Within the last year, our church has brought in a few mission groups - probably one a month or so. When the groups come, they may attend our little church, or the pastor might bring them by just to see it. Since we live in the same location as the church, we always meet the groups.
The groups never know what to do with us. They look at us wondering what we are doing here. Then someone asks the question we almost always are asked, "Are you guys missionaries here?" We respond with, "No, we just live here."
At this point, you can almost always watch the wheels turn in their heads as they ask, "So why did you move here?" or "Why did you leave the US?" You see, they are coming into our town to do a mission trip to the "poor unfortunate children in this third world country," so it really blows their minds that someone would actually want to LIVE here voluntarily.
We go on to explain that we've been here for seven years and we love it. "But why would you leave America?" We then explain that we wanted to raise our kids outside of the American culture, to give them a chance to have an actual childhood (outside). We explain that the Panamanian culture is a family-oriented culture and not an entertainment culture like that of the US.
We also explain that we love the weather, the people here, our expat community, the fact that our kids can learn and speak Spanish, that we have a neighborhood we are developing, and that my husband is an architect and can do more here with less red tape and government involvement.
At this point, we've lost them. They just can't understand why someone would leave "The American Dream."
We can even push them at times and point out stuff that's terrible (like the pushing of the agenda), and they'll admit that is awful, but "not in their town/school/church." They usually tell us that their place is a little bubble away from all of the bad stuff...for now.
Usually at that point, they find someone in their group to talk to and we go back inside our house. They don't understand the reasons we would move and they never will. It is too confusing to them that we choose to live here, in this third world country.
It happens with every group and we're mostly used to it at this point.
We enjoy having these groups in and seeing how they bless the pastor and his family, as well as the church members and members of the community. We really do like meeting people and opening their minds to the opportunity to choose something different for themselves and their families as well! Maybe it helps them see they don't have to live in the "American box."
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