Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
a passing missionary
English answer:
a missionary who happened to be passing by at that time
Added to glossary by
Ana Juliá
Sep 2, 2008 14:06
15 yrs ago
English term
a passing missionary
English
Art/Literary
Religion
"I thought before I can trust God to supply my needs I’ve got to give all my money away. How shall he supply me with something that I don’t need? So there was ***a passing missionary*** and I don’t know how many pounds I had I think twenty pounds or so and I thought I give him nineteen pounds and one pound I keep as an iron reserve in case I urgently need toothpaste. So I gave that missionary nineteen pounds and one pound I just kept, you know".
Was the missionary passing by at that very moment, or does the author mean that the missionary was staying there temporarily?
Was the missionary passing by at that very moment, or does the author mean that the missionary was staying there temporarily?
Change log
Sep 2, 2008 14:06: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"
Responses
+11
4 mins
Christopher Crockett
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
M.A., Ph.D. Historian/Art Historian
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
16
Selected
a missionary who happened to be passing by at that time
That's how I read it.
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Note added at 7 mins (2008-09-02 14:13:28 GMT)
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Your author is casting his seed to the wind, expecting that God will Provide (cf. Mark IV --http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/mark/mark4.htm)
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Note added at 46 mins (2008-09-02 14:52:14 GMT)
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"There was a passing missionary..." is a bit ambiguous, and can mean "there was a missionary passing by where I was standing" or "passing through my town" or "visiting my church" (as Flo suggested), or anything similar.
The sense is the same as that in the expression "in passing" --denotes a temporary (and probably "chance") situation.
Note also the informal nature of this narrative --and the injection of a bit of humor ("...in case I urgently need toothpaste....you know").
There is no significance to this "toothpaste" --it's just as if to say "In case I should (in my usual foolish state of mind) *think* that I might 'need' any of the many frivolous things which I constantly think 'necessary' (but which are really just passing desires), when it is clear that God will Provide."
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Note added at 52 mins (2008-09-02 14:58:41 GMT)
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I say below that "it's (perhaps deliberately) ambiguous" because I get the feeling that what is being recounted here (as we shall see) is something along the order of a minor miracle:
"Look how God provided for me! I gave away all my money to a worthy cause and was repaid *ten* fold!"
The "passing missionary" is clearly part of the Unfolding of the Divine Plan.
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Note added at 54 mins (2008-09-02 15:00:17 GMT)
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"...to a worthy cause (which God just "happened" to provide in the form of a passing missionary)..."
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Note added at 7 mins (2008-09-02 14:13:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Your author is casting his seed to the wind, expecting that God will Provide (cf. Mark IV --http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/mark/mark4.htm)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 46 mins (2008-09-02 14:52:14 GMT)
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"There was a passing missionary..." is a bit ambiguous, and can mean "there was a missionary passing by where I was standing" or "passing through my town" or "visiting my church" (as Flo suggested), or anything similar.
The sense is the same as that in the expression "in passing" --denotes a temporary (and probably "chance") situation.
Note also the informal nature of this narrative --and the injection of a bit of humor ("...in case I urgently need toothpaste....you know").
There is no significance to this "toothpaste" --it's just as if to say "In case I should (in my usual foolish state of mind) *think* that I might 'need' any of the many frivolous things which I constantly think 'necessary' (but which are really just passing desires), when it is clear that God will Provide."
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 52 mins (2008-09-02 14:58:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I say below that "it's (perhaps deliberately) ambiguous" because I get the feeling that what is being recounted here (as we shall see) is something along the order of a minor miracle:
"Look how God provided for me! I gave away all my money to a worthy cause and was repaid *ten* fold!"
The "passing missionary" is clearly part of the Unfolding of the Divine Plan.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 54 mins (2008-09-02 15:00:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
"...to a worthy cause (which God just "happened" to provide in the form of a passing missionary)..."
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Timmyg
: That's how I read it too - it seems like the author made a sudden decision, and the missionary happened to be passing by the moment it was made.
3 mins
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Yes, "just happened to be passing by" --as though the Divine Plan for this guy was just an accident. Thanks, Tim.
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| agree |
Ken Cox
: 'staying there temporarily' would be 'itinerant' or an equivalent paraphrase
9 mins
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Yes, it's clearly not a case of that. Thanks, Ken.
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| agree |
Anna Quail
: I think the missionary was probably taking a meeting in the church this person goes to, or something like that.
13 mins
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The encounter is a curious coincidence --but, God Works in Mysterious Ways, Her Wonders to Perform. Thanks, Flo.
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| agree |
Andres Pacheco
14 mins
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Thanks, Andres.
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| agree |
Patricia Townshend (X)
20 mins
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Thanks, Patricia.
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| agree |
Robert Kleemaier
33 mins
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Thanks, Robert.
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| agree |
JaneTranslates
: I agree with Flo--probably not literally "walking by" the speaker at the moment, but "passing thru" the city, preaching at that church that night, etc. Not itinerant preacher, but missionary on furlough, perhaps.
40 mins
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Something like that, yes --it's (perhaps deliberately) ambiguous. Thanks, Jane.
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| agree |
Jack Doughty
50 mins
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Thanks, Jack.
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| agree |
Demi Ebrite
3 hrs
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Thanks, debrite.
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| agree |
Phong Le
11 hrs
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Thanks, phongi.
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| agree |
kmtext
16 hrs
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Thanks, kmt.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks"
+1
57 mins
Catherine Winzer
Germany
Germany
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Germany
Oxford graduate, reliable and efficient
Native in: English (Variants: UK, British) 
Works in: German to English, English
a missionary who was temporarily in the area
We are given very little information about this missionary, but I read it to mean that the missionary was temporarily in the area, probably staying there for a few hours or a couple of days on his way to somewhere else.
If the missionary was literally walking past him I think it would be worded differently, eg. There was a missionary passing by / walking past.
Also, if he had simply walked past the narrator, the narrator surely would not necessarily have known that he was a missionary. It seems probable that they met somewhere eg. someone's house or at a church meeting, as Flo suggests.
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Note added at 58 mins (2008-09-02 15:04:59 GMT)
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Another attempt at a paraphrase might be: "a missionary on his way through (the town/area)".
If the missionary was literally walking past him I think it would be worded differently, eg. There was a missionary passing by / walking past.
Also, if he had simply walked past the narrator, the narrator surely would not necessarily have known that he was a missionary. It seems probable that they met somewhere eg. someone's house or at a church meeting, as Flo suggests.
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Note added at 58 mins (2008-09-02 15:04:59 GMT)
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Another attempt at a paraphrase might be: "a missionary on his way through (the town/area)".
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
JaneTranslates
: Yes, that's what I was trying to say above, in my "agree" to Christopher's answer.
21 mins
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Thanks, Jane
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Discussion
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_spanish/religion/279417... , http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_spanish/religion/279418... and