The names of famous missionaries hold respect and awe like almost no other kind of name. People like David Livingstone, Gladys Aylward, Hudson Taylor, Corrie Ten Boom, Brother Andrew, Amy Carmichael, George Muller, Elizabeth Elliot, Cameron Townsend, and Mary Slessor. Chances are you recognized every single one of them, because of what they did on the mission field, and maybe you’ve wanted to meet some of them and shake their hand. I didn’t exactly hang out with George Muller today, but it was with someone who has done a lot of work on the mission field, and has won people to Christ as well. His name is Lance Falligan, and he has been to many places around the world, spreading the love of Jesus and doing the work of the gospel.
Lance gave me a general run-down of the day as soon as he picked me up. Basically, we would spend some time at Panera Bread™ talking, then pick up his wife, Sandra, and go out to eat for supper before we attended an Azusa street revival meeting . While in the car heading to Panera, I gave Lance a little background on my life, what I had been doing lately, so on and so forth. When we arrived at the restaurant, Lance ordered coffee, I got lemonade, and we both grabbed a pastry. I tell you what, those things were good. While consuming the delicacies, Lance and I talked. First, I asked him to give some background on his life. Lance is a missionary, and not just a one-hit wonder kind either. He has been to Mongolia, the Philippines, and China, and he’s planning on moving back to the Philippines in the next year or so, for some more time on the field. He dropped out of school in the tenth grade, but returned and double majored at Lee in psychology and intercultural studies. After majoring, he received his bachelor’s in both studies as well. He worked as a professor at Lee for seven years, and he recently started a job as a military life consultant in August. He’s heard some pretty shocking stories in two months, but if I told them, then this article would end up being PG-13, and my fingers are G-rated. 😉
After I had heard what Lance’s life has been like, I asked a few questions. First, I asked him if he likes being a missionary and getting to travel all over the world, sharing the light of Jesus. He said that yes, he does, because it’s a huge adventure not knowing where you’re going to be and what you’ll do tomorrow. I also asked him if his work is hard and tough to accomplish. He replied that missionary work is actually a bit easier for him than for others, although it’s no piece of cake, because in China (where he worked last), left-handed people are thought to possess great knowledge and are revered greatly. Lance is a lefty, so the people over there basically think he’s a genius, and they accept the message a bit easier than if it were someone else. The last thing I asked Lance about was whether he thinks that Christians should participate at all in Eastern practices, like acupuncture, qigong, meditation, and the like. He said that majoring in psychology, he knows that acupuncture is almost completely mind-over-matter (you believe it will work, so it works), and everything else is pretty much junk. Lance explained it this way; “People who delve into eastern religions want to harness the mystic of nature, instead of getting to know the creator of nature.” I think that wraps things up pretty well, don’t you?
We stayed at Panera Bread™ for an hour and a half, just talking, eating, and drinking. We left at 4:30 to pick up his wife, Sandra, so we could all go out to eat together. The place we went to was El Cazador, a Mexican restaurant that was practically hopping with business. You’d think they were giving away tacos at 50¢ a pop (actually, come to think of it, they were). 🙂 I ordered a burrito supreme, and it only took about ten minutes before it came. The burrito itself wasn’t that big, but the entire plate was covered with refried beans, salsa, sour cream, and lettuce. I barely finished it. With bursting stomachs and rejoicing taste buds, Lance, Sandra and I got in the car to head over to the Church of God heritage meeting. At the meeting, which was a very good one, a guy spoke about the most influential missionaries of the last 100 years, and at the end, he honored Lovell Cary by presenting to him an award. Afterwards, there were refreshments aplenty, and since I was getting hungry again, I grabbed a[nother] plate of food. Hey, a kid’s got to eat!
Lance drove us back to his house, and he showed me around the place. He has a lot of unique stuff from all of the places that he’s been to, and he showed me each item and explained a little bit about it. He had a set of Chinese swords that he displayed to me, and gave me some background on them. For instance, did you know
that China was using steel swords a thousand years before anyone else thought of it? He also owns a scroll that came from the far east, and is about a hundred feet long, covered with intricate paintings. He showed me a broadsword that looked extremely expensive (and extremely sharp), and what looked at first glance like a painting of tulips, but was actually made out of fine strands of silk pushed together. Needless to say, he has a lot of amazing things from his mission work.
When Lance took me back home around ten, I had a chance to look back on my day. My stomach was full with great food, my head was buzzing with cool insights, and my spirit was soaring because I finally knew what the job of a missionary was like. And what about you? Maybe you’ve been summoned to the mission field as well, but you’re not sure whether you want to follow your calling. Granted, it may not be the easiest job in the world, but it sure is exciting. And you never know; maybe one day your name will be set along with the likes of the great missionaries who have gone before you, evangelizing and preaching, but most important of all, spreading the gospel to an unreached world.
