My Parents job.

My parents are missionaries.  When they left Scotland in 1962 to go to Malaysia that meant that they used their training as nurses to provide low-cost and no-cost medical care to the families in a small village in North Borneo.  My parents also used this opportunity to share the love of God with these families.  My parents have lots of great stories of working in the jungle.  There are stories of snakes in the house wrapped around the water heater (which was under the kitchen sink) to keep warm.  They left the house and came back later.  Or the story of the log that was blocking the dirt road.  When my dad got out of the jeep to move it, so they could drive on...the log moved.  It was also a snake, big enough to be mistaken for a log!  Of course there was the outhouse.  Our first house had no bathroom inside.  If you needed to relieve yourself you went out back into the little wooden hut.  Running water came from the daily rain that was collected and saved in 55 gallon drums.  That's fresh water! My parents have always had jobs that let them help other people.  For a while my dad worked with university students who were a long way from home and needed a place to hang out.  My parents ran a book store for a while as well and were able to spend their days helping people find the books or gifts that they wanted or needed.  My mom also worked as a teacher at my school and as the school nurse.  If  I was trying to fake that I was sick so that I would not have to go to school it never worked. If it was the middle of the day and I did not want to take the test during the next period, it did not help to go and see the nurse to get out of it.  Mom just said, "Go to class."  My dad also worked as a teacher at my school for a little while.  I had both of my parents as classroom teachers.  There was no excuse at home for missing homework.  Also if I needed help with my classwork I always knew I could get it.  Lastly my parents helped run a school.  It was all about giving the students the very best education they could.  It was about training the students and preparing them to move on to university or trade school to become successful in whatever way they wanted.  I think that is why my brothers, myself, and my sister all have jobs that let us help other people.

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