Cool Things About Being an MK

Sometimes it is hard to be an MK (missionary kid).  We live far away from our family, we left our home and our friends in the USA, and we've had to learn another language just to get by.  Also, we have celiac and it's hard to find gluten free foods sometimes.

But on the other hand, sometimes it is cool to be an MK.  After all, not many kids from a small town in Pennsylvania get to have some of the experiences we've had.  Here are some examples:

1.  Our school field trip was a visit to Los Pinos (the Mexican "White House") and, we met the First Lady of Mexico.  We hadn't been on our tour very long when the First Lady drove up in her car.  We heard the tour guide say, "Ya viene la esposa del Presidente." (The President's wife is coming.)  We were surprised when she came up to our group and began talking about her 3 children.  Someone from Los Pinos took a picture of her with our school and they promised to send it to the principal.  Isn't that great?

2.  We ride to school with other kids (sometimes in the car that wouldn't go and and sometimes in the car that wouldn't stop!). Our carpool friends are Canadian and Mexican-American, and when we get to school,  most of the kids are Korean.  There are Filipinos and Mexicans, as well.  If you listened on the playground, you would hear Spanish, Korean and English being spoken.  We are getting to know how different cultures do things and how to make friends with people who are different from us.

3.  People dream of vacationing in Costa Rica and Mexico...we have lived there!!  (Of course, not in the vacation areas, but we have visited some of them.)

4.  We live in one of the biggest cities in the world.  After it taking 2 hours to go 12 miles, we don't get very bothered by small town traffic.

5.  Our missionary group is like family to us.  We have aunts and uncles from the USA, Mexico, N. Ireland and England.

6.  In Costa Rica we saw a troop of capuchin monkeys swinging from the trees, we zip-lined near a smoking volcano, swam in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, saw baby sea turtles hatch and helped them make their way to the sea, hiked in the rainforest, and made friends who now live all over Central and South America.

7.  In Mexico we visited the Pyramids in Teotihuacan (twice so far) with friends and got to eat in a restaurant down in a cave.  Our missionary friends have a ministry to the deaf in Mexico City and our first visit was with a deaf pastor and his wife.  We got to learn some Mexican sign language and see a prayer in sign (you can't bow your heads and close your eyes while praying in sign). We later visited the deaf church for a service, too.

8.  We attended a church in a poor area in San Jose, Costa Rica, and our church now is in an area that is pretty poor.  We have seen poor people who have to live without lots of things, sometimes without even homes or enough food.  But we have learned:  You are never too poor to go to church.  God welcomes everyone, even when people don't accept you.  Jesus changes people.   We have seen it with our own eyes.