Recycling

God is a great recycler! He takes our experiences and skills that we learn along the way as we go through life and often puts us in a position to reuse those skills and life experiences for good for ourselves or for the benefit of others.

Twenty years ago, I never would have imagined myself authoring a book on missions. But as I look back, I realize that so much of what we did overseas and where we went was just following the lead of Holy Spirit. It amazes me how God uses our life experiences to weave together all kinds of opportunities and adventures. We step out in one direction as we feel Holy Spirit leading, and He opens multiple paths off that one.

When we went to the Philippines, we had Vietnam in our hearts because of the dream God gave Bob when he was there in the service during the Vietnam War. But Vietnam was still closed in the mid 1980’s so we were invited to the Philippines, and we knew we could learn a lot about Asian culture and mission work there. And we did! Then when Vietnam began to open to foreigners, we started making trips in and looking for connections. On our second trip, we met an Australian couple that had started a relief organization and were working through the Ministry of Health. They were looking for a couple to move into a rural Nursing School and oversee some equipment they were shipping in, as well as teaching at the school. Bob was an Emergency Medical Technician, so he was perfect. I became an English teacher. Teaching English as a Second language to students and the teachers. After a couple of years, we relocated to Hanoi to study Vietnamese and eventually were instrumental in starting an International Church there. By this time there were lots of people coming into Vietnam from many different countries for teaching and relief work.

So many doors opened to us through that international group! We began working with the Deaf, helped with cleft pallet surgeries, and were asked to conduct training seminars in many Asian countries. World Vision invited us to conduct a spiritual renewal for their staff in Mongolia. World Concern asked us to do training in Sign language for their staff. In Thailand, where we build a Home for children with Aids. We met a Bishop from Bangladesh who asked us to come there and build a small Medical Clinic at a secondary school for children of extremely poor people living in the north. This started an ongoing relationship whereby we built multiple rural elementary schools in areas where there were no schools. We were blessed to travel all over Asia doing various projects in relief work, Biblical training, and printing children’s books. The Philippines was a wonderful stepping stone into Asia.

I learned a lot and experienced so much. I always think I learned more than I ever taught! So, when I was asked to write a practical mission course, I began thinking of all the experiences I have had and what I have learned along the way. I do not consider myself an author really, but I am a learner, and Holy Spirit has taught me much along the way so that is what I am sharing in the book I wrote. If you are interested in foreign missions in any capacity, I think you will find the book interesting and informative. Psalm 16 says, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”  I have found this to be so true!

Here is a link: https://a.co/d/dKxvEdt to the book on Amazon if you are interested.