The following is a typical conversation I have found myself in more times than I can count during my {short} two years on the “mission field.” And, yes, some of it is a tad-exaggerated {emphasis on the words some and tad}. ********************** When Missionaries Meet Setting. It’s a sweltering-hot day in the tropics. New Missionary and Better Missionary find [...]
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1. Don’t Become a Missionary if You Think You Are Going to Change the World. First, high expectations doom to disappoint, but, also, maybe your desire to change the world is trumping your desire to serve. Ask yourself if you would be happy moving overseas to a much harsher environment in order to quietly help [...]
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I heard the other day about a Thai woman who loves Jesus but chooses not to call herself a Christian. Instead, she classifies herself a “Buddhist Christ-Follower.” She recognizes that the term Christian in this part of the world is thick with cultural and historical meanings from the West that she would rather not identify [...]
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So you are slammed with making cookies for the kid’s class party and ordering that present for your mom and wrapping up that project at work, and, geez, it’s already mid-December. And your last-minute to-do list grows longer than your 3 year-old’s wish list for Santa. I get it. This is a pyscho time of [...]
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A few announcements from the world of the Parker Family, on this, the 5th Anniversary of my 29th Birthday . . . 1. Destined Traveler has re-launched. As many of you know, Matt and I have a heart for mentoring students. And while we were able to host one team of college-aged students last year, [...]
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Suppose I wrote a novel about my awkward years in middle school during the neon-colored-nineties. Suppose I wrote about teased bangs and stirrup pants and those long shirts that you knotted at your thigh with some kind of plastic accessory that matched your alternating-colored- and -layered-socks. And suppose I dropped a few middle school terms [...]
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And, now, for some happy . . . I looked at my school schedule last week and noticed we were already on week 12. Combine that fact with the reality that we were all beginning to hate phonics workbooks and math facts, and our homeschooling took a “fall break” of sorts this week. We read [...]
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Picture this — You’re grabbing a burrito at Chipotle’s {oh, don’t make me jealous} and the family at the table next to you unwraps food that could feed an army, sticks straws in cokes, and then grabs plastic spoons and sticks them on their chins. Yeah, you heard me– they stick spoons on their chins. [...]
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My authentic-to-the-core husband hates praying aloud in groups so much that he typically won’t do it. Oh, he’ll sit there quietly and have epic conversations with God in his head, but you’ll seldom find him piping up and popcorn-praying-it. He thinks his talks with God are personal, and he’d just prefer to keep them that [...]
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So the guy comes to the table, and we order (in Thai) what we think is noodle soup. He rattles off a list of things we can’t understand and asks us if we want those added to the soup, too. We are thinking carrots, little bit of chicken, maybe some garlic or ginger. This is [...]
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We were driving in Friday afternoon traffic when Matt saw them, one lane over. And we’ve seen families of, like, 17, crammed onto a single scooter, we’ve driven past a mother feeding her newborn a bottle on the back of one, and heck, our entire family has taken a joy-ride around the neighborhood on it’s [...]
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ALifeOverseas.com / LauraParkerBlog.com.
My family is living overseas in Thailand, where my husband is directing a Christian Humanitarian Foundation. This blog is the honest recording of our journey– squatty potties and all. 
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Destined Traveler.
Mentoring Young Adults, Hosting Teams, Educating about Human Trafficking.