It was the dead of winter in Minnesota. If you know, you know.
After serving in Peru for ten years, our family had moved back a year earlier—a move that had started as just a visit . . . until we realized, after a few months, that we couldn’t go back.
We had unexpectedly moved “home.”
Stranded in Minnesota, the place we swore we would never live again, we found ourselves with nothing more than a suitcase apiece, mostly filled with sweatpants. (After being confined to our home in Lima throughout 2020—and me leaving the house a whopping ten times—I had no concept of Americans so easily being able to leave their homes. Thus, as long as I had a few nice shirts for Zoom meetings, why would we really need anything nicer than sweats? Uff. You can imagine how well that worked.)
The story that unfolded is actually a remarkable one—confusion, followed by surprise and overwhelming gratitude, then heartbreak like we had never known, and after that, new beginnings, new opportunities, new learnings, and so much joy.
On one of those freezing winter days at the start of 2022, I walked through the doors of a university into the MC2 (Midwest Care Connection) conference, accompanied by my husband and our friend.
When I pulled the paper program from the blue folder handed to me, I kept seeing a strange phrase throughout the plenary sessions and workshops: “member care.” Who were these mysterious “members”—and what club did they belong to? Eventually, I pieced it together: it meant missionaries. (This was confirmed when, in all humility, I straight-up asked someone.)
Over the next two days, I learned new words like “debrief” and met dozens of people from organizations dedicated to serving missionaries. I was dumbfounded.
What was this new world I had stepped into? How had I, a missionary for ten years, been so completely unaware of this other language, this other space in missions, this other network of people and organizations?
The questions kept rolling.
Why had I—and every missionary I knew—never heard of them? How different might my life have been if we had?
Boy, would I have loved to know that there were organizations offering debriefs, counseling, ongoing trainings, communities, and resources. Why was I only finding out about them after coming off the field?
A fire was lit in me that day.
Little did I know that God was already weaving this discovery into a new assignment.
The friend attending the conference with us was Marvin Slaton, the executive director of Modern Day Missions—the missions-partnering organization that had, for years, so seamlessly helped us with donations and supporter relations. They had just offered me a position, serving 800 (now 1,100) missionaries worldwide, and I had said yes.
With a blank slate, they invited me to dream. As I surveyed our missionaries, my mind whirled with possibilities.
What do I wish I had known? Who do I wish I had known about?
If you know anything about StrengthsFinder, connectedness is in my top five. So, I became a curator. Not of art, books, or music—but of missionary resources.
And just like any good curator, I have so much more to discover, so much more to add to my ever-growing collection which I now share with missionaries everywhere through the Modern Day Missionaries podcast and our weekly resource newsletter.
And you, dear reader, are part of the only resource I knew existed while I was in Peru. I found A Life Overseas on the field, and it became a constant source of encouragement to me. What a full circle moment it is now, writing for the very blog that once whispered to me: You are not alone. There is more.
An Invitation
May I offer you an invitation? It’s an invitation to share what you know.
Maybe you, like me, know just the smallest whispers of what is out there for those on the field. Would you share those tiny offerings with someone else?
Or maybe you are one of the fortunate ones who have found the gold—retreats, communities, coaching, learning. Shout it from the rooftops. Don’t assume that what you know is known by others.
Would you also share them with me and with this community?
I invite you to post the missionary care (or, to be proper, member care) resources that have most impacted you in the comments below. Or, if you’d rather not have it attached to your name, email me at care@modernday.org.
Our heart is simple: we want to help you be well, so you can serve well.
How can you take a step toward being well today? What part of your life is crying out for care—your spirit, your soul, or your body?
I have one more invitation for you. It is the invitation to listen.
Whether that part of you is whispering or shouting, will you plug your ears and push on, or will you pause and breathe in the oxygen God has for your weary self?
There are so many who want to serve you. Let them. Breathe it in—for those you serve, for your family, and for yourself.
Know this: You are worthy of care. You are worthy of love. Receive it today.
A Blessing
May you be well, so you can serve well.
May you be well, so you can live well.
May you be well, simply because your Father wishes it so.
Because He loves you —
Not for what you do,
But for who you are.
Beloved, may you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
Selah.
~~~~~~~
Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez served as a missionary in Peru for ten years and now cares for missionaries through Modern Day Missions. She is also a life and leadership coach, a spiritual director, a retreat leader, and the host of the Modern Day Missionaries podcast. When she’s not traveling, you’ll find Stephanie with her family in Minneapolis, Minnesota—book in hand, playing games, or sharing food around the table with friends.
