Deb Wyss, Author at TEAM Christian Missions Blog

How to Avoid Burnout and Thrive on the Mission Field

What happens when missions becomes miserable? A former missionary shares her best tips on how to avoid burnout and thrive on the mission field.

Jun 05 2017

I had been on the mission field for 10 months. I was holed up in one of the few less-than-desirable guest houses in a remote East Asian mountain town. I was relentlessly vomiting from food poisoning, and there was only one public outhouse for all of the guests’ bathroom needs. There was no running water. And I could hear the rats scurrying in the walls. I was miserable. I remembered the romantic visions that filled my head as I prepared to go to the mission field. The excitement that bubbled out of me at the mention of this faraway place…

Leaving behind beloved Christmas traditions is a true cost of being a missionary. But this sacrifice makes room for new traditions that illuminate the meaning of Christmas.

Dec 12 2016

I love Christmas. My mama always called me her “Christmas girl.” When I was growing up there was nothing like waking up at Grandma’s house on Christmas morning. The Christmas tree twinkling in the early morning hours, holiday smells wafting from the kitchen, stockings filled with treasures. Listening to my dad read the Christmas story from the Bible and thinking about Mary giving birth in the stable to Baby Jesus warmed every inch of my soul. Even crawling half asleep into a freezing cold car to go home felt like a magical part of the whole experience to me. Yes, my…

Deb went to the field as a single woman and came home as a mother. Each season taught her something powerful about what it really means to be a missionary.

Aug 11 2016

They arrived on our doorstep in East Asia, travel weary, hungry and tired. Of course, we had no warning that they were coming, and as I got their beds ready in our tiny home, I wondered how long our houseguests would stay. They had journeyed two days down the mountain to get here, and I knew a short stay was probably not what they had in mind. As I scrambled to get a hearty meal ready for our guests, I tried to prepare myself emotionally to live in their story for the next while. About a year earlier,…

When her daughter developed serious health issues, Deb traded her exciting life among nomads in East Asia for doctors' offices in suburbia. But through her deferred dream, Deb learned critical lessons about her true calling in life. Photos courtesy of Deb Wyss

Jun 23 2016

One of my clearest memories from my seven years in East Asia is lying inside a nomad tent, under a blue tarp, while rain gently drummed my entire body. I was alone — alone in the sense that there was no one like me for miles and miles around. Baby yaks stirred within arms reach on one side, and a family of nomads with wild hair snored on the other. How did a girl from the suburbs of Minnesota get here? I thought. It was a feeling of elation, as I had long yearned to live among this unreached people group. But it was also…

Author - Deb Wyss

How to Avoid Burnout and Thrive on the Mission Field

The Truth About Being a Missionary at Christmas

What Life on the Mission Field is Really Like

When God Calls You Off the Mission Field