree in theory, believing it in my heart is not as easy.  As I was making this list of supporters, though, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of being blessed.  Not by the number of people who have given, or the generous amounts they have given, but by WHO has given. 

For every name on the list, I can picture a conversation I have had with someone, a meal shared in someone’s home, someone asking “How is it going, really?”, a big hug, a babysitter, a college roommate, dear family members, double dates, birthday parties, Bible studies…. Pieces of a beautiful, shared life.  These are not just people who write us a check every month, they are people who care for us deeply, and who we care for too.  They are people who we miss, but the people who make it possible for us to be here in this place, doing what we know God has called us to do. 

This solid, on-paper reminder of how many amazing people we are privileged to have in our lives encouraging us, praying for us, loving us, is one of the (many?) reasons that raising support us such a blessing.