Singapore Trip Update

becky    General    

We talk to our director in Singapore once a month just to check in with how things are there and to update him on our status.  Last night we talked a lot about our upcoming trip to Singapore (we leave in two weeks and three days-yikes!).  We’re planning to stay with his family the first half of our trip and another family the second half of our trip.  As with many big cities, each part of the city has a different feel, so by staying in two different places we’ll get to experience different parts of the city. One of the big things he told us what about Toffer’s trip into the field.  All along it had sounded like a couple guys on our team would just be taking Toffer to Indonesia or Thailand to meet with partners there.  Then it sounded more like Indonesia because a couple stations needed to be put in there.  We thought he’d be going to a country close by for just a few days. Now the plan it to take him to Nepal because the guys need to do some follow-up with the stations that were put in in May (see the article to the right for details about those stations–it’s an amazing story about how God is working in the region).  Nepal is about 2,000 miles from Singapore (as opposed to Indnesia where some places are close enough that it’s an hour ferry ride to get there from Singapore) and the trip will be at least five days out of the 12 we’re planning to be there. WOW!  God knows what He’s doing and we’re glad we’re a little more aware of what His plans are.  We are learning a lot about faith and just trusting God through everything. And also about how adaptable and flexible we need to be in order to follow God in what He’s doing.  We will certainly not be living a boring life, that is for sure. 

Hopes and Dreams

becky    Uncategorized    

I began telling my parents I wanted to be a missionary when I was ten.  About the same time I also decided I wanted to be a teacher.  Throughout the rest of elementary school all the way through part of high school I wanted to be something different pretty much every week: a vet, a marine biologist, a nurse, etc. Some of the ideas cycled around more than once. Some of them were shorted lived. However, always on the back burner was teaching.  It still came around occasionally even when I was thinking about all the other jobs I could have.  As I began looking at colleges, I also began to think about what I really wanted to do with my life.  I really began feeling like teaching was what I was supposed to do and not just teaching, but teaching middle schoolers.

Middle school was a less-than-pleasant experience for me, as it is for most people. I haven’t met many people who have said “Oh, I loved middle school. Those were the best years of my life.” Instead, most people would rather forget their middle school experiences. I decided I wanted to be a teacher for those students at a difficult time in their lives with the hope that maybe I could make the experience just a tiny bit less miserable.  Well, here I am over ten years later with an unused, expired teaching license wondering why in the world I got a degree in teaching.  It wasn’t like I didn’t try to get a teaching job. Toffer will attest to the fact that I spent a lot of time trying to get a job and it just didn’t happen.  I look back over the almost six years since I graduated and see that God had other plans for me.

On the flip side, I also wanted to be a missionary.  God started bringing that to fruition even in middle school (God gave me the great pleasure of leading a little boy to Him on a mission trip before I started high school–still one of the coolest experiences of my life).  And now God is sending us to the other side of the world and as my dream to become a missionary becomes more of a reality, my dreams of being a classroom teacher are passing by.  We brought home a bunch of materials when we came back from training and development in June  and we needed a place to keep them all.  I knew just the tub that would be perfect, but it was full of all the stuff I had saved from college, particularly stuff that I had planned to use when I was teaching.  I had mixed emotions as I pulled things out of that tub to get rid of them.  I’m excited about being a missionary, but was sad about the fact that I spent so much time and energy getting a degree and a teaching license I have yet to use.  We rearranged some things in our house to make our desktop computer, printer, and scanner more accessible (Samuel shares his room with the office and it was getting too hard to work on things after he went to sleep, so our living room now has some office stuff in it, too).  Again, things that reminded me of a dream currently unfulfilled and how I have to let go of that dream in order to fulfill another one.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “You’re young! You still have lots of years left.  You could still be a teacher!” And you’re probably right. God might very well have plans for me to be a classroom teacher at some point. I am planning to home school Samuel and any other children God blesses our family with, so my degree wlil not go to waste.  But for now, I had to completely let go of that dream in order to see this one come to pass. God always works all things together for the good of those who love Him, for those called according to HIS purpose (Romans 8:28, emphasis mine).  I know we are called to His purpose.  And I know that sometimes we have to give up on things we’ve worked hard for, things we really want, things we put sweat and tears into in order to have something better God plans for us. I would never give up this opportunity to go to Asia for the coolest job ever (taking the Gospel to those who have no access to it) to be a classroom teacher. And I guess that’s all that matters in the end.

Singapore Trip

becky    Uncategorized    

I was just updating our support totals and realized that some of our recent big news is not on our website.  We get a financial report every couple weeks updating us on our support.  At the end of last month things were looking good, so we decided to look at plane tickets.  Lo and behold, we found plane tickets that fit our budget. In fact, they were a little less expensive.  Once we found tickets and picked dates, Toffer had to get the trip approved by his boss.  After a couple tense days of waiting for approval (one of our flights had only about a dozen seats left when we started looking at the tickets and every once in awhile another seat was gone), Toffer called and enthusiastically said to buy the tickets. God’s timing is always right.  We had originally hoped to be in Singapore at about this time, but some of the people on our team would not have been back to Singapore yet.  And tickets to go in August were much more expensive.  We got three tickets for what we expected to pay for two of them.  On top of all of that, plans are in the works for a couple of the guys to take Toffer out into the field and because of the timing of the trip, it’s possible he’ll actually get to help put in a radio station while we’re there.  Our trip is scheduled for the last couple weeks of September and we are very much looking forward to seeing Singapore, meeting the HCJB Global team there, and getting an idea of what our new life will be like.  Samuel is going with us on our adventure, which adds an interesting element to the whole trip. We do covet your prayers as we head to the other side of the world.

Reaching the Unreached

becky    Uncategorized    

Every day I receive an e-mail with a devotional from Voice of the Martyrs.  A few days ago I received one about Jesus feeding the five thousand and how He made sure that everyone received something to eat before going back to the first people He fed.  The story was applied to the way missions is done. Very often, people are sent to those who have already been fed instead of going beyond to those who have not been fed yet.  Over half of the world’s population is considered unreached, which means there is not a growing local church and the people in that area do not have access to the gospel in their own language.  Of those who are unreached, 88% of them reside in the 10/40 window, which is between 10* and 40* North latitude and extends from West Africa into the Pacific Ocean just beyond East Asia.  Now, to give some perspective with some facts.  Out of every 100 missionaries working in foreign missions, only about 4 of them are working to reach that half of the world’s population who are unreached. That means that 96% of missionaries are going to areas already considered evangelized.  Of money given to missions in the United States, only about $5.40 out of every $100 goes towards foreign missions and of that $5.40 only about $0.02 goes to reaching those who are not yet reached.  Yes, that’s right, only two cents of every $100 given to missions in the United States  goes towards reaching people who do not have access to the gospel. I came upon these numbers when I was looking up information about the 10/40 window and I was shocked!  And not only is the area of the 10/40 window spiritually desperate, but the people who live within it are some of the poorest, most desolate people of the world. 

So what does this have to do with us?  Many of the countries within the Asia-Pacific region are within the 10/40 window and several that aren’t within the window fall into the other 12% of the world’s population who are unreached.  Indonesia is one of the least reached countries in the world and areas of it are extremely anti-Christian.  At this time, HCJB Global has put in 32 stations for our partners there and so far, that they know of, 5 people are coming to Christ DAILY at EVERY station.  That’s 160 people every single day.  The partners there would like 100 stations total and part of the hindrance is people to put those stations in.  Our partners in Thailand have funded, licensed stations, they just need people to put them in.  We are going to Singapore at the end of September and Toffer is likely going to Indonesia to help put a station in while we’re there. I keep thinking about the people who cannot hear about the Gospel, who do not even have an idea that they do not know God.  And I think about how these radio stations are used to reach those people, to tell them of the great and glorious love of a great and glorious God. We were talking a couple weeks ago about how God is calling us to the greatest job ever–getting to use the skills, talents, and gifts He’s given us to tell people who know nothing about Him all about Him.  It just doesn’t get much better than that.