Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220035A
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00:04 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:26 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:07 Hello friends and welcome to 3ABN Today. My name is Ryan Day 01:11 and as always we're so blessed to have you joining us here 01:15 today for the special, special program and we always say, we 01:20 thank you for your love, your continued prayer and support for 01:24 this ministry. I mean this is the Three Angels Broadcasting 01:27 Network and so we're all about the truth, we're all about 01:30 declaring the everlasting gospel as we see right there in the 01:33 book of Revelation chapter 14 that's being delivered by these 01:37 three angels, these messengers of the Lord. It's going to all 01:40 the world and that's what this network is about and we wouldn't 01:44 exist if it weren't for you if God hadn't placed upon your 01:47 heart to support, to watch, to pray for and of course to just 01:54 send your love all this way. We thank you so much for our 3ABN 01:58 family. We are excited about what's happening today here on 02:01 3ABN Today because we have Chris and Erin White with us from 02:06 Adventist Frontier Missions. How are you wonderful people doing? 02:08 Very well, thank you very much. 02:11 Amen, amen. And you know what I found out a few minutes ago 02:13 that today as we're recording this in the studio, today's your 02:18 anniversary. So happy anniversary. 02:20 Thank you. Thank you. 02:21 Happy wedding anniversary. And I'm excited because you guys are 02:24 going to be sharing with us all kinds of special stories and 02:27 experiences that you guys have had in your missionary journeys. 02:30 Chris and Erin are missionaries for the Adventist Frontier 02:34 Missions and this hour is going to be power packed with some 02:39 incredible stories. You're not going to want to go away, so 02:42 don't change the channel, don't turn this off. In fact, get your 02:45 friends, your family, your enemies, everybody around the 02:48 table, everybody around to watch this because you're going to be 02:51 blessed, there's no doubt. Before we get right into our 02:53 interview though we want to be blessed by a special musical 02:57 number that's going to be brought to us by Mrs. Vonda 03:00 Boerman. She's going to be singing a song entitled 03:02 I Choose to Believe. 03:07 ♪ ♪ 03:19 ♪ Into each life some rain must fall ♪ 03:24 ♪ But lately it seems I've had it all♪ 03:31 ♪ Just when I thought the storm was over ♪ 03:38 ♪ Out of the blue there came a squall ♪ 03:45 ♪ But you never promised that life would be easy ♪ 03:51 ♪ And I am starting to see ♪ 03:57 ♪ Sometimes it takes the worst in life ♪ 04:04 ♪ To bring out the best in me ♪ 04:10 ♪ So I will choose to believe though I cannot see ♪ 04:17 ♪ how you're working all things for my good ♪ 04:22 ♪ And I hold your hand though I don't understand ♪ 04:29 ♪ Still I'll trust and choose to believe ♪ 04:40 ♪ ♪ 04:47 ♪ Though you may know just what I mean ♪ 04:53 ♪ It's hard to let go and trust your lead ♪ 05:01 ♪ Just when I thought I've lost control ♪ 05:05 ♪ You're always there You're always pleading ♪ 05:14 ♪ So for today, Lord help me to trust you ♪ 05:19 ♪ I need your strength like my own ♪ 05:26 ♪ And when I need a friend to turn to ♪ 05:32 ♪ You will be faithful and true ♪ 05:38 ♪ So I will choose to believe, though I cannot see ♪ 05:45 ♪ how you're working all things for my good ♪ 05:50 ♪ And I hold your hand though I don't understand ♪ 05:58 ♪ Still I'll trust and choose to believe ♪ 06:07 ♪ Walking by faith not by sight ♪ 06:11 ♪ Is so very hard to do ♪ 06:18 ♪ But as I grow I come to know ♪ 06:24 ♪ That your love will see me through ♪ 06:31 ♪ So I will choose to believe, though I cannot see ♪ 06:38 ♪ how you're working all things for my good ♪ 06:45 ♪ And I'll hold your hand though I don't understand ♪ 06:52 ♪ Still I'll trust and choose to believe ♪ 06:58 ♪ Lord help me to trust you and choose to believe ♪ 07:15 Amen. Thank you so much, Vonda for that beautiful song, 07:18 I Choose to Believe. That's certainly, a message that each 07:21 and every one of us needs to reflect on. And I know that that 07:24 message of that song, choosing to believe, to believe in Christ 07:28 is basically what Chris and Erin White, you guys' live your 07:33 life sharing the gospel, being missionaries for Christ abroad 07:37 in many different countries and we're just grateful to have you 07:41 here today and thank you so much for joining us to be able to 07:43 share with us your missionary journeys that the Lord has taken 07:46 you on. Before we get into that though I would like to have a 07:49 prayer if that's okay and just allow the Holy Spirit to lead 07:52 and guide our conversation. Let us pray together. 07:54 Our Father in heaven, Lord, we just thank you so much for this 07:57 opportunity that we have to be able to sit at this table today 08:01 right here on the Three Angels Broadcasting Network and to be 08:04 able to project the gospel, the good news, testimonies of your 08:08 goodness, testimonies of your powerful work all around the 08:12 world. So right now I pray Lord that you will lead and guide our 08:15 conversation, that you take over this hour, this moment together, 08:18 and that whatever message is shared may it be to your glory 08:21 and your honor. We thank you for bringing Chris and Erin here to 08:25 us and we ask that you pour out your Spirit upon all of us as we 08:28 give this hour to you and we ask this is Jesus' holy name, Amen. 08:32 Amen, amen. Chris and Erin White It's a blessing to have you guys 08:36 here. Tell us a little bit about yourselves. I think you were 08:40 here maybe three or four years ago. It's been a little while 08:43 since you've been here with us. And so we have new viewers all 08:47 the time and they would probably like to know who Chris and Erin 08:49 are. So tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, 08:52 and where you're from and how you came to be what you are now. 08:56 So go ahead. 08:57 Okay, I'm Chris White. I was raised Adventist. My father was 09:03 called to be a camp ranger/ manager at one of our church 09:07 camps and so I grew up in that kind of a setting. I was the 09:13 little camp brat running around camp. Grew up learning all the 09:18 ins and outs of a church camp. And as I got older, went away to 09:23 school came back, and ended up being the assistant manager for 09:27 _youth camp for a number of years. And so worked in the 09:32 ministry, local ministry working with youth and with families, 09:36 different church school groups, all that kind of stuff. It's 09:40 kind of my background, so I've been involved with ministry for 09:44 most of my life. 09:45 Amen, amen. And Erin, I have to say I've met you a couple of 09:49 times in the past and every time I saw your face I'd feel like I 09:54 had seen that face before and that's because you are Will and 09:57 April Worf's daughter. And I just want to just say thank you 10:01 for being here and tell us a little bit about your background 10:03 because you're parents work here, I know, I see them often 10:06 but I don't see you as much because obviously you guys have 10:10 been missionaries but tell us a little bit about your background 10:13 and where you come from and where you were raised and all 10:14 that. 10:16 (Erin White) Yes well my parents are originally from Washington 10:18 State but we moved to Kentucky when I was a very little girl. 10:21 So I claim Western Kentucky as my childhood home and grew up in 10:26 a little coal mining town in the middle of Western Kentucky which 10:30 is like living in another country in and of itself in a 10:33 lot of ways. But I grew up in an Adventist home and learned about 10:39 Jesus and heard mission stories. Grew up in family that was very 10:43 actively involved in the community trying to help any way 10:45 that they could. So by the time Chris and I met and got together 10:52 mission work was just kind of built-in and yeah, so. We got 10:58 married and then I guess we'd been married for a couple of 11:02 years before we ended up moving out to camp (Uh-huh) and then 11:05 we were both involved with camp life. It was kind of our work. 11:10 Wow, that's amazing, amazing. So you guys now...we're going to 11:12 talk a little bit about this more as we get deeper into our 11:15 interview today our conversation But you are now with Adventist 11:19 Frontier Missions and so Chris what is it that you do for 11:23 Adventist Frontier Missions? 11:24 I'm currently a field director with Adventist Frontier Missions 11:28 which means I supervise workers in different areas around the 11:33 world, supervise, mentor, coach, serve them. I help them in 11:41 whatever they need to succeed where they're at. 11:44 Right, right. Wow, that's awesome and Erin what is it that 11:47 you do for Adventist Frontier Missions? 11:50 I'm the director of development and I just feel like my job is 11:55 probably the best job that you could have. I love it. I have 11:59 the opportunity of being able to connect with people who want to 12:03 support, who want to get involved in missions but who 12:07 cannot necessarily go themselves and so I have the privilege of 12:11 being able to share with them all of the opportunities that 12:13 they have to provide financial backing for all of the different 12:17 projects that are going on around the world. And it's just 12:20 such a blessing. There are so many hearts that long to be able 12:24 to be involved in some way. And a lot of times people feel like 12:28 they cannot because they can't physically go. But to be able to 12:32 say, no, you can be part of this work in so many different ways. 12:35 It's just such a blessing and a privilege. 12:37 That's awesome, that's awesome. So we're going to talk a little 12:40 bit more about Adventist Frontier Missions in a few 12:43 minutes but I just, sitting here talking to you guys, having 12:48 spent time with you behind the scenes you guys are missionaries 12:51 in the truest sense. And you know often times people have a 12:55 different idea of what a missionary is and so I just have 12:59 to ask you guys from your own perspective you could 13:01 just share with 13:03 us you know what is a missionary What does it mean to be a 13:06 missionary? Just give us kind of an idea from your personal 13:10 perspective, having been in the field and experienced it 13:13 and lived it. 13:14 Yeah, you know, thinking about being a missionary, there were 13:19 all these different ideas that came to my mind and I was like 13:23 what does it mean, I asked that same question myself. And one of 13:28 the first things was learning that we had to count the costs. 13:32 By accepting the call to be a missionary away from home 13:37 because you can be a missionary in your home town in your 13:40 community. But accepting the call to be a missionary overseas 13:43 when we realized that we were saying goodbye to family, when 13:48 we realized we were saying goodbye to friends, we were 13:52 saying goodbye to a culture that we grew up in, food that we 13:57 understood, we knew what was in the ingredients, all of that 13:59 kind of stuff. These are kind of the things that I did not think 14:03 about being a missionary was letting go of life as we knew it 14:08 and so that's one aspect of it. But to be a missionary is being 14:13 a hands and feet and being the ambassadors for Christ to the 14:18 world around you wherever you are placed. The calling of a 14:22 missionary is to be willing to be that mouth piece and to help 14:28 those that need help, to seek the lost, to comfort those that 14:34 are hurting. And my eyes have been opened that we do that 14:40 absolutely anywhere that we are at. 14:42 Sure, wow. Erin you want to add anything to that from your 14:45 personal experience? 14:47 Yeah. For the longest time I had this view of missionary, when I 14:52 heard the word missionary I automatically thought mud huts 14:55 in Africa. You know, strange food, different languages and 14:59 everything. But like Chris was saying the more I thought about 15:01 it the more I've realized when the Bible says we are the body 15:04 of Christ, the hands and feet are a part of the body but if 15:09 they were disconnected from the rest of the body they would have 15:11 no function whatsoever. So to be a missionary is to be an active 15:16 member of the body of Christ. We all play a part in reaching 15:19 the lost with the gospel. And so whether it's the physical 15:24 presence of being overseas or whether it's all of those that 15:26 are making that physical presence possible each one of 15:30 us is a missionary. 15:32 Wow, that's amazing, wow, praise the Lord. I remember...you know 15:36 I've only been here now in the Thompsonville area here with 15:38 3ABN for about four years but I remember from the beginning just 15:43 being here from Sabbath after Sabbath here at the 15:45 Thompsonville Seventy-day Adventist Church and hearing 15:47 them often talk about our missionaries, our missionaries 15:50 you know, pray for our missionaries and I'm thinking 15:52 who are these missionaries? And sometimes they would use 15:55 different names for reasons, particular reasons, you guys 16:00 might share that, we'll share that in just a few minutes as to 16:03 why sometimes you have to use different names you know, but I 16:06 just remember ever so many months, you know, pray for our 16:09 missionaries who are here, who are there and they'd say some 16:12 names. I'm like man we got a lot of missionaries in this church. 16:15 Come to find out it was you guys God has sent you guys everywhere 16:19 You've had an opportunity to be in multiple countries. God has 16:22 taken you in many different areas. Maybe if you could just 16:25 share with us because I know from my perspective, you know 16:30 I'm interested to know like where you've been and what it's 16:32 like because I've never broken away from this western American 16:37 culture to go somewhere else, maybe in a third-world country 16:40 and live there and actually you know uprooted my life from here 16:44 and been there. You guys have and I find that interesting and 16:47 just have to know where are some of the places that God has led 16:49 you guys and maybe just talk about some of the experiences 16:52 and some of the things that you have seen and experienced while 16:55 you have been in these different countries that the Lord has led 16:58 you to. 17:00 Yeah my first experience of overseas missions was in Romania 17:03 and it was actually when I was in high school. And the academy 17:06 that I went to and decided to start doing mission trips instead of 17:10 senior trips. (Oh okay) And so we did an extended trip to 17:14 Romania and we were solely focused on two orphanages in two 17:17 different villages in Romania. It was just 10 years after 17:21 communism had fallen and it was a very broken country. And I 17:26 just remember driving down these little back roads and looking 17:30 over on the side of the road and there was this man with a horse 17:34 cart. And it was raining profusely. The horse cart had 17:37 gotten stuck on the side of the road and I remember looking out 17:41 and I was just horrified because he was just beating this horse 17:44 just brutally beating this horse trying to get it out. And for me 17:48 who has always been tender towards animals I just was 17:52 devastated by that. And so we go into this village and there's 17:57 little, the old style outhouses with just the hole in the ground 18:01 and a magazine full of paper. And that was the source for the 18:07 restrooms and it was just a very rustic, old experience. And then 18:13 in the village in the orphanage that we were at was just young 18:17 people, lots and lots of these kids and we lived with them. We 18:21 ate their food, we did life with them. And I remember at one 18:25 point, two brothers, they were probably five and six, they were 18:29 just so sweet, so adorable and in my heart, my thought was if I 18:35 could just get them out of here and take them home then they'd 18:38 be good, they'd be safe. So I called my mom from Romania and 18:43 like please can you find a way to adopt these two little boys 18:46 please, please, just save these little boys, I was just disparate 18:50 to save them and rescue them. Yeah, I guess my heart was if I 18:58 could just be present with them long enough and maybe would 19:01 take care of the situation and they'd be okay. 19:03 Mmm, wow. How about you Chris? 19:06 I had the opportunity to work with ADRA and went down to New 19:11 Zealand to work with troubled youth. When I got there, you 19:17 think of New Zealand as beautiful. And being behind the 19:20 scenes and seeing what is going on that tourists don't get to 19:25 see and realizing that the youth are really struggling and 19:31 they're taught to just fend for themselves. Don't trust anyone. 19:34 And so we were given the opportunity to build them up, to 19:38 teach them how to work together as a team and there was an 19:43 experience where we were at a camp and we were on a hike and 19:47 all of a sudden a kid just disappeared, like he just took 19:49 off and ran. And he was going through a lot of stuff and so we 19:54 spread out, we found him, we brought him back and come to 19:57 find out that he was really hurting at home and home 20:03 doesn't teach you to turn to somebody to try to find help, 20:06 you just suppress it. And during that week that this group was at 20:11 the camp he was getting what he had never experienced before. He 20:17 was receiving love from people that he didn't know and by the 20:21 end of the week, on that weekend they had this big end-of-week 20:26 function and it was just bringing everybody together and 20:30 this boy was right there in the middle of it, just smiling and 20:33 happy and just so thankful to be a part of something he had never 20:38 experienced. And that was one of my first opportunities to work 20:41 with youth outside of our society and just to really see 20:47 the needs outside of our own sphere. 20:50 That's amazing. So Romania and New Zealand. What are some 20:54 other places that God might have led you in your journey? 20:58 I spent a little bit of time in India and then an extended stay 21:03 in South Korea. (That's amazing) Yeah. South Korea was probably 21:09 the most eye-opening experience for me because I was there 21:13 longer and just realized right away the limitations of being in 21:18 a country for just a short period of time. I was teaching 21:21 English all day long and so I never had an opportunity to 21:24 learn Korean even though I was surrounded by it, I was like 21:27 insulated from it in this little bubble of an English school. 21:31 And I just remember going down...there was a little old 21:37 lady that had a second hand clothing store and I went in 21:40 there one time and she loved me. She couldn't understand a word I 21:44 said and I couldn't understand a word she said but somehow we 21:48 communicated with each other and I loved her. I mean it was just 21:52 an instant connection and so I would go back to the shop and 21:55 just visit multiple times. And one time I went and she had a 21:59 friend with her and she was telling her something about me 22:02 and the whole time she's talking she loving on me and just 22:05 rubbing my back No understanding whatsoever lingually but just 22:12 being able to communicate with our hearts. In Korea they have 22:16 these weird ice cream flavors and my least favorite I 22:22 disliked it with a passion was sweet beans in a popsicle form 22:26 so it was ice cream with chunks of beans mixed into it. (wow) 22:32 Texture-wise, flavor-wise it was absolutely horrendous in my 22:36 mouth. And I just remember when I went into the shop this day 22:41 she's just loving and she's like oh wait, wait, wait and she goes 22:45 into the back room and she comes out and I see it coming. She 22:48 hands me this sweet bean popsicle and she's just looking 22:51 at me just waiting for me to open this thing up and I was 22:55 like I cannot do this but she's sitting here looking at me and 22:58 her look and the connection that we had developed gave me the 23:03 strength to choke down this entire popsicle, smiling the 23:08 whole time saying thank you while I'm gagging on the inside. 23:11 But just realizing that love for another individual can motivate 23:16 you to do things that you wouldn't typically enjoy doing 23:20 but you do it for the sake of love. 23:22 Give you that strength to get through that popsicle. Oh, man. 23:25 That's amazing. 23:26 We were given the opportunity to go to Panama and Costa Rica on a 23:31 Maranatha trip and that was an amazing blessing because you 23:38 know that was more closer to home, just a little further 23:42 south. But during that opportunity being able to reach 23:47 out to minister through the medical side, through remodeling 23:51 all of these different things, VBS and that kind of thing 23:55 Yeah because as missionaries you know I think some people think 23:59 when they think of a missionary they think oh these people are 24:02 just going into these countries and they're just going from 24:05 village to village, from hut to hut and they're just you know 24:07 preaching the gospel. Hey I've got the Bible here and I want to 24:11 show you. But often times missionary work is much more 24:13 than just primarily sharing the word. You know you're doing 24:17 things for people as well. (Yeah) Yeah, that's amazing. 24:21 (Right) So I have to ask a question though because I've 24:24 heard this, haven't experienced it per se, but I've heard that 24:27 there's a difference in sharing the gospel here in America with 24:33 people in regards to the response than it is overseas. 24:37 For instance, I have a friend, a missionary, a friend of mine who 24:42 spent six years in India and he would come back to the states 24:45 and visit every once in a while and he would tell me, he'd say, 24:48 man, you have no clue. Like over here in America, it can be very 24:51 challenging to get people to awaken to the gospel and to 24:55 sense their need 24:56 of Christ. But he would say these people in India are like 24:59 hungering and thirsting for this stuff. So he was talking about 25:04 if there were evangelistic campaigns and their meetings 25:05 how they would have thousands and thousands of people who 25:08 just were thirsting for the love that Jesus offered. So I'm just 25:14 curious, from your perspective being in these different 25:16 countries and obviously having been raised here in America, do 25:20 you also sense that difference that maybe there's a greater, a 25:26 greater sense of need of Christ and the gospel perhaps in these 25:31 other countries that you've visited versus here in America 25:34 in your home town in your home area? 25:36 Yeah I believe that we've experienced that. You know every 25:41 area you've got those that are yearning and then those that are 25:44 not. But honestly, those that are yearning for that, the Holy 25:48 Spirit, they're looking for that It's so more genuine than I've 25:53 experienced a lot here and it may not be...but yet you find 25:59 these stories of thousands coming to Christ in a day and 26:02 all that kind of stuff, but you also might come into an area 26:04 where you're there and it's just one. But that one person, their 26:09 focus is so much on receiving all of this stuff but that one 26:15 person is going to be the one to instigate that same spread in 26:19 their community. 26:21 That's amazing, praise the Lord. 26:22 And I don't think we understand in a western context how much 26:24 Christianity has influenced how we interact with each other. And 26:28 when you go into another environment where Christianity 26:30 does not have that influence, to have a Christian come and just 26:35 live is such a contrast to what they see on a daily basis that 26:40 it's an automatic draw and they want to understand, why are you 26:44 so kind even when things are not working the way that you think 26:48 that they should. They see the difference much more than we 26:52 would tend to see over here because there's just that much 26:54 more of a contrast. 26:57 Wow, wow. Praise the Lord. (Yeah) So God has led you guys 27:00 in so many different ways, to different countries and just 27:03 hearing some of your stories it's powerful. But I want to get 27:05 into this powerful story that we were chatting about and I know 27:09 you're going to go in more detail about, and that is how 27:12 God led you guys to go to north Africa. And I think this is 27:16 where your connection with Adventist Frontier Missions 27:19 comes in. So, talk a little bit about how this whole northern 27:23 Africa thing came in to be and tell us a little bit about your 27:25 experiences and your stories there. 27:27 Yeah, yeah. So we had heard about Adventist Frontier 27:32 Missions and we had started supporting one of their 27:35 their missionaries and so we started getting the magazine. I 27:38 think we actually have a picture of the award-winning magazine 27:42 that AFM puts out. So this comes out every month and we started 27:47 receiving it and in reading all of the stories and 27:49 everything, there was just such a pull and a realization that 27:52 this work has to be done and there's such a need and so we 27:57 talked and prayed and the end result was we ended up asking, 28:03 applying with AFM and going through quite a journey along 28:08 the way. But we ultimately ended up accepting a call to north 28:12 Africa with AFM. Yeah. 28:14 So the call comes. Hey you guys are going. We're going to send 28:17 north Africa so then now what's your thought process? How do you 28:24 prepare yourself to go into a situation like this, I mean 28:26 because you're going into a completely different country and 28:29 you guys I think had originally thought you were, it like you 28:32 thought you were only going to be going there for a few months 28:34 maybe a year. You originally thought you were going to be 28:36 there for eight to ten years! Oh my goodness. So tell us a 28:41 little bit about that. 28:43 Yeah. So, with figuring out that process you line all of this 28:49 stuff up, what do I need, what do I need? We're fundraising and 28:53 all of this kind of stuff. During that mental evaluation 28:57 like I said earlier, kind of counting the cost before you go. 29:03 Um, there was a lot of that. And then launching. You know, we 29:13 were excited but we didn't know what truly we were getting 29:18 into. And landing in a country that you land and nothing looks 29:25 familiar. You start hearing people speaking and nothing 29:28 sounds familiar and just wondering okay what do I do? 29:33 Where do I go? What do I say? How do I say it? It was just all 29:39 of a sudden just reality was so overwhelming. Yeah. 29:44 And how do you process the fact that you originally had thought 29:47 it was going to be eight to ten years. And I know you guys are 29:50 missionaries but this would have been from your perspective the 29:53 longest time you would have ever How do you process this, I mean 29:56 how do you prepare for that because I could imagine. You 29:59 know obviously, we know that the Lord leads to do things that we 30:02 never would imagine that we would do. I know Paul spent 30:04 three years in Ephesus as a missionary of course and he was 30:07 all over the place in other countries as well. But in this 30:10 you know you guys had thought you were going to be for eight 30:12 to ten years. What feelings? I'm sure there's some emotional 30:16 You're not going to see your family for a long time, you know 30:19 at least for a few years. How do you process that, Erin? 30:23 I think there was so much going on honestly that it was really 30:27 hard to process it. Reality really sunk in when we saw the 30:32 last of our belongings disappear You know we sold off our car, 30:36 we sold off our belongings, we didn't have furniture. Like all 30:39 of these things suddenly we were we kind of joked that we were 30:43 semi-homeless, because we were not living in our home anymore 30:47 All of these different things. We cried a lot. We spent as much 30:54 time with our families as we could and just did a lot of 30:59 praying. But there was such an excitement because we had gone 31:02 through this three month intensive training to prepare us 31:05 to go and we're just excited about where we are going. 31:09 And I think that really put into perspective the length of time. 31:13 Our focus was much more on this is so exciting. We're going to 31:18 this country and we're going to do great things. So I think in 31:22 some ways that kind of overrode the reality of how long it was 31:29 going to be. 31:31 Sure absolutely. And for our viewers at home you guys might 31:35 can explain this better than I do but we can't obviously say 31:37 the specific location that you guys were in to protect 31:40 yourselves as well as others that they were working with them 31:43 when they were there. But talk a little bit about that because 31:46 some people may not understand that. Like, why can't you tell 31:49 us and why do you have to use oftentimes in the past as you 31:52 did different names and whatnot because that's interesting. So, 31:55 explain a little bit about that. Why can't...you know in this 31:57 case you were not able to say the specific location. Help us 32:01 to get into the mind there of a missionary as to why you know 32:05 they have to be protective of where they're at, their identity 32:08 and things like that. 32:09 Sure. So we have what's considered creative access and 32:16 the environment that most of the unreached people groups in the 32:19 world live in are the hardest to reach areas. I think we have 32:23 the picture of that 10/40 window idea. 32:25 Yeah. Let's that up, the map of the 10/40 window, the U.S. or is 32:31 it a global map. 32:32 That's the global map and basically, it just shows where 32:34 all of these unreached people groups tend to stay, to live, to 32:38 reside. And there are areas that have Hinduism and Buddhism, and 32:44 Islam and Animism and tribal religions. All of these are 32:49 extremely difficult to connect with the gospel. The enemy has 32:53 worked really hard to keep them from being receptive to the 32:58 truth. Islam for example, they believe the Bible was corrupted. 33:01 And so anything you shared of the word of God, they already 33:05 have a significant wall up against that. So there are 33:13 certain countries where it's illegal to proselytize and so to 33:17 be able to go into those countries you're going in as 33:20 somebody who's interested in learning their culture and 33:23 learning their language and wanting to connect with them. 33:24 You don't go in and say, I want to tell you about Jesus. That's 33:29 not a great way to develop a relationship right off the bat. 33:31 And so in order to provide a layer of protection for the 33:37 workers but primarily for anybody that they come in 33:39 contact with in the area that they go into we try and keep a 33:48 penname in place that protects so that if anybody happens to go 33:51 a web search online they're not going to see this missionary 33:55 with their legal name pulling up as a missionary going to north 33:59 Africa. 34:00 Mmm, yeah. So it's to protect you, it's to protect those 34:02 around you, that's working with you in this mission to try to 34:05 reach people for the gospel. So you have to use special tactics 34:08 and methods to be safe. And I completely understand. So if you 34:11 hear us say north Africa obviously, we're not able to say 34:15 the specific area. But talk a little bit more about this north 34:19 African experience. Because you guys were there for how long? 34:21 Just under two years. 34:23 Under two years. So let's talk about your experiences when 34:25 you were there and then we'll get into why you're no longer 34:28 there. Yeah let's talk about that, yeah. 34:31 Okay, yeah, you know one of the first experiences that we had 34:35 was...you're in an area that you don't know and we didn't know 34:41 how to hail a taxi, ride the bus anything like that and I 34:45 remember one day there was a store, like oh well, GPS says by 34:49 car is 10 minutes. How do we get there. We're like we don't know 34:54 we can't speak their language let's walk and so you walk 45 34:58 minutes one way and then you get a little buggy or something, a 35:02 little bag with wheels and you load all your stuff and then 35:06 walk 45 minutes back across the city dragging all of your food 35:11 and everything that you just picked up from the store all 35:17 because you can't read, you can't speak. That was one of our 35:22 first experiences. And just like oh man we need to figure this 35:27 out. 35:28 So you learn the language right? 35:32 Absolutely. I think that's one of the things that I had 35:34 to adjust to in my 35:35 own mind, because like I said I had had this kind of idea of 35:39 what a missionary looked like and also what it was supposed to 35:43 be like once you get into the field. And so everything is 35:46 clean and everything is great and everything goes perfect and 35:50 reality is it's filthy. Nothing is the way that you think it 35:55 should be. Nothing is easy. Just living every day, basic daily 36:00 necessities sort of thing, everything gets more complicated 36:04 And it's not necessarily because you don't have a washing machine 36:08 for example. It's because there's all of these other 36:11 pieces that play into life in another culture. And you know we 36:17 walk around the city and we don't understand the language 36:20 when we first get there and so how do you communicate to 36:22 somebody, I just want a head of lettuce. (Oh wow). It can take 36:27 10 minutes to figure out from the process of picking up the 36:31 head of lettuce to figuring out how much it costs because he's 36:34 saying something and I don't understand it and so we're 36:37 having to look at every piece of money in our hand and you know 36:40 just all of these different things. Nothing goes the way 36:45 that you think it should go. 36:47 Right I can imagine (yeah) yeah. 36:51 So we realized that at a very, very early stage we need to 36:54 learn the language. And so we got involved with a language 36:59 school, with a language tutor, this kind of thing. And that 37:02 was one of the 37:03 best experiences because connecting with a language tutor 37:07 we weren't just connecting with her but over time as we're 37:12 sharing and she's sharing and we're understanding and 37:16 everything we actually started to build a relationship with her 37:19 and her family. That's what Christ did. Christ went and 37:26 everywhere He went He built relationships. And to be able to 37:30 build relationships learning the language was probably yeah one 37:35 of the most key ways of being able to build those 37:39 relationships. So, I have an experience with our language 37:44 tutor's son. Even though his mom was our tutor, we would get 37:51 together and in his broken English he would say Oh it's 37:54 okay, I will train you, I will teach you, I will teach you the 37:58 language. And we gave him a ride on our scooter and just all of a 38:03 sudden like he just became like my little brother and just being 38:09 really accepted all because we put ourselves out there to learn 38:14 about them. (Right) Yeah. 38:18 That's amazing. Creating relationships, Christ's method 38:20 alone, right? Jesus didn't show up just blasting people with the 38:23 word or blasting people with scripture. I mean, He mingled 38:27 with them, He met their needs, He ministered to them, He became 38:31 friends to them, right? And that's essentially what 38:33 missionary work is all about. You got to learn these people 38:36 you got to create relationships with them before you begin to 38:39 share the gospel. So... 38:41 Yeah absolutely and again I think developing 38:46 relationships we read 38:48 that quote and it sounds so beautiful but it's not. It's 38:54 ugly, it's dirty. You know, you walk down the street and we're 38:58 surrounded by needs. Every corner has little kids coming up 39:02 to you and saying, just give me a little bit of money I'm hungry 39:05 I'm hungry. And then there's people that are severely maimed 39:09 who don't have an arm. They've got open sores and just 39:14 constantly surrounded by needs that were just so overwhelming 39:18 for us and I remember early on we really just...we had to pray 39:22 before we would just walk out our door. Because the minute we 39:24 walked out the door everything that we saw was needs, needs, 39:29 needs and we were disparate like God how do we do this because 39:33 in our minds somehow we're supposed to be able to meet 39:36 every single one of these needs. But just recognizing that there 39:41 is no way that we could do that. And that was the Lord's way of 39:46 teaching us that this is your work. This is My work. And I'll 39:53 lead you into the way that I want you to help. And so with 39:57 our tutor she shared with us as we got to know her...My language 40:03 skills improved to the point that we were able to have 40:05 dialogue and interaction and she shared her story of this man 40:10 that she was in a traditional marriage where her parents had 40:13 agreed for this man to marry their daughter. They didn't know 40:17 him. He ended up being severely abusive and the last time he put 40:21 her in the hospital she almost died. And by this point she had 40:25 three children and the oldest of them has been pretty traumatized 40:29 by that experience because she was eight when everything was 40:32 said and done. But through this process her parents who were 40:39 not...even though they were Muslim they had deviated away 40:44 from the traditional views in some ways. Her dad came to the 40:48 hospital and begged her please, I will do...I will take care of 40:52 you, I will do everything that you need to do. Please leave 40:56 this man. And that is so countercultural. But because her 41:00 father gave her the courage to do that he brought her out of 41:05 that and rescued her from this abusive marriage. And that 41:10 experience actually made her so tender and so open to a 41:16 different way of looking at life There were times when she would 41:20 come into our apartment and she would just weep because she was 41:23 so stressed about raising these three kids by herself. And she 41:25 would let me hold her and she would just cry and cry and cry 41:30 And the first time she let me pray in the name of Jesus for 41:33 her was just powerful beyond words. 41:37 You know that's a question I have because in those 41:39 moments you want to 41:40 pray for them. I'm sure you asked permission: Can I pray for 41:44 you. So in this particular region of north Africa what type 41:48 of religion...is there a particular religion within the 41:52 culture. Is Christianity...I'm guessing it's not as present in 41:57 this particular region you were in. So how does that work now 42:00 I mean you're in an area where there may be a different 42:04 religion other than Christianity So you just kind of look for 42:07 windows of opportunities to share so, talk a little bit 42:09 about that. 42:11 So we were in an area where, yeah, you couldn't do this 42:17 without a relationship (it's Islamic) Yeah it's Islamic 42:22 (Okay, all right) And so they believe that Jesus was a prophet 42:25 but as Erin said earlier they believe the Bible was corrupted. 42:29 They do not believe that he was part God, like He, was God. And 42:34 so to be able to have that kind of an experience with her and 42:40 her family that we had, that was the Lord working well before we 42:46 ever got there. I mean He had been working in such a way when 42:50 she told about her father. In my mind though he's passed away 42:56 now, in my mind, there's no doubt I believe I will see that man in 43:00 heaven, because the life that he lived was a very, very Christ 43:08 centered life even though he did not understand that. And she 43:13 reflected that. And she was giving that to her children. And 43:17 so because of what the Holy Spirit had already been doing 43:21 all of these years leading up to us meeting her gave that open 43:27 opportunity when she was hurt, she was broken, that Erin was 43:32 able to say hey please can I pray for you and she said yes. 43:39 And I remember just sitting there just watching this 43:43 experience and just thinking Jesus Christ is being glorified 43:48 This woman is being lifted up to the throne of heaven and when 43:55 it was all said and done she was thankful. She didn't have any 43:59 reserve. There was nothing... you're not supposed to say that 44:02 name, anything like that. It was just full heart felt you care 44:08 for me, thank you very much. 44:12 Wow! Praise the Lord! And within this culture, 44:14 this Islamic culture we 44:16 you know we were talking briefly when we were preparing for this 44:20 interview and you were telling me some stories about the 44:23 culture and in regards to you know women are not able to 44:26 you know in certain Islamic cultures they're not able to 44:30 read or write or anything like that. There's certain things 44:32 that the women are allowed to do that the men are allowed to do 44:35 and you were telling me a story, maybe you can briefly mention 44:37 the story about the woman who wanted to learn to read or write 44:41 or something in regards to...She was reading the Bible and then 44:44 I don't know if it was her husband or father or something 44:47 Tell us, tell us the story, brother, powerful story. 44:49 Yeah, so this woman had started working in one of our worker's 44:54 homes, cooking, cleaning, do this kind of thing, getting the 44:57 opportunity to bring in a little income. And so through this 45:01 she's learning about Jesus. She's learning to read and she's 45:05 reading the Bible. And she took this Bible home with her and she 45:10 was in the house and the houses were up off of the ground and 45:14 her father was out working the fields and he came in and heard 45:17 her reading. And so to get out of the sun he lay down under 45:23 the slats of the floor and was listening to her read God's word 45:28 And through this experience he realized how he had hindered his 45:35 daughter and so he came to her and actually apologized and saw 45:41 what was going on and was so happy that she was learning to 45:46 read and he said he wanted to do what he could to even help her 45:49 her to progress in learning how to write. And in a culture where 45:54 women aren't supposed to learn to read or write or anything 45:58 because that will give them a voice for somebody to admit that 46:03 and to help her along the way. He may not accept the truth yet 46:12 but you can see the wheels turning. 46:15 Yeah, He knows were to lead, right? 46:16 Exactly the Holy Spirit is working. 46:19 That is powerful. You know when you think of...and I know 46:21 and I just want to 46:23 say for the record not all Islamic people are...you know 46:26 often times we think of Islam we have this negative connotation 46:28 of it...all the people are the same...you know because of some 46:31 of the you know terroristic activities that we've heard tied 46:34 to that particular religion in the past. But I just want to ask 46:37 this for the record. You know you being in this particular 46:40 region and this culture of Islamic...this Islamic culture 46:43 I'm sure were there moments or I'm sure you observed 46:46 things where maybe you 46:49 probably saw some violence and some of those...it tends to be 46:53 sometimes a violent culture from some perspective especially from 46:57 the men's point of view you know and on the women and children 47:01 and what not. So you guys probably saw some of that stuff 47:05 (oh yeah, absolutely) Wow that's amazing, that's amazing. 47:09 We had a neighbor in our apartment that would get 47:13 extremely violent and it was very scary for us because he was 47:16 literally right next door and we would hear all kinds of noise 47:19 and we feared for those women's' safety so many times. But we 47:23 would start praying and just pray over it until everything 47:27 calmed down and then it would happen again the next day and we 47:30 would pray over it until everything stopped. The more we 47:32 prayed the longer the period of time between each of the violent 47:36 episodes got until we were going months without it. So God hears 47:40 prayer on behalf of other people 47:42 Absolutely, absolutely, man! I'm looking at our time. Time is 47:47 dwindling. I could literally hear that talk for another two 47:49 hours. So you were there for almost three years. But you 47:52 thought that you were going to be there for longer but then 47:55 what happened? Something changed because you're here with 47:57 us today. Living back in America So what happened? 48:01 Yeah we'll give you the cliff note version. We received a call 48:07 and that call was, we've got some ideas, we need to talk. 48:12 and that call was from AFM and they said that we have this 48:17 transition. We want you to think about this. And we said well let 48:21 us pray and fast about this. And we fasted and prayed for a month 48:24 and then had a meeting and then decided that though we had 48:31 dedicated our lives to over there, God made it so clear that 48:35 he was calling us to transition Erin into director of 48:40 development and me becoming a field director that 48:43 unfortunately, even though we had to say goodbye there we knew 48:46 that God was leading us to these positions. And you know in that 48:52 transition God worked a miracle. As we were leaving the country 48:59 We had to go into the airport. 49:01 We were bringing our cats back and I'll let Erin share about 49:05 getting into the building. (Oh wow yeah) 49:07 Well basically what ended up happening is one of our cats got 49:11 so scared that she attacked my hand and she was biting down so 49:15 deep she bit into the muscle. And I was bloody, it was 49:20 terrible but the Lord used that experience right there at the 49:24 airport to get us into the airport where we were having 49:29 trouble getting everybody in to help us navigate all this 49:32 process. It was a huge day at the airport. It was the last day 49:36 They were closing down the country because of COVID and we 49:40 learned later ours was the last flight out and because they 49:46 shuffled us into business class instead of the normal area 49:47 because of my hand, they expedited the whole process 49:50 because of my hand, we were able to get through all of this 49:55 process. It took three hours but we were able to get to our 49:59 gate in time to get on the plane and all because of my hand. 50:01 So at that moment praise God for that cat bite. (Absolutely) 50:05 Everything works out, right? 50:07 Yes, her hand swelled. We could see the infection and just 50:12 before landing back in the states we had prayed several 50:15 times. The swelling was gone, infection was gone God literally 50:20 worked a miracle in healing her hand in a flight. 50:23 Wow! That's amazing. Praise the Lord. You guys have an amazing 50:28 story and I have a hunch that this isn't going to be the last 50:30 time you are here. I can imagine the Lord's going to bring you 50:34 back here at 3ABN to tell even more of your story. But I have 50:37 to ask in the minute or so we have left before we go to a 50:40 break, there may be someone watching right now that says man 50:43 I'm inspired by these missionaries and what they're 50:45 doing through Adventist Frontier Missions. How can someone get 50:49 involved or you know contact you guys as to maybe even support 50:53 Adventist Frontier Missions and missionaries like yourselves? 50:57 Sure, yes. Well there's three main things that we ask of 50:59 people, but first and foremost is that you pray. Be purposeful 51:03 in praying for us because there is so much going on. There are 51:07 so many different things. We need prayer backup. And the 51:11 second thing is get involved financially. Like I was saying 51:15 before; everyone has a part to play in reaching the lost and so 51:18 you can reach out to AFM support a project, support a missionary 51:22 support the structure that's going on behind in the scenes. 51:25 And the third thing is we are praying every day for more 51:31 workers and so if you feel the Lord putting a burden on your 51:34 heart, please, reach out to us. We have places for you to go. 51:38 Amen, amen. Well my friends listen. You may have been 51:41 inspired by what you've heard today. You want to support 51:43 Adventist Frontier Missions or you want to get into missionary 51:47 work yourself, well this is how you do it: 51:50 If you would like to contact or know more about Adventist 51:54 Frontier Missions you can do so in the following ways: You can 51:58 write to them at P.O. Box 286 Berrien Springs, MI 49103 52:05 You can call them at (800) 937-4236 52:17 You can send them an email at EWhite@AFMOnline.org 52:28 Or visit their website AFMOnline.org |
Revised 2022-09-26