Friday Conversations: Morgan Davidson

Morgan Davidson, and her husband Clark, spent the past two years serving overseas. Recently they moved back to Tennessee and we caught up with Morgan to talk about missionary life in Malta, what it was like to have a baby in a completely different culture, and how she learned it doesn’t matter where she is, but who she serves.

Hi Morgan! Thanks for spending some time with us here at The Front Porch!  Let’s hop right in. What led you into the mission field?

Since my very first domestic mission trip in high school, I have had a heart for serving the Lord in missions. In my college years, I began to go on international trips and the Lord really pursued me to go into missions full-time. My passion is short-term mission trips, so when I went to seminary at Southeastern, I enrolled in the 2+2 program with the purpose of spending 2 years overseas receiving short-term teams to better understand how short-term missions impacts the long-term missionaries and the countries they serve.

What was the process like making yourself available to be placed anywhere in the world by the International Mission Board?

This is an intimidating process, but as is our God’s pattern, when we are at our most vulnerable, He really shows up in big ways! It was really amazing to watch everything unfold as we selected our top 3 job choices and the Lord led us to Malta, our number one choice! As I sum it up, I realize that it sounds really neat and tidy, but it was a very long and drawn out process. It required a lot of patience, waiting, prayer, and more patience. But the main point is that the Lord provided completely – a truth I’m still learning to rely on!

Was your family supportive in your move? Do you have any advice for someone who feels the need to follow the Lord, but doesn’t have supportive backing from family and friends?

I think anyone who has chosen to move overseas for missions has connected with some close friend or family member who just doesn’t understand that decision. It’s important to have a strong conviction that you are doing the Lord’s work and following his will because there are days when even you question that. I like to recommend books, and if I may make a suggestion here: Being an Aroma of Christ by Karen Pearce is an absolute must-read for those choosing international missions, and it includes a chapter about staying connected with family even when you feel misunderstood.

What was your journey like in moving and adjusting to your new place of ministry?

In training they tell you to set your expectations low or just try not to have any. One of my seminary professors also said, “The biggest source of frustration is unmet expectation.” This truth rang in my ears as I continually ran into frustrations. Life is full of expectations, and I’m not sure how possible it really is to not have any! What I have learned is that if you strip yourself of everything familiar and try to do some routine task (shopping for groceries in a foreign language, for example), you will learn a lot about yourself.

What was the hardest part of your transition?

I spent three years in seminary training and another two months of intensive company training to head overseas to plant churches. I literally wrote a manual on how to do it! (It was a class assignment.) By the time we arrived in Malta, God had seen fit to bless us with a pregnancy. The framework from which I had prepared myself to do ministry was shattered. I had no idea how to be a young mom, much less in a foreign country! Needless to say, we went through a number of transitions during our time abroad. I think of Peter – the hardest part of stepping out on the water is keeping your eyes on Jesus instead of the waves. Staying focused on the Main Thing rather than all the other things that vie for your attention and attitude.

What were the unexpected blessings?

We found out we were pregnant just a few short months before we left for Malta, so naturally we owned ZERO baby items! Watching the different ways the Lord provided for our little girl brought me so much joy. Local believers lent numerous items to decorate and furnish our nursery. They even threw us a shower. Our families overcame the cultural oddity of throwing a shower for a non-present mother and bringing only money to send. It was beautiful and comforting to see how much God loves our little girl by meeting her every need when we felt like we weren’t able.   

What was your experience like having a baby in such a different culture than what you were used to?

Well, I don’t have any other experiences to compare it to, so I guess it was totally normal! There were some different rules we had to follow in hospital. For example, my husband had to follow visitation hours so I spent my first 3 nights in hospital alone with my newborn baby! That sounds crazy and scary to some folks, and it was a little, but it was also kind of peaceful and a sweet time for us to spend together, both discovering this new world we were entering together. It’s our story; it’s unique and lovely and chock full of answered prayers, and I wouldn’t trade it for another.

Was it difficult for you to begin motherhood so far from family?

It was very hard to be away from family and friends for the birth of our first child. It was such an emotional time, and we wanted to share our little girl with everyone we love. But one of the wonderful things about entering motherhood is that you are not alone in your journey. Women – mothers – both followers of Christ and others surrounded me with love, advice, support, and even shared their own stories. I didn’t have to look far to find someone who understood the beginnings of motherhood and was willing to fellowship in that, but I did have to be willing to look and share my story as well.

Switching gears a bit, were there any memorable customs or different foods you experienced?

In Malta, different is fun! There are countless holidays and celebrations for, well, seemingly everything! Particularly in the summer there are festivals in a different village every week. From May until September you can hear and see fireworks all throughout the day, starting at 9am and ending just before midnight. And I don’t mean see them in the distance, it’s a small island, they’re literally right on top of you! Also, it’s not uncommon to see “horse” on the menu at a restaurant, and rabbit is essentially the national food. The rabbit is delicious -- I never tried horse, but my husband says it’s like really tough roast!

What have you learned from being a full time missionary?

Being a missionary is a lifestyle, not a job, and real mission work boils down to spending time with God on your own. Every believer is called to be like Jesus in every circumstance, and I believe that’s what the missional life is. When nonbelievers see us acting “weird” or different from them, they question that internally and sometimes externally. There’s a chance for the good news to take hold when they see that following Jesus changes your life, changes who you are fundamentally. But we can’t follow Jesus if we don’t read about who he is, what he’s done, and how he directs us to be. We can’t be like Jesus if we don’t read the Bible and spend time with God, refreshing our perspective and submitting our lives to Him.

How did you know when it was time to head back to the States? What was the leaving process like for you?

For our specific situation, our two-year term was ending, and even though we saw it coming, it was a whirlwind. We left right at the end of summer – which is the culmination of a lot of our ministry event planning for the year, so it all happened rather quickly. I like to think we asked ourselves a lot of the same questions that other missionaries leaving the field ask: what did we accomplish for the sake of the gospel? How have we grown? What will we do now? And what will happen to those we leave behind? Will we be able to stay in touch?

Those are great questions to ask wherever you are! What are your plans for the future?

As I read this question, I hear Jeremiah 29:11 ringing hope in my ears. ("For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.") We are still seeking the Lord’s next steps for us, as we travel and visit family and churches and share our experience. We hope to continue ministry here in the US; we are just waiting for open doors of opportunity to do so.

Out of your experience, what would be your advice for women trying to make their everyday lives their own mission field, or for women wanting to serve overseas?

If I may borrow a quote from another author here: this comes from Kate McCord (pseudonym) as she writes In the Land of Blue Burqas, “The one we follow defines how we live.”  This statement and the excerpt of the book from which it comes revolutionized how I thought about missions and my daily life.  Yes, Jesus often calls us to specific places, but more than this, we are called to live a certain way.  Whichever continent you’re on, whether you’re in your grandmother’s back yard sipping sweet tea with people you’ve known all your life or sitting around a table eating fried rabbit and listening to a language you barely know, following Jesus means making lifestyle choices – physical, emotional, mental, verbal – so that as people get to know you, they can become familiar with Jesus, they recognize quite clearly that you walk in the footsteps of Christ.  It’s the cumulation of daily choices that make a missional life, and that happens wherever you are.

How can we pray for you?

We are definitely seeking God’s wisdom and guidance about where He would have us next. We would appreciate you joining us in prayer for opportunities to arise and for God to show us what, where, and how we can best serve Him now.

Did anything that Morgan said stick out to you? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below!