As an MK, it wasn’t too hard to learn a second language. My family and I speak mostly English at home. I learned French at school. I don’t even remember learning it. I was born in France and got used to hearing that language whenever I left the house. After a while, a new rule was installed; we have to speak English at home, and French when we go out in public, because at one point my sister and I were actually starting to lose our English. My sister would talk about her day at school, starting off the sentence in English which would slowly drift off into French. We were mostly speaking “Frenglish.”

One of the most difficult things about being an MK, is being far from family. It’s especially hard for my parents. My mom left her parents and the country she grew up in. Holidays can be hard too. A lot of my friends get together with their families, whereas we often miss out on weddings, birthdays, funerals… but it is worth it to spread the gospel in places like France which has a large Muslim community and also quite a few Catholics. We are also blessed to be able to return to America every two to three years during the summer.

A lot of things are quite different in France including the school system which is currently going through some changes. Being the oldest of four children, my parents are discovering it along with me. I’ve just entered high school and, from what my parents have told me, it is very different. The level is higher and we are forced to take certain classes that should be, in my opinion, optional like physics and chemistry or digital and technological science and economic and social science. We don’t even have lockers with all the classes we are forced to take. As I said, it’s very different.

Being an MK to me is important because the world we live in is temporary. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow which is why we want to win as many souls to Jesus as we can today. God gave us a mission and my parents were willing to cross the ocean to accomplish that mission. I’m not saying you have to cross the ocean to win souls to Jesus. We are all missionaries wherever we are.

-by Kirianna Auterson, MK to France