Please Don't Send Me to Africa...

"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for today. I pray that you'll be with our grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. Please be with the Hunts, the Conrads, Ruby Clark, and Thelma Wagner. Amen."

The staple of our childhood prayers, these lines were repeated every night--sometimes quickly so I could be the fastest one done, sometimes deliberately with meaningful additions, sometimes with my eyes peeking through my fingers to see if my dad was really keeping his eyes closed (he was). Though simple, I think my dad gave us an okay model: thanksgiving and prayer for others. And among those others, prayer for missionaries.

Perhaps the most indelible memories of Christian Tabernacle, my church when it was still downtown, stem from the mission conferences. I remember one year dressing up for a ladies' brunch of sorts, featuring several missionaries who were in town. Each of the tables held yellow center pieces, probably flowers. The most entertaining part? the men who sucked helium from balloons and sang a quartet, which may or may not have been the same group who sang a rousing rendition of "Please don't send me to Africa...," a satircal little ditty about being ready for anything and anywhere the Lord leads unless it's too far out of our comfort zone.

Later, I competed in poster contests held for kids so the sanctuary could be decorated with our interpretations of missions. Out came the dinner plate to trace a perfect circle to start my drawing of the globe. And, of course, there was the train that circled in and out around the baptistery, touting "Missions on the Go" or something similar as the slogan of that year's campaign. The missionaries would speak, and though I don't remember what they said specifically, I remember being enthralled by their stories of interactions with other cultures. I remember seeing their pictures printed on shiny cards, and I remember the requests for prayer and monetary support. And soon, those requests made their way into our little prayers for the missionaries--the Hunts, the Conrads, Ruby Clark, Thelma Wagner--representing to me the exotic call of the Lord in their lives.