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“So what do you do, really?”

Whenever I chat with a new acquaintance, someone will inevitably ask me that question. It is a tricky question to answer.

What do I do?

I do lots of things that don’t have a degree behind them. I’ve listed a few here below. They are in no particular order of importance:

• I’m a wife, mother, and grandmother.
• I dabble in writing.
• I’m a house cleaner, chauffeur, tutor, counselor, and organizer.
• I cook and am a pet sitter.
• I call myself a professional packer, mover, and personal assistant (come to think of it, I need one of these myself).
• I’m a missionary, along with my husband (I’ll explain later what that means 😂).

The real question

That said, I know the real question behind that initial question: What is your career? What exactly is it that a missionary does? Is that even a career? What do you do for a living? I have a couple of degrees that have proven helpful over the years. However, I’m unsure if any of those degrees adequately describe my career because I am a missionary.  

Together with my husband Jamie in Bujumbura, Burundi, 2018

When I answer people who ask, “What do you do?” with “I’m a missionary in Africa,” They will either say something like, “Oh, that’s cool.” Or, “What does a missionary do?” I often feel tentative when answering. I don’t measure up to what people might think a missionary should be.

What is it that I do?

I’m not what you think of as an everyday missionary. I’m not a nurse, doctor, or schoolteacher. I don’t have any special skills one may consider helpful in the developing world where I have spent most of my life. I’ve done whatever the occasion has demanded of me to do. These are some of the jobs I do, and as stated in the first list above, they are in no order of importance:

• Project manager: I have responsibilities lined up for everyone.
• Ambulance driver: I’m there with my car.
• Bible teacher: I have my notes ready.
• Feeding the hungry: I’ll find the pots and firewood for cooking.
• Establishing a school: I’m there with notebooks ready.
• Church planting: I’m standing with my husband, ready to help with whatever is needed (this job is worth its own article).
• If the ministry we run needs to be registered in a country for us to operate, I’m the secretary with all the documents.
• Travel agent: I’m the one who makes the reservations.
• And if we have a visiting team, I’m the chief cook and bottle washer.

What I do is eclectic

When asked what a missionary does, my stress levels will certainly begin to rise. I will rehearse in my mind a way to describe my very eclectic job description. While I was traveling some years ago, I was in a discussion with a group of well-spoken professionals. I felt out of my league when asked, “What exactly does a missionary do?” I fumbled some half-baked answers and found a way to escape the situation.

After that first disaster of a conversation, I learned to say that I work in “community development” or as a “church planter” when faced with the dreaded “what do you do” question. Neither seems to be very impressive alongside other professionals.

I’m a no-nonsense, “do what needs to be done” person. It’s not an impressive resume of skills, but it has worked well for my situation.

When I didn’t know what I was doing

My first years in Africa were spent learning how to live in a new culture. It was a long and challenging process.

We left our home in the USA in June 1987 and landed at our first assignment in Kalemie, Zaire. I quickly realized I had a lot to learn before making any impact on the people. I didn’t know how I would survive, let alone help anyone. Because I couldn’t speak with anyone without the help of an interpreter, I needed someone to interpret for me everywhere I went. There was much to learn.

A small piece of wisdom from my grandfather echoed in my ears then (and still echoes now). He said, “If you only understood that you don’t understand anything, then at least you have understood something.” I took his advice to heart.

I want a banana

Language school began with fervor. Over the next year or so, I carried a Swahili dictionary with me wherever I went. I felt as if I were a complete disaster as a missionary. How was I ever going to get anything done? I didn’t even know how to ask for a cup of water.

God blessed me with friends on the ground who were patient with my ignorance. They encouraged me to study the language even though it seemed impossible to learn. One day, I bravely went to the market alone, hoping to find some bananas. The ladies there knew me by then and waited patiently as I stood pondering what to say. I thought long and hard and finally said, “Ninataka kitika,” which translated to, “I want a banana.” I’ll never forget the feeling of victory that day. It felt as if I had won the lottery.

There also came a day when I learned how to make sandwiches.

Sandwiches?

Yes, sandwiches.

There was no grocery store where we lived, as I understood grocery stores to be at that time. And jarred mayonnaise was not available. All we had to eat was what we made for ourselves from ingredients we found at the market or items from local shops. We enjoyed treats brought to us by guests, like candy and colate bars. However, those treats were few and far between.

If I wanted to give my family sandwiches for lunch, I had to find bread (the local bread was pretty flavorless) and source some mayonnaise. This did not include what kind of sandwich meat I would put in the sandwich. So, first, I decided I had to learn how to make mayonnaise.

How to make mayonnaise

Until then, I didn’t understand that mayonnaise could be made and not bought at the store. I learned so many things about mayonnaise! The ingredients were simple: oil, mustard, eggs, vinegar, and salt. I quickly realized that the oil used to make mayonnaise must be clear. If it is not clear, the mayonnaise won’t emulsify.

For the curious, here is a simple mayonnaise recipe that works well!

Disasters abounded in my kitchen that first year. But by the time that first year was over, I was making mayonnaise, baking bread, and even roasting my coffee beans for our morning coffee.

I finally knew how to make more than sandwiches.

Five years

After that first year on the field, I felt a bit accomplished. I learned to speak Swahili well and sometimes served as an interpreter. I could also cook and teach a class or two at the Bible school where we were serving. I didn’t need to be accompanied by an interpreter everywhere. Life had finally begun to settle.

We later moved to serve in an extension Bible school in Bukavu, Zaire. Even though moving was difficult, I felt everything else was bound to be easy because I had made it through my first year in Kalemie. How wrong I was!

Grinding coffee was an ordeal back then when I was with my son Tommy in 1987.

That part of Africa, known as “The Great Lakes Region,” uses many different languages: Swahili, French, Lingala, Kirundi, and Kinyarwanda, to name a few. We knew one primary language, Swahili, which I hoped was sufficient. We realized that we needed to learn more because not everyone spoke Swahili. I wasn’t happy with this news and resisted until one evening when our paths crossed with an older and much wiser missionary couple who had us over at home for a meal. Ever so gently, they said that long-term missionaries generally spend their first five years learning language and culture on the field.

I only had one and a half years under my belt. I still had a long way to go.

It did take me longer to learn to do what I do

We learned French and a few more languages as the years passed. By the way, it took more than five years to reach that point.

I have lived and worked in several countries, learning all the while and doing whatever is needed. My life expanded quickly from learning languages and cooking. I learned to raise a family in a new culture, plant churches, and start feeding programs, schools, and other community outreaches. Even though I didn’t start with a job description, what I do has grown to include a vast and eclectic variety of things.

I do what needs to be done.

1 Samuel 10:7 NKJV “And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you.”

So, let me ask you a question. What do you do?

For a fuller account of what we do, click the link below (yes, a shameless plug).