Myself 2.0

by Jody Pederson

Recently, my husband Garth and I and our two grown sons visited our daughter and son-in-law in Sentani, Papua, Indonesia.  It was a blessed time of family fun experiencing their life on the mission field where they serve as a pilot/mechanic and teacher with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

A long time ago Anna was a little girl growing up with her brothers in Congo, Africa.  They ran around barefoot making up imaginary games, climbing trees, swinging from vines, and building forts in the jungle close to our house.  She grew up where reliable electricity and water was rare and appreciated, learning to make do with what you have, making friends with those of different cultures – all with an overarching purpose of serving God by serving others.  God placed in this little girl’s heart a desire to carry on this lifestyle and to one day serve overseas as a teacher.  

As mothers do, I taught Anna many things while she was growing up.  I taught her how to walk and talk, how to count, read, write, and do basic math.  I taught her sewing skills, how to play musical instruments, and how to cook and bake.  I taught her how to behave and get along with others.  I taught her about Jesus and had the privilege of praying with her to receive Jesus as her Savior.  Garth and I make a pretty good parenting team – I took the lead in the early years training our young kids and teaching homeschool.  Garth takes the lead more now with adult issues like purchasing a home, buying and fixing cars, and doing taxes.

On this recent trip we got to observe Anna and Dan “living the dream” in a similar yet different situation to Congo.  My, how the tables have turned!  It was now Dan (instead of Garth) leaving the house before sunup to begin his flight to an interior base in Papua.  It was Anna (instead of me) cooking us meals from scratch and hanging our laundry out to dry.  She uses many of my old recipes from our years overseas, but she has also learned many new ones.  

Now Anna was teaching me new things like how to use a rice cooker – not just for rice, but also to make yogurt.  She introduced us to new Indonesian fruits and foods like Ayam Asam Manis (sweet & sour chicken) and Gado Gado (a type of salad over rice with peanut sauce).  Anna showed me how to fuse a plastic bag closed with a flame.  Dan showed us how to dry fresh coffee beans in the sun and then roast them on the stove in a cast-iron skillet.  Anna broadens my life experience now as I used to do for her when she was little.  She introduced me to snorkeling, opening up an amazing underwater world of gorgeous coral and a plethora of colorful fish species.  I mentioned to her that I’d like to work on my handwriting this summer, and right away she whipped out a book called “Hand Lettering God’s Word” by Jenny Highsmith that teaches you how to improve your handwriting using scriptures.  Since we are both teachers, she and I often share teaching tips.  

When Anna was little, it was me who protected her and me who drove her around.  In Sentani, I placed my trust in my daughter as she drove me around the busy traffic in town on her purple motor scooter bike.  Instead of me holding her little hand as she balanced precariously on the retaining wall as we walked around the compound where we lived in Congo, now she was my stabilizing hand as I hopped from slippery rock to rock crossing the Kali Bambar River on our hike near Sentani.  Instead of me bandaging her wounds from minor childhood accidents (like when she fell off her bike and got stitches from the doctor next door), here she was digging out a sliver in my heal from the wooden boat we rode on to go snorkeling at a primitive beach on Papua.  

My daughter is doing what I did, and more.  She has taken what I’ve taught her and gone much further.  She is an improved version of myself!  These things make me feel proud, and then thankful to God for allowing it all to happen.  Then, it moves me to pray – to pray for God’s continued hand to guide, protect, and hold our kids close to Him.  There are many obstacles and threats on the mission field.  Prayers are vital for their “success.”  All kids need our prayers, no matter where they are or what they’re doing.  Some don’t seem to follow the way they should go and instead depart from the path.  That is very grievous, but I know two things.  One, our kids soak up more than we realize.  They are more like us than they would care to admit.  Two, we should never give up praying for them.  God hears!  

During a conversation with a friend of Anna’s on our trip to Sentani, we were talking about how well Anna makes homemade tortillas and I expressed my amazement.  She turned to me and said, “But Mom, you taught me that!”  My mind went back to a distant past and I replied, “Oh yeah, I guess I did.”

“Train up a child in the way she should go; even when she is old she will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 

---

Jody is married to Garth and the mother of three grown kids – Sam, Anna (& Dan), and Nicholas.  Jody teaches instrumental music at Schaeffer Academy, and enjoys playing violin at Calvary and with the Mayo Clinic Chamber Symphony.  After 21 years on the mission field in Congo, she and Garth moved to Rochester in 2018 but are still with Mission Aviation Fellowship as Mobilizers.  Quilting, reading, and fish keeping are some of her current interests.