Category: Missions

What We’re Reading: 2018 edition

Breanna Randall1 Comment

It’s been a while since we shared our favorite titles! Some of these are books we read quite a while ago and I never got around to recommending, and some are still fresh in my mind. I will try keep my words to a minimum, and in some cases I might just include a favorite quote from a book and cross my fingers in hope that you will be inspired to read it.

Over the past year, I’ve felt especially compelled to learn more about the lives of people who are marginalized, to listen to a new set of stories.… Continue Reading

Assimilate or Go Home | Book Recommendation

Breanna Randall2 Comments

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“I had found people as different from me as the night is from the day. What I didn’t know then was that the seeds of my own blindness were orchestrating my thoughts. For, of course, in viewing our differences, I thought I was the sun and they were the darkness.”

– from Assimilate or Go Home: Notes from a Failed Missionary on Rediscovering Faith

I wanted to take a moment to praise a book I recently read, in hopes that some of you who are looking for a good read might check it out.… Continue Reading

Malevolent in Ministry (or, Some Thoughts on Walking in the Light)

Breanna Randall2 Comments

Perhaps it is because I am from the west coast of the U.S. (a region that is not as “churched” and not defined by enthusiasm about the sort of work we do), that every time I share about our life in photos or words, I am conscious of the prevailing doubtfulness towards Christians; Christians in ministry work being particularly suspicious. I write this because I share that doubtfulness; I am under no illusions that Christians are very nice people. In fact, I think a number of Christians who end up working in ministry do so because they don’t want to have a regular job, because they are trying to escape problems, or because they have an ugly savior complex.… Continue Reading

Losing my Tongue and Learning Love

Breanna Randall3 Comments

I love to communicate. (Perhaps you’ve noted that, as I write here more frequently than Jim.) One of my weaknesses is that I am sometimes impatient to communicate. I like to be understood, and if I’ve been misunderstood, I yearn to make myself clear, as soon as possible. Part of that is just an old fashioned affinity for the facts, but the uglier side of it is my own impatience; wanting to make myself known and understood, regardless of whether the other person is ready.… Continue Reading

“Remember the Signs”

Breanna Randall3 Comments

 

On Tuesday, Jim and I will be flying through international airspace, headed for Southeast Asia.

This week has been a long time coming; a slow climax preceded by several years of preparation, small good byes to all the little things that are familiar to me, and accumulating the things I imagine I’ll find necessary in a foreign place (not the least of which is a good supply of Earl Grey tea).

I feel as ready as I will ever be for the unknown things that lie in my path.… Continue Reading