MK forum

Or it could be said that
I positively think that SOMETHING
Is going on……..

The comments at the beginning of this post are so heartbreaking. ntm is so distorted.

Heartbreaking, poignant. So many times I wished I had that "whatever" attitude that has characterized so much of our culture. I was trying to explain why I'm jealous of people like that and yet it's so far from my reach. My theory? We actually did have glimpses of glory. For those of you that never had any relief from pain and judgement, I am truly sorry. Looking back some of our times were remarkable. Do you mind if I reminisce? Every once in a while, a person, a couple, a family would come on base, and it would all come together. Stimulating intellectual conversation, deep spiritual connections, a bit of romance, wonderful but cheap food, perfect weather, mango trees, cultural understanding. . .they would bring new music, new jokes, different books. Hope would reign again. Gradually or suddenly, the era would end. Honeymoon over. Rumors would start to circulate about past indiscretions, mental illness, children that were NOT at Bible school. Then they would say something dumb, prejudiced, religious.

But it was nice while it lasted. And we had time for each other, you know, not having to clock in and out, and drive to work, or for that much, visit or take care of grandparents.

There were many missionaries that had "health problems" that kept them from strenuous work. Having the good wife to cook homemade meals, bake desserts for every supper, sure made it nice. There was a certain placid comfort in being a woman and not having to make decisions, more than to roll and spritz the ironing? Or to use the steam feature? When you condemned worldly music, TV, people . . .there was more time to play Dutch Blitz, volleyball, go for walks.

Did you have any "glimpses of glory?" Nah, I just can't not care. Bummer.

How do you say goodbye
To something that never came
A childhood that was over
Because of the missionary game

Dealing with adult issues
Innocence gone for good
Sacrifice, soul destruction
And the never ending blood

Glimpses of normality
Washed away as routine
Back to the brainwashing
In the Missionary machine

I'm sure most do not think of it as criminal. Want to see something really frightening? Google "Ghost Rapes" "Bolivia" "Mennonites"

It's incredible how isolation and unilateral thinking can warp a whole people group.

When I first went to Via, it did seem quaint. But when the principal told me I couldn't run for student council president because I was a female and the boys needed to learn leadership . . .i wondered.

There's a Hasidic Jew in Brooklyn that has set up a Hotline number for sexual abuse victims. He's been shunned and mobbed by member of his synagogue. But young boys, woman, men, all call him crying. Some he gets to before they commit suicide.

A constable in our county that runs a daycare center out of his home, was just arrested for being with an 11 year old.

The Mennonites/ Amish that actually get caught and put on trial? The victims have no one sitting on their side, while the perps have bishops, family members inside and outside of the courthouse.

I wonder how many of Scott Kennel's girls are now prostitutes?

I'm so sorry ethnic violence was a part to the down under / NTM experience. Not surprising though, with the prevalence of BJU people. When you denigrate one sort of people, it leads to others. We had a few people with low intelligence that made it to the mission field just to get humiliated by not being able to learn another language. They worked so hard, got no thanks, and very rarely were allowed to lead in prayer. On generous days. Some became perps. Frustration was so high. Some couldn't afford to go off-base to get a coke. Guess who got to be houseparents?

I remember when new families arrived on the base. They had the latest news from back home and they didn't come with much of the baggage that was peculiar to Numonohi. But it didn't seem to take long till they were told of the pecking order and that it was quite acceptable (actually encouraged) to treat the "foreign" missionaries and MKs as lesser beings and far to many just accepted it as normal practise and so the breath of fresh air was extinguished quickly.
Very occasionally a new Downunder family would arrive and I felt sorry for them, because I knew what was going to happen. And one by one we were booted out for speaking out against the mistreatment of ourselves or the New Guineans. Our houses were confiscated, possessions stolen and we were dumped back to wherever it was we came from. Some of our parents lied about it, so they could keep the donations coming in. Some were hurt and ashamed and wandered off into obscurity. About half of us have broken families that have little if any contact between parents and children.
There were no fond goodbyes to haunt our lives, we were dumped out of NTM after we had been used to do the hard work. There were no fond goodbyes, just good riddance!

Our possessions are long gone, our houses are still being lived in by others and our families are torn apart. But who cares, the work must go on and if a couple of MKs from obscure parts of the globe speak up about it, it can just be ignored, denied or reassured that there was not "official" policy of discrimination, it was just a couple of isolated incidents on a rogue field back in the last century.

There are almost no Kiwis with NTM anymore and the Australians are denying they are with NTM. Pity really, Kiwis are predominantly good honest hard workers and would be an asset. On the other hand, they are best avoiding NTM, there are many other missions to choose from, most of whom have a far better track record.