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Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share a snapshot of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region.

I got the call from a friend only 6 months after our move to the Silk Road. 

“My daughter has lice,” she said, “you better check Paris. There is an infestation at the preschool.”

I almost started crying. I had managed to be okay when the water turned off, or the electricity…but lice. I just couldn’t.

Luckily, my daughter was in the clear.  And I remember saying, “Lord, thanks for knowing my threshold, and not pushing me beyond it.” The following year Paris walked through our gate with a note in her hand.  They had found two live lice on her at school.

What a Friend

I told my daughter to undress right there in our courtyard and I ran inside to my friend, a local woman, who was at my house. Like it was no big thing, she sat Paris down outside, and started cleaning her hair. I couldn’t believe it. What a friend. I was so grateful.

That year, with the help of my friend, I learned how to clean lice out of my daughter’s hair. And hoped I never had to do it again. But I did. One year later, just yesterday in fact, it happened again. I saw her scratch her head, and a terrible feeling came over me. I just knew. Except this time there was no friend. Just me. So, I sat her down and started the process of cleaning her head late into the night. Almost like it was no big deal.

I have found this to happen time after time here.

A perfect picture of how kindly the Lord has dealt with me. I think I can’t do it and then I do. I tell Him I’m maxed out and He pushes me a bit further, but never beyond my actual ability to do what is before me.

He Prepares Me

And it seems, somehow, I’m always prepared. He always prepares me ahead of time.

First, I cried at the thought. Then, I had a friend to teach me. And then I was ready, and I did it by myself.

I did not move here prepared. But I moved here willing, and He has prepared me all along the way.

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