What do you do when your passport country has a holiday, but it isn’t celebrated in your host country? What about when it is, but it looks so different from what you are used to?

If the money doesn’t come, is it because you messed up? Do you need to change something? Is God trying to teach you something? If you are in your original culture, how do you diversify like you automatically did on the missions field?

Are you in the “adult” stage of ministry? This year I will have served with World Renewal Brazil for 18 years and I feel like I am going to all the graduations with their joys and tears. Letting go- stepping from hero to guide in the story. How has that gone for you? Is it hard to let go? Do you look back and see joy or regret or both? Does it have to be either/or? Can it be “and”?

Did being a missionary make you a superstar in certain company? Did it give you “the look” in other company? And what are your experiences with church planting? How was it different than “church attending,” especially in a large church?

How long does it take to “settle in”? When do you feel like your emotionally, mentally and spiritually unpacked? Do you ever really feel like you are back for good? We look at Amy Medina’s great blog post: Rewriting the Ending.

When did you feel like you got to see and enjoy and partake in the “fruit of your labor?” What is Jesus’s favorite question? Do you think people who have never really felt deep pain and loss can write deep and meaningful books? Lots of little stories and thoughts from waaaaay back.

An article from alifeoverseas.com called “When the Backpack is too Heavy” hit me really hard in many different ways with different applications. How do you let your backpack get too heavy? What is it making it heavy? How do you lighten your backpack? How do you take off your backpack?

What have you seen or done to raise funds for missions? How do trends seem to be changing? What has worked and what hasn’t? How do you balance not being focused on money with the whole point of a fundraiser being to get money? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What is culture shock? What are the stages? How did it affect you? Looking at the shock of language, culture, ministry, geography, and emotions- and how that hit me personally, and then how it hit differently when we returned to Brazil as a family.

15 of my favorite websites, 5 podcasts, and 5 YouTube channels that encouraged me during my missions journey. How do you make sure you are spiritually fed and connected when in another country and language? What resources have you found?