Going There and Coming Back

                During the five years between the last issue I wrote about and the one about which I am writing today, both The Other Sheep and Nazarene missions as whole seem to have grown greatly. This issue was twice the size of the last issue, and recorded many more updates from more places. Though these issues do not have overall connecting themes, other than Nazarene missions, there were several articles that dealt with either missionaries who were just leaving, or those who had recently returned to their homeland.

                It was quite fascinating to read about how missionaries used to be sent out. Commercial flights not yet being a standard mode of cross continental transportation, they apparently took ships. Because of this, it appears that certain costal local churches would commonly host all the missionaries going to the same greater world area, before sending them off together. For example, the headline article speaks of the farewell dinner for eighteen missionaries who were bound for Japan, China, and India. Even just reading about such events gives one a taste of the energy that must have filled the room as these servants of God prepared to depart.

                Intercontinental travel being far more expensive then than in the present day, one commonly hears that when someone became a missionary in the past, that person would usually be going to live the remainder of his or her life in the other country, and would probably never see his or her family and friends from back home again. Therefore, it was with surprise that I continued reading and discovered that many missionaries were currently home on furlough, including the Tracys, whom I mentioned in my previous post.

                It was further interesting to note the various activities of these furloughed missionaries. Today, one normally thinks of missionaries who come home temporarily as going around to a number of churches and participating on deputation services, in order to both educate the general church on God’s work abroad, and to raise money to continue that work. However, not all of the missionaries covered in this issue of The Other Sheep did so. Rev. Tracy began to pastor a church in Oregon during the interim; meanwhile, Ida Vieg, who was serving in China, planned to spend only part of the time doing deputations, but also to take a college class. It is a marvel to me just how small the world has become in the past century. That now being able to return home is almost taken for granted, and one does not have to plan specifically to be able to further his or her education while at home, as he or she could just as easily takes any classes online.