Erica Grace, author and ex-missionary to South America, cuts to the chase!

Yet another letter in our mail box! This one was quite long but also interesting. The person involved seemed to know quite a lot about South America and was asking me detailed questions about our work and location in Chile.

Feeling a sense of thrill I decided to answer the letter right away, responding to each point that had been made and adding interesting details. The letter went to the mail right away (You may already realise this was decades ago – before emails!).

Two weeks later I received an answer to my letter, thanking me for the details and asking for more. Knowing that we would be posting our usual quarterly letter within a couple of weeks, I added his letter to the pile that would be answered at that time.

Ten days later I received a third letter from this gentleman. This time his letter was not polite at all. He wrote: ‘I would think that by now you would have had plenty of time to read my letter and respond. I don’t know what else is more important than keeping in touch with the people back home that support you there. I am so disappointed that you haven’t answered me yet. You really need to get your priorities right!’

Get my priorities right? Does this unmarried(!) man, thousands of miles away, have any idea what a missionary wife has to cope with, I wondered?  He must have had in his mind a picture of what he considered an ‘Ideal Missionary Wife’ – and his expectations were off base and unreal! (more…)