Entry-re-entry.
Most missionaries, unlike immigrants, live in two cultures and may never feel fully at home in either. Every few years they change their place of residence, never fully adapting to the culture they are in at the time.
Ronald L. Koteskey
To be honest, we haven’t experienced much of the entry-re-entry problem. Although we are on the field as missionaries, we rarely have the opportunity to go home for extended periods of time. Having just written that statement I have to ask the question where is home?
I was born in Northern Ireland. Roy was born in England. I grew up in Northern Ireland, Roy grew up in Australia and then Wales. We met in Northern Ireland at University and moved to the North West of England. Our children were all born there. We then moved back to Northern Ireland while waiting for visas to the U.S. While back in Northern Ireland many people would ask our kids whether they were happy to be back home. Our children were confused and wondered why people thought that Northern Ireland was their home. It felt like home for me, but it had never been home for them.
Imagine the continued confusion when we moved to the U.S. for a period of time, and from there moved to Hungary where we are based now. When people ask a simple question such as, “Where are you from?” the kids look with uncertainty at us. The unspoken question is “Where are we from?” Our passports are UK passports, but our culture is unique.
We have made many good friends everywhere we have been, and we are grateful that we have heart connections with them. As we adapt, we lose part of our old culture, but we are never fully removed from it.
Many people don’t think that oil and water can mix. A recent study by Queens University in Canada proved that it can! They use a ‘surfactant’ (surface active agent) to perform the task. Our experience has been that the Holy Spirit has been our ‘surfactant’, our home is here not because we were born here but because this is the place He prepared for us. If the time comes when it is God’s will for us to move back we will trust him to be the ‘surfactant’ there too.
Exodus 23:20 See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
