Participants: Travis Sharon
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000015A
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00:21 Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now.
00:23 I'm Natalie Wood and I'm here with my husband John. 00:26 Hi, darling. Hello, love. 00:28 You know, Jesus for Asia is a non-profit ministry 00:31 based in Collegedale, Tennessee 00:33 we're a project oriented with over 40 projects 00:35 ranging from sponsoring National Bible workers 00:38 to missionaries going from America to other countries, 00:40 mass media and books, radios, and TV, 00:43 children's ministries like orphanages and evening schools, 00:46 and even a widow sewing school. 00:48 There's something for everyone 00:50 to get involved with in God's work, 00:52 however the Spirit leads them. 00:53 Today, we want to introduce you to one of our missionaries. 00:57 You know, Jesus for Asia wasn't originally 00:59 a sending organization. 01:00 That's right. 01:01 We would try to enable the local missionary 01:04 to do the work in their own country, 01:05 but some of our friends saw what we were doing 01:07 and saw what the need was 01:09 and they wanted to get involved. 01:10 And so they went and did a short-term mission trip, 01:13 and as you know, they just never came back. 01:17 Right. 01:18 And the story that we have for today, 01:19 the young man that we're going to talk about. 01:21 Yes. 01:22 Is actually the youngest of four brothers, 01:23 and his oldest brother went on a mission trip with us in 2007. 01:28 And he never came back. 01:30 Well. Yeah. 01:33 Well, it was a two-month trip 01:34 and he didn't come back from that trip. 01:36 Yeah. 01:37 And you had to call and talk to his mom. 01:38 Yeah, he had to have permission but he decided to stay 01:41 because he saw the need. 01:43 And then after a couple of years, 01:44 he went home and he got his next two younger brothers 01:46 and brought them to Asia. 01:48 One of them works in Thailand and the other one in Cambodia. 01:51 And then it was just the parents 01:53 and the youngest one Travis left in America. 01:56 And then the parents and Travis decided to go 01:58 for a three-month trip. 02:00 And we'll see that story 02:01 but I think they brought the youngest 02:02 kind of a little bit reluctantly. 02:04 Right. 02:06 But now he's working with his own project in his own village 02:09 and doing an amazing work. 02:10 Okay, let's start out with Travis's story. 02:16 Last year when I was in Thailand, 02:18 I had the privilege of going with Travis Sharon 02:20 to visit his school deep in the mountains. 02:24 Sometimes it's hard being a missionary 02:26 but it's well worth it. 02:28 I wanted to discover 02:29 why this young man was working alone at this remote village. 02:33 So I asked him to tell me the story of how he became 02:36 a frontline missionary. 02:38 I started hang gliding at nine years old. 02:42 Just the year prior to us coming over, 02:45 I had decided that 02:47 I wanted to put model airplane engines on the hand glider 02:52 so that we didn't have to glide off 02:54 the mountains any more, 02:55 we could take off out of the valleys. 02:57 And I had built it, but I hadn't flown it. 03:00 So I didn't want to go to Asia 03:04 even though my parents were going 03:06 and all my brothers were over there. 03:08 My dream was to fly. 03:10 So when they said that they were going, 03:14 I didn't want to go. 03:16 I tried to find excuses why I didn't need to go 03:21 and why I actually should stay. 03:24 I never could find any excuses why I should stay. 03:28 And 2009 is when we actually flew over for three months 03:32 to visit my brothers, the schools, 03:35 see the different projects, 03:36 and then we were going back home. 03:38 The going back home was my favorite part 03:40 about the whole trip, at least that's what I thought. 03:44 Having just explained 03:46 why he didn't want to go to Thailand, 03:47 I asked him what motivated him 03:49 to make the decision to stay long-term. 03:52 In America, I wasn't helping anyone. 03:54 There was nothing for anybody else. 03:56 I was living for me. 03:57 The hang glider, it was just for enjoyment, 04:01 it was just a toy, no useful part about it. 04:04 So I wanted to do something to help others. 04:08 Have you ever regretted that decision? 04:11 No, never. 04:13 Having known Travis for several years 04:16 and hearing about his work, 04:17 it was an incredible experience to see this young man 04:20 and the life he lives, 04:21 willing to endure hardships to work for God, 04:25 driving a motor bike to get supplies in, 04:27 expect in rainy season 04:28 when the road is too muddy to drive. 04:30 Then it's only a 12-mile hike to get in. 04:36 He's pretty far out there in the jungle. 04:38 He is really remote. 04:39 I haven't visited him yet 'cause it's so far out there. 04:42 I'm not sure if I'm in good enough shape. 04:45 Right. 04:46 Well, he's building a school. 04:47 And the first thing he needs is a dormitory. 04:49 So here's a picture of the dormitory. 04:52 Yeah. 04:53 Now this building in his remote area 04:56 isn't the same as like us building something here. 04:58 Here, we raise the money, we pay a contractor, 05:02 and he goes and he buys the supplies 05:04 and he puts the building together, 05:06 and then we show up with the key. 05:09 For him to build a dormitory, it took a lot more work. 05:12 And everything there is done manually, and so... 05:15 Right. 05:16 And most of it by him with one helper. 05:17 Right. 05:18 Now this next video is gonna be showing 05:20 what it takes to make a connection 05:22 with the outside world. 05:23 Okay, cell phone, internet? 05:25 Yep. Okay, here we go. 05:28 The nearest connection to the outside world is a hike 05:30 through a mount not too far away from the school. 05:34 Headed to the cell phone tower. 05:38 Should be about 20 minutes. 05:44 Here we are on a mountain about 20 minutes from the school 05:48 where we have phone service. 05:49 And so we can call in and out, 05:55 get internet sometimes 05:57 if you put the phone in the right spot. 06:01 After seeing a glimpse into the hardships of life 06:04 in the jungle, 06:05 I wondered what some of the joys were for Travis. 06:08 When you see people accepting and changing. 06:12 The man that's been helping me a lot around the school, 06:15 he told me that he has finally given up coffee. 06:19 He was the worst coffee drinker I've ever seen up here. 06:23 I never told him not to drink coffee, 06:26 but I did show in the Bible 06:29 what it says about taking care of our bodies. 06:34 And that was his own decision. 06:37 It's nice to see that there's joys also 06:39 in the midst of hardship. 06:42 And that's the purpose, you know, 06:44 nobody wants to go out 06:45 and have hardship for the sake of hardship. 06:47 But everyone that I know that's out there 06:49 enduring hardship has a goal, 06:51 and they have a vision, 06:52 and they're looking forward to that time 06:54 when people start accepting Jesus. 06:57 And then after that, when we all go to heaven 07:00 and we see our reward, 07:02 we get to realize the treasures 07:06 that we've built up here on earth in heaven. 07:08 And as we convert our treasure from this world, 07:11 and it's not just financial treasure, 07:14 converting it into souls, which is heavenly treasure, 07:17 but it's also our time, our talents, our imaginations, 07:19 our effort, everything that we have, 07:22 all the resources that God has given us 07:23 in all these different areas, 07:25 investing those into converting 07:27 or developing treasure for heaven. 07:29 And that's the goal, 07:31 that's the reason why this motivates these missionaries. 07:34 Right. 07:35 Now Travis has a few words of wisdom 07:37 for our church here in North America 07:39 about revival and the need for revival. 07:41 Okay. 07:42 With nearly a third of the world population 07:46 completely unreached by the Gospel, 07:48 I wanted to ask Travis what he thought was the reason 07:50 that there are so few missionaries 07:52 reaching the unreached. 07:55 I think we have lost our focus. 07:58 The drive to share what we know is lost. 08:03 We as Christians, we don't even know 08:05 what we're supposed to be doing. 08:07 We read the Bible. 08:08 We see what it says 08:10 and we think that applies to the other guy 08:12 and not everybody needs to go 08:15 because we need to stay in the States 08:18 or wherever it's comfortable. 08:20 Few people feel called to go. 08:22 We don't feel the necessity to share anymore. 08:26 We've lost our mission to reach the world 08:30 and each generation, we're going backwards, 08:33 so there's something wrong. 08:36 I think there needs to be a revival in our church. 08:39 God has called every one of us to share what we know. 08:44 Revival starts with me. Yeah. 08:46 Just one person. 08:47 Yeah, but it's not just a revival in spirituality 08:50 that's necessary 08:51 but revival for missions 08:54 because I believe that the Holy Spirit is given to us 08:57 for the purpose of missions. 08:59 He's not given to us just to make us feel good 09:02 or to have a better worship service. 09:03 I think he's given to us to motivate us to go... 09:06 When the disciples were in the upper room 09:08 after the day of Pentecost, 09:10 they were praying for the Holy Spirit 09:11 for the sake of taking the Gospel to the whole world 09:14 and they were overwhelmed. 09:16 They said we can't do this, we're not good enough. 09:18 We're not able enough, we're too selfish, 09:20 we, you know, 09:21 we don't have the power to say the words or to go. 09:25 We don't have the courage. 09:26 And so the Holy Spirit was poured out 09:28 and that's the reason you saw that. 09:30 And if we pray for the Holy Spirit for revival 09:34 with that same goal, 09:35 with that same purpose, saying, 09:37 Lord, there's, like he said, 09:39 over a third of the world still has no access 09:42 to the Gospel in their language or in their culture. 09:45 We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit 09:47 to give us... 09:48 The ability to do that. 09:50 The ability or even to value 09:53 the task or the value the... 09:57 What do you call it? 09:58 The light that we have so that we're willing to go. 10:00 To value the call to go, 10:02 to value what we've been given enough 10:05 and to value others' souls 10:07 so that we value giving that light to them. 10:10 Right. Yeah. 10:11 And so as the farther 10:14 the Holy Spirit is pulled away from us, 10:16 the more self-absorbed we become, 10:18 more focused on our comfort, 10:20 the more focused on our lives we become. 10:23 Travis talks about that in this next clip. 10:25 He talks about why no one goes. 10:26 Okay. 10:28 What is the number one reason 10:30 there aren't more missionaries in the field? 10:33 Because they didn't go. 10:43 I'd have to think about that one a little bit. 10:45 I think one of the biggest reasons 10:49 why the missionaries do not go 10:51 and share the Gospel is because they are afraid, 10:55 afraid to leave what they know, afraid of the hardships. 11:00 But God has already promised to be with us 11:02 and to take care of those problems, 11:03 to take care of us, 11:05 but we still want to worry about what we wear, 11:07 what we eat, where we're gonna sleep 11:11 when God has promised that to us already. 11:14 I believe when the hard times are here, 11:18 we will have to do what we should have done now 11:21 when it is relatively easy to do. 11:26 Sometimes everywhere God leads you seems barred 11:30 with obstacles too great to encounter, 11:36 but we forget that God, He says, 11:40 "All things are possible." 11:42 And it is for us to obey His command 11:47 and to do what He has told us to do, 11:49 to open the way so that others can see Him. 12:01 It's not always easy 12:04 but it's what we are told to do. 12:07 If we were to be one of those lost souls 12:11 that have never heard the Gospel, 12:13 if we were in their place 12:16 and there were people who knew 12:20 but did not go, in the judgment, 12:24 how would we feel? 12:26 So that's a pretty serious 12:28 thought process for a young person. 12:31 You don't hear that very often. 12:32 No, no. 12:33 And the questions, you know, 12:35 why do we let the obstacles get in the way, 12:37 why is not the value of their eternal life 12:40 more to us than it is. 12:43 Yeah. 12:45 There's a lot of reward in seeing souls saved. 12:48 Yes. 12:49 This is how I believe Christ lived his life 12:51 with a continual view looking to the eternal life, 12:55 not getting caught up with what's happening in this life, 12:58 or not trying to make this life better for Himself, 13:02 but His whole focus was on the next life 13:04 and the eternal life. 13:05 And I think that's where Paul was also, 13:08 Paul the apostle, he says, 13:09 you know, if it wasn't for the resurrection, my life, 13:13 I would be the most miserable, 13:14 because he had a miserable life, 13:17 you know, shipwrecked, killed several times, 13:19 beaten up, you know, all this terrible life. 13:22 But he was looking forward to that time 13:24 when he would meet Jesus face to face 13:26 and he would enter into a life 13:28 that would make everything, all of his sacrifice, 13:30 all of his investment, 13:31 and they'd start seeing the people 13:33 that he's influenced to be in heaven. 13:36 And that's his reward. 13:37 And his whole life was geared toward that time. 13:40 Right. 13:41 And ours can be, too. 13:42 Yeah. 13:43 Yeah, okay the next one from Travis is about... 13:47 Well, let's just watch it. Okay. 13:50 How can we be in heaven 13:54 if we do not engage in the work that God has given us to do? 13:58 We know the work that God has given us to do 14:00 but we don't do it. 14:03 Jesus, when He was on this earth, 14:05 He was a missionary, 14:07 He worked, 14:08 He spread the good news and salvation. 14:11 We may have to face challenges 14:14 but what are challenges when we think about eternity, 14:18 eternity of bliss, peace with God. 14:25 Why would we, as the people, 14:27 not move forward to share with others the good news, 14:33 those that would not otherwise have a chance to know? 14:36 We as the people we think that we know and that's enough. 14:40 But that is not what a Christian is. 14:43 Christianity is not just something we are, 14:47 it is something we do. 14:49 We must show what we believe by our actions. 14:54 We must move forward. 14:56 God has given us the work to do 14:59 and we must do it. 15:04 Pretty strong call from a young person, 15:06 don't you think? 15:07 Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. 15:08 And this is the beautiful thing about missions is that 15:11 when the young people get involved, 15:13 they start catching the vision. 15:15 They're the ones with the energy. 15:16 Right. 15:17 So here we're seeing a young man 15:18 who didn't want to go in the first place. 15:21 But now he's saying that God was calling him there. 15:24 Yes. 15:25 And now he's saying to everybody else, 15:27 we've got to do this, 15:28 it's our duty but it's also a place of joy. 15:31 Yeah. 15:32 So then Jonathan asked him a difficult question. 15:35 Okay. 15:37 How many missionaries are out here 15:39 in these mountains? 15:40 At the present, 15:44 I don't know of any others. 15:48 And this is the sad truth. 15:51 A lot of people aren't aware of the fact 15:53 that there's hardly any missionaries out there. 15:55 We took a family to India once 15:57 and after being there for a week and a half, 15:58 the wife says, 16:00 "Where are all the missionaries. 16:01 I thought there's lots of missionaries out here." 16:03 Then we had to look at her and say, "There are none." 16:06 There really aren't. 16:07 And in the place that he's at, there are none. 16:12 There's nobody else. Yeah. 16:13 In the entire mountain range, 16:15 the whole western side of Thailand, 16:18 there's just a handful. 16:20 But there's thousands and thousands of villages, 16:24 places where the Gospel has never been shared. 16:27 And so why aren't there more? 16:29 I honestly don't know, I think that Satan has... 16:31 We just haven't gone. 16:32 Satan has stolen a march on us 16:34 and given us all kinds of excuses 16:36 and reasons why we shouldn't go. 16:38 And it's not just the jungle areas, 16:39 what about all the cities? 16:41 You know, there's like almost 50 cities in the world 16:43 of over a million or more 16:46 without a single Adventist congregation. 16:50 Huge amounts, huge work to do. 16:52 And the sad thing is that that is where the joy is. 16:55 Right. 16:56 I'm gonna start preaching, so we need to continue. 16:58 Yeah, we need to continue. 17:00 Okay, here's another clip. 17:01 Okay. 17:02 It's sad to me when I see that 17:04 there are not more missionaries in these mountains 17:08 to reach the villagers, 17:10 the people that don't know about God, 17:15 don't know about salvation. 17:18 What if you were the only one 17:21 to take the Gospel to a village, 17:24 would you go? 17:26 God is calling each one of us, will we go? 17:34 What are we willing to do for God? 17:39 What are we willing to give up for God 17:41 to share the good news? 17:43 Are we willing to give up our reputation, our lives, 17:46 our conveniences? 17:47 The hardships that we face in this life will be 17:50 more than repaid. 17:52 Are we willing to go, go anywhere? 17:56 He did not just say go to the easy spots, 18:00 he said go everywhere, share my Name everywhere, 18:06 the plan of salvation so that 18:08 everyone can have the choice to choose life 18:13 or will we sit back and think to ourselves. 18:18 I'm so glad that I learned. 18:22 Are we that selfish to take the Gospel only for ourselves 18:27 and not to share it with others? 18:30 Wow. 18:31 It really challenges you, doesn't it? 18:33 Yeah. 18:35 This one, they're riding along the road 18:38 and Jonathan asks him about the mountains. 18:40 Okay. 18:43 Someday I want to start a project 18:44 in those mountains. 18:55 Okay, now those mountains is 18:57 just an example of mountain ranges 18:59 where a lot of villages and people are living 19:02 and there's no missionaries, 19:04 there's no-one that's gone and taken the Gospel there. 19:07 That's what for me makes these missionaries so special. 19:11 There are so few. 19:12 There should be a lot more but those that are there, 19:15 you think that they would be really, 19:17 really well taken care of, 19:18 that they would be just like showered with, 19:21 with gifts, but they're not, 19:22 they're oftentimes made to feel completely alone 19:25 and somewhat abandoned by their people, 19:28 their friends back home. 19:29 But we as missionaries on the home front, 19:35 our duty is to support them in our prayers, 19:37 in our financial gifts, in our encouraging words, 19:41 all these different ways, sending resources, 19:44 all these different ways, even asking the question, 19:46 what do you need, what resources do you have. 19:49 I'm amazed at how little we know of the mission work 19:53 that's going on in the world 19:54 when that's our primary job in this life. 19:57 Yeah. 19:58 And most of what we know about these other countries 20:01 is almost nothing about those other countries. 20:03 I mean, before I went to Thailand, for example, 20:06 I don't know really... 20:07 I mean, I had seen a few pictures maybe, 20:10 I don't think I had ever heard 20:11 more than maybe a word in the language. 20:13 You weren't even sure where it was located, 20:15 which countries surrounded it. 20:16 Right, right, we don't know the geography, 20:19 we don't know the history, 20:20 we don't know anything about these countries. 20:21 People groups. 20:22 And people are living there 20:23 that have never heard the name of Jesus. 20:25 Yeah. 20:26 So this next clip, 20:28 Travis talks about obstacles and overcoming. 20:31 Okay. 20:40 There's always challenges along the way, 20:44 but you learn to overcome all those challenges 20:51 and go and do what God has told us to do. 20:55 There's nothing like going and telling a village 20:59 that's never heard about Jesus for the first time. 21:03 It may be difficult and it may be hard, 21:07 but the joys of bringing someone to Christ way outweigh 21:13 the long nights of toil, the hard days. 21:17 It is well worth it 21:18 because we know that God is by or side. 21:22 We know that God is by our side. 21:24 That's right. And that's well worth it. 21:26 Right, that's for sure. 21:27 And now he's going to talk about how to start. 21:30 Okay. 21:38 To someone that doesn't know 21:40 how to get started to engage in the work, 21:45 the first thing, don't be afraid, 21:47 don't be afraid to go anywhere. 21:51 Pray, ask God, and He will guide you. 21:55 You don't have to be in some remote jungle location. 22:01 You don't have to be in the middle of a big city. 22:04 But God has called each one of us to go, wherever, 22:08 and He has promised to take care of us 22:12 so we do not need to be afraid of what 22:16 He has already told us to do. 22:19 He has told us and promised that He will take care of us. 22:22 Awesome. 22:23 Really amazing promises. 22:25 Right. 22:26 God will take care of us as we go. 22:27 Yes. 22:28 Now we want to move to today. Yeah. 22:31 So recently, Jonathan was there again 22:34 and took these pictures. 22:35 These are his teachers, local Karen teachers, 22:38 they know the language, 22:39 he knows the language, too. Okay. 22:41 And these teachers, some of them, 22:42 came from his brother and parents' school. 22:45 So that's a neat way that mission work continues going. 22:49 They were trained at the other school 22:51 and now they're teaching at this school. 22:53 That's correct. 22:54 Now these are the kids also with Travis and the teachers. 22:57 So these are the group of kids that he's teaching about Christ 23:01 and about not just Christ, but, well, anyway, 23:04 he'll tell more about how he teaches 23:06 and his philosophy of teaching in the next video. 23:09 But this picture, they're growing their own rice. 23:13 It's a beautiful location. 23:14 Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah. 23:16 Okay, this is a video 23:17 that Jonathan did while he was there. 23:23 In 2013, we had six teachers. 23:28 They didn't have the vision or true education like we do. 23:33 And so, early in 2015, 23:38 those six teachers, they all resigned. 23:43 And that's when the students from my brother's school, 23:49 three of them, came down 23:51 and have been working here at the school. 23:56 It has been a real blessing. 23:59 This year, there's been a lot of growth in the school 24:04 as far as dorm students, a lot more people have heard 24:07 about the school and what's happening here. 24:09 We have a total of 15 dorm students, 24:12 and in the school, we have 45 students in all. 24:16 This year with 21 people, we eat at the dorm every meal. 24:22 And it became very obvious that 24:24 we needed to grow our own food 24:26 because the location of the school is kind of remote. 24:29 And so hauling in food is not like the easiest thing to do, 24:34 so the way it works around here, 24:36 I told the student is that we work for what we eat, 24:42 so we work together because we eat together. 24:51 We basically have five major subjects Bible, 24:56 English, Karen, Burmese, and math. 25:02 Those are our five main subjects. 25:05 Then we of course have science, history, and geography. 25:08 We have five periods in the morning of studying. 25:11 And in the afternoon, we work in the rice fields, 25:14 in the peanut fields around the place, 25:17 keep things up and keep food on the table. 25:23 Our ultimate goal in teaching the students is 25:27 that they will catch the vision 25:29 to move forward and fulfill the work 25:32 that God has given us to do as people, as a church, 25:36 and that I see as the purpose of true education, 25:39 to teach young people to love God 25:42 and not only through their academics 25:45 but through manual labor, recreation, 25:50 to teach them to love and follow God. 25:53 And that it's not always easy, but in the end, 25:56 it will be the most fulfilling thing that we've done. 26:02 We try to grow our own rice, as you can see, 26:05 here in the rice field. 26:07 But monthly running expense is usually 26:10 around $1,500, 26:14 give and take, 26:15 depends on what happens that month. 26:17 But that's about what it costs to keep the school running. 26:25 Being here at the school, playing with the kids, 26:28 working with the kids, teaching them every day, 26:32 and in the evenings, studying, playing, 26:37 I don't think there's anything else I'd rather do. 26:48 Pretty amazing. 26:49 "I don't think there's anything I'd rather do," he said. 26:52 That shows that he's having some blessing, 26:54 some reward here. 26:55 Yeah. 26:56 He's not just waiting for eternity 26:57 but not that it's easy. 26:59 Yeah. 27:00 So he's also starting to see the fruit of some of his labor, 27:03 all the difficulties he went through, 27:05 now he's starting to see the joy in the kids' faces. 27:08 Forty-five students, amazing. 27:10 Yeah and only $1,500 a month. 27:13 Try to do that here in America for 1,500 a month. 27:16 No, not gonna happen, not gonna happen. 27:19 Well, it has been a good show, honey. 27:21 But we have to close now. Okay. 27:23 And I want to invite our viewers to ask the Lord 27:26 where you should be in His vineyard, 27:28 maybe it's not Thailand. 27:29 You know, not everyone is called to go, 27:31 we're told that by Mrs. White. 27:32 But I think a lot more of us are called to go 27:35 than are actually going. 27:37 But ask the Lord where you should be, 27:39 what the most effective place is that you can be 27:41 to further His kingdom so that Jesus can come soon 27:45 and all the suffering 27:46 and all the sorrow of this world can end 27:48 and we can see our Savior dear. 27:51 You can send your tax deductible love gift 27:54 to Jesus for Asia, PO Box 1221, 27:57 Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 28:00 Call us at (423) 413-7321. 28:04 Or check out our website at Jesus4asia.org. 28:07 Thank you for joining us for Jesus for Asia now. 28:10 May God richly bless you as we all work together 28:13 to prepare the world for His soon coming. |
Revised 2016-12-06