Thanksgiving, Missionary Style

Illustration by: debspoons

Thanksgiving isn’t even a holiday in Spain, of course. It’s just another day. Work, school, play. No special foods, no giving of thanks, no special emphasis, and certainly no fall decorations.

Thanksgiving for your missionary (anywhere) requires big-time effort. 

• I've never seen cranberry anything in Spain.
• Turkeys aren’t sold until the following week--for Christmas.
• No sweet potatoes, either.
• No pecans, for sure.
• Pumpkin, yes thankfully, whole. We bake it and puree it ourselves. They're the best pumpkin pies ever!
• No Crisco shortening. We use real butter for pie crusts. 

Sometimes, we get together with other missionaries for a big, traditional feast. Each person makes something delicious, and for one day, we’re Americans again.

Sometimes, the missionary is all alone, in his home. Sometimes the children are in school. The homeschooling missionary family takes the day off, teaches the children about Pilgrims and Squanto and Jamestown and uses the unique foods as an educational opportunity.

You see, here, a meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and whatever you add to them is extremely strange . . . especially the pumpkin pies! Our kids only see those things when Mama makes them. Spiced cider? No, thank you. Pumpkin spice anything . . . hmmm, let me think about it first.

While Mom and Dad are chowing down on the rarest delicacies (including the prized cranberry sauce, brought overseas in valuable suitcase space for just such an occasion), the children sit wide-eyed, wondering why such fuss. After all, the neighbors . . . .

We try to have a real Thanksgiving on the foreign field. It’s fun, and we laugh and enjoy our time with family and friends. But, let’s face it: it’s foreign. Only ex-pats and missionaries will understand how important it is to us. Only they will understand the gratitude. Only they will understand our heritage. 

Thanksgiving for the missionary is maybe even more special. 

It also rips our hearts out. 

Our families are all together--without us. They are having a crazy time around the table with enough food to feed a small army, while we tried to make a chicken look like a turkey and served it with our hoarded can of cranberry sauce. They probably miss us, but they got used to it--twenty years ago. How we’d love to hug our parents, siblings, children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren (including a new one), and grandnephew! How we’d love to be included in the family photo, crammed around the table with all the others!

We can’t be there, and at Thanksgiving time, we celebrate our blessings from afar. We do our best to make it a happy, special day for our little family here, and we are truly thankful that we made this choice, this sacrifice.

Because it’s for Jesus. 

This life we chose is because we wanted to serve. We wanted to make a difference for eternity where we are. We want others to know Jesus as Savior. That’s more important than anything.

Even though our native holidays cannot be the same, we make an effort every year, because it’s important to set aside a day for Thanksgiving.

Your missionaries thank God for:

• Their families, many miles away.
• Technology (Skype, FaceTime, etc.) that helps them feel closer to their loved ones.
• The churches that support them, without which they couldn’t be where they are, doing God’s work.
• Their home country, wherever they’re from.
• The young churches on the field and new believers.
• Faithful Christians.
• The Holy Spirit’s working in their own hearts.
• Material blessings (including the hoarded can of cranberry sauce).
• Thanksgiving Day itself--a day set aside for reflection, for a special meal, and for thanking God for blessings, including our unique mission field.

 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. 

O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. 

(Psalm 30:12)

Fiction Reviews: The Vengeance Squad Goes to England, Murder at the Art and Craft Fair

Photo by: samuiblue

The Vengeance Squad Goes to England by Sidney W. Frost is an entertaining adventure. The Vengeance Squad is a group of friends that got together on their first task together in Sidney Frost’s first book by that title. In this sequel, the Vengeance Squad is the same, but the goal is to capture a criminal, not exactly wreak vengeance. 

Normally happy and hugging Liz is depressed. She realizes her boyfriend Virgil isn’t what he seemed. She believes he has somehow made off with the funds put aside to buy a new bookmobile. Many thousands of dollars are missing. There are quite a few hilarious adventures, including one with a homemade drone and surveillance gone wrong. Over the course of the book, the entire Vengeance Squad ends up in London, England.

There are several fun threads: Chris’s romance with Angela and his photographic memory, Angela being a spy, Tex and his wife, disguises, and chasing down the thief with a very conspicuous bookmobile.

There are a few things I don’t endorse: one of the women is a fitness competitor and Christians drink wine.

Otherwise, it’s a fun, light read. Personally, I liked The Vengeance Squad (first book in the series) better, but there’s nothing wrong with this one. It’s the kind of book that’s just plain fun.

Murder at the Art and Craft Fair by Steve Demaree is delightfully different. It’s the style! It’s so quirky and funny that it had me laughing out loud throughout. The narrator, Cy, is a retired police detective. He’s well over fifty and retired--except when he’s needed on a case. His best friend, Lou, is also over fifty. Both are overweight bachelors (Cy’s a widower), avid readers, and have girlfriends who feature throughout the book. 

The way Cy and Lou relate to each other makes the book, in my opinion. Their friendly joshing and silly dialogues are delightful. The murder plot doesn’t begin right away, but the fun surely does. The bachelors are roped into going to an art and craft fair--a place they would only go for a few minutes, if they had their choice. They end up enjoying it and buying way too much. By Saturday night, someone is dead, and they go to work.

Cy and Lou spend a whole night together in an outhouse, Cy’s car is towed away, and they end up eating food they shouldn’t while working on the mystery. Who killed Thomas Kincaid? Why? Plenty of people were mad at him, but none of their motives seem serious enough for murder.  

Of course, in the end, the murderer is revealed and locked up, and peace returns. 

I loved the style of this book because it’s so funny. You can hardly believe some of the narrator's statements. Hilarious! Then, there’s the humor of the two older detectives together. Their girlfriends are ditzy and not developed, which is fine. The couples kiss a lot, which I also found humorous in a book about people my age. But, this is no heavy breathing book, and I didn’t find all the lip contact too distracting (though it’s not my own idea of how to date maturely). This isn’t a page turner. It goes slowly and deliberately, but for once, I didn’t mind. All told, I will be reading more of Steve Demaree’s books when I need a chuckle--or two or three. Five stars.