How to Navigate Pregnancy on the Mission Field

Jessica Purdy • Dec 09, 2019

Pregnancy — it can be a beautiful thing, but it can also be a stressful experience. Finding a doctor, learning new things, growing a human .

But for missionaries, the stress is often multiplied. They have to navigate all of the challenges and logistics of being pregnant while living in a foreign country!

Some families decide to stay on the field to have their baby, and some decide it’s best to go back home. How do you know what’s best? One TEAM missionary shared her story and the valuable lessons she learned.

Finding Out You’re Pregnant

Claire and her husband were trying to grow their family long before they went to serve in the Middle East. They looked into fertility specialists and adoption but realized that neither of those would be a realistic option once they went overseas.

“ Moving overseas, itself, felt like giving up any sense of control I had for this dream of being a Mom,” Claire says. “If it was going to happen, God was going to need to move in a big way.”

So, God moved. Just three months after moving abroad, Claire found out she was pregnant!

But being pregnant in a foreign country brought a unique set of challenges. Claire didn’t know how to find a doctor or make an appointment. She was worried that the nurses wouldn’t speak much English and she wouldn’t be able to understand them. She didn’t feel close enough with anyone to ask their advice about doctors.

The Challenges of Pregnancy Abroad

Claire got a recommendation from an American midwife who had a connection with Claire’s church. The doctor spoke English, but none of the nurses did .

Claire was in the midst of learning the local language , but she struggled due to what many women refer to as “pregnancy brain.”

“Language learning felt hard as my brain felt mushy at times,” Claire says. “ I was exhausted and was adding pregnancy exhaustion to culture stress exhaustion to language learning exhaustion .”

Luckily, Claire learned enough of the language to communicate with the nurses during the appointments leading up to giving birth.

Claire and her husband also put a lot of thought into how where they chose to give birth would affect their daughter’s citizenship.

Because Claire’s husband is a Canadian citizen, their child would automatically be a Canadian citizen, no matter where she was born. However, things will get complicated if Claire’s daughter marries someone who is not Canadian. If Claire’s daughter and son-in-law had a baby outside of Canada, then that baby would not be a Canadian citizen.

“[Because of this] we thought it could be better for [our daughter] down the road to be born in Canada, but then we realized that we can trust God with our grandchild and not make things more complicated for ourselves. … There are a lot of ‘ifs’ here !” Claire says.

For missionaries serving in more rugged regions, or in cultures with more drastic differences, these may be just the beginning of their difficulties. It’s important to research pregnancy in your host culture early so you can prepare for any roadblocks you may face.

The Beauty of Pregnancy in Another Culture

A mom holds the hand of her newborn baby.

Through her pregnancy, Claire got to see a whole other side of her host culture. Her neighbors were excited in a way she’d never seen in the U.S. (Stock photo)

But even with all of the challenges and “what ifs,” Claire still noticed some really beautiful things about being pregnant in a different culture.

“Babies are so loved [in this culture]!” Claire says. “ A common response to pregnancy or babies is ‘ Maşallah !’ which is a blessing for health and safety. ”

She also noticed that in this culture, men are just as excited about celebrating other people’s pregnancies as women.

Claire’s experience opened her eyes to the kindness of the people in the country where she serves. For example, one of Claire’s nurses was driving out of town to visit family on the night Claire’s daughter was born, but she turned around because she had a feeling that Claire was going to give birth that night. And that’s what happened!

Another time, a neighbor chased Claire’s husband down in the grocery store to ask if the baby had been born yet. Claire’s pregnancy journey in this place made the country feel like “a whole new level of home.”

Advice for Pregnant Missionaries

Claire advises anyone who is pregnant on the mission field to get plenty of rest.

“In this line of work, there’s a temptation to try and be the pregnant superhero,” Claire says. “We have supporters and teams and expectations put on us and expectations we put on ourselves.”

But when Claire announced the pregnancy to her supporters, they were excited and asked if she was getting plenty of rest. This made her realize that the expectations she had were ones she put on herself, not ones other people were putting on her .

“For the most part, we have this blessing of flexibility in our schedule, … so if you need a nap, take it.” Claire says. “If you need to take a break from language study, take it. Say no to things. Your mental and physical health is worth it.”

Being pregnant on the mission field also showed Claire what she is capable of.

“I learned that I can do it ,” she says. “I still feel surprised and strong and proud of myself for having a baby in a foreign country. … I gave birth when only two out of the 10 people in the room spoke my language. I had a woman, who I barely know, whisper in my ear — in a language not her own, ‘Wow wow wow, good job.’ That meant the world to me.”

Pregnancy, no matter where you experience it, is a miracle and a learning experience.

If you were pregnant on the mission field, we would love to hear what your experience was like, what you learned through it, and how it impacted your ministry. Let us know your story in the comments!

*The names of the people in this story may have been changed to protect their privacy.

Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024
TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024
Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.
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