On Saturday, January 21st at 4AM, the beginnings of our twenty-seven person team gathered in Reagan National Airport to begin our trip to Thailand. Each year, over three hundred missionary families gather from Malaysia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, China and other countries in Southeast Asia gather for a conference on family and education and we were going to serve this conference and its attendees. Though it is difficult for me to convey the trials and struggles these families face every day as they serve sacrificially on the front lines, it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand what it means for us to go and, by God's grace, strengthen themu ntil you understand the struggles themselves. Their trials vary from lack of running water or electricity, to struggles learning the local language as they are immersed in a location where they are the only ones speaking their native tongue, to having little to no access to curriculum while trying to homeschool their children and having few or no opportunities for fellowship for themselves or their children, to so many more. While these families are discipling others and caring for the souls of the people they are trying to reach for Christ, they themselves are often without discipling, without solid Biblical teaching and pastoring, without a strong church other than what they do within the walls of their own houses, without corporate worship, and without the fellowship most of us have the privilege of partaking in every Sunday and numerous times throughout the week.

Some of the families shared that this conference was the first time in several years that they had spoken English to anyone outside of their own family. Others said that their children had never played with other children their own ages. Our team performed a variety of roles during the conference: the adult members of our team provided plenary session talks and taught seminars; the adults counseled the families and helped sort through family and education-related struggles; both the youth and adult team members spent time with the families encouraging them and sharing experiences of homeschooling and living in the US; the youth provided childcare for the children ages infant through ten during the conference; youth and adults from our team provided praise and worship for the entire conference; there were also youth sessions and activities for the high school-age conference attendees, and much more.

Exodus 17:8-13 reads,

8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
9 Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."
10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.
11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.
12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on one side, one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

The above passage describes how Moses had to sit with his arms raised because each time he let them droop the enemy would begin to overtake the Israelites and Moses would began to see his people being slaughtered before his very eyes. No doubt, this sight provoked him to rally every ounce of strength within him to put forth his greatest effort to keep his hands raised. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it alone, at least not for long, so Aaron and Hur came alongside Moses to aid him in holding up his arms so that the battle could be won.

In the same way, the missionaries wake up every day and choose to continue holding up their arms so that the battle might be won for Christ and so that people might come to know Him; so that they do not become witness to a nation slaughtered before their eyes. However, just as Moses, they are not capable of sustaining themselves for long because we were created to live in unity with other believers, in accordance with Ephesians 8. Inevitably, their arms will begin to droop and they either become ineffective or leave the field. Our objective in going to serve the missionary families is to help hold up their arms, to try to understand a small part of what they feel, to get to know them, to hear what they have to say, to try to understand their struggles, to love them and their kids and seek to impart God’s grace.

Each of these families chose to give up "normal" lives for themselves and their families, modern earthly comforts, a certain social status, and more for the sake of the Gospel and God’s calling on their lives. In the same way, Jesus left His father’s throne and humbled Himself, to come to earth, live as a humble servant, and then die to bring those who believe to God. (Philippians 2:5-11)

Each time we go and serve these families, our efforts are multiplied as families that had otherwise planned to leave the mission field decide to stay and families that were struggling on the field are strengthened. There are no words to describe the glimmer of hope, which often looks like tears, in the eyes of one who God has refreshed with your words. By His grace, we are instruments in the hands of the One who's mercies are new every morning and who gladly refills our wells to overflowing, enabling us to carry on. Throughout the trip, the following verse was a stronghold to me, as I considered it in light of the families we were serving. What a sweet, sweet promise we have of eternity with Him!

"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

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