From Tijuana to Thailand

Alejandro and Josefina RojasI was born in a town in Baja California, Mexico, into a Roman Catholic family. In 1984, my grandmother gave me a book in Spanish entitled All About Mexico. It told of the various Christian denominations in Mexico. I decided that when I lived in a big city with a Presbyterian Church, I would attend it. Later, when I lived in Puebla, Mexico, I found a phone number of the Presbyterian church in the yellow pages. I called and asked how I could be a member of the church. The person said I needed to accept Jesus Christ. He explained to me the plan of salvation, and I accepted Christ as my Savior.

While studying at the University in Puebla, I met Roger Reeck, an American Bible translator teaching English there.. He had translated the New Testament into an Indian language in Oaxaca, Mexico. I thought I would like to participate in this task, but also saw that it was beyond my ability. (Later at BBTI, I learned that Roger was a friend of Rex Cobb when he worked in Oaxaca, Mexico).

In 2005, my wife and I began to attend an Independent Fundamental Baptist church in Tijuana, Baja California. My pastor gave me the privilege to be in charge of the accommodations and food for missionaries that attended our missionary conferences. Also, I was the treasurer of the missionary fund. I felt that I needed to go and do something in Bible translation, but I lacked the courage.

At our 2019 missions conference, I discussed my interest in Bible translation with our church’s missionary to Chiang Mai, Thailand. He told me of the opportunity to reach Thai people and those in restricted neighboring countries. He told me of the need for Bible translation and suggested I talk with Dr. Bill Patterson, a consultant with the Trinitarian Bible Society. Bill Patterson recommended Baptist Bible Translators Institute. My pastor counseled me to ask the advice of missionary Bruce Martin, who also recommended this institute.

My dear wife, Josefina, is accepting and supportive of my involvement in this ministry and is also preparing at BBTI for missionary work in Thailand.

by Alejandro Rojas

Summer 2020

Sranantongo of Suriname

Bob and Liz PattonSuriname is situated on the northern coast of South America. Its history is almost as diverse as the vegetation that grows in its tropical climate; Suriname was first explored by the Spanish in the 16th century, settled by the British in the mid-17th century, and became a Dutch sugar colony in 1667. Indigenous populations and escaped African slaves were pushed into the interior of the country where they established their own tribal languages and cultures.

Since Suriname didn’t gain independence from the Netherlands until 1975, the national language is Dutch, but because Suriname has been influenced by so many countries and cultures, an English-based creole language called Sranantongo is spoken by a majority of the population as either a first or second language.

Along with linguistic influence, the Dutch also brought Moravian influence (followers of John Huss) in the early 18th century who translated the New Testament and Psalms into Sranantongo in 1820. Unfortunately, this translation was not very precise, and its language is now archaic. In the 1970s, a Bible translation group (SIL) began working in Suriname to translate the New Testament into Sranantongo from the Critical Text. In 1998, Robert Patton, MD, DD finished his translation of the entire Bible from the Received Text a few years before the Critical Text (SIL) New Testament was completed.

To date, Dr. Patton’s translation has sold over 20,000 copies: enough to put the complete Bible into the hands of one in twenty-five people. To God be the glory!

Summer 2020

A Postage-Stamp Call

Nathan Fritz was born into a Christian family. At age six, his father, Rocky, became pastor of First Baptist Church in Amboy, IL. Even though he heard the Gospel over and over, it was not until age twelve that Nathan truly believed on Christ as his Saviour. Tina knew nothing about Jesus until age eight when her mother first took her to church. It took Tina several months to understand her need of salvation, but when she saw herself as a lost sinner, she trusted Christ.

Nathan became interested in various countries through his hobby as a philatelist. His church supported many missionaries, including the Mumfords in France. (They served there for fifty years!) Brother Mumford, Nathan’s pen pal, sent stamps from various places, among which was a place unknown to Nathan, Cape Verde. He had no idea where this country was, but he made it a point to find out. Nathan learned that Cape Verde is a group of fifteen islands located off the western point of Africa. He now wonders why the Portuguese explorer, Dinis Dias, called it “Verde” (green). Maybe it was green in 1445, but today, with only ten inches of annual rainfall, it is anything but green. Although it is located nearly four hundred miles from the African continent, the sandstorms from the Sahara Desert cause many problems for the people of Cape Verde. As Nathan’s interest in the country grew, so did his burden for the people. Their lives are dominated by African and Roman Catholic superstitions. Several of the islands have no gospel witness.

Cape Verde was a strategic station for Portugal’s African slave trade. Portuguese involvement in slavery continued into the 20th century, but world-wide slavery to sin continues until this very day. The Fritz family is working to end spiritual slavery in Cape Verde by extending the invitation of Jesus Christ. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). They proclaim, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Nathan and Tina grew up playmates and competitors in Bible quizzes. Tina became the church pianist, and they worked together in children’s ministries. Nevertheless, they did not become interested in each other until Nathan’s junior year at Crown College where he majored in missions. He graduated in 2006, and they were married a month later.

When they arrived at BBTI in 2016, Nathan and Tina had four beautiful children: Andrew, Lydia, Ruth, and Grace. Anna was born just before Christmas 2017, four months before they left for the field. Sent by their church in Amboy, IL, and aided by Baptist International Missions Inc. (BIMI), they are completing their first two-year term in Cape Verde. They are learning Portuguese, the official language, and then will learn the common Creole language. Nathan preached his first sermon in Portuguese after eight months. He teaches in a seminary and also in a chronological Bible study. Both he and Tina conduct individual Bible studies. God allowed Nathan to take part in distributing the New Testament to 13,000 school children, putting God’s Word in nearly every home on the islands of Fogo and Brave.

As the Fritzes neared the end of their Advanced Missionary Training at BBTI, they said, “We couldn’t imagine going to the field without the many things we have learned here.” Later they wrote, “We are hard at language study. I cannot begin to tell you how much we have used all the knowledge you tucked in our toolbox” (July 2018). “We were just saying AGAIN last night how much BBTI prepared us for being overseas. Thank you both SO much for your investment in our lives” (April 2020). Pray for the Fritz family and for the many more like them that are needed right now in Cape Verde!

Summer 2020

God’s Word Is Not Bound

“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130). The apostle Paul tells us that God’s Word is not bound. “Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound” (2 Timothy 2:9). The writer of Hebrews expands on this: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword” (Heb. 4:12a). We know this to be true because we see it in the Bible, we read about it in history, and we have experienced it in our own lives.

The story is told of an unsaved anthropologist who warned a jungle chief, “There are some people called missionaries, and they have a book called the Bible. Don’t allow them to come to your village! They will destroy your culture.” The chief smiled and said, “You are too late. They have already been here. And it is very good for you that they came, otherwise I would have already killed and eaten you!”

Light is on its way to the 121,000 Tenek Indians of the state of San Louis Potosí, Mexico. In 2006, Tenek speaker Fernando Angeles and his wife, Christy, began translating the New Testament under the direction of Bibles International, a division of Baptist Mid Missions. This formal equivalent received text translation was completed in 2017. These descendants of the great Mayan empire can now hear God speaking their language. At the conclusion of the Tenek New Testament dedication service where the Gospel was preached in English, Spanish, and Tenek, an elderly man told Christy, “I couldn’t understand a word of the Spanish, but I could understand every word of Tenek, and I have faith.” In the past, the Gospel has made little impact on the Tenek nation, but pray that will soon change. Pray for the distribution of the Scriptures and for Tenek-speaking laborers to preach them!

In 1973, Baptist missionaries Ron and Cheryl Myers went to Thailand. There was still a war raging in that area, and the Myers labored and mastered both the Thai and Isan languages with North Vietnamese and Laotian troops only six miles away on the opposite side of the Mekong River threating to invade. With strong convictions concerning the Scriptures and how they should be translated, they took on the responsibility of putting God’s Word into the Isan language of Thailand and Laos, spoken by over twenty million souls. The project was completed in June 2016 and published under the auspices of Bearing Precious Seed Global. There is much demand for these New Testaments, and they are bearing much fruit in both the free and communist countries. The Isan New Testament has also been recorded and is being broadcast by radio. Pray that the light of the Isan Scriptures will shine brightly and give much understanding to the Isan nation!

In 2005, BBTI graduates Dan and Jennifer Olachea were sent to Uganda, Africa, by the Central Baptist Church of Ocala, Florida, with the help of BIMI. They began working in Mbarara, Uganda, with the goal of giving the 3.4 million Runyankori people a formal, well-translated copy of God’s Word in their heart language. Dan helped to train six Runyankori native translators, and they labored eleven years with him to accomplish this great task. Work has begun on the Old Testament that will give even more light to the Runyankori people.

When the Word of God is presented to people in the official language or a trade language of their country, they may understand very little of it. Even if they comprehend much, it is always a foreign book. But when it is in their heart language, it has much more authority. They can hear God speaking their language! Friend, did God speak to your heart this morning as you read His Word? Why was that? Because you have a Bible in your heart language. There are still three thousand seven hundred language groups that have no portion of the Bible. That fact should bother us. No doubt it bothers our Saviour!

Yes, the Bible is a miracle Book; it can accomplish wonders. But we must realize that it does nothing where men do not take it. It has no feet or wings to magically carry itself to far off places. Neither does it mysteriously appear in languages where it never existed. God does not inspire a man to write scripture in his Bibleless tongue. God inspired it once; now it must be translated. That is just how it works. God’s people realized this in the first century and began translating the Bible. Down through the centuries since, men have faced the death penalty for giving the Bible to people in their heart language. This job may be easier today, but we can be sure that Satan will fiercely oppose it. May God give us men and women with the courage of John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, Francisco de Enzinas, Casiodoro de Reina, and hundreds of others before and after them. The task today requires no less dedication than theirs.

Thank God for the many places where the light of His Word has entered, given understanding, and for some, even changed the course of history. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matthew 4:16). But there are still billions of lost souls waiting in very dark places for the Light. We need Bible translators, Bible printers, Bible distributors, and Bible preachers. Pick up your Bible. Hold it and look at it. Now, ask yourself, “What am I doing right now to put this Book in the hands of one who sits in darkness with no Bible?”

Waiting and Working

Nat Williams FamilyNathaniel ‘Nat’ Williams was born into a Christian family in 1978 and grew up near Rochester, New York. At age five, he prayed a prayer, asking God to take him to Heaven when he died. That was his hope for the next eight years. Finally, he realized that salvation was not in a prayer or in living right, but in the sacrifice of Christ on his behalf.

When Nat was a young child, his parents became serious about serving God. The family worked together in neighborhood children’s clubs and Vacation Bible Schools. All of this was on-the-job training for foreign missionary service. Nat taught English in Taiwan, took part in literature distribution at the Asian Games, and traveled for two years with the Institute In Basic Life Principles. He planned to serve in foreign missions, but in reality, he was a missionary already. He worked while he waited.

After graduation from BBTI in 2004, Nat moved to Allentown, PA, for further training in ministry and missions at Lehigh Valley Baptist Church (LVBC). He helped organize their Missions Research Center and worked with their ministry to international students. (Later, in 2013, LVBC would send him to the field.) Nat made a ministry trip to Chile and several trips to SE Asia during these years. This was all GMT (Good Missionary Training).

While working, Nat was also waiting for something else that a missionary needs. He met her at LVBC, and again in Thailand, where she assisted in ministry for fifteen months. Anne was born in Pennsylvania in 1983. Like Nat, she made an early, but empty, profession during VBS. Outwardly, she was mostly good, but she knew something was wrong inside. She attended the Christian school but was often in trouble for cheating and lying. On one occasion she was sentenced to a two-day suspension followed by a four-week Bible study with a lady from church. The Bible study didn’t change her, but it did show her that she was lost. At age fifteen, Anne finally truly trusted Christ and was born again.

Nat and Anne were married in July 2010, and little Paul arrived two years later. (Ellen followed in 2014, and Rachel in 2017.) God had already shown Nat that he should serve in Myanmar (formerly Burma). But Myanmar is closed to foreign missionaries. How could they reach the people there?

Thailand is not closed, and it is a very strategic place for literature distribution in restricted neighboring countries. So, in 2013, the Williamses moved there. (In 2014, Nat and his team received 2,000 boxes of Burmese Scripture to distribute in Myanmar! In 2018, 25,000 Burmese Bibles arrived!) Nat and Anne went to work, learning the Thai language. They didn’t say, “We are headed for Myanmar, why learn Thai?” They are also learning the Burmese language. They continue ministering in Thailand in church planting, Bible studies, literature development and distribution, and reaching people by teaching English.

The family makes frequent trips into Myanmar even though they cannot live there yet. It is a place of much Christian nominalism. Most people have no idea what real salvation is. Nevertheless, Nat has met and helped some faithful Baptist preachers. Besides the Burmese, the Williamses also want to reach the people of other languages and ethnic groups there; many of them are Bibleless and unreached.

Nat and Anne are team players. They may not minister to thousands, but they strategize and labor, teaching individuals who may very well reach the multitudes. They have learned that God leads by opening doors and sometimes by closing them. Their record shows that they are interested in people, not places. They are working in Thailand while waiting for an open door to Myanmar.

Spring 2020

Southern Aymara of Peru

The ancient home of the Aymara is perched twelve-thousand feet above sea level on the Altiplano, a high plateau near Lake Titicaca in the Peruvian Andes. Although life is challenging due to very poor soil and a region susceptible to both drought and flood, the nearly three hundred thousand Southern Aymara have found a way to sustain a vibrant culture. Fulfilling social obligations is very important in these communities, which are usually composed of large family groups. Each person takes part in the husbandry and agricultural tasks that are central to their lifestyle.

To a casual visitor, it may seem the Aymara people have already embraced the Gospel. However, while the name of Jesus and the symbol of the cross are common, these people are just a step away from paganism. Four hundred years ago, they were first introduced to Christianity by Catholic missionaries. In response to these new teachings, the Aymara simply blended Christian terminology and stories with animism, creating a folk-religion that worships both Jesus and natural “spirits.”

The Southern Aymara have no Bible to lighten their darkness and expose the error of their beliefs. While the Central Aymara do have a Bible translation, its dialect is so different from Southern Aymara that it is considered to be an entirely different language. There is no Bible translation in process for the Southern Aymara. Meanwhile, they continue to live and die deceived and in darkness.

Spring 2020

Steadfast Through Trials

The Richard Johnson Memorial sits on the site of Australia’s first church.Far across the oceans, he stepped onto the shores of New South Wales. He didn’t know what lay ahead, but he had traveled the grueling eight-month voyage with a burden on his heart for the souls of the unwanted and unloved. At the young age of thirty-three, Richard Johnson had responded to John Newton’s plea and God’s call to be the first missionary to the penal colony of Australia.

Back home in England, Johnson had taken on the responsibility of delivering the Gospel to the outcasts of British society. He had poured his heart and soul into the work of the ministry, giving himself to preaching the gospel, ministering to the sick, and doing whatever he could do to help those in need. Here in Australia, difficulties met him at every turn as he put his hand to the plough, yet, he remained faithful. The first service was held under a tree on February 3, 1788. He chose Psalm 116: 12-13 as his scripture text, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.”

For the next four to five years, Johnson repeatedly petitioned the governor for a church building, but the petition was denied. He was told that a church was not important enough to warrant the expense. Open air services were all they had until Johnson decided to build a church with his own money. At the meager price of 67 pounds, or 80 US dollars, a building was erected and utilized for the honor of God in 1793. In a seemingly bleak turn of events, the building was burned down in 1798; however, a new governor had been instated between 1793 and 1798. God used the new governor of the penal colony to have a stone church building erected which lasted for the next fifty-eight years. In 1792, a year before Johnson built the church, he wrote a tract addressed to the prisoners in which he expressed his deepest desires. The following excerpt is but a small glimpse into this man’s heart: “I beseech you, brethren, suffer this word of exhortation. Your souls are precious. They are precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are precious in my esteem. O that you were equally sensible of their value.”

After twelve years of service, Johnson was advised to return to England due to severe health problems. Not much is said about what happened to Johnson after his return; one might say he disappeared into the pages of history. One thing we do know is that Johnson was faithful; he was faithful to continue proclaiming the gospel of Christ and faithful to let men know that Jesus was the only way to life eternal in heaven. Records show that at least two hundred souls were saved in the twelve years Johnson spent in New South Wales, and even after he left, Johnson’s ministry continued.

We may become weary in the work God has given us to do. The future may seem bleak and the labor monotonous, but stay steadfast!

Revival in America?

Many of God’s people lament the moral decline in America and are petitioning the God of Heaven to send revival to our land; no one would deny that we desperately need it! Some admit that revival is theoretically possible, but are skeptical that it will ever come. They say we have gone too far away from God. But surely, America has not gone farther downhill than Nineveh. Our perverted society is only a step behind Sodom, but Sodom would have repented if Jesus would have performed His mighty works there as He did at Capernaum (Matthew 11:23).

What results are we praying for? What will revival look like or accomplish if it comes to our country? We hope revival will yield spiritual benefits. We hope it will bring an increased church attendance, separation of church members from the world, more prayer, more love for the Bible, more souls saved in our churches and in our community, better offerings, more churches planted in America to replace those that have gone liberal or died, and more young people training for and entering the ministry. (At a large Christian college, the last graduating class of nine hundred eighty students contained only eight or nine mission majors. I have been on that campus twice and found these fine young people preparing to stay in the United States and be good, upstanding Christian nurses, businessmen, engineers, policemen, lawyers, doctors, teachers, graphic designers, computer scientists, and so forth. Few, however, are planning to be ministers in general, and fewer still intend to be missionaries and take the Gospel to where it has never been.)

We anticipate that revival will benefit our society. We hope that revival would greatly damage the liquor and drug business, close down abortion clinics, and generally bring some old-fashion decency to our country again. We probably would not say it out loud, but we may hope that revival would produce more American patriotism and converts to our political view. Yes, by all means, we should be praying for revival in America! At the same time, however, is not our prayer somewhat selfish and short-sighted?

Why hasn’t it occurred to us to pray for revival in Malaysia, Morocco, or Moldova? As far as I know, they have not experienced revival in Bulgaria, Bangladesh, or Benin in a long, long time. How many churches have been planted recently in the Netherlands, Niger, or North Korea? And what about Germany, Gabon, or the Republic of Georgia? Don’t they need revival as well? Church attendance and soul winning are needed in Lebanon, Lesotho, and Lithuania. Although devoted, separated people are praying in Afghanistan, Algeria, and Azerbaijan, they, for the most part, are not praying to our God. And talk about converts, their religion is getting them! It is adding to its number in our country, too! (We failed to evangelize them where they live; now they have come to proselytize us here!)

As worthy as our request for revival in America is, and at the risk of sounding un-American, may I remind us that Jesus did not command us to pray for revival in America. Rather He commanded us to lift up our eyes upon the fields. He said, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2). And, where is the harvest the greatest? Where are the harvesters so few and so desperately needed? On foreign mission fields!

Are we really praying for missionaries to be raised up and sent out by our churches? We pray for enough money to meet the budget and support the missionaries we have. We may even ask God for new ones (to come to us from other churches) to replace the ones that have died or left the field in recent months. It seems that for many churches the best they can say is, “We are holding our own.” For the most part, we are not praying for missionaries to come from our church or our family. I hope someone somewhere is praying that God will send out missionaries from his church, but I have rarely heard it. Maybe we doubt that it can happen, or worse yet, perhaps we really don’t want it to happen! (We think we can’t afford it, or we don’t want to be separated from those we love.) We pray for what is important to us, and we usually get what we pray for. “…ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2d). Then is our lack of new missionaries a reflection of our lack of prayer for them?
Should we stop praying for revival in America? Absolutely not! It would be wrong to not pray for America! “Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you:” (1 Samuel 12:23). However, if our prayer does not include a sincere, fervent begging for God to send laborers to the other one hundred and ninety-four countries, to the other seven thousand ninety-six languages, and to the seven thousand plus unreached people groups, then our prayer is short-sighted at best and selfish at worst. (I almost added “sinful.”)

Maybe God would be pleased to answer our prayer for revival if it included His entire harvest field. My Bible does not say, “For God so loved America…” It says that God gave His Son to die for every sinner in the world. If we were infused with God’s love and desire for all the world, doesn’t it stand to reason that He would be more willing to answer our prayer for revival in our own country?

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15). Yes, we cry out for revival and all the blessed results that it will bring to our homes, our churches, and our country; but the number one result of real, God-sent revival must be complete obedience to the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ!

We were living in Petrozabodsk when my friend, Laura, came to visit. Conversing with my neighbor, she said that she had arrived Friday. But instead of saying “pyatnitsa” (Friday), she said “p’yanitsa” (drunk). She realized her mistake as soon as the words were out of her mouth, and we all smiled as she frantically exclaimed, “No, no! Not p’yanitsa, pyatnitsa!
Pyatnisa!” —Amy, Russia

The new missionary told his congregation the story of the man with 100 bees. (They were puzzled; they had never read this story!) One bee was lost so the man left the 99 in the fold and searched for it. The man found his beloved bee with a hurt leg. He carefully wrapped it, gently placed the bee on his shoulder, and carried him home! (Realizing the missionary’s mistake, they all smiled as they pictured the man carrying his abeja “bee” instead of his oveja “sheep.”)

Burden Becomes Plan

BBTI student Ben MuldoonSimeon, a deaf man in Ghanta City, Liberia, sat nearly eight hours to hear doctrine and Scriptures explained to him in Sign Language. However, he was still hungry for more. Here was a man that could honestly sing, “More about Jesus would I know.” The image of this young deaf man that was eager and hungry for truth is etched in my memory.

I grew up in a pastor’s home in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and was saved at age seven. My parents raised their children to be involved in church ministry and to have a burden for the world. My dad, Wil Muldoon, was called into overseas missions at age sixty-one, and he is still serving in Papua New Guinea at age seventy. His commitment to follow Christ has had a profound impact on my life.

In 2013, I went to Bulgaria for the Deaf Olympics with Silent Word Ministries International. During this trip, a burden for Eastern Europe and the Deaf of the world grew in my heart. During my junior and senior year of college, I worked with the Deaf at Bill Rice Ranch and was involved in a deaf ministry at a local church. My burden grew. Seeing my parents in PNG in 2015 was a highlight and after teaching in the Bible institute there, I fell in love with investing in men who are hungry to learn.

The Deaf, Eastern Europe, and training men were all swirling in my head and heart upon arriving back in the United States, but I didn’t see it as an actual possibility. God was patient with me as He showed me more and more of Himself and His burden for the Deaf. On January 1, 2016, David Bennett, my mentor, challenged me to sincerely see if God wanted me to invest my life in training deaf men in Europe. After two months of praying and receiving counsel from my parents and pastor, a conviction settled that, what had started out as a burden, was actually God’s plan for me.

The next steps were training: theological training at Seminary, deaf training in Liberia, ministry training in a nine-month apprenticeship under a pastoral staff in Tennessee, and missions training at BBTI. The next major step will be full time deputation to start a deaf church and training institute in Eastern Europe!

by Ben Muldoon

After lunch, the congregation spends time in Q&A about the morning message. People were stumped by a question about how long it took for Elijah to get to Mount Horeb, and several answered that it took three days. I spoke up, boldly saying, “si sip meu.” I mistakenly thought that meu in meu ni (today) and in meu ni wan (yesterday) meant day. Everyone laughed because I said that it took Elijah forty hands.

When our evangelist friend visited us, he preached through a translator. A story he told began like this: “I was out in the lake swimming with the water over my head.” Our translator stopped abruptly with a very confused look on his face. He could not understand how a person could be both out of the water and in the water. Even more, the water was, apparently, over the person’s head??? (James, Russia)

Ten Years Later

The Jason Ottosen Family—serving faithfully in the mountains of Papua New Guinea since 2012Ten years ago, we featured the Ottosens in the Winter 2009 issue of Lift Up Your Eyes. Cherith Stevens spent ten months in Papua New Guinea, and then, rather unexpectedly, God gave her a husband worth waiting for. She became Mrs. Jason Ottosen, and the two were on their way to PNG to help reach the Kamea tribe in the mountains of Gulf Province. Today, there are six Ottosens ministering there in the village of Komako! The newest missionary is nine-month old Josiah. In March 2012, Jason and Cherith went to PNG with their first daughter, Grace Elisabeth, who joined their team in September 2011. Melody Joy followed in September 2013. Their third daughter, Hannah Faith, arrived the last day of September 2016 and soon began helping to win the hearts of the Kamea people. A lot can happen in ten years!

The Ottosens began adjusting to life in PNG and learning two languages (Melanesian Pidgin and Kamea) in the village of Kotidanga where other BBTI graduates serve. A young man from Komako, a village ten hours north, walked to Kotidanga several times to attend church services and to ask for a missionary for his village. (Ten hours for a Kamea man was a twelve-hour hike for Jason.) Many others have arrived in Kotidanga, begging for church-planting missionaries for their villages. The Ottosens have made Komako their home since 2013 and have established the Komako Baptist Church.

Missionary work in Komako is not all fun and games! A church member named Ems recently died, leaving a wife and five sons. Some members of his clan blamed another clan (also with family members in the church) of killing Ems by witchcraft. Many from the two clans continued to attend services, albeit with the wrong motive. But the Word of God began to work in their hearts. Paimba, Ems’ oldest brother who was leading the conflict, got saved, as did Suwanas, another of Ems’ clan who is the oldest and most respected witchdoctor. Here, as in other places, sickness and death are not seen as the result of natural causes. There is always a hidden spiritual reason. If death is believed to be caused by witchcraft someone must pay! Only the Gospel can break this vicious cycle of ignorance and revenge.

Why would a missionary family endure such isolation and primitive living conditions in a place with no roads or electricity? Why would they pay exorbitant rates to fly in and out of their village? Why would they hike ten hours to the nearest Baptist mission to use wi-fi? Once a church member, upon hearing a missionary lady tell of the living conditions on her mission field, said, “I would not live there for a million dollars!” The missionary responded, “I wouldn’t either; but I will live there for Jesus!”

In the midst of such debauchery, superstition, violence, disease, and enormous spiritual darkness, God is at work. Scripture is being translated. Souls are being saved. Lives are being changed. And the church of Jesus Christ is being built in places where Satan has reigned supreme for centuries. We have received exciting prayer reports from the Ottosens over the last ten years. (A book needs to be written about God’s blessings!) There is much more to do.

The Ottosens desire to see men trained, serving, leading, and spreading the Gospel throughout their mountainous area. Raford Bart is one such man. He is small in stature and the youngest of several brothers, but has been very faithful to church. His faith has been strong despite being tested through discouragement from his brothers and ridicule from his wife. Recently Raford raised his hand to follow the Lord’s leading anywhere. Pray for the Ottosens as they disciple and train men like Raford.

Winter 2019-20

A Fire in my Heart

Rochunga Pudaite 1927-2015“My grandfather was a headhunter. But by God’s grace, today I am a heart-hunter.” -Rochunga Pudaite

Determined to see more of the village won for Christ, little Ro set out and began witnessing to the renowned ‘wild’ people of the Teisieng village in Manipur, India. With a heart full of prayer and fierce determination, Ro went to the first home. The man wanted nothing to do with the ‘dead man Jesus’. Most Christians would have walked away downhearted, but a little boy with a fire in his heart was not so easily deterred. He marched to the next house; his hands clenched in determination. Around a fire, three men sat, and to Ro, they were like three giants needing to be felled. Standing silent for a moment, he gathered his courage and asked permission to proclaim the name of Jesus. “WHERE IS MY DAO?” a man shouted as he sprang to his feet.

Ro’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. A dao was a knife used by mountain people for generations for many things, but one use was head hunting. Ro turned and ran out of the house and down the road. He heard someone calling to him asking him to wait, but he dared not stop, lest he be killed. But his short legs were no match for a grown man and he was soon overtaken. “Someone from another village has been coming around and telling me about Jesus, and I wish to hear more. Come with me and tell me about Jesus,” the man begged him.

Ro feared this was some sort of trap, but he trusted that the Lord would go with him. For an hour he spoke the name of Jesus to the man, who eventually said these words, “I want to give my name to Jesus.” Ro knew that this was the real thing; the man was giving himself completely to the Lord. He was the first Christian, the first follower of Jesus, in this so-called wild village. Rochunga’s heart was filled with joy and rejoicing. He had led his first soul to the Lord.

God took this young man with a heart for the Hmar people of India and used him to translate the Bible into their language. Rochunga Pudaite came from a village of former headhunters and let the Lord use him in a way that no one thought possible. God is a God of extremes; He can use the least of the least for His honor and glory.

Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. —Psalm 60:12

(For further information about Rochunga’s story, read God’s Tribesman by James and Marti Hefley. Watch Beyond the Next Mountain, a film about Rochunga on YouTube.)

Winter 2019-20

West Coast Bajau of Malaysia

The 750,000-900,000 souls comprising the Bajau or Sama people are dispersed throughout the Malaysian section of Borneo and are thought to have originated in the Philippines. There are various Bajau languages, and they are mutually unintelligible. While some of the Bajau have Bible translations or Gospel resources, at least one of them—the West Coast Bajau people— have no known Gospel resources: no Bible, no New Testament, not even a John and Romans! Although there is now a translation process underway, it could be years before its completion. Meanwhile, more than 250,000 souls remain Bibleless.

The West Coast Bajau (WC Bajau) were once sailing nomads, but have since settled along the northern and western coasts of Borneo, adapted to an agricultural lifestyle, and adopted Islam. Because of language mixing between the vernacular and the national language (Malay), “pure” WC Bajau is increasingly rare. Written WC Bajau existed only informally until the last thirty years when linguists, trying to encourage literacy in both Bajau and Malay, began working on formalizing an orthography. Both of these factors—a transitioning spoken language and a young, if not underdeveloped, written language—only serve to complicate Bible translation work among the WC Bajau.

Please pray for a reliable Bible translation for the WC Bajau as well as the development of literacy and other Bible resources.

Winter 2019-20

Playing it Safe

The story is told of the farmer who didn’t plant corn for fear of blight, he didn’t plant beans for fear of drought, and he failed to plant wheat for fear that a fire might burn his crop just before harvest. He told a friend, “No, this year I’m playing it safe!” A BBTI graduate in the world’s most populous country just wrote, “Pray for more laborers; we sure do need them.” Missionaries never say, “Don’t send any more missionaries; we have more than we need.” And the heathen, in their own way, are pleading, “Come over and help us!” Meanwhile, many, realizing the seriousness of missionary service, are playing it safe and staying home.

Millions, yea billions, if we could only hear them, are crying out, “Stop playing it safe and come over and help us!” The heathen seek happiness in intoxicating substances, illicit sex, material possessions, education, sports, and vain religion. They are left empty and disappointed. But we know the One who gives abundant life and eternal satisfaction! They live in bondage to evil spirits, always trying to manipulate or appease them to receive their blessings and avoid their curses. But we know the Spirit who can make them free. They bow to idols that have hands that cannot help, ears that cannot hear, and eyes that cannot see. But we know the all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent Creator whose ear is always attentive to our prayers. In vain the heathen look for help from shamans and priests who offer them forgiveness of sins if they will do enough good works, say enough prayers, do enough penances, and of course, give enough money. But we have God’s promise of free forgiveness without any of the above dead works. If they knew we have what they need, they would beg, “Stop playing it safe and come over and help us!”

Why are there thousands of cities and villages with no gospel-preaching church? Why do thousands of languages still have no Scriptures? And why are literally thousands dying every day having never heard the name of Jesus Christ, let alone a clear message of salvation? It is not for lack of a command to tell them. Jesus made it perfectly clear that He expects us, His church, to give the Good News to every soul on Earth. They will not all accept it, but they all have the God-given right to hear it. God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; He wants none to perish. The God of truth wants no one to live and die ignorant of the Gospel. Jesus who tasted death for all men wants all men to know it! Are we being too careful, playing it too safe, about who goes to tell them?

Ask one hundred young Christian men why they are planning to stay here and not planning to go to the mission field? Almost all of them will say that God has not called them to be a missionary. And so, we usually drop the subject and don’t challenge them further. But if we dare ask them how they know God has not called them, they can only say that they just don’t feel called. (So then, the eternal fate of the heathen depends on how we feel?) Ask them what this call would feel like, and they probably cannot tell you that either. Ask them for two New Testament verses that show them if they are called or not, and my bet is they will not find even one. Ask them if they have ever surrendered their lives to serve God on the mission field. Ask them if they have volunteered and asked God to let them go tell the heathen about Christ. The prevailing thought is that God will give an overwhelming emotional experience, a special supernatural revelation, to those He wants to serve on the mission field; otherwise, they should stay home. Unfortunately, this play-it-safe mentality often takes precedence over God’s command to go. And aren’t we inadvertently blaming God for not calling enough laborers to reach our world?

Some say that God hasn’t called them as a pretext; they wouldn’t go if He did. Others, however, have heard misleading rhetoric that has convinced them to play it safe and stay home: “Don’t go unless you are one hundred percent sure that God is calling.” (But they are given no scriptural instruction on how to be sure.) “Don’t confuse a burden with a call.” (No scriptural explanation is given to explain the difference, and the heathen won’t care if the message comes from someone who is called or burdened.) “If you can do anything else, God hasn’t called you.” (And our young people can find a hundred things they’d rather do than preach to the heathen.) “Wait until God calls you.” (While we wait in comfort, the heathen wait in despair!) “We have too many mama-called daddy-sent people.” (Oh no, I wouldn’t want to be accused of that! Better stay home and play it safe.)

My friend, withholding the Gospel from the lost is a much bigger sin than going to the mission field without a special call! We hear over and over about the call to go. When is the last time you heard preached the command to go? The call is subjective and ambiguous; the command is absolutely clear. I tell young men this: “In light of Christ’s command, you better go or have a good reason to stay!”

How many potential missionaries have stayed home because they have always heard and believed these warnings to play it safe concerning the mission field? Wouldn’t it be much better to risk sending three or four people to the mission field that really should have stayed home than have three or four thousand stay home that could have and should have gone? And lest you fear that unqualified missionaries will go, wasting our precious mission funds, remember that God has provided a safeguard. He has given the church the responsibility to determine who should go or stay.

As one brother said, “If you are not called, why not go and stand in until a called missionary gets there?” The heathen man who gets saved and goes to Heaven probably won’t care who it was that brought him the Gospel. For the sake of the heathen and the glory of God, let’s run some risks. Let’s ignore the religious rhetoric. Let’s hear the heathen’s desperate plea, “Stop playing it safe; come over and help us!”

What the Zealous Can Do

David Brainerd Missionary to the American Indians 1718-1747

With a cry of pain, the horse lurched forward causing her master to topple to the ground. David Brainerd stood, brushed himself off, and looked to see what had happened. The mare lay in agony on the ground, her leg snapped in two. David was beyond despair as he knew the inevitable must take place. With two Native Indians and a fellow missionary looking on, David raised his weapon and killed the faithful horse. He and his travelling companions then trekked thirty miles to the next house.

Such was the life of a young man who gave his life to see others won to Christ. Literally working himself to death, David Brainerd made it a point throughout his life to see to it that men, women, children, old and young, could have a chance to know Jesus.

David Brainerd was a young man with a heart for missionary work. He once said, “I never, since I began to preach, could feel any freedom to enter into other men’s labours and settle down in the ministry where the Gospel was preached before.” He wanted to do something for God that had never been accomplished.

After spending much time as a young man struggling with his salvation, he gave himself to prayer and sought the face of God to know how he might be saved. On July 12, 1739, while walking in the forest, David Brainerd gave his heart to the Lord and was gloriously saved. He became a zealous and fervent witness for his Lord. Although at times he suffered from depression, self-pity, and loneliness, he always righted himself in the Lord.

When his desire to serve the Lord returned, he was too zealous for some, and after calling his Yale professors less than zealous, he was expelled. After battling disappointment and bitterness, he learned to give it to the Lord, and he instead devoted his life to God’s service. An excerpt from his life journal reads, “I hardly ever so longed to live to God and to be altogether devoted to Him; I wanted to wear out my life in his service and for his glory.”

Although his ministry was full of many heartbreaks, hardships, sicknesses and unexplained difficulties, David Brainerd served the Lord for five years with over one hundred converts. He also did some Bible translation into an American Indian language. When ill health incapacitated him, he returned home and spent his last days with the Jonathan Edwards family. Even then his zeal was infectious. At the young age of twenty-nine, David Brainerd breathed his last on this earth. And as he entered heaven’s portals, may we not say he was eagerly welcomed?

God takes what we think is of little worth and uses it for His honour and His glory. He can use the weak or the sometimes depressed to serve Him. So, dear Christian, do not give up. Keep serving the Lord! He will be everything that you need!

Fall 2019

The Pamari

The Pamiris of Central Asia have never had their own country nor lived independently of surrounding powers. The majority of Pamiris live in an area called the Badakhshan Autonomous Province which covers parts of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Pamiris are linguistically, religiously, and culturally distinct from their Tajik and Afghani landlords. They are a highly misunderstood people group and face great prejudice and discrimination. This is primarily due to a difference in the practice of Islam.

Most Pamiris practice Ismailism which is viewed negatively by their Sunni neighbors. Pamiri women are free from some of the stricter Islamic laws. They do not have to wear burkas or hijabs, are encouraged to get a good education, and are allowed to work outside the home. Although dating is not acceptable and marriages are usually arranged by a maternal uncle, women are not expected to marry before age eighteen.

It is unclear how many distinct languages/dialects exist in the Pamiri language family. A BBTI graduate working with this people group says there are at least seven. There are only three teams currently working to translate the scriptures into Pamiri languages.

Fall 2019

Missionary Grandmother

Katie always serves with a smile.It is common for a young missionary to leave his parents and take his children to the foreign mission field. In doing so, he is taking the grandchildren away from their grandparents. Occasionally, a middle-aged missionary will leave his grown children at home and go to the mission field. It is rare, however, for a grandparent to leave both children and grandchildren and go to the mission field. Many grandmothers have watched their grandchildren leave, but Kathryn Walker did it in reverse. Her grandchildren watched her leave. No doubt, this widowed grandmother loves her grandchildren as much as any grandmother could, but she felt God leading her to Africa. She left her own grandchildren safe in the care of their parents and went to help African children come to Christ.

I’ll never forget the day we met Katie. She showed up at our school at the end of a chapel service. We had a guest speaker that day, and there was a lot of activity. I was able to give her only half of my attention. She said, “I am Katie Walker. I’m going to Kenya, Africa, and some people have told me I need to attend BBTI. What do I need to do?” I found her an application and said, “You just need to send us this.” With that she was gone. I would never reveal a lady’s age, but that was in the fall of 2008, and she was fifty-six at the time. I said to myself, “We will never see this lady again.” But we did! She sent her application and was sitting in the classroom in August 2009. She did well in the classes and graduated the following May.

Katie did not grow up in a Christian home, but her parents allowed a neighbor lady to take her and her sisters to church. She was saved at age twelve or thirteen at a church camp. She recounts, “I will never forget how I felt His love, and I knew that something in me was different!” Without the help of godly parents, her spiritual growth was slow. She laments, “I did not know about giving myself fully to Him. I thought being saved was all I needed. Oh, if only I had known and understood then how much more there is, my life would have been so different!” It was not until she was married and had three children that she was baptized and began attending church consistently. Not long after, her husband was killed in a car accident.
Katie did not have the opportunity to attend college. Actually, she did not quite finish high school. Nevertheless, she did well at BBTI and kept up with the younger missionary students. She claimed no great talents or teaching ability. Katie said, “If I can do it, anyone can do it!” She did have, however, confidence that God would help her learn, and she knew she could be a servant. With that, Katie left for Africa in February 2011 and served the Lord with the Luke Shelby family in Kisii, Kenya, for the next eight years. She discipled ladies, cooked for Bible school students, did office work and tract and scripture distribution—anything to lighten the load of her fellow missionaries. Katie retired and left Kenya in June of this year. Before leaving, she prayed for her replacement. That person is at this moment sitting in the BBTI classroom, preparing to serve the Kenyans. Kathryn Walker will probably not be listed with Mary Slessor, Amy Carmichael, Gladys Aylward, or Lottie Moon as a famous missionary lady, but she has been a faithful witness and servant of Christ. She has also been a mother and grandmother to many precious African children; she will be greatly missed by them.

Fall 2019