When you think about supporting a friend who lives overseas, things like monthly financial support, sending a package, or visiting in-person might come to mind. Those are good things. I couldn’t have lived overseas at all if it weren’t for a faithful group of financial supporters. Packages are always fun to receive and an in-person visit means the world. However, I realize these options can be expensive and are not in the budget for everyone. But fear not! If you desire to support someone far away and be a good friend, I have four free ideas for you.

Read and Respond to their Newsletter

A lot of overseas workers are required to write regular updates to their supporters. This serves as a way to keep friends in their passport country updated on the work they’re doing, share specific needs, and maintain relationships from a distance. Based on my experience and others I’ve talked to, this is a big job. It takes a lot of mental energy and time to find the right words, balance personal updates with work news, decide how honest to be about struggles, format the text, upload/resize/position pictures, edit everything, and then send it out. It’s a long process. When I was a single, I used an email service that allowed me to see who and what percentage of my readers actually opened my emails. It was discouraging at best and I know other expats have similar experiences. But there was one person who consistently sent a 1-2 sentence reply to my letters. It might seem like a small act, but it made me feel seen and like someone cared about what (and how) I was doing. 

If you have a friend working overseas and you don’t already receive their updates, ask how you can sign up. When those updates come, do your best to read and respond in a timely manner. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Let them know what stuck out to you or what you liked about the story they shared. Tell them how you’ll specifically be praying based on what they shared.

Send a Note / Call / Video Chat (just because)

Responding to a newsletter isn’t the only time you can contact your friend. I know it’s easy to fall into the out-of-sight-out-of-mind trap when people aren’t in your close circles. I will admit that maintaining long-distance friendships takes intentionality from both sides. But if this person is your friend, I’m guessing they would enjoy hearing from you.

It can be as simple as, “I was thinking of you today and wanted to say hi. I’d love to hear how you’re doing. Can you chat sometime next week at your 8pm?”

Yes, they might be busy. Yes, they might live several time zones away. But relationships are worth the effort. 

Their contact information is probably in their newsletter that you signed up for, so make it a point to reach out. Show an interest in them, their family, and the work they’re a part of. If you can’t work out a good time for a conversation, a simple note of encouragement can also go a long way. 

Social media makes this really easy these days. There are so many apps and ways to connect. Use their email address in their newsletter and ask them their preferred way of communicating. Some of my most used apps are Marco Polo for video messages, Signal for secure texting, and WhatsApp for texting, calling, and video chatting.

Convert Calls to their Local Time Zone

When you reach out to your friend for a phone call or video chat, offer some options in their local time zone. Since you’re keeping up with their newsletters, you’ll know where they are in the world and it’s not hard to do a Google search for what timezone they’re in. This may seem like a very small thing, but I promise, your friend will notice and will be thankful you took an extra minute to make something easier for them.

Pray

Praying is the best thing you can do for anyone, including those living in a new place with a new culture, language, team, and environment. Living overseas is difficult and a friend may include specific prayer requests in their updates. If you’re reaching out and developing the relationship further, you may have more specific things to pray for. If you need ideas, you can always ask. When you do pray for them, let them know. We always want to believe, deep down in our heart, that people are praying for us—but it means the world when you let us know that you actually did.

If you live overseas, what would you add to this list? If you have friends overseas, which of these can you put into practice this week?