Dwayne and Tammy were approved as BBFI missionaries May 2010. Their sending church is Capital City Baptist Church in Des Moines, IA. They, along with their four children, moved to Ethiopia in 2013. Here are six things they have learned being on the mission field for six years.
Struggling with contentment and unmet expectations can be a constant companion if you let it.
We have struggled with contentment and unmet expectations since we have moved here. We struggle with comparing how “easy” it seems back in America with the daily struggles of living in a developing country. Finding contentment has not been easy. When we were on deputation, we couldn’t wait to get to the field and start our new life and ministry, but things didn’t work out the way we thought they would or should. Many times, we had to completely start over or rethink how to go about a project. That was a big shock for us. Somehow, we had in our mind that everything would be easy and fall into place. We would love the people easily, learn the language quickly, plant a church, adjust to the culture. But all of those things have taken a lot of time and a lot of re-dos. But in those times of discontent and frustrations, God reveals to us how blessed we are. He shows us His undying love, patience, and mercy. He always gives us gentle reminders we are here for a purpose and the trials of this life are just temporary. We are not perfect, and we still struggle with some of this, but God is always so good to give us the boost when we need it by reminding how much He loves these Ethiopian people. – Tammy
Satan and spiritual warfare are real things and those who are “going through it” aren’t losing their mind, they are being attacked.
We had been on full-time staff at two churches before God calling us to Ethiopia. We had seen many missionaries come and share their field and tell their stories of on-field experiences. Often, we would hear them talk about how Satan had attacked them or their families and, speaking honestly, many times I would think, “Nah that can’t be all true, he was just tired or something when that happened.” I used to think, “They have been on the field too long, and they need a break.” I believed spiritual warfare was real but never experienced it so much until we moved to our home where we live now. Where we live and minister is known as the capital of Wicca worship in Ethiopia. For about six weeks, I would wake up in the middle of the night not able to move, I felt like a pressure was on my body, and above me was a dark form just hovering over me. I couldn’t even speak to wake up my wife to see if I was dreaming or if this was real. I prayed and said in my head, “Jesus” over and over. After a few minutes, it went away, and I could move. At first, I thought this must have been a dream until it continued to happen. One other night when this happened, Tammy awoke to see that I couldn’t move or respond to her questions. She began to pray and recite scripture out loud. We both had just finished reading the book “Bondage Breaker,” and this was one area covered in the book. The dark covering over me left. A few nights later I was putting our youngest daughter to bed and asked her if there was anything I could pray about with her. She said, “Pray the man doesn’t come back to my room tonight.” As a father, of course, this concerned me, and I asked her, “What does this person look like?” She then described what she saw in the middle of the night. It was then I realized it was the same thing I was experiencing in our room, yet my wife and I never shared it with any of our kids, or anyone else until now. We made sure we prayed over our kids’ room, and I would even walk around our compound asking God to put a hedge of angels around our home and our kids’ room. There are more instances we see Satan moving and attacking that would take pages to write about, but we now truly believe Satan will attack and it’s not just that “We need a break,” or “We are tired” We are just obeying the Lord, and it is making Satan mad. What’s interesting is the spiritual attacks started a few days after we launched the church in our town. We hold tight to the verse, “Greater is He that’s within you than He that’s within the world.” 1 John 4:4 – Dwayne
We hold tight to the verse, “Greater is He that’s within you than He that’s within the world.” Click To TweetComparison is a Trap.
If you thought missionaries are immune to the comparison trap, then you don’t know humans. We struggle with comparing ourselves to other missionaries, Ethiopians, ex-pats and so on. We might look at someone else’s ministry or sphere of influence and question why we can’t have that as well, but we know that Satan is good about causing disunity through discontent with what the Lord has given us. Avoiding this trap is paramount to having healthy relationships with other missionaries and friends on the field. Praying for your co-laborers in Christ is the best remedy for comparing yourself to them. Not all of us experience the same things, even when we live in the same country. We all have our own story being written, and God is the master writer. Who are we to question what He has in store for us? – Tammy
Praying for your co-laborers in Christ is the best remedy for comparing yourself to them. Click To TweetYou can be surrounded by so many people, yet feel so alone.
We arrived in Ethiopia over six years ago. Just trying to get the daily needs done was a chore and still can be six years later. Ethiopia is home to over 90 million people. The “little” town we live in has a population of over 300,000 people. It is not uncommon to walk the streets with thousands of people within sight of you, yet there are many days it feels you are ministering all alone. Our sending pastor when we arrived in Ethiopia, Mark Carter, counseled us on this very thing before we left for the field. He knew we love companionship and understood the struggle we would likely face on the field. Our family has grown closer together, and more importantly, we have learned to lean on His Grace in those times of loneliness. We are thankful for many of our partnering churches who send emails and cards of encouragement. It may seem to them it is nothing, but to us, it’s like someone just knocked on our door. – Dwayne
Daily we have to remember “why” we are here and not focus on “how is this going to work out.”
Since the day we arrived, the word “how” was used in our vocabulary over and over. How do we get bread? How do we get service for our phone? How do we start the church? How do we … it goes on and on. After a few months on the field, we found out the work permit we came in on would not allow us to renew and we had to find a new way to stay. The “how” word kept coming over and over. We had no idea how this would work out. It was at those times in our ministry we would spend time with people in the community and realized we needed to change our verbiage from “how” to “why.” Why did we come here? Why do we stay? Why do we keep pushing forward? We came to two common denominators in answering the question “why.” First, we are to give honor and glory to Him; second, those who do not know Him will hear the saving Grace of the Gospel. We have to stay focused on the “whys,” or the “hows” will drive you to quit. The how question is His problem and His opportunity. Easy? Not at all, but we have to give it to Him. He wants us to give it to Him, and when we give it to Him, number 6 (below) comes to life. – Dwayne
God will make a way; He always does.
The greatest example of this would be acquiring the school, Jorgo Academy, where we now minister. We had hoped to start a school sometime down the road, but God had different plans. Since we had to find another avenue to stay in the country, we decided to see if education would be a viable option. Our Ethiopian friend, Dawit, introduced us to a struggling school in a nearby community. This school needed a lot of upgrades and tender love and care. They were running around sixty kids in grades from nursery through fifth grade. However, the property was large and had a lot of room to grow. This felt very overwhelming for us because we did not come to be educators, but church planters and the price tag for the school was way out of our budget. God made a way. We knew this was the direction He wanted us to go. We knew we could make a huge difference in the lives of so many children, parents, teachers, and employees. We could be a light through this school. God provided money for the lease, remodeling and adding new classrooms, restrooms, equipment, a well and so on. Now the school is running over 600 children from nursery to eighth grade. We also were able to rent a small house directly across from the school where we started a church and last Tuesday night we had sixty people in attendance. We believe God gave us the school to get us out of Addis and reach the people here in Bishoftu by using Jorgo as a light to the community. It has been amazing to watch God work in the lives of these people as well as in our own lives. He continually meets our needs for ministry and the needs of the people to whom we minister. -Tammy
You can learn more about the Wrights’ ministry in Ethiopia by clicking here.