This month I needed a little bit of humor, and I bet you do too. A missionary mom who’s currently raising her kids overseas shared this list in a prayer letter to their home church. She gave me permission to share it anonymously.

Which item makes you chuckle? Do you have a favorite? I’ve clued you in on mine below.

Read through to the hashtags.

How Being A Missionary Kid Prepared Me For The Apocalypse

1. We MK’s used to be the only teens so isolated that we depended on video chats and messenger to have and maintain friendships. Now EVERYBODY wants to join our chat groups!

2. Homeschool? Puh-lease. We’ve got this stuff down.

3. Sometimes we’re trapped forever with our families and little to no outside contact, and we just call it September. Or October. Or any given Tuesday.

4. Infectious disease knocks on our door every day. Well, kind of… the people in our village don’t actually knock. Sometimes they cough or pinch their kids to make them cry and get our attention. But, still. Contagious, nasty stuff is the norm.

5. We’re hearing that toilet paper is a problem in some places. Just take our advice and see the world as your toilet… You can always go pee off the back porch like we do sometimes. And, well… hoses have multiple functions.

6. Stockpiling food is normal life. We buy two months of groceries at a time, and when the good stuff is gone, it’s gone until the next supply buy. We know how to ration. Large families like ours sometimes resort to hoarding small personal stashes of snacks and candy to hide it from the others. Not proud of this, just giving you a heads up into the natural progression as resources become scarce and society deteriorates.

And here are a few more …

[Debbie interjecting here! My personal favorite is #6 where the MKs say: “Not proud of this, just giving you a heads up into the natural progression as resources become scarce and society deteriorates.” I too have my own small stockpile of chocolate in the fridge. It’s safe in the very back of the vegetable drawer.]

7. We’re open to all kinds of food possibilities, should times become desperate. Rat? Lizard? Snake? Eel? Stingray? Grubs? Weeds that grow in our yard? We’ll eat that stuff. When cooked over an open fire as God intended, most of it tastes like chicken anyway.

8. Electricity, Water, and *gasp* Internet shortages are a normal part of everyday existence. Fervently pray you don’t experience this. We can cook from scratch, in the dark, using a recipe we didn’t Google, in only one pan, and then eat it off of sheets of paper in order to conserve water when doing the dishes. Special Achievement unlocked.

9. We don’t have many entertainment options, so we do things like ripstick around our kitchen, shoot at parrots with slingshots, and start small fires. Life is what you make it. Find ways to have fun.

10. We know Jesus. You should, too.

#WeWereIsolatedBeforeItWasCool
#AdventuresInNotDying
#WhenYouFindOutYourNormalLifeIsCalledQuarantine

In Closing, a Note from Debbie:

Hi friends, Thanks for reading my blog posts each month. I hope you enjoyed this submission from some intrepid, young MKs who shall remain anonymous!

During these months of sheltering-in-place and socializing-from-a-distance, I’m finding that connecting with friends is even more important than before. It’s such a pleasure to chat with you here and on Facebook each month in response to your comments.

Warmly,
Debbie Jones Warren

To read more stories about my childhood, head over to my About page.