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HOME » FOR MISSIONARIES » YOUR VISITOR TO THE FIELD: LIABILITY OR INVESTMENT? DEFINATION: I'm speaking here more of a pastor, missions committee member, adult individual or family who is a supporter and/or interested in the mission field. In fact he may be a teacher or conference speaker. His goal may be more to become informed than to take a short term job. I'm not necessarily speaking here about short term missionaries or mission groups visiting the field to work, however many of the following points should apply to any visitor ... as you never know who they will become or the influence they will have some day POSITIVE: I recall flying into Lima Peru many years ago. My first trip to South America. I was to visit a missionary family I knew working in the jungle. I was a young nobody. I didn't speak the language. I was scared! I was to arrive about 3am in the morning. Would there be anyone to meet me? What if ... Yes, there was a man to meet me. I remember him to this day as I do the guesthouse he took me to. I remember the hostess and her gracious cup of coffee. NEGATIVE: I remember flying an old airliner into a remote jungle airport arriving in the hot afternoon. I was thinking, as every visitor does, who would meet me? I didn't speak the language. Again I was visiting a missionary couple I was supporting. Sure enough there was no one to meet me. I sat there waiting and praying. Eventually an American wandered into the small terminal and I asked him who he was and sure enough he was there to take me to the guest house. While my baggage was being offloaded I asked questions and tried to be friendly but he just stood there looking off into the distance. He was almost rude. Obviously a person who didn't particularly like visitors and no doubt was thinking "why didn't this guy stay home and just send the money he spent for a ticket." I will never forget him either. VISITOR: POTENTIAL OR PROBLEM? So you have a visitor arriving on your field. You can look at it one of two ways. Your arriving visitor can simply be another responsibility or obligation you don't need. (visitors have a way of arriving at the wrong time!) or your visitor can be a real opportunity to "sell" Missions! Your visitor to the field can even be a future financial asset ... an investment of time worth all the inconvenience he may cause during his temporary visit. Here is a unique opportunity to show your field and demonstrate missions ... an opportunity to make both a good personal friend and future partner. Hopefully your visitor will return home an enthusiastic friend of yours and an ambassador for missions. Note, your hospitality is as important to him as his exposure to the field ... hospitality sets the attitude ... sets the pace! Hospitality is certainly Scriptural! YOU CAN'T MAKE A SECOND FIRST IMPRESSION! IMPRESSION: It's true that we (1) can't make a second first impression and (2) your visitor's first impression is critical. He will always keep his first impression ... and he will share it! It's at this point you win or lose. Your visitor (or his Church) has invested big money and his time. He has volunteered to leave the security of his world and enter your world and he is a little afraid of what he will find there. It's called the unknown ... a quantum leap of faith on his part. His first contact with your mission field is at the airport! Whoever meets him first at the airport, and how he is greeted, makes a profound impression for the good ... or for the bad! Yes, you can lose your man (in more than one way) right at the airport! Consider well who you send to meet a first time visitor to your field! It is so true, you can't make a second first impression! I might add that whoever takes him to the airport and sees him off is mighty important too! INFORMATION PLEASE: (Communicate) Every Missions house or Missions base and/or tribal location has their SOP (standard operating policies & procedure) This is known to each and every missionary from kids to adults. It's always been done this way. BUT Remember, your guest isn't aware of this! ( I could write a book on this area alone.) Simple little things like the following. Let's take water for an example. What water can he drink? Where will he find the water? Does he have a glass? What water can't he drink? Is the water to be conserved? Does his shower have hot and cold water? Which faucet is the cold and which the hot? Will water for a shower be available only late at night? Can he put toilet paper down the toilet? Will there be gigantic cockroaches & spiders living with him? Does he need a mosquito net? If so where will he get one and how does he hang it up? How and where does he do his washing? Is the electricity 110 or 220? What time does the electricity come on in the morning and what time does it go off at night? What time is breakfast and where? He didn't think of an umbrella, where can he get one to use? Finding the bathroom at night without a flashlight is a real challenge. How does one sleep in a hammock? What are those strange sounds at night? Cultural no no's and camera no no's. You missionaries might even have a different language that you speak. All of these and more are a mystery to him and can be a little overwhelming. Cheerfully give him the information he needs before he has to ask for it ... that's called hospitality! A pamphlet or booklet that has all of this up to date information should be available to every visitor. Always include a simple map of your base. (Wycliffe does a great job at making the visitor both informed and feel at home.) FRIENDLINESS: Also remember you missionaries know each other but your visitor may know no one ... believe me you can feel real lonely staying with a group of Bible believing missionaries that know each other and aren't particularly interested in knowing you. Feeling alone and unloved in a base full of "Christian love" and brothers & sisters isn't a good feeling. You're the odd man out. If you are known or a speaker you may be treated differently than if you are a new nobody. I love the people who will make a nobody feel like a somebody! REMINDER: Your visitor is a potential prayer supporter, financial supporter and voice to his friends. Your visitor is also a potential promoter of your Mission and Missions in general. He just may be the next Missions Chairman in his Church. Don't let your visitor go home with a negative attitude because this will translate to a negative report! DEPENDENCE: Like it or not, a guest is totally dependent upon his host! Your visitor is dependent upon you for his food, drink, agenda, transportation, protection and information. Being dependent for one who is normally independent can be quite threatening and stressful. He totally has no control and that's uncomfortable. Try to see your world from his eyes and cheerfully anticipate his needs and questions ... that's what hospitality is all about. Don't let your visitor get bored or lonely. If there is no host for the individual then a host should be promptly appointed. REMINDER: There is nothing new in this article. We all know this ... most of this information can be wrapped up in two little homely packages, the first is hospitality and the second, common sense! It's just that on occasion we need to be reminded of the great potential in opportunities we often let slip by, simply because were tired or pre-occupied or just plain selfish. Hospitality is a Biblical mandate both in the New Testament and the Old Testament. May I encourage you to see your visitor to the field not as another inconvenience but rather as the investment he really represents! Place part of your job description as a missionary into "hospitality" to visitors who come your way. Take it from one who for over thirty years visits a variety of mission fields several times each year. As a missionary myself I have hosted visitors in my world of Mexico and as a traveling visitor I have been hosted by many mission agencies.

HOME » FOR MISSIONARIES » YOUR VISITOR TO THE FIELD: LIABILITY OR INVESTMENT?

DEFINATION: I'm speaking here more of a pastor, missions committee member, adult individual or family who is a supporter and/or interested in the mission field. In fact he may be a teacher or conference speaker. His goal may be more to become informed than to take a short term job. I'm not necessarily speaking here about short term missionaries or mission groups visiting the field to work, however many of the following points should apply to any visitor ... as you never know who they will become or the influence they will have some day

POSITIVE: I recall flying into Lima Peru many years ago. My first trip to South America. I was to visit a missionary family I knew working in the jungle. I was a young nobody. I didn't speak the language. I was scared! I was to arrive about 3am in the morning. Would there be anyone to meet me? What if ... Yes, there was a man to meet me. I remember him to this day as I do the guesthouse he took me to. I remember the hostess and her gracious cup of coffee.

NEGATIVE: I remember flying an old airliner into a remote jungle airport arriving in the hot afternoon. I was thinking, as every visitor does, who would meet me? I didn't speak the language. Again I was visiting a missionary couple I was supporting. Sure enough there was no one to meet me. I sat there waiting and praying. Eventually an American wandered into the small terminal and I asked him who he was and sure enough he was there to take me to the guest house. While my baggage was being offloaded I asked questions and tried to be friendly but he just stood there looking off into the distance. He was almost rude. Obviously a person who didn't particularly like visitors and no doubt was thinking "why didn't this guy stay home and just send the money he spent for a ticket." I will never forget him either.

VISITOR: POTENTIAL OR PROBLEM? So you have a visitor arriving on your field. You can look at it one of two ways. Your arriving visitor can simply be another responsibility or obligation you don't need. (visitors have a way of arriving at the wrong time!) or your visitor can be a real opportunity to "sell" Missions! Your visitor to the field can even be a future financial asset ... an investment of time worth all the inconvenience he may cause during his temporary visit. Here is a unique opportunity to show your field and demonstrate missions ... an opportunity to make both a good personal friend and future partner. Hopefully your visitor will return home an enthusiastic friend of yours and an ambassador for missions. Note, your hospitality is as important to him as his exposure to the field ... hospitality sets the attitude ... sets the pace! Hospitality is certainly Scriptural!

YOU CAN'T MAKE A SECOND FIRST IMPRESSION!

IMPRESSION: It's true that we (1) can't make a second first impression and (2) your visitor's first impression is critical. He will always keep his first impression ... and he will share it! It's at this point you win or lose. Your visitor (or his Church) has invested big money and his time. He has volunteered to leave the security of his world and enter your world and he is a little afraid of what he will find there. It's called the unknown ... a quantum leap of faith on his part. His first contact with your mission field is at the airport! Whoever meets him first at the airport, and how he is greeted, makes a profound impression for the good ... or for the bad! Yes, you can lose your man (in more than one way) right at the airport! Consider well who you send to meet a first time visitor to your field! It is so true, you can't make a second first impression! I might add that whoever takes him to the airport and sees him off is mighty important too!

INFORMATION PLEASE: (Communicate) Every Missions house or Missions base and/or tribal location has their SOP (standard operating policies & procedure) This is known to each and every missionary from kids to adults. It's always been done this way. BUT Remember, your guest isn't aware of this! ( I could write a book on this area alone.) Simple little things like the following. Let's take water for an example. What water can he drink? Where will he find the water? Does he have a glass? What water can't he drink? Is the water to be conserved? Does his shower have hot and cold water? Which faucet is the cold and which the hot? Will water for a shower be available only late at night? Can he put toilet paper down the toilet? Will there be gigantic cockroaches & spiders living with him? Does he need a mosquito net? If so where will he get one and how does he hang it up? How and where does he do his washing? Is the electricity 110 or 220? What time does the electricity come on in the morning and what time does it go off at night? What time is breakfast and where? He didn't think of an umbrella, where can he get one to use? Finding the bathroom at night without a flashlight is a real challenge. How does one sleep in a hammock? What are those strange sounds at night? Cultural no no's and camera no no's. You missionaries might even have a different language that you speak. All of these and more are a mystery to him and can be a little overwhelming. Cheerfully give him the information he needs before he has to ask for it ... that's called hospitality! A pamphlet or booklet that has all of this up to date information should be available to every visitor. Always include a simple map of your base. (Wycliffe does a great job at making the visitor both informed and feel at home.)

FRIENDLINESS: Also remember you missionaries know each other but your visitor may know no one ... believe me you can feel real lonely staying with a group of Bible believing missionaries that know each other and aren't particularly interested in knowing you. Feeling alone and unloved in a base full of "Christian love" and brothers & sisters isn't a good feeling. You're the odd man out. If you are known or a speaker you may be treated differently than if you are a new nobody. I love the people who will make a nobody feel like a somebody!

REMINDER: Your visitor is a potential prayer supporter, financial supporter and voice to his friends. Your visitor is also a potential promoter of your Mission and Missions in general. He just may be the next Missions Chairman in his Church. Don't let your visitor go home with a negative attitude because this will translate to a negative report!

DEPENDENCE: Like it or not, a guest is totally dependent upon his host! Your visitor is dependent upon you for his food, drink, agenda, transportation, protection and information. Being dependent for one who is normally independent can be quite threatening and stressful. He totally has no control and that's uncomfortable. Try to see your world from his eyes and cheerfully anticipate his needs and questions ... that's what hospitality is all about. Don't let your visitor get bored or lonely. If there is no host for the individual then a host should be promptly appointed.

REMINDER: There is nothing new in this article. We all know this ... most of this information can be wrapped up in two little homely packages, the first is hospitality and the second, common sense! It's just that on occasion we need to be reminded of the great potential in opportunities we often let slip by, simply because were tired or pre-occupied or just plain selfish. Hospitality is a Biblical mandate both in the New Testament and the Old Testament. May I encourage you to see your visitor to the field not as another inconvenience but rather as the investment he really represents! Place part of your job description as a missionary into "hospitality" to visitors who come your way. Take it from one who for over thirty years visits a variety of mission fields several times each year. As a missionary myself I have hosted visitors in my world of Mexico and as a traveling visitor I have been hosted by many mission agencies.