My Childhood as an MK

My family, 1991

During the Cold War, before the Iron Curtain fell in 1991, my dad did Christian broadcasting into Russia through short-wave radio from Saipan (Pacific island, south of Japan).

There we lived on a hill called Marpi, in a compound with other missionary families. We were close with the other families, and every week we had game nights for the whole compound.




Life on Saipan was a childhood paradise for me. I ran free there, with the other MKs, no need for adult supervision. There were no streets with traffic, no strangers. We called all the adults Auntie and Uncle. We had no rushed schedules, no TVs, and my friends and I played for hours in the boonies, which were our backyard. Our lagoon was warm as bathwater. Life was carefree.






Yes, we were "sacrificing for the Lord" on a tropical island.











In the summer, we would visit our relatives in Germany. Sometimes my dad would drop us off, while he and my mom traveled to Russia. Once we stayed for 6 months, and I went to school in Germany, together with my cousins.



My best friend, Rebecca Chinchen, 1991