Light moments at Mission Field

As we have seen, missionaries live a committed and serious life of sharing the gospel. However,
because of working in different environments and with people of different languages, they
occasionally have funny and hilarious moments. Think of cultural misunderstandings, and
language barriers, among others. This has caused some missioners to have humorous blunders.
Here are some light moments.

"I'm pregnant," a male English-speaking missionary told a Spanish speaking host. Of course, he
didn't mean that. He was trying to say that he was embarrassed. But "embarasada" means
pregnant in Spanish, hence making a common mistake of pronunciation.

Another missionary told a babysitter that if her children got hungry, she should "eat them." What
she had meant to say was: "feed them."

A missionary from America working in Africa started a rabbit project to provide meat for poor
families in the mission field. Unfortunately, she discovered that her watchman was stealing from
her when he showed up one day wearing one of her belts. Deciding that something needed to be
done about the situation, she drove five miles to the nearest police station where the officers
agreed to arrest him. However, as with many police departments around the world, for economic
reasons, the lawmen didn't have any transportation. The white missionary drove them back to her
house only to have the watchman accuse her of being the thief! At that point, the police decided
to detain her until they could figure out who the real thief was. On the way to the jail, one of the
police officers proposed marriage. "I want to go to the United States," he said. "The only way I
can go is if an American lady will marry me." The missionary declined but did persuade him to
let her go free so she could care for the rabbits.

Another story of a missionary working in Brazil, visited a parishioner, he refused first of all an
offer of coffee because caffeine was causing him some health problems and then tea because it
could have been made from any type of leaf. Finally, he refused water because he wasn't sure it
would be pure. Deciding that he couldn't refuse anything else, he accepted a glass of lukewarm
milk with thick cream at the top.

"As I began to drink, I noticed something swimming in the milk and, underneath the cream,
discovered a large cockroach doing the backstroke," he remembers. "That was too much.
Suddenly, I realized I was standing in front of a large, open window. I quickly threw the milk out
the window, relieved to have been able to save face." The problem wasn't solved that easily.
"Just then," he relates, "in through the open door comes a little boy with milk running down his
face and crying, 'Mommy, mommy, that big man threw milk all over me.'"

Another missionary visited a church with her children. The children had stomach upsets and and
as a result could vomit now and then. When they reached the church, the stomachs had settled, so
she sat in the back row with them. she gave them each a cup, just in case they had to vomit to use
before running to the bathroom.
No one threw up. After church my kids were still holding their little cups. I don't know why, but
some people started dropping money in my kids cups. One of my daughters even got a bracelet
in hers.

I was so embarrassed! Later I laughed with the Pastor and his wife about my little missionary
kids and their "beggar