In order to better understand the reality of the Latin American missionary family, it is necessary that we Latins set aside our tendency to incorporate into our imagination the picture of an Anglo Saxon missionary family. Instead, it is time we work on looking to learn from the life experiences of Latin American families who have immigrated to foreign countries. It is only with this image in our cognitive constructions that we can begin to visualize more clearly the particular needs of our Latin American missionary families.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read the account of a young Jesus who went to the temple in Jerusalem, and sat with the teachers “both listening and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). After his parents found him in the temple, Jesus returned to Nazareth with them. Luke described Jesus’ growth in the following way: “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Physicians appreciate Luke’s focus on three dimensions of health in this verse—physical, emotional, and spiritual. 

The words “The End” immediately conjure up the last page of a book we simply haven’t been able to put down. There is nothing that comes after “The End.” It falls of the page into the unknown and so we avoid thinking about endings much.

The Christian life begins as the Spirit of God grants us recognition of our guilt, followed by a work of grace received by faith in the finished work of Christ. It is completed on this earth by the response of a life of gratitude, which in turn is a foretaste of the glory we will ultimately experience in God’s presence. Of that fourfold process—guilt, grace, gratitude, and glory—the part that is perhaps least understood and embraced is gratitude.

Decades ago, it used to be that interested people would ask about our “country of service.” But over time, the question morphed into “What people group do you work among?” For quite some time, the status quo for presenting the missionary task has been ‘reaching people groups’, or rather, reaching the ‘unreached people groups’ (UPGs).