I am a missionary, and today my mission was...

We left home at 10:00 this morning with a mission. Isn't that what missionaries do? My mission for today, however, doesn't read like a seminary to-do list. Right after breakfast I started packing up my toolboxes, checking my supplies, and making the list of materials I would need to complete my mission: 1) Go to Kristjan and Andrea's house to replace a faulty electrical outlet, substitute two desintegrating light fixtures with two new ones, and configure the wireless DSL router they bought two weeks ago, but were never able to get to work properly with their desktop and laptop computers. 2) Stop by the church and reattach the end of the church sign that had broken loose in the recent storms we had. When we discovered the problem a couple of weeks ago, I had no tools with me, so I stood up on the property wall and was able to temporarily wire the sign so it would not flap too much in the wind and break. As long as I had all the tools with me, I would also put a safety chain on one of the windows upstairs where the children have Sunday School. When wide open, the window left a gap large enough for a young child with a small body and an even smaller awareness of danger to lean out of.

Abbie used the time to talk with Andrea and discuss plans for the nursery that is becoming necessary at the church because of all the babies (10 under the age of 3), and plan the music program. At the church, she made the preparations for tomorrow's services, making sure all the furniture and supplies were in the proper place.

Twelve hours later, we arrived home, all phases of the mission successfully accomplished. Now to get all my other tools packed for tomorrow's 12-hour mission: Bibles in four languages, sermon notes for three messages, and assorted supplementary material, musical and otherwise. After all, we are missionaries...every day.