I don’t know how it happened.
It just seemed to sneak up on us, an evolution with irreversible effects.
Our house is now occupied by a new life form. They are called MKs (Missionary Kids).

This has nothing to do with behavior, attitudes, or looks. We have three beautiful daughters; angels, sweethearts, and darlings. Yet I am beginning to understand how our life as missionaries has already made them different than ordinary American kids. Missions and Moldova has influenced their lives, their values, and their worldview.

How else can you explain it when they chatter in Romanian while playing with their Dutch and Brazilian friends, playing American games and singing Russian kids songs? It is not typical to be six-years-old, needing to add more pages to an already-too-full passport. Most kids never groan when they hear the term ìborder crossingî or know the difference between a visa and a visa card.

Yet I’ve been realizing that the change of becoming a MK creates some unique stresses and tensions.

I see it in their eyes as we prepare to go back to the US , which is practically a foreign culture.
I hear it when they talk about their anxieties about flying or about seeing former friends.
I perceive it when their hearts are heavy because they already miss their Moldovan friends.

Our girls are normal, healthy, adjusted MKs. It is just that they think differently. They can slip into Romanian easily and laugh at Romanian wordplay. They are accustomed to squatty potties, churches without heat, and eating meals with a piece of bread in hand.

Their imagination games include ìorphanage,î ìpolice stop,î and ìballet.î
Their friends can count on one hand the number of times they’ve eaten at McDonalds.
They stress over whether a two-dollar beanie baby is too expensive of a gift to give at church.

Life in Moldova has changed their life for the good. They are much more sensitive to people who have less. They don’t worry about what they wear to church as long as it is warm. They have a deep camaraderie with every other MK (no matter the denomination or language). At a fundamental level, they have changed into different girls.

Why can’t we change like that as Christians? We talk so much about how Jesus has changed our lives, but if so, why do we still see divisiveness, pastor-bashing, legalism, and self-absorption in the church? If a two-week missions trip has ìchanged our lives,î why do we still spend more money at restaurants than on missions? If Jesus has changed our hearts, why don’t we give as much time helping the poor as we do recreating at the lake?

If we are followers of Jesus Christ, we must allow Him to change the very foundations of our lives, our worldviews, and our values. The ìcultureî of God must permeate us, causing us to think and act different than the rest of the world. Enough of the surface change–let’s ask God to make us into new creations.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Still changing,

Andy Raatz

PS: We would appreciate your prayers about the purchase of a home to be used for ministry to women who have been trafficked. We have found a house to purchase, but the owner has now raised the price. Pray that no one else is interested, that we will have the resources to purchase, and that the path for purchase will be smooth.