I thought it might be a good idea to compile a list of things that missionaries need, want and miss that can be sent in care packages since this is a question I am frequently asked. It is soooo comforting to get a package in the mail filled with useful things and things that remind you of home and it is always encouraging to know that the folks back home have you in their thoughts and prayers. Of course for different families serving in different parts of the world, needs are going to differ a little. However, I hope this list serves as a springboard for ideas of what to send in care packages to missionaries that you may be wanting to bless in this way.
Prayer. Ok, prayer doesn't exactly come in a box, but a care package is a good reminder and encouragement as I said before, that there are people praying for and wanting to bless you. Bonus, prayer never gets lost in the mail!
Food items:
Reeses peanut butter cups. People, the Reeses situation over here is dire.
Spice mix packets. It is often difficult to find many spices -here, particularly Asian and Mexican food spices- and having those little spice packet mixes on hand is so, well, handy.
Sea salt and/or coarsely ground sea salt
Ranch dip mix packets and other dip mixes.
Hot chocolate/apple cider mixes
Instant oatmeal packets
Pop tarts
Fishy crackers, cheeze-its, party mix and the like. The kids miss those and there is nothing even close here(-in fact, I can't even get cheddar cheese here to try and make my own!)
Boxed macaroni and other boxed pasta/rice sides. We cook mostly from scratch and have been eating probably a lot healthier here, but sometimes ya just miss good ol' Kraft or Aunt Annie's Macaroni.
Cake mix, frosting, other cookie/brownie type mixes.
Chocolate chips for baking
Fruit snacks
Cream of wheat
Food coloring
Coconut oil
Garlic salt
Hot sauce (we don't particularly care for hot sauce, but you can't get it here, so find out if this is something your missionary friend wants!)
Candy canes, robin's eggs, candy corn, other seasonal candy at the appropriate times
Chai tea
Other:
Pictures of you, of your families. We miss your beautiful faces!
Notes letting us know what is going on in your lives and how we can pray for you.
Crayola crayons, colored pencils, chalk
Coloring books
Construction paper
Beads, stamps, other small craft/home-learning/Sunday school type supplies.
Children's books. Books quickly weigh a box down, but you can usually toss in a couple without it being too bad. We were only able to take a few of our beloved books with us and we miss reading in English! Little kid type books (think Perfect the Pig, A Birthday for Bear...) or chapter books to read to them (think Charlotte's Web, A Cricket in Times Square...)
Play-doh. We make our own sometimes, but miss the neon colors too :)
Empty spray bottles. You'd think you could find those here. Nope.
Duct/scotch/masking tape
Elmer's and tacky glue and glue sticks
Spray n'Wash, RLR or Sportsman's Wash for laundry
First aid type items, band-aids, medical tape, tiny scissors... Stuff like that
Prenatal vitamins (if your missionary is a pregnant or nursing mother)vitamin C, vitamin D3, probiotics, other supplements that your missionary can specify, if needed.
If your missionary has pets it might be nice to send them flea/tick treatments as those aren't available (here anyway) and little chew toys/bones, catnip, worming medication, even a collar...
These were the things I sat down and thought of today. Any friends are welcome to comment with other ideas!
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Love
Happy New Years everyone! We hope that you are having a wonderful start to 2013 and that your Holiday season was very blessed.
I will admit that the start of the season saw me feeling rather discouraged. I was so very very homesick, struggling with jealousy of those who were "home" in the states and terribly missing my family and friends there. God is gracious and he cares. He held me and brought me through it and I am happy to say that we had a lovely Christmas here and we have so much to be thankful for with the start of this new year. I am grateful that his mercies are not new every year, but daily. Praise God!
But I'd like to talk about something else today.
You know, about a year ago, maybe a little more, I was reading through 1 Corinthians 13. I had begun reading it through every day, hoping that by doing so I would understand better how to incorporate the attributes found there into my own life. I had really been struggling. I was teaching my children love and gentleness, patience and kindness, but not following through myself. These were areas that I desperately needed to work on and I knew it. Our household verse was "Let your gentleness be evident to all" Yet I felt that my gentleness was evident to no one.
Around this time I read somewhere about a man who committed to reading through 1 Cor. 13 every day for a month and it "changed his life."
Perfect! I thought, a clear cut, easy recipe for how I can fix this in myself. And so I began.
But it seemed to me that the harder I tried to live with gentleness, patience and all that is wrapped up in that beautiful little word LOVE, the worse I became at it -the snappier, more irritable and impatient I grew. Oh I was so disheartened.
Life became busy with moving and all the big changes that came last summer, though always in the back of my mind I was giving a concerted -and often failing- effort to be more loving, more gentle.
Fast forward to a week or so ago at our newly begun women's Bible Study meeting. A small group of very special young women in our Church have committed to getting together once a week to study the Word together. It is a beautiful thing and has blessed and encouraged me in numerous ways already. On this day we were discussing the Love of God and taking about such verses as John 3:16. One girl read 1 Corinthians 13 out loud and another pointed out that this section was more about believers loving each other, not specifically about God's love.
Then it struck me.
"But-but it is about God's love!" I thought excitedly. It was like an epiphany. At that moment in my heart God re-taught me something that I had heard many times over the years about God's love lived out in us. For not only is living out our lives and loving others with the kind of love described in 1 Cor. 13 very difficult, it is, in fact, impossible. Utterly and completely impossible -apart from Christ. Only when we have God's love in our hearts -and are allowing Him to work, instead of trying to take care of things ourselves (something I DO need to re-learn just about daily)- only then can we love our families, or friends, our sisters and brothers in Christ, and anyone else we meet with the agape love described in Scripture.
I felt at that moment as though a weight had been lifted and a veil removed from my eyes -a veil I had likely put in place myself by trying to figure things out on my own, instead of relying solely on Him and being sensitive to His guidance. I feel a deep peace now, I remember that only through Him can I treat others with true grace and love.
There will still be -will always be- struggles, as long as I am in this world, but I know that I can persevere through Him. And that is the beautiful hope for all of us. A hope which has already been fulfilled in His eternal Love.
I will admit that the start of the season saw me feeling rather discouraged. I was so very very homesick, struggling with jealousy of those who were "home" in the states and terribly missing my family and friends there. God is gracious and he cares. He held me and brought me through it and I am happy to say that we had a lovely Christmas here and we have so much to be thankful for with the start of this new year. I am grateful that his mercies are not new every year, but daily. Praise God!
But I'd like to talk about something else today.
You know, about a year ago, maybe a little more, I was reading through 1 Corinthians 13. I had begun reading it through every day, hoping that by doing so I would understand better how to incorporate the attributes found there into my own life. I had really been struggling. I was teaching my children love and gentleness, patience and kindness, but not following through myself. These were areas that I desperately needed to work on and I knew it. Our household verse was "Let your gentleness be evident to all" Yet I felt that my gentleness was evident to no one.
Around this time I read somewhere about a man who committed to reading through 1 Cor. 13 every day for a month and it "changed his life."
Perfect! I thought, a clear cut, easy recipe for how I can fix this in myself. And so I began.
But it seemed to me that the harder I tried to live with gentleness, patience and all that is wrapped up in that beautiful little word LOVE, the worse I became at it -the snappier, more irritable and impatient I grew. Oh I was so disheartened.
Life became busy with moving and all the big changes that came last summer, though always in the back of my mind I was giving a concerted -and often failing- effort to be more loving, more gentle.
Fast forward to a week or so ago at our newly begun women's Bible Study meeting. A small group of very special young women in our Church have committed to getting together once a week to study the Word together. It is a beautiful thing and has blessed and encouraged me in numerous ways already. On this day we were discussing the Love of God and taking about such verses as John 3:16. One girl read 1 Corinthians 13 out loud and another pointed out that this section was more about believers loving each other, not specifically about God's love.
Then it struck me.
"But-but it is about God's love!" I thought excitedly. It was like an epiphany. At that moment in my heart God re-taught me something that I had heard many times over the years about God's love lived out in us. For not only is living out our lives and loving others with the kind of love described in 1 Cor. 13 very difficult, it is, in fact, impossible. Utterly and completely impossible -apart from Christ. Only when we have God's love in our hearts -and are allowing Him to work, instead of trying to take care of things ourselves (something I DO need to re-learn just about daily)- only then can we love our families, or friends, our sisters and brothers in Christ, and anyone else we meet with the agape love described in Scripture.
I felt at that moment as though a weight had been lifted and a veil removed from my eyes -a veil I had likely put in place myself by trying to figure things out on my own, instead of relying solely on Him and being sensitive to His guidance. I feel a deep peace now, I remember that only through Him can I treat others with true grace and love.
There will still be -will always be- struggles, as long as I am in this world, but I know that I can persevere through Him. And that is the beautiful hope for all of us. A hope which has already been fulfilled in His eternal Love.
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