Many words in Bislama are duplicated English words. For example lukluk is look and fatfat is fat. It is easy to make the mistake of thinking this applies to the majority of words. A missionary trying hard to do things the Ni-vanuatu way told the visitors arriving at his hut to come sitsit. Unfortunately, the Bislama word for sit is sidaon; sitsit means (to put it politely) go to the bathroom. Not quite what the missionary intended! —Vanuatu
“I would I had a thousand lives that I might give them to…China.” —Lottie Moon
Lottie looked all around her to see that the people whom she loved so dearly were starving to death. She didn’t have much to give them, but what she did have, she gave. But now Lottie’s health was failing; her weight was down to fifty pounds. Fellow laborers felt it was time for her to go home. At the golden age of seventy-two, she boarded a ship headed for the United States and home, but she never made it out of Asia. On Christmas Eve 1912, Lottie Moon died on board the ship in the harbor at Kobe, Japan.
To some, this woman’s dedication was a miracle. If you were to ask her relatives if they thought she would die for Christ, they would have scoffed. Lottie Moon, at the height of four feet three inches, was an unruly child, full of mischief and rebellion. She made it a point to make a mockery of the Gospel and her family’s Baptist faith.
While Lottie was in Virginia attending Albemarle Female Institute, a local Baptist church hosted a revival meeting. Some of Lottie’s friends invited her to go, but she refused. They got together to pray for her by name, and God answered. She went to one of the services to appease those friends but had no idea what was about to occur. That evening, when she could not sleep, Lottie fell to her knees and trusted Christ as her Saviour. Her family noticed an immediate change in her.
Lottie’s sister, who had already served in China, pleaded with Lottie to consider overseas service. This, coupled with God’s leading, took Lottie to China where she would serve Him faithfully until she died forty years later. She became one with the Chinese; she learned their language, dressed as them, ate as them, and poured her very life into them.
Missionary men could not minister to women in China; only women could reach Chinese women. One way in which Lottie evangelized them was by taking little tea cakes or cookies to them. That got the attention of both the women and the children! They called her the Cookie Lady and listened to her. She traveled many miles to witness and proclaim Jesus. As a result of her faithfulness, hundreds of converts came to Christ. She pleaded with the churches in the States to send more laborers and more funds to help with the much-needed ministry in China, but they could not see the burden as Lottie saw it.
Lottie lived, worked, breathed, and died in the service of her Lord. She is an example of what a true servant of the Lord is; one willing to sacrifice everything and leave all to follow Christ. What an example for us to follow! He is worthy of our all!
Cherith began literacy work among the Kamea in 2009 as a single woman. Today, she continues that ministry along with her husband, Jason Ottosen. She wrote the following report of their ministry during the early days.
The four Kamea primers were finished, and I, Cherith, was introducing and testing them in local villages where they had never seen their language written. Two men, Nicodemus and Lazarus, immediately became immersed in the excitement of reading the primers. I started them both in primer one and left to visit some other villages. When I came back several hours later, they were still reading. They made it to primer three before they headed home.
As the day wore on the women got closer and closer to me. Eventually, I was able to pull out the primers and explain that the purpose of the primers is to teach them to read so that they can read the Bible. At first, they did not respond. But then I started reading to them and asked them to help me make corrections if I said anything wrong. Page after page, they got more interested, delighted in the black and white drawings and thrilled that I was speaking their talk. Every time I stopped they would say, “anta fi”(some more). They finished my sentences and often would retell the stories to new ladies walking up.
That night as we sat around the fire, Rosalyn, the pastor’s wife, spoke with tears in her eyes, “The men will learn how to read, my sons will learn to read, but who will teach the women to read their Bibles?” As she continued, I thought through a typical Kamea woman’s day—work the garden, carry heavy bilums, fetch water and firewood, fix dinner, care for the many children, do laundry, etc. Pray the Lord gives us a way to implement reading for the ladies that will make it achievable. Before heading down the trail the next morning, I sat with Rosalyn for about a half hour and told her that she could learn to read. When I opened the primer, an irreplaceable smile swept over her face. We worked through the first five pages, and if you had asked Rosalyn, she would have told you that she was learning to read.
Winter 2020-21
The Brunei Malay people are a native Malay ethnic group that live in Brunei, a little-known nation on the island of Borneo. The country is tiny (a little larger than Delaware), but enjoys the wealth from oil resources. The Brunei also live in Malaysia, Canada, and the United States. The in-country population is 184,000; the worldwide population is 556,000.
Their language, also called Brunei Malay, is different in sound from Malay. Brunei Malay is the language of everyday communication for most Bruneians and is a sign of a speaker’s wish to identify himself as Bruneian. Brunei Malay is currently replacing the minority languages. There is no Bible, and no other known Christian resources in this language.
Brunei’s government is a monarchy with a line of sultans dating back to the 14th century. The current sultan became the absolute ruler in 1967. As such, he is both the head of state and the head of government. He is also at the head of the official religion, Islam, which he promotes by building mosques. (It is estimated that Brunei has more mosques per square kilometer than any other country in the world.) He also protects Islam by making it illegal to proselytize or for Muslims to convert from Islam.
The future is uncertain. Rapid depletion of oil reserves is an economic concern. The helpless state of lost souls, however, is of greater concern. How shall they hear? Pray for laborers!
Winter 2020-21
King Solomon said,“of making many books there is no end.” There are millions of books, both true and ficticious, covering every possible subject. Imagine how many things we read in a day besides books, newspapers, or magazines. We read instructions (sooner or later), road signs, billboards, medicine bottles, letters, signs for businesses, house numbers, labels on food or drink containers, T-shirts, tattoos, bumper stickers, the Yellow Pages, text messages, and so on. However, this is only possible if ours is a written language, and if we are literate. Many in our world do not have this skill that most of us take for granted. Where would we be in this world without the skill of literacy? Can you imagine a GI overseas asking his buddy to read him the love letter he just received from his gal back home? Illiteracy can be dangerous. When someone cannot read the sign that says “Wrong Way” and enters the freeway going the opposite direction of traffic flow, or when an illiterate mother gives her child the wrong medicine because she cannot read the label, lives are endangered. We owe a great debt to those who patiently taught us to read!
Literacy is like the ability to ride a bicycle. Once you have it, it stays with you for life. Monolingual people who speak an unwritten language, however, are always illiterate, and there are still well over three thousand unwritten languages in our world. These unwritten languages are without a single verse of the Bible. As Christians, we realize the importance of the written Word of God and Christian literature in the heart language of all people. To reach this goal on the foreign field, the missionary must learn the language, analyze the sounds, develop an alphabet, and then write or translate books. The Advanced Missionary Training program of Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI) trains missionaries to do all of this.
The first step is to create an alphabet. Languages vary greatly, and an alphabet that serves one language may not work well for another. The linguistic skill to develop a well-suited alphabet for a particular language is called phonemics. A phonemic alphabet has one letter for each significant sound in that particular language, makes the ability to read and write much easier. This is one reason why Spanish is relatively easy to read. Our English alphabet, however, is not phonemic—our symbols often do not match our sounds and achieving literacy is a long process. Furthermore, our reading ability is often poor and our spelling skills atrocious.
Having only five vowel symbols to represent eleven vowel sounds makes English vowels especially difficult. Listen to eleven different vowel sounds as you pronounce these words: beat, bit, bait, bet, bat, Bob, but, boot, book, boat, and ball. If English had a phonemic alphabet, it would contain a separate symbol for each of these vowel sounds. It is several centuries too late to write English phonemically, but it is not too late for the thousands of unwritten languages. We need well-trained missionaries who will go, learn the language, develop a writing system, translate Scripture, and teach the people to read it.
Between the making of books and the reading of them is the missing link of literacy. A book, however true and helpful, is of no value to a man who cannot read it. Those mysterious marks on the pages may be as intimidating to him as Einstein’s theory of relativity is to us normal folk. Handing a Bible to a man in his heart language is of little or no use if he cannot read it, but he can be taught. Both children and adults can learn to read. However, they must first be motivated. I once offered a man a free booklet containing a Bible story that we had translated into his formerly unwritten language. I expected him to be excited about finally having a portion of God’s Word in his language, but he asked, “What do I need that for?” He had lived his entire life without a book. Neither his father, nor his grandfather, nor any of his ancestors had ever owned one. Why would he need a book? Obviously, he needed to be motivated. People simply do not read if they do not want to. A skilled literacy teacher works to create a desire to read by providing plenty of relevant and interesting reading material such as their folk tales or history. He wants to get the people “hooked” on reading.
Using the science of phonemics, a BBTI graduate can give an unwritten language an alphabet that precisely symbolizes the sounds the native hears. Then choosing a literacy method that matches the people’s way of thinking and doing, he can teach them to read. BBTI graduates have used the knowledge gained in phonemics and literacy classes in several parts of the world. Cherith developed an alphabet for the Kamea language of Papua New Guinea. She and Sarah have taught the Kamea people to read their language and the trade language, Pidgin. Michele did the same in Vanuatu with the formerly unwritten language of Akei. Dan not only taught literacy in Uganda, but also trained several native literacy teachers. Bruce worked with the government of his Latin American country to teach literacy in the public schools. Sarah trained literacy teachers in a closed Asian country.
Putting a previously unwritten language into print gives it a special identity and dignity. When a man reads the Bible in his own language, it becomes personal instead of foreign as he sees that neither he nor his language are inferior to God and realizes that the message of God’s love is for him. A people’s culture, history, and heritage are all tied up in their language, and unwritten languages are on the endangered list. If they become extinct, at least one generation is left in a linguistic “no man’s land” where the people lose their heart language but do not fully understand the trade language. Writing these languages and teaching people to read them helps to preserve cultures, but more importantly, it gives them God’s words —words that they can learn to read for themselves!
A newly arrived missionary in Costa Rica wanted to go to the market and begin learning Spanish. He looked up how to ask the price of things in his Spanish-English dictionary and found the words for “how” and “much” to be “como” and “mucho.” Then he walked around the market pointing at things and saying, “Como mucho.” Everyone laughed because he was actually saying, “I eat much.”
While preaching in an open air market I was giving an illustration using clean water and dirty water. I held up the clean water bottle and said, “If I hit this water, it brings satisfaction.” Realizing immediately that hitting water is an expression meaning to drink hard liquor, I tried to correct myself before anyone had enough time to let it sink in—but it was too late. The crowd one by one slowly “lost it” with snickering. —Rodney, Tanzania
A missionary preaching in Mexico City from the story of Hannah read where Hannah told her husband that she wouldn’t take the child Samuel up to the tabernacle until he was weaned. Instead of saying “destetado” (weaned), he said “destazado” (to chop up). It was even more hilarious when Elkanah responded, “Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have ‘chopped’ him.” —RLC
On May 10, 1968, the pastor’s wife and another lady from Beacon Hill Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, were visiting new arrivals in their area. The house they planned to visit had whiskey bottles in the front window. The intended message was “Bad people live here; don’t mess with them.” The residents, Robert and Linda Huddleston, had bought the house and recently moved in. They had met at the Player’s Lounge where Linda was a bartender. The church ladies considered skipping this house, but they didn’t. Instead they won Bob and Linda to Christ!
Bob was born and raised in Oregon. He served as a Korean language specialist in the United States Air Force and was also trained in data processing. Linda, born and raised in Dallas, Texas, was a high school dropout but later earned her GED at Baptist Bible College (BBC) in Springfield, Missouri, where she and Bob prepared to serve the Lord on the foreign field. While a student at BBC, Bob began Maranatha Baptist Church in nearby Richland. Some of the missionary students from the nearby linguistic training school of New Tribes Mission (NTM) attended their services. The NTM people told the Huddlestons about the many unreached, Bibleless tribal people of the world, and God began to burden their hearts to reach them. At NTM, they met Baptist missionaries George and Sharon Anderson. The Andersons had left Mexico to attend the NTM Boot Camp and Language School with the stated purpose of learning all they could from NTM so they could begin a similar school to train Baptist missionaries.
That school, Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI), began in September 1973 in Forth Worth, Texas. Bob and Linda were in the first class along with the Andersons and two other families. Early in 1976, the Huddlestons went to Colombia, South America, and began learning Spanish. Their BBTI training, especially the phonetics, helped them to speak the new language much better than most foreigners. Their goal was to work with unreached jungle tribes, but unfortunately, the communist guerrillas were making major inroads and controlling the jungle areas. The Huddlestons were allowed to stay in Colombia but were forbidden by the government to work in the jungle. They began churches in Villavicencio and the Llano (plains). They also began a Bible institute. During the beginning days of their ministry there, they adopted a Colombian baby girl whom they named Jody Lynn. After approximately ten years in Colombia, Bob and Linda were denied visas and were forced to leave. Jody became a US citizen at age nine.
The Huddlestons did not quit serving the Lord; they just changed locations. For the next ten years, Bob pastored the Trinity Baptist Fellowship Church in Phoenix, Arizona. During those years, Bob finished his BA and got his MA and CPE. After that, he became a chaplain in the Texas State Prison system. His bilingualism was a great help in these places. Linda also was hired by the prison to work in the mail room. All prison correspondence, entering and leaving, must be read by prison officials, and her ability in two languages was especially useful. During his tenure in the prison system, Bob began pastoring a church in the East Texas city of Jacksonville. There he taught the people why we hold to the Authorized Version of the Bible and established a faith promise missionary giving program that still continues. Bob stepped down from the full-time pastorate in 2009. He is a Trustee of Baptist Bible Translators Institute and continues to preach and serve the Lord in East Texas, witnessing in both English and Spanish as the Lord gives him open doors. The Huddlestons are helping to home school their ten-year old granddaughter. It has been over fifty-two years since they kept whiskey bottles in the window!
Fall 2020
Tayler and Lorin Norris with Eden, Deacon, and Enoch www.missions2moz.org
By Tayler Norris
In the early 1980s, my parents were reached with the Gospel through military missions while they were stationed in Germany as young Airmen. Little did they know that they would someday have five sons, including me, who would be born in Portugal while they were involved in a military mission church. Later in life, I would go on a missions trip to Zambia, Africa, and through that trip, God would burden my heart to give my life to be a missionary to the foreign field.
My call to the mission field was a culmination of my parents keeping missions as an important part of our family life. Growing up, our family attended every service of our church’s missions conferences. My brothers and I were always the first ones at the missionaries’ display tables asking questions. There were many times that my family opened the doors of our home to house missionaries while they were presenting at our church. At a young age, I was taught to not only give my tithes but also to give to missions on a monthly basis. I remember the napkin holder that sat in our dining room, stuffed with hundreds of missionary prayer cards. These were some of the things God used to prepare my heart to surrender to take the Gospel to the lost.
I prayed for two years before God, at the end of our church’s missions conference, burdened my heart for the country of Mozambique. A year later, after talking with my wife and seeking council from our pastor, my wife and I visited Mozambique. While there, God confirmed in our hearts that Mozambique is where He is leading us.
Throughout my life, God has used missions to make His will evident for me. The involvement of others in missions has also influenced me. It is clear that He uses missions to call laborers to reach the lost. Would you pray for laborers, about missions, and what God would have you to do?
Fall 2020
Lavern and Evelyn RodgersA bomb wrestled through the air, while the loud cracks of the blast set homes ablaze. The people of war-torn Japan sat in the darkness of an uncertain eternity. Soon after, former Navy man Lavern Rodgers and his wife, Evelyn, arrived with the good news of the Gospel.
In 1945, Lavern Rodgers first heard his Macedonian call through the exhortation of General Douglas MacArthur who, quoting Matthew 5:44a: “Love your enemies,” made the appeal for 15,000 missionaries to come to Japan. Lavern Rodgers knew that in order to follow God’s call on his life, he would have to replace his personal hatred for the Japanese with God’s love for them. He wrestled with the Lord. Would he do the unimaginable and go tell His enemies about Christ? Knowing he could never win a fight with God, he surrendered.
To prepare, he attended Bible Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where God spoke to him through a quote from William Carey: “Attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.” With these words ringing in his ears, he and his wife, Evelyn, took the rocky boat voyage to Japan in September 1950. After thirty-three days, the Rodgers finally arrived in the bombed out city of Yokohama. Even Shizuoka, the city where they began their first work, was 60% destroyed. In the midst of these depressing surroundings, they kept their eyes on Jesus.
The Lord opened up amazing opportunities for church plants to begin. They were able to start churches in nine different cities between 1950 and 1967. Lavern Rodgers said that “Planting churches is like planting trees. They are foundational to a Biblical ministry. These are our trees.” But building a church in post-war Japan was not going to be an easy task. He and his friends had to tear down buildings and reuse the scraps to build their first church in the city of Shizuoka. This was a great lesson for the Japanese people, because it taught them to use what God provides.
Many young Japanese would soon attend the services. A girl named Sachiko Saigo Yasuba described the church as having a warmth and brightness she had never experienced. As a struggling wife, she came looking for pity but instead found a warm greeting from Evelyn Rodgers who took her by the hand and showed her the Romans Road. Sachiko was amazed to learn that she did not know God. This was the reason she had so much trouble and wrong in her life! Overcome with the knowledge of her sin, she wanted to throw herself on the Lord and no one else. With open arms, she received the Lord as her Saviour that day, and all the darkness became light.
Lavern Rodgers is ninety-three years old and still resides in Japan. He once said, “There is nothing more rewarding in life, than going where God’s finger points.” Will we go where God’s finger points us? Or will we, like Jonah, refuse to go? We must spread the message of Jesus, for only His light can vanquish the darkness!
The Tama people live in eastern Chad and western Sudan. Statistics vary according to source; reports include a population of anywhere from 170,000 to 300,000. The Kimr tribe, numbering 169,000, belongs to the Tama people group and speaks the same language.
Tama (also known as Tamok, Tamot, or Tamongobo) is a language in which tone, stress, and length can all change the meaning of words. It is the language spoken in homes. It is unknown if Tama has ever been written or is only spoken. There are no Scriptures in this, the people’s heart language.
The Tama are sedentary and most of them are farmers of an assortment of crops, including cereals. They also raise livestock such as goats and camels. Because Chad is a landlocked country, they do not always have a long rainy season which means that drought is a serious problem. Gardens are the main livelihood and source of food. If the rains do not come, they may not have any crops that year. This is compounded by fights with neighboring people over the desperately needed land. There is much unrest, and one never knows when bandits or rebels will strike.
Islam is the main religion of the Tama with 95% claiming to be Muslim. The other 5% is made up of ethnic and animistic religions. Because of their extreme poverty and sense of hopelessness, alcohol is a real issue for many Tama. When will they hear the great news of the Gospel? Who will bring them hope? Will you go?
Fall 2020
A young Christian, whom we will call Bill, was beginning to learn about the work of missions. He was intrigued by the missionaries that visited his church, and it concerned him that many in the world have little or no chance of hearing the Gospel and that most of the preachers were staying in the United States. A missionary on his way to Honduras had shown slides and preached in Bill’s church. As he left that day, Bill said the nice things that people say to missionaries. The missionary replied, “Thank you. Maybe you will come to Honduras and help us.” Not knowing how to respond to this challenge, Bill repeated something he had once heard, “God has not called me to be a missionary.”
The young missionary, wise beyond his years, did not let Bill get away with this glib answer. He opened his Bible to Matthew 9:38 and said, “Read this. This is a command; will you do it?” The verse says that we are to pray for laborers. Bill told the missionary that he would, and he did. Bill has now been a laborer in the harvest for half a century.
Many, like Bill, believe the five-syllable sentence, God has not called me, because they have heard repeatedly that a missionary must receive a special, supernatural call. No one has told them that they can volunteer. If a person has not had an overwhelming emotional experience, he may assume God has not called him. He concludes that he is free to choose his own career, unlike the called one who must do exactly what God has called him to do. Everyone needs to hear Romans 12:1-2 and be reminded that he is to present his body a living sacrifice. Only then will he know God’s perfect will. Why would God show His will to a Christian who is not dedicated to do it? After surrendering, he must seriously ask God what he should do and where he should go. He should consider foreign missions for at least two reasons: First, it is a command to go and preach Christ to every creature. Second, common sense tells us that people with the least opportunity deserve top priority. The Apostle Paul strove to go where Christ had not been named. Oswald J. Smith asked, “Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice until everyone has heard it once?” Christians who say, “Lord, anywhere but the mission field,” are rebels and disqualified from knowing God’s will!
Most would not think or say it, but with so many Christians exempting themselves from missionary service by saying God has not called me, we may be inadvertently accusing the Lord of failing to call enough missionaries. God loves every man and sent His Son to die for all. He commands all men everywhere to repent. God wants no one to go to Hell. He has no alternative plan other than faith in Christ. He has commanded us to go everywhere telling the Good News. Has He not called enough people to do it? God wants churches established at home and abroad, but thousands of places have none. He wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He wants no one ignorant of His Word, yet more than half of the seven thousand one hundred languages in our world still have not one verse of Scripture. Jesus has commanded us to evangelize all people groups; there are over sixteen thousand! And we have done little or nothing in half of them. Is it possible that our all-powerful, all-wise God would do all this for man’s salvation but not call enough men to proclaim it? Someone is at fault, but it is not God!
There’s another group that claims God has not called me. It is their pretext and shield to deflect any challenge or question that might get near them. These words protect them from becoming a pastor, a youth director, an itinerant evangelist, and especially from the dreadful fate of a missionary. The one who has declared himself uncalled can go abroad if he wants to—if the job pays well—or he can stay home. He can work in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia or in an auto plant in Detroit, it is his call (pun intended). But he is not required to preach the Gospel in these places because, after all, he is not called. He can learn a few foreign phrases as a tourist but needs not labor eight hours a day learning a language. He can visit any place in the world, but he is not required to live anywhere he deems dirty or unpleasant. He can spend his entire life with his people and never experience the discomfort of living with those of a different culture. God has not called me guarantees him comfort socially, economically, and physically. He can make it sound so convincing that others believe he has struggled with the issue of fulltime service and concluded that it is not God’s will for him. The truth is that he has not given it a minute’s consideration. Also, the unspoken implication is: Drop it! Leave me alone. The matter is settled. I have no further word.
Saying these five magic words may free a man, at least in his own mind, from any obligation to be a spectacle in the world, to go where he might feel uncomfortable, or to do anything that he does not want to do. He may use these words to opt out of any full-time service for God. Oh, he can mow the church yard or pass out a gospel tract, but he is free from speaking from a pulpit and running the risk of embarrassment. He believes God has not called me automatically exempts him from any personal involvement in the Great Commission of Christ other than dropping a dollar in the offering plate or praying, “God bless our missionaries around the world. Amen.” He can ignore the command of God to give the Good News to the heathen; that only applies to the called. This rebellious brother needs to be reminded of a few biblical truths: First, “Ye are not your own; … ye are bought with a price.” Second, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” Or as someone put it, “Losers finders, keepers weepers.” And finally, his empty words, God has not called me, are not going to help him when he looks at the nailed-pierced hands of His Saviour. He may be in the majority now claiming this, but at the Judgment Seat of Christ, he will appear alone and speechless.
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I knew a little Spanish, so our Spanish Pastor asked me to translate his remarks to the English congregation
because he was uncomfortable addressing them with his broken English. I was dismissed from this translation
assignment after the first practice run. I would have thanked the English congregation for all of their help and chicken
(pollo) rather than for their help and support (apoyo). —MW
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When our language helper, Lilee, asked me what kind of meat I like to eat, I attempted to say “kai kap muu kap NGUA” (chicken and pork and beef). But instead, I came up with ‘kai kap muu kap NGU” (chicken and pork and SNAKE)! Lilee gave me a funny look and replied in English, “Really?!” –K.R, Laos
Our language tutor was teaching us to pray in the Indonesian language. We write out our prayer for his review and then read/pray them before class begins. My wife was thanking God for his mercy, but omitted an “h” sound in the middle of the word. She thanked God for his spider webs instead! —D.C.
After dismissing his congregation, a missionary in Germany went to the back door to greet people as they left. He greeted each member with a handshake and smile and told them, “Gutten nackt.” They realized that he meant to say “Gutten nacht” meaning good night, but grinned or snickered because he had actually said good naked. The preacher was greatly embarrassed when a member at the end of the line corrected him. —Christine
A basic conversation goes something like this: Sabaidii! Jao sabaidii baww? (Hello, how are you?)
Khoi sabaidii. Jao dee? (I’m fine. [How are] you?)
Khoi sabaidii. (I’m fine.)
It’s a good thing Jon was only practicing his language skills because instead of saying,
Jao dee (How are you?), he accidentally said, Jao dai! (You die.)!
—Chris, Laos
I knew a little Spanish, so our Spanish Pastor asked me to translate his remarks to the English congregation because he was uncomfortable addressing them with his broken English. I was dismissed from this translation assignment after the first practice run. I would have thanked the English congregation for all of their help and chicken (pollo) rather than for their help and support (apoyo). —MW
Bob and Liz PattonIt was September 1986 and the Pattons’ plans were drastically changed when Dr. Patton opted to move to the city rather than join forces with the liberal group in control of medical practice in the interior of the country. It had been just two weeks since the couple had moved to Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo, when civil war broke out in the interior. Had the couple stayed in the interior, they would have been cut off from their mission while in only the beginning stages of language learning. God had a definite plan for them in Paramaribo.
Upon graduating from the University of Rochester in 1971 as an Internal Medicine Specialist, Robert Patton had embarked for Liberia, Africa, where he served as professor and head of Internal Medicine at the University of Liberia until 1976. More importantly, it was there in Liberia that he accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour in 1974. Surely, he never imagined then where God would later lead him and what monumental tasks he would accomplish in just twenty-four years.
In 1986, the Pattons found themselves in Suriname learning the national languages of Dutch and Sranantongo. For the first five years he was in Suriname, Dr. Patton taught at University Hospital in the mornings and dedicated his afternoons and evenings to soul-winning, language learning, church planting, training national pastors, and establishing various ministries. During this time, Dr. Patton grew increasingly frustrated with the limited scriptures available in the Sranantongo language. He was using a Moravian translation of the New Testament from the 1800s, but its imprecision and antiquity made it a less than desirable version upon which to build a ministry. Furthermore, Dr. Patton longed for a translation of the Old Testament. In 1991, God showed him clearly that he should resign his teaching position and begin translating.
Dr. Patton approached this very serious project with fear and trembling. He worked carefully and steadily to translate a Bible faithful to the Received Text into Sranantongo. The translation team included himself and six natives. First, Dr. Patton studied the scriptures under consideration, consulting a conservative commentary when necessary for clear understanding; then he made a preliminary translation and passed it off for independent review by two nationals (separately). Two more cycles of revision by Dr. Patton and review by other nationals then followed. After a final revision, it was considered complete. The entire Bible was translated by 1997 and published by Bearing Precious Seed in 1998.
God blessed the Pattons’ diligent work. Not only is their Bible translation the most sold version of the Sranantongo Bible in Suriname, but it has also been shared through their radio programs. Dr. Patton has synthesized commentaries using his translation notes and their corresponding scriptures. These commentaries are helpful resources for national pastors and have also been broadcasted via radio.
You can read more about Dr. Patton on his website, teachingmissions.com.
Summer 2020
“A missionary who truly wants to see the gospel flourish and spread on the foreign field will work toward the end of seeing nationals won to the Lord and trained for the ministry to reach their own people.”
That is exactly what Sonny and Beverly Fritz did. Theirs was the work of many hands—national hands—and most importantly, God’s hand. God had used a very short mission trip to Mexico to set a fire so great in Sonny’s heart that he would give his entire life to God’s work among the Mexican people. His wife followed with an identical zeal. In 1965, after only a year and a half of deputation, they took their few belongings and their daughters to a new life in Monterrey. Working closely with the Ashcraft family, Sonny eagerly began witnessing as soon as he could; Beverly and the girls threw themselves into the lives of the women and children around them. They were careful not to Americanize the people they won to the Lord. They immersed themselves in the language, the culture, and the lives of people with such fervor that one man remarked, “To us they are truly Mexican!”
Within only a few months of being in Monterrey, Calvary Baptist Church (Iglesia Bautista Calvario) was established. Soon it was put under the leadership of José Silva, their language helper and a faithful servant of the Lord. When José left to start a church in another area, Sonny asked Roberto Arellano, a man saved in his village through the work of another missionary, to take José’s place. The church has grown immensely over the years. By 2004, fourteen pastors and three missionaries had been called out of Calvary. It was often noted that the Fritzes “never [imposed] their own plans and methods on the pastor or church, but rather [encouraged] and [gave] advice when asked.”
By 1984, the ministry had grown to the point that Sonny knew they needed a way to train more nationals to pastor the churches that were being planted. This would ensure the ministry’s continued life and growth. So, in their own home, they began New Life Baptist Seminary. This too, in time, was put under the oversight of a Mexican national, their son-in-law Ruben Murillo. By 2004, it had produced 111 graduates. Today, many of the men and women that the Lord has touched through the Fritzes’ ministry are taking the gospel to their own people.
Quotations from Hearts for Mexico, by Pam Leake
“A missionary who truly wants to see the gospel flourish and spread on the foreign field will work toward the end of seeing nationals won to the Lord and trained for the ministry to reach their own people.”
That is exactly what Sonny and Beverly Fritz did. Theirs was the work of many hands—national hands—and most importantly, God’s hand. God had used a very short mission trip to Mexico to set a fire so great in Sonny’s heart that he would give his entire life to God’s work among the Mexican people. His wife followed with an identical zeal. In 1965, after only a year and a half of deputation, they took their few belongings and their daughters to a new life in Monterrey. Working closely with the Ashcraft family, Sonny eagerly began witnessing as soon as he could; Beverly and the girls threw themselves into the lives of the women and children around them. They were careful not to Americanize the people they won to the Lord. They immersed themselves in the language, the culture, and the lives of people with such fervor that one man remarked, “To us they are truly Mexican!”
Within only a few months of being in Monterrey, Calvary Baptist Church (Iglesia Bautista Calvario) was established. Soon it was put under the leadership of José Silva, their language helper and a faithful servant of the Lord. When José left to start a church in another area, Sonny asked Roberto Arellano, a man saved in his village through the work of another missionary, to take José’s place. The church has grown immensely over the years. By 2004, fourteen pastors and three missionaries had been called out of Calvary. It was often noted that the Fritzes “never [imposed] their own plans and methods on the pastor or church, but rather [encouraged] and [gave] advice when asked.”
By 1984, the ministry had grown to the point that Sonny knew they needed a way to train more nationals to pastor the churches that were being planted. This would ensure the ministry’s continued life and growth. So, in their own home, they began New Life Baptist Seminary. This too, in time, was put under the oversight of a Mexican national, their son-in-law Ruben Murillo. By 2004, it had produced 111 graduates. Today, many of the men and women that the Lord has touched through the Fritzes’ ministry are taking the gospel to their own people.
Quotations from Hearts for Mexico, by Pam Leake
The son of a wealthy British planter, C.T. Studd accepted Christ at the age of 16. He lived the next several years in selfish pleasure and fame. An outstanding cricket player, he became captain of his team his last year at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882, Studd heard the preaching of Moody and began to be burdened for lost souls around him. However, it wasn’t until 1884, when his brother took seriously ill, that Studd was faced with the question, “What is all the fame and flattery worth … when a man comes to face eternity?” He made a decision and later wrote: “I knew that cricket would not last, and honour would not last, and nothing in this world would last, but it was worthwhile living for the world to come.”
In 1885, God led Studd to China as part of the famous “Cambridge Seven” of the China Inland Mission (CIM). This was not without opposition from his family, but he would obey God in his calling to the “thousands of souls perishing every day and night without even knowledge of the Lord Jesus.” While in China, he reached the age to receive his inheritance, today equal to over four million dollars. After much prayer, he gave away most of it to various ministries. Soon he met and married Priscilla Stewart, a dedicated missionary with CIM. When presented with the rest of Studd’s inheritance before their wedding, she urged that they give away even that. They had four daughters which Studd believed was God’s way to teach the Chinese the value of girls.
The couple served in China until 1894, when ill health took them back to England. Studd traveled to America to urge university students to live for the Lord. Years later, they went to India where Studd pastored a church. Finally, in 1910, against the admonishments of many, Studd left his family in Britain to pioneer work in the Belgian Congo, saying, “God has called me to go, and I will go… though my grave may only become a stepping stone that younger men may follow.” He died in Africa in 1931, saying, “My only joys therefore are that when God has given me a work to do, I have not refused it.”
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.”
~ C.T.Studd
Born in 1941 in Duncan, Oklahoma, Thomas Laymon Sloan, M.D., grew up during the post-depression years. His unbelieving father permitted Tom’s mother to take him to church regularly. He was saved at age seventeen when a pastor led him to the Lord. Tom was a quiet but radical young man, criticized by some as an eccentric fanatic. He graduated as a pediatrician and planned to enter the medical field, until God changed his plans.
Billie Jean Ashcraft was born during WWII. Her mother was a believer. Her father was a drunkard until, when she was six months old, he was saved. Eight years later, he became pastor of a church in Waxahachie, Texas, where Billie was saved at age eight. During her teen years, her family moved to Mexico as missionaries. The change was difficult, but in time she sensed God calling her to be a missionary in Mexico, and to that she gave her life.
Tom met Billie on a short-term missions trip in Mexico where their initial attraction began. Shortly after, Tom felt called to minister in Mexico and changed his plans accordingly. Tom and Billie married in 1969, and they arrived in Mexico in 1972. Their personalities were incredibly different: Tom was a quiet man and a poor speaker, while Billie was a fun-loving, almost reckless young woman.
Their story is one of strong commitment to God and to each other. The story of the five churches that were started, the nine men saved who became faithful pastors, the jail ministry, and the thirteen missions that came of their work in Mexico cannot be told apart from the story of their life together as the man who loved and served God with all his heart and the loyal woman who served by his side. Tom contracted Parkinson’s in 1981, and in the twenty-four year battle that followed, Billie remained his faithful lover and caregiver until Tom’s death in December 2005. During those years, they stayed on the field and stayed in love; suffering strengthened their love.
Tom and Billie had eight children who love the Lord, most of whom are missionaries around the world. The Sloans’ story reminds us that God uses ordinary people who answer the call to love God and one another with a pure heart fervently.
“..I can’t tell the story of Tom’s life without telling mine… He was who I was, and he made me who I am.” Billie Sloan
“Should I tell you I do seriously think of leaving my native dwelling, my friends and companions for ever; would you upbraid me?” Harriet Atwood asked her sister in a letter. “[God] now offers me an opportunity of visiting the Heathen.” She then poured out the great conflict of her heart—the choice between living a normal life at home among friends or accepting the proposal of Samuel Newell, an aspiring missionary. Samuel was bound for India with Adoniram Judson; and in the year 1811, a life of missions was practically exile.
As Harriet struggled, friends accused her of wanting nothing more than adventure and a great name for herself. “But God commands me!” she rejoined. “I would not oppose it. . . lest I should be found fighting against God, discouraging missions, and preventing the Gospel being spread among the Heathen.”She accepted Samuel’s proposal, and they departed with the Judsons for India in February 1812. In June they reached Calcutta, but as the East India Company was “violently opposed to missions” they were ordered to leave. While awaiting passage, Harriet described what was then known as Bengal. She wept to see the people worshiping dumb idols. “Miserable wretches!” she wrote. “O that American Christians would form an adequate idea of the darkness which covers this people! Do Christians feel the value of the Gospel?”
The Newells left on a ship bound for the Isle of France, whose governor favored missions. Harriet gave birth to a girl who lived only five days and was buried at sea. They arrived at the Isle of France, but Harriet had already contracted tuberculosis, and her health rapidly declined. “I have never regretted leaving my native land for the cause of Christ,” she told Samuel. And on the evening of November 30th, Harriet passed away, just nineteen years old.
Her many writings were later sent to America where they were published. Harriet was the first American to give her life in missions, and her memoirs were so full of truth and passion for God that many people were brought to Christ; and many went to the foreign field, having read Harriet’s dire entreaty:
“As we value the salvation which a Savior offers; as we value his tears, his labors, and his death, let us now seriously ask what we shall do for the salvation of the benighted heathen. If we are not permitted to visit them [ourselves]…yet we can ardently pray for them. And not only pray for them, but by our vigorous exertions we can awaken a missionary spirit in others.”
Quotations from Memoirs of Mrs. Harriet Newell
Jacob Bower was born to Christian parents who practiced regular morning and evening worship. His mother died when he was only six. The desire to see her in Heaven and the belief that only good people go there caused Jacob to live a virtuous life. But at age nineteen, he was influenced by Universalism which taught that God would save everyone. He later wrote, “I came to the conclusion that, if all the world are to be saved, I certainly would be included, therefore I was sure of salvation.” This false doctrine caused him to throw off his conviction of sin and spend five years in drunkenness and immorality.
God used Jacob’s father and the witness of a Baptist preacher to again bring conviction. It was “as if a book had been opened,” and Jacob now saw a “God who is so holy that he cannot allow sin, however small it may appear, in the sight of men.” The “crumbly foundation of Universalism gave way” and Jacob passed many anxious days in despair. His terror was heightened by what became known as the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811. There were three major shocks and over two thousand vibrations over a period of almost two years. The Mississippi River flowed backward. Widespread devastation caused people everywhere to seek God.
As Jacob thought upon Christ’s suffering and death on the cross for sinners, he suddenly realized that “If it was done for sinners, it was done for me.” As he believed this truth, peace entered his tortured heart. Jacob sought the company of other Christians and in March 1812, was baptized at Hazel Creek Baptist Church in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. He felt an urgency to warn others of the danger he had lately escaped and soon realized the Lord was calling him to preach the gospel.
Jacob suffered many hardships as he preached throughout Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. He was ill, yet he pressed on. He was impoverished, and though those who “pretended to love him so well” would not help him, he continued to preach. He was dismissed by the churches that did not believe in his missionary endeavors, but he persisted in preaching the gospel where ever he found listeners.
Jacob Bower started fourteen Baptist churches. To cite just one year of his itinerate ministry (1834), he rode over three thousand miles, preached over two hundred sermons, baptized fourteen, ordained two ministers, and constituted two churches. This pioneering home missionary is little remembered today, but his faithfulness helped make America great and will be rewarded by God.
Quotations from The Autobiography of Jacob Bower
In 1887, Amy Carmichael heard the founder of China Inland Mission (Hudson Taylor) speak, and her life was never the same. Born in 1867, the oldest of seven, she grew up in privilege. Her father, a mill owner, provided a comfortable living, and she spent much of her childhood gleefully riding her pony along the shores of Northern Ireland. Her family attended the Presbyterian church where she received Bible training, but it was an encounter with a poor elderly woman that caused Amy to consider her Christian walk. As she stopped after church to help the woman with a heavy bundle, the Holy Spirit reminded her, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest…it shall be revealed by fire…” (1 Corinthians 3:13). Gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay, and stubble—was she building that which would last for all eternity? This question haunted her. She spent the rest of the day alone with God, and when she emerged, her life had a new purpose.
In 1885, her father died, and their financial situation changed drastically. Her family lost their mill, and she had to work to help support her younger siblings. At her place of employment, she began ministering to “shawlies,” girls who wore shawls on their heads as they were too poor to afford the hats worn by women of the day. She was ridiculed by her friends and her church for stooping to these “common people.” But this is one of the characteristics that marked Amy Carmichael; people were classless in her eyes. She only saw their needs, both the physical needs and the needs of their hearts. She set up temporary buildings where she held fellowship meetings, aiding poor factory workers and teaching them the Word of God. God was laying the groundwork for the future He had for her.
In 1892, Amy heard God’s call to carry her burden across the sea. She initially applied to minister with China Inland Mission, but she was rejected due to her frailty. Wealthy, powerful friends sponsored her, and after short-term trips to China and Japan, at the age of twenty-eight, she found herself in India. Health problems resulted in severe migraines causing temporary blindness and weeks in bed. “Am I too frail for this work?” she asked herself. But certain of God’s call on her life, she persevered and eventually established one of the most well-known Christian missionary works, the Dohnavur Fellowship.
Upon arrival in India, Amy initially participated in a women’s traveling evangelistic team, but as she became more familiar with India and its Hindu culture, she came to an alarming realization. Very young girls were given or sold to the Hindu temples and made to serve and entertain male Hindu worshipers. These temple prostitutes were mistreated and often thrown into the street once pregnant. Amy took them in, clothed and fed them, and introduced them to the Bread of Life. Influenced by her spiritual mentor, Hudson Taylor, one special distinctive of her ministry was that she wore Indian clothes and required the same of all who served with her. They ate Indian food and used Indian furnishings. It was important to her, just as it had been to Hudson Taylor, to live as the people and not impose her European culture on them. Her missionary service to the people of India lasted over fifty-five years with no furlough ever taken. 
A spirit of service and a love for those who others considered “unlovable” always dominated Amy’s ministry. In 1931, she suffered a severe fall that crippled her and kept her bedridden for twenty years. During that time, she wrote and published over thirty-five books. She remained bedridden until her death at the age of eighty-three. When friends buried her in her beloved India, they honored her request that no marker be put on her grave. In her writings, she penned the poignant truth that above all, mission work offers one thing and one thing only—a chance to die.
“Dr. Becker, I recognize that fellow! He has a bad reputation. You shouldn’t trust him out of your sight!”
“Maybe so,” Dr. Becker replied, “but he’s one of our most trusted staff members now.” Then turning to the African in question he asked, “Why has your life changed since coming here?”
The man explained, “Many missionaries have preached Jesus Christ to me, and many missionaries have taught Jesus Christ to me, but in the munganga (healer) I have seen Jesus Christ.” Dr. Becker, the munganga, was known for caring for the poor and unloved as Jesus himself did.
Before he went to the Congo, Dr. Becker taught a boys’ Sunday school class where he influenced John B. Kuhn who later became a missionary to China. In 1929, Dr. Becker left his home and doctor’s salary to be a missionary in the Congo, 12,000 miles away. He became well known for his widespread medical work, his leprosy research, and his medical discoveries.
Dr. Becker understood that sharing the gospel required more than the right choice of Swahili words. The gospel needed to make sense in an African context. In the story of Lazarus, he depicted the rich man smoking his long pipe and sitting with his legs crossed in a chair in front of his hut. The Africans understood that only a very rich man would own a chair, and having his legs crossed indicated boorishness. When Dr. Becker taught Bible stories, he drew stick figures as visual aids. The Africans who could not read were thrilled and begged for copies so they could remember the stories. Dr. Becker saw them later using the stick figure pictures to accurately share the same stories.
Dr. Becker and his valued African staff often treated as many as 2,000 patients a day. But though very busy, Dr. Becker always took time to share the gospel. Once, a patient said, “This morning the evangelist talked so fast and my head went so slow. Do you have time to tell me more about Jesus?” Dr. Becker could hear the footsteps of a nurse in the hallway who doubtless had a question for him, and probably many other hospital staff needed him. There were other patients to see, an inspection of the leprosy camp to do, and letters to write; but he answered, “Yes, I have plenty of time to talk to you.”
The Bible tells us that we are to be Christ-like. Do we show Christ’s love as well as speak about it? Dr. Becker simply used his life to witness. It was evident to the people that Dr. Becker lived what he taught. He truly gave of himself to them. Are our hearts equally burdened for souls so that it is constantly on our minds to share the gospel?
“Finding his contact with civilization was hindering him in his strenuous efforts to master the Mongolian language, he resolved…to persuade some Mongolian to receive him as an inmate of his tent…Gilmour feared nothing, but strode cheerfully over the plain making for the first tent he saw on the horizon.”1
For twenty-one years James Gilmour worked among the Mongols of Northern China. After centuries of Buddhism, they were very contented with their way of life and saw no reason to turn from it. It was therefore ten years before Gilmour saw his first convert. This man was saved at a roadside inn, then after a twenty mile walk, prayed with Gilmour and left him at the crossroads.
Over an eight month period, Gilmour recorded preaching to around 24,000 people, treating 6,000 for illnesses, selling 3,000 Christian books and distributing 4,500 tracts. The literature distribution among this nomadic people covered over 180,000 square miles and was a task too large for any one man. During that eight month period, two people openly professed Christ.
What could drive a man to continue under such unspeakable odds? What could compel him to continue when his followers were turned away by the bad testimonies of other missionaries? What kept him going when his beloved wife lay in the grave and his dear boys were in England? God gave him passion, He gave him purpose, and He gave him the strength to carry on. God also gave tears to stoic Buddhist lamas when they heard of the death of “our Gilmour.”
Gilmour was able to start three small churches among the Mongols of China and was known among them all for his faithfulness in spreading the gospel. Near the end of his life he said, “Lately I am becoming more and more impressed with the idea that what is wanted in China is not new lightning methods so much as good, honest, quiet, earnest, persistent work in old lines and ways.” This was spoken by the man whom everyone admired for his courage and adventurous life. He was a servant of Christ, that’s all.
1Lambert, John C., Missionary Heroism (San Antonio, TX:Vision Forum, Inc.,2005-06)8
“I shall never go into the ministry until God takes me by the scruff of the neck and throws me in.” Most Christians would be surprised to know that these words were spoken by Oswald Chambers, author of the devotional book “My Utmost for His Highest.”
When he wrote these words, Oswald Chambers was in art school, preparing to turn the world of art upside down by being a witness for Christ to an exclusive group of people. He was a gifted artist and probably would have done well, but God closed door after door in his face and called him in another direction.
Chambers wrote to a friend, “the repeated and pointed shutting of doors that seemed just opening . . . leads me to consider most earnestly before God what is His will.” Shortly after this he wrote, “my whole being is ablaze and passionately on fire to preach Christ. All my art aims are swallowed up in this now. . . . in the midst of a keen consciousness of complete unworthiness, my soul cries out within me—Here am I, send me.”
Once Chambers surrendered to the call of God, God began to use him mightily. After ministering as a traveling preacher and as the principal of a Bible training college, Chambers entered his last and greatest field of service—reaching British and Australian soldiers from a Y.M.C.A. tent in Cairo during W.W.I. Although seasoned workers predicted that the soldiers would never attend religious meetings, the tent was packed with hundreds of men every week. Many of the entries in his devotional book come from the talks given in that meeting tent. The Chambers also kept a continually opened house where they were able to reach thousands of soldiers. Chambers died at just forty-three, but hundreds of thousands have been inspired to earnestly seek God because of his little book, “My Utmost for His Highest”.
When God clearly directs, the choice is simple: to obey, or disobey. Are we seeking God’s will, or stubbornly searching for an open door in an area where they all close in our faces?
Quotations from Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God by David McCaseland
John Chamberlain had no idea what the future would hold when he embarked on his journey to India. With his ministerial education, his new wife, and his zeal to reach lost souls, he was ready to begin his missionary journey. His path seemed clear and straightforward. He would go to Calcutta and learn the Bengali language. He would work with William Carey and evangelize the lost Hindu and Bengal people. He would serve God with his family. Life does not always follow our plan, however, and this Baptist missionary soon found his faith and commitment tested.
Chamberlain and his wife set sail for Calcutta in August, 1802, and not long after his wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Chamberlain was overjoyed at the prospect of becoming a father but soon was recorded as saying, “But alas! I saw not the cloud behind.” For, after seven short days, their daughter grew sick and died, and they were forced to commit her body to the sea.
I would like to say this is the hardest thing he endured, but it was just the beginning. He struggled with his health off and on, as did his wife. He saw many horrible things in Calcutta and the village of Cutwa. He saw women held down by large, bamboo poles and burned alive and the elderly left outside to die. His wife became violently ill and quickly passed away. He later remarried, but after only eight months his new wife went into labor and died during childbirth. He took her body back to Calcutta and upon arrival found that the son he had left in the care of friends there had passed away. Trial after trial, blow after blow, he was tested and tried. Yet he remained faithful.
Shortly after finding out about the death of his third child he quoted Job, saying, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” Chamberlain never lost his passion for reaching the lost. He went from village to village evangelizing and talking to whoever would listen. Though he struggled greatly with his own health and eventually succumbed to tuberculosis at only forty-four years of age, he ministered tirelessly and tenaciously. He had an aptitude for languages and applied himself to translating the Bible into both Hinduwee and Brij. During the days when he was too sick to preach in the villages, he would sit at home and translate for hours.
He did not let discouragement or the fatigue that comes with sickness keep him from pursuing the calling of God. He chose to remain faithful, to remain passionate and to remain surrendered to God’s will for His life. He chose to trust. Many times we, too, get discouraged from the grind of life. Trial and heartbreak that come our way seem like obstacles insurmountable. We must remember Psalms 18:2: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; . . .” Jesus has already promised His strength. All that is left for us to do is trust and lean on Him.
