Witham

“I always wanted to be a missionary...” No, that's not my story. When I was growing up, I had absolutely no interest in Missions. I didn't know anything about mission work, or anyone who was a missionary. When I was growing up, I had no interest in working in an office. The idea of being a secretary didn't appeal to me in the least. When I was growing up, I didn't have any interest in working overseas. I enjoyed where I lived very much.

But now I am an office worker for a mission overseas in Papua New Guinea, and I love it. So how does someone who had no previous interest end up as a missionary? Because God knew me better than I knew myself, and He was working in my life preparing me for what I do now.

“I could never be a missionary...” In my early twenties someone told me she didn't want to give her life to God because He would expect her to work in Africa. I responded, “I'm a Christian, and God hasn't sent me to Africa.” Even though at that time I was trying to understand what God wanted me to do with my life, I couldn't imagine that He was preparing me to go, not to Africa, but to far away Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific.

What my friend and I needed to know was that as a Christian, God might not need us in Africa. What He needs is for us to be available to serve Him wherever he can use our gifts. And it is God, not us, who knows our gifts the best, where we can be used the best, and where we will enjoy our work the most. That may be somewhere else in the world. Or it may be in our back yard. But the important thing is for us to be willing and available at all times for Him to decide where that will be. Then trust Him that “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

“I could never live overseas...” When I look back at my life as I was growing up, I can see that God prepared me for this work before I even had an inkling I was going to be doing this. I grew up in humid Southeast Pennsylvania, on a wooded property surrounded by wildlife. My sister and friends and I used to spend our free time riding Quarter horses. Now I'm living in humid Papua New Guinea, where there are also lots of trees and wildlife to enjoy.

At fourteen I became a penpal with a girl the same age from Northern India. As we grew up, we shared with each other how we lived and what we did on opposite sides of the world. Eventually when I was in my early twenties, my friend invited me to visit her in India for two weeks.

I didn't realize then how this trip would change my life. It opened my eyes to the world outside of my own country. The world suddenly grew very, very large to me, and it intrigued me to think what other cultures are out there besides India's.

“I'm no evangelist...” Neither am I. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I here?” I asked God that once. “Why don't You just swing us right up to heaven the instant we give our lives to Christ? Why do you keep us here on earth the rest of our lives?” The answer I got was, “To help bring the news of Jesus to others.” The number one work of every Christian here on earth is to enable others to hear God's Story about salvation through His Son Jesus. So, we are each to be a light to those around us, “always being ready to make a defense to every one who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)

But does that mean that every Christian has the job of being Billy Graham, and preaching God's Good News to the thousands? It has been explained to me that the work of evangelizing the world is like an army, which has its soldiers who fight the battle on the front line. But are they the only members of the army? How about the cooks who prepare the meals, the doctors and nurses who heal the wounded, the mechanics who fix the vehicles which break down? How about those in the homeland who are also a part of the war and are enabling the soldiers to do their job? The families who write encouraging words, the employees of companies who send over supplies, and the list goes on.

God has His own army too. Those in the front line are the evangelists, with the burning desire to preach the Good News to everyone. But there are many, many other God-given gifts to help the evangelists get God's Word out to the world.

Let me give you an example. I work now with Pioneer Bible Translators. PBT's work is to bring the Written Word to people in their own vernacular language. The language groups we work with initially do not have their language in a written form. We work alongside the people to create an alphabet in their own language, learn how to read in their own language, and then create books. But the most important book that they don't have in their own language is the Bible — God's history of how He saved mankind from sin through the death and resurrection of His own Son.

So, there is the work of evangelism to share God's News with the people. But there is also the work of Bible translation to translate the Bible into the vernacular language. There is the work of literacy, to teach people to read the Bible that has been translated. And there are many support jobs to enable the translators and literacy workers to do their work in the villages. Some of these would be administrators, logistics personnel, computer specialists, pilots to fly people and supplies in and out of the village, bookkeepers, people who buy supplies in town and send the supplies out to the village.

I am not an evangelist. My job is to typeset text on a desktop publishing program on my computer. I turn raw Bible verses on a computer disk translated by a Bible translator, into a nice looking book of scripture that a villager can hold in his hands and read that God loves him. Though I do not preach the Gospel to large groups, I am involved in the work of evangelism.

“I don't have any skills that God can use...” I was in my late twenties when I realized that God expects all of us to be involved in the work of evangelism in one way or another. I started praying and searching for the work that God wanted me to do. My first thought was that God would want me to volunteer at the church. I tried out different things: I was a choir member, I helped print church bulletins, and I helped with the prison ministry, the homeless ministry, and the ministry with the elderly. But I felt no strong pull towards any of these ministries, and felt God was still leading me elsewhere.

Then I took a vacation. God used my vacation to begin to show where He was leading me in my life. Believe it or not, I went on a cruise to the Caribbean islands that was sponsored by a Christian group, and had four Christian contemporary music groups along on the cruise.

One night I was sitting in the audience listening to Cynthia Clawson, one of the Christian singers. She had an absolutely gorgeous voice, and to go along with that she had a marvelous message to the audience about the love of God towards all people. While listening to her, I thought to myself, “How so, so blessed these singers are to have such a wonderful gift of voice to share the Gospel with people all over the world. I would be so happy to be able to do what they are doing and share God's message everywhere I went through my singing. If only I had such a voice. But I don't.” I walked outside after the performance, and in the darkness, looking out at the vast ocean, I told God how much I would love to be able to share His message like these singers do, but He hadn't given me a beautiful voice. And very clearly the answer came to me, “No, you may not have a beautiful voice, but God has given you your own beautiful gifts in order to help bring His message to the world. God created you and the skills you have, so He knows which gifts are most useful, and which will bring you the most enjoyment in being a part of God's work. All that matters is that you desire to use your gifts for His work, and God will show you what it is, and how to do it.”

This thought, that I had my own unique gifts that would be just as useful in bringing God's Word to the world as a contemporary Christian performer, or as a preacher, or an evangelist, was just so thrilling to me. Like the portholes in the ship which opened up to view a very large ocean, it was as if a window was opening in my life. Before that night I felt as if my skills weren't very important in the overall picture of bringing the Gospel to the world. I always thought, “I have no skill in talking with people, so I'll just do second best and help out with the small things.” But now God was telling me that no matter how small they might seem, my God-given gifts were just as important as anyone else's in the work of evangelism — and just as special and exciting. God created me with gifts especially made for me, and He would guide me to use them.

“But I have no special skills to be a missionary...” After I returned from my trip to India, I began working at different office jobs as a word processing operator. I really enjoyed the work, but would switch to a new job every two years. At the end of one of these two year periods, when I was asking myself where I would want to work next, I remembered my trip to India, and I thought how enjoyable it would be to have a job that allowed me to travel to different parts of the world. At the same time I was still trying to find the ministry God wanted me to have for evangelism.

Then one day, I remembered what a missionary had previously told me: the mission group she works with in Cameroon, Africa always has need of word processors and typists. All of a sudden it hit me: my desire for working at a new job, working overseas, and having a ministry could all be fulfilled if I worked for a mission overseas! It was so fantastic how God brought all those thoughts together to show me how He wanted me to use my “everyday” skills to help bring God's Word to the world.

As I was preparing to come here, I was told to take a course in desktop publishing, which is very similar to the word processing work I was doing. Before I came over here, there hadn't been that much typesetting work. But after I came, more and more PBT members had completed enough translated material that needed to be typeset. I have loved every minute of my job. Soon some translators will have completed the entire New Testament in the language group with which they are working, and I will be helping them to have it published into a book. What a thrill it will be to know that I helped enable people to read God's Word in their own language.

“I'll go anywhere, except...” I have learned one appropriate Scripture verse: “The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:19) I could apply this verse so well to my life in PNG from the start. My strength to accomplish all the seemingly impossible tasks does not come from myself, but from the Lord God.

Everyone's experiences living overseas are different. The translators working with Pioneer Bible Translators live out in the villages, with solar panels to power their batteries, no telephones, televisions, or paved roads. But because the work I do is support work for the translators, I live in town, with almost all of the modern conveniences that I had living in the States. I too have difficult challenges, like not seeing any of my family for two years at a time. But I know that God puts us each in the place that fits us best, and where we'll grow the most as we serve Him.

Though I had no interest in missions growing up, God used a humid, woody birthplace, a visit to a penpal, a cruise ship, and an office job to show me that I would like mission work, and that He had a place for me in His work of evangelism.

Birthday:

• Lori - May 17