The book Lessons From Afar will help you sample some of the experiences of a missionary couple. Mary and her husband Jim served as missionaries in 2008 to open Hope and Resurrection Secondary in rural South Sudan. 

Lessons is more than a memoir, however. At the end of each chapter, the questions and activity invite you to consider how trust, humility, vulnerability, gratitude, and perseverance are reflected in your life circumstances.

A second edition – Since the first edition’s publication in the spring of 2018, many groups have used Lessons from Afar as a study. Feedback from study groups inspired some changes in the activities and questions at the end of each chapter.  I also added suggestions for using Lessons from Afar when meeting on a virtual platform, including access to a Group Study Guide for end-of-chapter questions. The Hope and Resurrection Secondary timeline is updated to reflect the challenges and successes from 2018 to the present.  Except for some editing for easier reading, the narrative is the same as the first edition.