January 21, 2025 • 36 mins
Karen Keagy shares her journey from growing up in the Amazon jungle to becoming a grandmother, highlighting divine encounters and the importance of family legacy. Her stories of adventure, missionary work, and faith inspire listeners to embrace God’s calling on their lives.
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Stephanie (00:01):
Hi, this is Stephanie Shafer and you're listening to
the NorthStar Narrative, apodcast from NorthStar Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, welcome to 2025.
(00:22):
So this is our second podcastof the new year and I'm super
excited for the guests that wehave.
Today.
We have Karen Keagy.
She was raised in the Amazonjungles of Peru as the seventh
child of Wycliffe Bibletranslators Wes and Eva Thiessen
, who translated the NewTestament for the Boris people.
After high school, she came tothe US to earn a B.
(00:45):
A in elementary education fromOral Roberts University, where
she met and married her ,B arry.
Together they spent over twodecades in Peru with Wycliffe,
during which they celebrated thecompletion of 24 New Testament
translations.
Karen has served as a teacher,a school principal, a center
hostess and more, traveling allover Peru to support translation
(01:07):
teams.
Now she's a mother of threegrown children and a proud
grandmother of nine.
She continues to serve withWycliffe and uses her free time
to hike garden, play piano,encourage people of all ages to
live wholeheartedly for God, andit is a huge pleasure to be
able to have her on the podcasttoday.
So welcome, Karen.
Well, thank you.
Karen (01:29):
It's an honor for me to be here, and this should be a
lot of fun.
Stephanie (01:33):
Yeah, Karen actually knows Kathy McKinney on her
staff and was able to work withher in Lima, peru, so she
introduced us.
So, Karen, you told mesomething really fascinating
that you, at three years old,had your first machete and knew
how to use it.
So, really interested in thatstory, could you tell us more?
Karen (01:57):
Well, because my parents were working in the jungle.
We had to learn how to live inthe jungle and, honestly, it was
just normal natural life for us.
But we had a lot of poisonoussnakes where we lived, so we all
had machetes by the time.
We were little and we knew thatwe didn't go into the jungle
after 530 at night.
We bathed in the creek, but wealways went in when it was still
(02:17):
light.
If it was getting kind of dark,that's when the snakes would
come out.
So, um, yeah, I had my ownmachete at three and four and I
would cut the grass.
We always kept the grass downto bear, like basically down to
the dirt around the house, sothat if any snake were to be
close to the house, you'd see it.
So, yeah, wow, I still havethat machete here.
(02:38):
Actually, when I talk to kids,I will bring it with me and show
them.
It was a short one.
Stephanie (02:51):
That's wow, an adventure, adventure in the
jungle Really cool.
What's one of your funniest ormost memorable childhood moments
from living in the Amazon?
Karen (02:56):
Well, I think I'll tell you about when I was six or
seven years old.
We had a cattle project out inthe village.
Mom and dad wanted to help thepeople have a source of meat if
they couldn't get anything inthe hunting, and so they brought
cattle and daddy was buildingpastures.
So we girls my older sisters, ayear and a half older than me
we went out and he was puttingin fence posts, making a bigger
(03:19):
pasture, and he would do all theyou know, digging the hole, and
then he would tell us to bringthe pole between the two of us
and he would put it in the hole.
Well, we were playing actuallyI think we found a dead opossum
that day and we were, we wereplaying with the little babies
that were were there, and all ofa sudden we heard him say Joy,
Karen, bring me a pole.
(03:41):
And we looked over and it waslike daddy, where are you?
And he's like just bring it toto where you I was before.
And so we walked down thislittle path between the tall
grass and we were just aboutready to take another step and
he goes stop.
And we looked down and he wasin a sink hole.
He'd actually been um standingthere working on this and all of
(04:04):
a sudden the ground just openedup underneath him and he was
over his head in a hole.
And a lot of times we lostcattle that way, because the
ground would just open up andthey would not be able to get
out and so they would die.
And so he called us, we saw him, we put the, we put the log on
top of it and he was able topull himself out of his machete
so he could dig little steps.
Anyway, we ran home.
(04:24):
Honestly, as children we justthought that was so funny.
Daddy fell on a whole day.
It's kind of a silly memory,but it was one that we just
laughed a lot about.
Stephanie (04:35):
Our dad appeared that day.
So many incredible memories,but another one you tell me
about which is just really cool.
I can't wait to hear the timethat you think you saw an angel.
Can you give us a quick littlesummary of that experience?
Karen (04:52):
Well, so that see how I can put it quick we had.
Actually, this is when myhusband and I were in Peru.
Our youngest child was abouttwo years old and it was
Mother's Day and Barry had saidwhat do you want to do for
Mother's Day?
And I loved riding motorcycles.
We had borrowed the biggestmotorcycle in the center from a
friend and you know I'm barefootand we're just out for a ride.
(05:14):
Levi is sitting on the tank ofthe motorcycle.
We're on dirt roads out in thejungle and we came to this mud
puddle and slowed down and afour-gun gunman with masks on
came out and they held us up.
And that was just a miracle ofGod, because, whatever their
intent to do, god didn't permitit.
(05:37):
They took the motorcycle andhid the motorcycle in the bushes
and I'm thinking, okay, we'rebuying our friend a new
motorcycle.
Okay, we're buying our friend anew motorcycle.
But in that 15 minutes that theyheld us, I had a conversation
with them the entire time,because at first I thought, well
, I'm a Peruvian by birth, Ihave a Peruvian passport, and I
was like I was thinking it's akidnapping, and so I was trying
(05:58):
to convince them why would youkidnap another Peruvian, my
baby's Peruvian.
And then I thought, no, itmight be better to be an
American, because then it's aninternational incident.
And so, long story short, thosepoor men did not know what to
do with this American lady whonever stopped talking to them,
and they asked us if there wasanything they could steal.
(06:20):
And you know, I flipped mywedding ring around and I had
another little band from Walmarton my right hand, because in
Peru your marriage hand is yourright.
So God kept them from seeing mydiamond on my left hand and I
was able to take my right ringoff and give that to them.
And the whole time, you know,we were saying we have two other
(06:40):
children we had left at home.
Just let us go, what do youwant?
And they said, no, no, no, it'sokay, senora, we're going to
send you home.
And we thought well, you know,obviously without the motorcycle
.
They gave us back themotorcycle and made us go home
the long way, but we didn't.
They hadn't even stolen themirrors, the gas, nothing, which
(07:01):
was totally.
They can take everything off ofit in a minute.
So we got the motorcycle.
We came home on furlough, wewere gone a year.
We get back to Peru.
And my neighbor said to me oneday hey, you want to go for a
motorcycle ride and Barry didn'twant to go that day.
And so we took off on themotorcycles.
My daughter was with me, shewas probably around seven or
(07:24):
eight maybe, and so we hadactually gone out the direction
where we'd been held up a yearbefore, but not there was a.
There was a four way stop andwe didn't stop on that one.
So our neighbor stopped on theway back and said hey, I heard
you got held up here a year ago.
You know where was it?
Can you show me?
And I looked over and I waslike well, now there's a house
there.
(07:44):
It's not so much you knownobody around, there's a house,
it's cleared.
And I thought I don't live withfear, sure, I'll take you over
there.
And we were stopped on thislittle trail.
It was a big cattle pasture forsome other people, but there's
a road between the pastures andso we're stopped there and,
(08:09):
seriously, out of nowhere, thisman on a horse comes and he's
got a yellow pinafore, like weused to wear to play sports.
And I mean I hadn't really seenanybody on horseback in that
area, but I certainly hadn'tseen anybody with a pinafore, it
was a yellow pinafore and so hesaid Senora, you don't want to
go that way, cause we werecontemplating going down the
(08:31):
road where we'd been held up and, um, you know, that's all it
took for us to go.
Okay, we know we're going to go.
And so we took off going backthe way that we had come, and my
daughter and I looked aroundbecause, you know, then you're
kind of like where was that guyfrom?
Because there was no houses,that from the direction he came,
and I mean, there was no jungle, it was just grass.
(08:53):
And so we looked back and hewas not there, like he.
I don't know where he went, hewasn't there.
So I was actually teaching thehigh schoolers that next couple
weeks later and I was talkingabout all the ways God still
speaks to his people, and I waskind of going through them and
you know, I think, oh, godhasn't talked to me this way,
and then the Lord would remindme, well, actually.
(09:14):
And so I came to the one withthe angel and I was like, well,
I've never seen an angel.
And my daughter looks at me,she goes Mom, remember the guy
in the horseback?
You know, I won't know untilI'm in heaven.
But the more I thought about it, the more I'm like I don't know
where he came from and I don'tknow where he went.
But when we got because wedidn't go that way we went to a
(09:35):
friend's house.
We stopped and had coffee andyou know, I told her about this
incident and she said didn't youhear?
And I said hear what she said.
There was someone killed onthat road last week.
Well, I've been gone.
I had no idea.
So God protected us and wedidn't go that way.
Stephanie (10:01):
That's incredible.
Yeah, god gives us right whatwe need.
We need it and, yeah,protecting.
Karen (10:05):
So many stories from missionaries all over the world
and, yeah, protecting so manystories from missionaries all
over the world.
I think the greater miracle forus was that God took the fear.
It's not that I didn't sensethe fear in the moment, but I
will tell you that I felt thepresence of God in a very
tangible way and I've hadfriends who've been held up
walking down the sidewalk orwhatever in Lima, and you know,
(10:25):
each of our experiences aredifferent, but I just thank God
because it it wasn't somethingthat caused ongoing trauma and
that's that's a gift, that's a,that's a touch of God.
Stephanie (10:39):
It is Praise God for your many, many experiences.
Well, I could keep asking youall kinds of questions like that
, Cause I know you've got somany all the years, but one that
stands out so much is the 24translations that you and your
husband were able to do and beto be in.
(11:03):
As you just look back overthese years as a child growing
up and then now as a grandmotherand so much life experience we
could keep you here all daylearning from you and your
wisdom.
But when you think of 24translations, what are you most
proud of during that time?
Karen (11:26):
Well, I think I need to clarify something that many
churches don't understand.
My mom and dad actually weretranslators, so they spent a
lifetime translating one NewTestament and they didn't have a
written language when they werethere, so they had to learn the
language, come up with analphabet and translate, and
that's a lengthy process.
So the 24 that were umdedicated, we participated in
(11:47):
that.
My husband worked in finances,he was the center director for a
while.
I worked in hospitality, I wasa teacher, I taught the
missionary kids.
It takes a team to translate,so we were not the translators.
I have a sister who translateda new testament on Easter Island
and my mom and dad but Barryand I were support workers, and
(12:07):
so you know I think what wasamazing was because I'd grown up
there, my parents were some ofthe pioneers with Wycliffe in
Peru when Uncle Cam, our founder, was there, and so you know
those languages this is beforecomputers and they took years
and years and every verse waswritten out on a three-by-five
(12:29):
card.
And you know we dedicated theBore New Testament in 1980, but
I come back in 1993 as an adultand work as an adult there and a
lot of those New Testamentswere coming to completion so
fine.
The joy for me was that, youknow, a lot of my friends
(12:49):
growing up, had grown up inthose cultures, and I got to be
there when we saw one NewTestament after another New
Testament, after another NewTestament, because those early
years there would be years andyears and years before you
celebrate the dedication of one.
And then I was in a seasonwhere, you know, computers had
come on the scene at the veryend of when my parents were, you
(13:11):
know, putting the New Testament.
They put it on the cassettetape back in the early day of
computers, you know.
So computers were making thingseasier, but it was like, all of
a sudden, there's just thismomentum of one after another
being completed.
So we have like 50 NewTestaments in Peru now, in
(13:31):
different languages.
It was an incredible season andwe saw the Lord raise up the
people as mother tonguetranslators.
Then, you know, they have theirschools, they have their New
Testaments and they want the OldTestament, and so a lot of what
my husband and I worked in wasjust coming alongside of them to
(13:51):
see how we could support them,train them, do the, you know,
find the consultants for theirprojects.
So we got to be.
We weren't the pioneers, wewere the ones that came worked
(14:13):
when they worked that way andthen seeing how things had to
change and were changing.
But we could appreciate boththe past and the present because
we had been raised there, whichwas really quite amazing that
so many of us had gone back assecond generation missionaries.
Stephanie (14:31):
It is, yeah, amazing that so many of us had gone back
as second generationmissionaries.
It is yeah.
And whether you're the oneputting on a three by five card
or tying it all together, youknow, no matter what your job is
, support it's part of doingwhat God calls us to do the
Great Commission and sharingGod's word and getting it out
there.
And I love one of my favoritethings when anybody asks about
(14:51):
NorthStar, I always go back tothe beginning.
That we are literally founded onGod's Word, because the whole
purpose was to keep Wycliffemissionaries on the field so
they could work in whatever areathey were in the translation
and their kids could still getschool.
So I consider my job is to help, because we still help Wycliffe
(15:13):
missionaries today and manyother missionaries.
So all of us always encourageall of our faculty staff,
teachers, everybody.
We play a little tiny role ineach of those translations, you
know, and getting it into thehands of so many people.
So, yeah, I consider it all.
We all in the kingdom worktogether.
Karen (15:30):
And I love that.
And, if I can take just amoment, I want to thank every
person who has actuallysupported you know somebody
who's overseas and been involvedin any way, because it really
does take a huge team, so nobodydoes it alone.
Stephanie (15:46):
Yeah.
Karen (15:46):
Yeah.
Stephanie (15:47):
Our mission.
Even though it's been manyyears since we were founded in
1998, we remain true.
That's our number one goal tokeep missionaries on the field
and support the kids and thefamilies, and so it's just such
a delight to be able to do thatand get up every morning, no
matter where we are all aroundthe world.
Karen (16:04):
Thank you, thank you for what you do.
Stephanie (16:07):
Yeah, so love hearing your story.
So now you're a grandma of ninenine grandchildren.
How has being a grandmothershifted your perspective on life
and faith?
Karen (16:33):
overseas and then they passed, one set passed when I
was younger and then the otherswere in the home.
But I didn't have their inputin my life and I think what is
humbling and stunning to me isthat our grandchildren, like we,
have this direct door open intotheir lives and the love that
they give us.
Um, it is just.
(16:54):
It is a beautiful thing.
I've heard people talk about itbut I never really understood
it because I didn't know mygrandparents and my husband
really didn't know his and havethat closeness with his.
So I think that theresponsibility you know of what
does it mean to be a preparinggrandmother?
You know of what does it meanto be a preparing grandmother?
(17:15):
And how do I speak into theiridentity, how do I help them to
know who they really have beencreated to be?
And the calling and to speakthat destiny over their lives
and to you know, speak intotheir lives.
You know one of my firstinteractions that was memorable
to me, when my when my oldest,second oldest grandson, you know
, was having conversation and hehad that choice at one point to
(17:40):
pester his brother or not, andI could see it in his eye.
I knew that there was this.
You know that moment whereyou're going to go.
Am I going to be good or am Igoing to be a stinker?
Here, and grandma could say Ihave that same battle.
I have moments where I, toohave to decide.
(18:02):
Am I going to be kind, am Igoing to do the right thing or
say the kind thing, or am Igoing to be a stinker thing or
say the kind thing, or am Igoing to be a stinker?
And and just the way that Godhas opened these opportunities
to speak into my kids, mygrandkids, lives and, um, even
something that God had reallybrought home to me a year ago,
(18:23):
um or less than that.
It was sometime in 24.
I was reading the verse in inPsalm 32, and it says he will
guide you with his eye, oranother version.
Let me read it here.
It says I will counsel you withmy loving eye on you.
And I just had this massiverevelation in the moment.
I read the verse so many timesand it was like God could lead
(18:46):
us.
He does lead us with his righthand and that.
But when he says I we have tomake eye contact right, and eye
contact is something that we do,we're vulnerable and we're we
see love.
It communicates a love.
And if I refuse to look atsomeone, it's because I feel
shame or I've done something Idon't want to.
(19:07):
And so I'm bringing that to mygrandchildren.
And you know, one time one ofthem had gotten into a bit of
trouble and we were taking careof him and I was just like, look
at me, look at me.
And they didn't want to look atme because they knew that they
had done something theyshouldn't have.
And so you know to say, look atme, because I want you to see
(19:28):
the love in my eyes.
I want you to see the love inmy eyes.
I want you to know that Iaccept you and there's no shame,
because your battle is the samebattle.
I have the same want to go domy own thing or to disobey.
It's not your battle alone,it's all of us.
And so to say, look at me,because I can't communicate my
(19:52):
love and my acceptance.
There's no shame, we're justhaving a conversation, you
acknowledge, you know, and so.
And to even say, when you wantto look at me, it's because you
don't feel badly.
And so, before the Savior, youknow, it's like wow, if I'm
going to know what he's guidingme with, I have to look at him.
Wow, if I'm going to know whathe's guiding me with, I have to
(20:12):
look at him.
And if I'm going to look at him, that means I have to have a
clear conscience, because wedon't look at somebody that we
don't feel good about.
And so, as the Lord just openedup that whole, what does it
mean to be led of the spirit,you know, led by his eye?
I thought this has beensomething that's been so cool to
share with my grandkids,because it's a real tangible um.
(20:34):
It's vulnerability, it'sintimacy.
There's a lot of ways God couldlead us, and does, but he
wanted it to be completelyintimate.
Stephanie (20:44):
So yeah, that's so sweet and special and that you
have that type of relationshipand just thinking some people
might be listening, whether it'swith their kids or whether it's
their grandchildren um, how doyou build those types of
relationship where you can havethose vulnerable conversations
and just be able to get to thatpoint?
Karen (21:07):
you know, we don't live near our grandkids.
We're praying about moving tobe closer to them, but we see
them maybe once or twice a year,a couple times a year.
So it's a longing that we have.
But when we're with them, youknow, I just, every opportunity
that I have to speak, identityover them and really, you know,
(21:29):
even with the eye thing guiding,with your eye, it's it's, it
speaks our identity.
We see that reflection of howthey feel about us and so I just
love my kids as much as I canin a way that um makes them feel
safe.
Yeah, and I and I do have longconversations.
You know, if they want to throwa little tantrum or whatever,
(21:56):
you know I try to relate to it.
Don't trust me, I'm not aperfect grandma, but I, you know
, I've even said hey, I don't dothat.
So you know if you want to havethat, and it's interesting to
me because, oh, okay, grandma,you know I have grandchildren
that obviously love me and so ifI correct them they're not
(22:22):
running away from me.
I think they're actuallyhappier when they know their
boundaries.
I believe that now, again, I'mabsolutely sure I have more
patience with my owngrandchildren probably than I
had with my children, if I couldgo back and do things
differently with my children.
There are things, yes, why didI pick that hill to die on?
(22:45):
But again, as a grandmother nowI know I knew this was, but I
didn't know why.
And so you know.
Even the family table it was atradition in my family.
We ate around the table threetimes a day and we told stories.
My daddy, it wasn't where, thekids had to be quiet.
(23:06):
We all told stories, we laughedand then, of course, there was
coffee time in the morning,there was coffee time in the
afternoon.
We spent an immense amount oftime around the table.
I knew I wanted that for my kids, but I didn't really understand
the sacredness of the table.
Jesus invites us to a table, hesets a banqueting table before
us in the presence of ourenemies.
There's communion, there'sfellowship.
(23:28):
The table is something that issacred because we are offering
people a place and a space toget to know each other, to be
seen, to be heard, to enjoy goodfood and fellowship.
And you know, I think ifthere's something that I want to
see continued with my owngrandchildren is the value of
(23:52):
that time at the table where youcan be heard.
Let's talk, let's let's laugh,let's tell stories, let's dawdle
, let's not just.
You know, as a child, I got alittle tired of how long we
spent at the table.
But as an adult, as a child, Igot a little tired of how long
we spent at the table.
But as an adult, as agrandmother, I'm like, oh, I
(24:13):
want to offer that to mygrandchildren.
Where there is a, there's aplace where we're going to,
you're going to have myattention at the table.
Might have a lot to do duringthe day, but the table, that's
sacred, and how do we, how do webring that and communicate that
?
I think that's, that's ourchallenge.
Stephanie (24:31):
That's incredible.
Absolutely love the wisdom.
Yeah, you're bringing right nowand so thankful to be able to
hear that.
And as you look back, you said,yeah, you, you would have done
stuff different as all parents.
Um, but as you look back, whatwas it like being a child, a TCK
, and then raising TCKs?
(24:53):
How did you do some of the samethings?
What did you learn?
Yeah, and you've told us howyou've kind of transitioned into
being a grandmother.
But go back a little bit andtell us maybe a favorite story
or what comes to mind.
Karen (25:07):
I think, when I think about my own life and when I
share with them you know theparents that are heading
overseas.
One of the things I always tellthem is, I think, why my family
loved our favorite place in theworld was to be in this home in
the village.
And we had two homes ourmission center home and our
village home.
And we worked hard as a family,we played hard as a family, we
(25:29):
prayed together as a family.
But I think the reason why ourchildhood was not perfect but
beautiful was because my parentsalways made us part of what
they did.
They you know from the timethat my mom and dad, we would be
in the village and they.
There was no medical care, wewere very remote, and so they
learned how to give shots, theylearned how to take care of the
(25:50):
TB patients, and I can rememberas a three-year-old walking
through the jungle and goingwith my daddy, and you know,
helping him build the pasture,or we built a road.
It was a swamp and I carried alot of dirt and I mean we worked
hard, but we did it as a family, and so, you know, I just
encourage whatever your ministryis.
(26:11):
God doesn't call adults, hecalls families.
And so when my family, you know, we thought we were going for a
year, we stayed for five in thejungle.
We ended up staying 21, and 11of those were in the jungle and
10 were in Lima.
But when we moved to Lima ourkids didn't want to go and we
didn't.
Actually, I always said Icouldn't live in Lima.
Don't tell God you can't livein somewhere, he'll take you
(26:33):
there.
But we told the kids God wouldnot call us to Lima if he
weren't calling you.
He calls families and there aredoors that kids will open that
parents will never have theopportunity.
I mean, my sisters learned Borabefore my parents did.
They were the ones that led somany of the villagers to Christ
(26:55):
because they were fluent.
And so when daddy was, you know, starting to translate, he
would give my older sisters ascripture verse or you know a
few verses, and say go haveBible club with the kids.
And so many of the people cameto Christ with my sisters not my
parents sharing the scripture.
And so you know, we were partof what my parents did with our
(27:18):
ministry, because we weren'ttranslators, we weren't in the
village, you know.
We wanted our kids to know thatwe all had a purpose and I
think you know as hard as it wasfor that move to Lima.
You know all of my kids loveLima now, but I think if you
(27:42):
were to ask them individually,they could each share reasons
why they believe God took us toLima.
You know that there werereasons that God had for them,
people for them to influence andwhose lives they were to touch.
So those are some of thosethings.
You know.
Even now I've grown MKs.
They all three got to go backhome to Lima this last year.
Their brother, their youngest,is a pilot and he was able to
(28:04):
make that, facilitate that forthem.
And you know, I think when hesays, mom, I just need to go
home, I think he appreciates thefact that mom gets it Like
there are times where, just likeI live between all these worlds
, I look like an American and Iam an American.
So you assume that I think likeyou, but I don't.
I improve, I never quite fit,because I have a Peruvian
(28:27):
passport.
I've lived there 35 years of mylife but I'm not, you know,
obviously, a native.
I I'm bilingual, but I'm I'mAmerican, so I'm a gringa, as we
would say.
So you know, my kids have livedin that space too and when they
really just go, oh, I just wantto be home.
What's home, you know?
But I get it.
(28:47):
It's like you're always livingbetween cultures, always you
know, learning, and so, anyway,I think the kids appreciate the
fact that mom gets it and, yeah,and I love the fact that they
embrace.
They embrace their childhoodjust gives you a bigger
(29:08):
perspective.
But for all the challenges ofbeing a third culture kid,
there's so much blessing andbenefit in it.
Stephanie (29:20):
Yeah, that's such a blessing, I know, for all TCKs
listening and the parents andbut I love it doing it as a
family and God calls familiesand if you're listening and
you're not overseas right now,if you're in your home country,
like I am, you still can do itas a family.
We're still all ministers,right, and so I love that.
(29:40):
And I've got two olderdaughters, but I've got a son we
had later on in life and sototally different raising a boy
and all the energy and so myhusband's a pastor and just
being able to incorporate him,like we had the senior adults
over a bunch of them and did apancake breakfast and he helped
serve and talk to them andinteract and just being able to
(30:03):
love on them.
And so, yeah, we try to do thatand I'm really trying to do it
more.
And so, yeah, we try to do thatand I'm really trying to do it
more.
So, whoever may be listening,anything and everything is
opportunities to involve yourfamily.
So, yeah, so much good wisdomin that and then being at the
table and being able to talkabout what was great with that
or what was not, or you know andtell the stories.
I love, love, love hearing that.
(30:25):
All right, any advice, wisdomyou would give.
Maybe someone's listening rightnow that kind of feels like, oh
, I think God's calling me tomissions or calling me to get
out of my comfort zone in someway.
What would you tell them aboutlistening to God, about pursuing
that?
Karen (30:44):
I always tell people that the best place to be is smack
dab in the middle of God's will,the safest place.
You know, we were held up atgunpoint but God protected us.
Now I know that there's otherstories, there's hard stuff, and
yet I will still say absolutelythe best place to be, the
greatest adventure.
(31:04):
If your life is boring and dull.
That's not what Jesus everasked of us as believers.
It's supposed to be exciting,it's supposed to be filled with
adventure and the greatestadventure we can have is with
Jesus.
So you know, if we're trying toself-protect by saying, well, no
, I can't do that God, we'rereally actually denying
ourselves of the greatestadventure that he wants to take
(31:25):
us on, because when we go withhim, then we see him.
You know greatest adventurethat he wants to take us on,
because when we go with him,then we see him.
You know, in my book I havechapters on how God put somebody
exactly where they needed to be, when they needed to be there
and when I needed to besomewhere, where I needed to be
there, where this resource camein, like we watched God do
miracles, because we needed them.
If I live in a place where Ifeel like I can self-protect and
(31:46):
I can kind of keep my liferisk-free.
Well then, am I going to seeGod the same way?
So is that really the life wewant?
You know, I think I just tellpeople go where God wants you,
because that's the greatest lifethat's.
That's where he's going toallow you to become who you're
really supposed to be.
Stephanie (32:06):
All right, you've been talking about your book.
Do you have a title for thebook or when that's coming out?
Karen (32:17):
I actually wasn't going to bring up my book.
So you know what?
I have the rough draft, andI've had an editor look at it,
and then I got overwhelmed justwith how to make it accessible
to more people.
So, no, god actually woke me up.
I feel very much like God wokeme up one day with a title which
is in Spanish, la Vida Sabrosa,but it doesn't translate in
English.
It did give me an idea of whatI was supposed to write, though.
(32:39):
It's like the yummy life, thetasty life, but in Spanish,
that's the idea is.
It's all about that idea thatlife was never supposed to be
boring.
You know, it was not supposedto be boring, and so, um, I've
played around with different, um, titles I don't yet know in
(33:01):
English.
I think the latest one, let mesee life as it was meant to be,
but I not set there la vidasabrosa.
I don't know, I don't know yet,but that is.
That is something that I'mpraying actively about god.
How do I finish this?
Because it's just a collectionof.
You know, god was never meantto be known here.
(33:22):
He was meant to be known in ourhearts, very personally, and so
you know how can I inviteothers not to what I've had.
I don't want you to live mylife.
I thought my message.
I want you to want more foryour own life.
I want more.
I want you to want to gofurther with Jesus than I've
ever gone and to recognize thathe wants to talk, he wants to
(33:43):
interact.
Stephanie (33:44):
So, so good.
I wrote down some of the thingsyou said.
Maybe you could title itsomething around the table oh
huh, I don't know if you couldwork that in, but that uh
resonated a lot.
Karen (33:57):
The table, yeah the fact that god gave it to me in
spanish was just like um lord,what does that mean?
And I realized too that, youknow, maybe it's supposed to be
translated, but I'm one of those, I'm not one that's going yes,
I want to write a book.
I'm writing a book because Godjust would not let me off the
hook.
Stephanie (34:16):
He's given you so many life experiences and wisdom
and I know one of the thingsyou said was you love to
challenge young people and, I'msure, everybody to live
wholeheartedly for God, andyou've definitely done that here
on the podcast today.
So and you'll continue to dothat in the book and yeah,
Stories will make people go.
Karen (34:37):
I didn't think that was you know, maybe that was God.
Oh wow, you know, god set thisthing.
Maybe that was really him.
So just no stories, that's whatI like to do.
Stephanie (34:48):
Yeah, you're a good storyteller, so I'm excited to
see what God's going to do thebook, the title he'll give you
and the perfect timing whenit'll launch and go out.
But I've so enjoyed talking toyou and just getting to know you
and hear some of your story.
I know there's many, many morestories you can tell here, but
thank you so much for just thelegacy you have already created
(35:12):
and how you're pouring that intoyour grandchildren and then,
yeah, continue to pour intoothers through avenues like the
podcast and to share in God'slove and great challenges.
So good, thank you so much.
Karen (35:26):
I couldn't say no because , before I left Peru, I told the
Lord.
It was one of those light bulbmoments where I realized that I
was not, I was not using what hehad given me, stewarding it all
.
Well, for various reasons andactually a lot of those are
because I felt like themotivations of my heart had been
challenged.
And so you, just, you know, youjust start to shut up, shut
(35:50):
that off of right.
And so I told the Lord if youopen opportunities, I promise
that I'll walk through, becauseI don't, yeah, it's not about me
, it's about him.
And if I'm saying no to anopportunity but he wants to use
some part of my life or somestory, some crazy thing, you
know, he's taught me who am I tosay no, and that's where I'm
(36:13):
just trying to learn how to sayyes.
Stephanie (36:16):
So, sam, Well, thank you so much for saying yes today
.
Really enjoyed hanging out withyou.
Good to talk to you too.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
(36:38):
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
upcoming stories.
Hi, this is Stephanie Shafer and you're listening to
the NorthStar Narrative, apodcast from NorthStar Academy.
I want to thank you for joiningus.
I hope you're encouraged,challenged and motivated by what
you learned today.
Enjoy the story.
Hey everybody, welcome to 2025.
(00:22):
So this is our second podcastof the new year and I'm super
excited for the guests that wehave.
Today.
We have Karen Keagy.
She was raised in the Amazonjungles of Peru as the seventh
child of Wycliffe Bibletranslators Wes and Eva Thiessen
, who translated the NewTestament for the Boris people.
After high school, she came tothe US to earn a B.
(00:45):
A in elementary education fromOral Roberts University, where
she met and married her ,B arry.
Together they spent over twodecades in Peru with Wycliffe,
during which they celebrated thecompletion of 24 New Testament
translations.
Karen has served as a teacher,a school principal, a center
hostess and more, traveling allover Peru to support translation
(01:07):
teams.
Now she's a mother of threegrown children and a proud
grandmother of nine.
She continues to serve withWycliffe and uses her free time
to hike garden, play piano,encourage people of all ages to
live wholeheartedly for God, andit is a huge pleasure to be
able to have her on the podcasttoday.
So welcome, Karen.
Well, thank you.
Karen (01:29):
It's an honor for me to be here, and this should be a
lot of fun.
Stephanie (01:33):
Yeah, Karen actually knows Kathy McKinney on her
staff and was able to work withher in Lima, peru, so she
introduced us.
So, Karen, you told mesomething really fascinating
that you, at three years old,had your first machete and knew
how to use it.
So, really interested in thatstory, could you tell us more?
Karen (01:57):
Well, because my parents were working in the jungle.
We had to learn how to live inthe jungle and, honestly, it was
just normal natural life for us.
But we had a lot of poisonoussnakes where we lived, so we all
had machetes by the time.
We were little and we knew thatwe didn't go into the jungle
after 530 at night.
We bathed in the creek, but wealways went in when it was still
(02:17):
light.
If it was getting kind of dark,that's when the snakes would
come out.
So, um, yeah, I had my ownmachete at three and four and I
would cut the grass.
We always kept the grass downto bear, like basically down to
the dirt around the house, sothat if any snake were to be
close to the house, you'd see it.
So, yeah, wow, I still havethat machete here.
(02:38):
Actually, when I talk to kids,I will bring it with me and show
them.
It was a short one.
Stephanie (02:51):
That's wow, an adventure, adventure in the
jungle Really cool.
What's one of your funniest ormost memorable childhood moments
from living in the Amazon?
Karen (02:56):
Well, I think I'll tell you about when I was six or
seven years old.
We had a cattle project out inthe village.
Mom and dad wanted to help thepeople have a source of meat if
they couldn't get anything inthe hunting, and so they brought
cattle and daddy was buildingpastures.
So we girls my older sisters, ayear and a half older than me
we went out and he was puttingin fence posts, making a bigger
(03:19):
pasture, and he would do all theyou know, digging the hole, and
then he would tell us to bringthe pole between the two of us
and he would put it in the hole.
Well, we were playing actuallyI think we found a dead opossum
that day and we were, we wereplaying with the little babies
that were were there, and all ofa sudden we heard him say Joy,
Karen, bring me a pole.
(03:41):
And we looked over and it waslike daddy, where are you?
And he's like just bring it toto where you I was before.
And so we walked down thislittle path between the tall
grass and we were just aboutready to take another step and
he goes stop.
And we looked down and he wasin a sink hole.
He'd actually been um standingthere working on this and all of
(04:04):
a sudden the ground just openedup underneath him and he was
over his head in a hole.
And a lot of times we lostcattle that way, because the
ground would just open up andthey would not be able to get
out and so they would die.
And so he called us, we saw him, we put the, we put the log on
top of it and he was able topull himself out of his machete
so he could dig little steps.
Anyway, we ran home.
(04:24):
Honestly, as children we justthought that was so funny.
Daddy fell on a whole day.
It's kind of a silly memory,but it was one that we just
laughed a lot about.
Stephanie (04:35):
Our dad appeared that day.
So many incredible memories,but another one you tell me
about which is just really cool.
I can't wait to hear the timethat you think you saw an angel.
Can you give us a quick littlesummary of that experience?
Karen (04:52):
Well, so that see how I can put it quick we had.
Actually, this is when myhusband and I were in Peru.
Our youngest child was abouttwo years old and it was
Mother's Day and Barry had saidwhat do you want to do for
Mother's Day?
And I loved riding motorcycles.
We had borrowed the biggestmotorcycle in the center from a
friend and you know I'm barefootand we're just out for a ride.
(05:14):
Levi is sitting on the tank ofthe motorcycle.
We're on dirt roads out in thejungle and we came to this mud
puddle and slowed down and afour-gun gunman with masks on
came out and they held us up.
And that was just a miracle ofGod, because, whatever their
intent to do, god didn't permitit.
(05:37):
They took the motorcycle andhid the motorcycle in the bushes
and I'm thinking, okay, we'rebuying our friend a new
motorcycle.
Okay, we're buying our friend anew motorcycle.
But in that 15 minutes that theyheld us, I had a conversation
with them the entire time,because at first I thought, well
, I'm a Peruvian by birth, Ihave a Peruvian passport, and I
was like I was thinking it's akidnapping, and so I was trying
(05:58):
to convince them why would youkidnap another Peruvian, my
baby's Peruvian.
And then I thought, no, itmight be better to be an
American, because then it's aninternational incident.
And so, long story short, thosepoor men did not know what to
do with this American lady whonever stopped talking to them,
and they asked us if there wasanything they could steal.
(06:20):
And you know, I flipped mywedding ring around and I had
another little band from Walmarton my right hand, because in
Peru your marriage hand is yourright.
So God kept them from seeing mydiamond on my left hand and I
was able to take my right ringoff and give that to them.
And the whole time, you know,we were saying we have two other
(06:40):
children we had left at home.
Just let us go, what do youwant?
And they said, no, no, no, it'sokay, senora, we're going to
send you home.
And we thought well, you know,obviously without the motorcycle
.
They gave us back themotorcycle and made us go home
the long way, but we didn't.
They hadn't even stolen themirrors, the gas, nothing, which
(07:01):
was totally.
They can take everything off ofit in a minute.
So we got the motorcycle.
We came home on furlough, wewere gone a year.
We get back to Peru.
And my neighbor said to me oneday hey, you want to go for a
motorcycle ride and Barry didn'twant to go that day.
And so we took off on themotorcycles.
My daughter was with me, shewas probably around seven or
(07:24):
eight maybe, and so we hadactually gone out the direction
where we'd been held up a yearbefore, but not there was a.
There was a four way stop andwe didn't stop on that one.
So our neighbor stopped on theway back and said hey, I heard
you got held up here a year ago.
You know where was it?
Can you show me?
And I looked over and I waslike well, now there's a house
there.
(07:44):
It's not so much you knownobody around, there's a house,
it's cleared.
And I thought I don't live withfear, sure, I'll take you over
there.
And we were stopped on thislittle trail.
It was a big cattle pasture forsome other people, but there's
a road between the pastures andso we're stopped there and,
(08:09):
seriously, out of nowhere, thisman on a horse comes and he's
got a yellow pinafore, like weused to wear to play sports.
And I mean I hadn't really seenanybody on horseback in that
area, but I certainly hadn'tseen anybody with a pinafore, it
was a yellow pinafore and so hesaid Senora, you don't want to
go that way, cause we werecontemplating going down the
(08:31):
road where we'd been held up and, um, you know, that's all it
took for us to go.
Okay, we know we're going to go.
And so we took off going backthe way that we had come, and my
daughter and I looked aroundbecause, you know, then you're
kind of like where was that guyfrom?
Because there was no houses,that from the direction he came,
and I mean, there was no jungle, it was just grass.
(08:53):
And so we looked back and hewas not there, like he.
I don't know where he went, hewasn't there.
So I was actually teaching thehigh schoolers that next couple
weeks later and I was talkingabout all the ways God still
speaks to his people, and I waskind of going through them and
you know, I think, oh, godhasn't talked to me this way,
and then the Lord would remindme, well, actually.
(09:14):
And so I came to the one withthe angel and I was like, well,
I've never seen an angel.
And my daughter looks at me,she goes Mom, remember the guy
in the horseback?
You know, I won't know untilI'm in heaven.
But the more I thought about it, the more I'm like I don't know
where he came from and I don'tknow where he went.
But when we got because wedidn't go that way we went to a
(09:35):
friend's house.
We stopped and had coffee andyou know, I told her about this
incident and she said didn't youhear?
And I said hear what she said.
There was someone killed onthat road last week.
Well, I've been gone.
I had no idea.
So God protected us and wedidn't go that way.
Stephanie (10:01):
That's incredible.
Yeah, god gives us right whatwe need.
We need it and, yeah,protecting.
Karen (10:05):
So many stories from missionaries all over the world
and, yeah, protecting so manystories from missionaries all
over the world.
I think the greater miracle forus was that God took the fear.
It's not that I didn't sensethe fear in the moment, but I
will tell you that I felt thepresence of God in a very
tangible way and I've hadfriends who've been held up
walking down the sidewalk orwhatever in Lima, and you know,
(10:25):
each of our experiences aredifferent, but I just thank God
because it it wasn't somethingthat caused ongoing trauma and
that's that's a gift, that's a,that's a touch of God.
Stephanie (10:39):
It is Praise God for your many, many experiences.
Well, I could keep asking youall kinds of questions like that
, Cause I know you've got somany all the years, but one that
stands out so much is the 24translations that you and your
husband were able to do and beto be in.
(11:03):
As you just look back overthese years as a child growing
up and then now as a grandmotherand so much life experience we
could keep you here all daylearning from you and your
wisdom.
But when you think of 24translations, what are you most
proud of during that time?
Karen (11:26):
Well, I think I need to clarify something that many
churches don't understand.
My mom and dad actually weretranslators, so they spent a
lifetime translating one NewTestament and they didn't have a
written language when they werethere, so they had to learn the
language, come up with analphabet and translate, and
that's a lengthy process.
So the 24 that were umdedicated, we participated in
(11:47):
that.
My husband worked in finances,he was the center director for a
while.
I worked in hospitality, I wasa teacher, I taught the
missionary kids.
It takes a team to translate,so we were not the translators.
I have a sister who translateda new testament on Easter Island
and my mom and dad but Barryand I were support workers, and
(12:07):
so you know I think what wasamazing was because I'd grown up
there, my parents were some ofthe pioneers with Wycliffe in
Peru when Uncle Cam, our founder, was there, and so you know
those languages this is beforecomputers and they took years
and years and every verse waswritten out on a three-by-five
(12:29):
card.
And you know we dedicated theBore New Testament in 1980, but
I come back in 1993 as an adultand work as an adult there and a
lot of those New Testamentswere coming to completion so
fine.
The joy for me was that, youknow, a lot of my friends
(12:49):
growing up, had grown up inthose cultures, and I got to be
there when we saw one NewTestament after another New
Testament, after another NewTestament, because those early
years there would be years andyears and years before you
celebrate the dedication of one.
And then I was in a seasonwhere, you know, computers had
come on the scene at the veryend of when my parents were, you
(13:11):
know, putting the New Testament.
They put it on the cassettetape back in the early day of
computers, you know.
So computers were making thingseasier, but it was like, all of
a sudden, there's just thismomentum of one after another
being completed.
So we have like 50 NewTestaments in Peru now, in
(13:31):
different languages.
It was an incredible season andwe saw the Lord raise up the
people as mother tonguetranslators.
Then, you know, they have theirschools, they have their New
Testaments and they want the OldTestament, and so a lot of what
my husband and I worked in wasjust coming alongside of them to
(13:51):
see how we could support them,train them, do the, you know,
find the consultants for theirprojects.
So we got to be.
We weren't the pioneers, wewere the ones that came worked
(14:13):
when they worked that way andthen seeing how things had to
change and were changing.
But we could appreciate boththe past and the present because
we had been raised there, whichwas really quite amazing that
so many of us had gone back assecond generation missionaries.
Stephanie (14:31):
It is, yeah, amazing that so many of us had gone back
as second generationmissionaries.
It is yeah.
And whether you're the oneputting on a three by five card
or tying it all together, youknow, no matter what your job is
, support it's part of doingwhat God calls us to do the
Great Commission and sharingGod's word and getting it out
there.
And I love one of my favoritethings when anybody asks about
(14:51):
NorthStar, I always go back tothe beginning.
That we are literally founded onGod's Word, because the whole
purpose was to keep Wycliffemissionaries on the field so
they could work in whatever areathey were in the translation
and their kids could still getschool.
So I consider my job is to help, because we still help Wycliffe
(15:13):
missionaries today and manyother missionaries.
So all of us always encourageall of our faculty staff,
teachers, everybody.
We play a little tiny role ineach of those translations, you
know, and getting it into thehands of so many people.
So, yeah, I consider it all.
We all in the kingdom worktogether.
Karen (15:30):
And I love that.
And, if I can take just amoment, I want to thank every
person who has actuallysupported you know somebody
who's overseas and been involvedin any way, because it really
does take a huge team, so nobodydoes it alone.
Stephanie (15:46):
Yeah.
Karen (15:46):
Yeah.
Stephanie (15:47):
Our mission.
Even though it's been manyyears since we were founded in
1998, we remain true.
That's our number one goal tokeep missionaries on the field
and support the kids and thefamilies, and so it's just such
a delight to be able to do thatand get up every morning, no
matter where we are all aroundthe world.
Karen (16:04):
Thank you, thank you for what you do.
Stephanie (16:07):
Yeah, so love hearing your story.
So now you're a grandma of ninenine grandchildren.
How has being a grandmothershifted your perspective on life
and faith?
Karen (16:33):
overseas and then they passed, one set passed when I
was younger and then the otherswere in the home.
But I didn't have their inputin my life and I think what is
humbling and stunning to me isthat our grandchildren, like we,
have this direct door open intotheir lives and the love that
they give us.
Um, it is just.
(16:54):
It is a beautiful thing.
I've heard people talk about itbut I never really understood
it because I didn't know mygrandparents and my husband
really didn't know his and havethat closeness with his.
So I think that theresponsibility you know of what
does it mean to be a preparinggrandmother?
You know of what does it meanto be a preparing grandmother?
(17:15):
And how do I speak into theiridentity, how do I help them to
know who they really have beencreated to be?
And the calling and to speakthat destiny over their lives
and to you know, speak intotheir lives.
You know one of my firstinteractions that was memorable
to me, when my when my oldest,second oldest grandson, you know
, was having conversation and hehad that choice at one point to
(17:40):
pester his brother or not, andI could see it in his eye.
I knew that there was this.
You know that moment whereyou're going to go.
Am I going to be good or am Igoing to be a stinker?
Here, and grandma could say Ihave that same battle.
I have moments where I, toohave to decide.
(18:02):
Am I going to be kind, am Igoing to do the right thing or
say the kind thing, or am Igoing to be a stinker thing or
say the kind thing, or am Igoing to be a stinker?
And and just the way that Godhas opened these opportunities
to speak into my kids, mygrandkids, lives and, um, even
something that God had reallybrought home to me a year ago,
(18:23):
um or less than that.
It was sometime in 24.
I was reading the verse in inPsalm 32, and it says he will
guide you with his eye, oranother version.
Let me read it here.
It says I will counsel you withmy loving eye on you.
And I just had this massiverevelation in the moment.
I read the verse so many timesand it was like God could lead
(18:46):
us.
He does lead us with his righthand and that.
But when he says I we have tomake eye contact right, and eye
contact is something that we do,we're vulnerable and we're we
see love.
It communicates a love.
And if I refuse to look atsomeone, it's because I feel
shame or I've done something Idon't want to.
(19:07):
And so I'm bringing that to mygrandchildren.
And you know, one time one ofthem had gotten into a bit of
trouble and we were taking careof him and I was just like, look
at me, look at me.
And they didn't want to look atme because they knew that they
had done something theyshouldn't have.
And so you know to say, look atme, because I want you to see
(19:28):
the love in my eyes.
I want you to see the love inmy eyes.
I want you to know that Iaccept you and there's no shame,
because your battle is the samebattle.
I have the same want to go domy own thing or to disobey.
It's not your battle alone,it's all of us.
And so to say, look at me,because I can't communicate my
(19:52):
love and my acceptance.
There's no shame, we're justhaving a conversation, you
acknowledge, you know, and so.
And to even say, when you wantto look at me, it's because you
don't feel badly.
And so, before the Savior, youknow, it's like wow, if I'm
going to know what he's guidingme with, I have to look at him.
Wow, if I'm going to know whathe's guiding me with, I have to
(20:12):
look at him.
And if I'm going to look at him, that means I have to have a
clear conscience, because wedon't look at somebody that we
don't feel good about.
And so, as the Lord just openedup that whole, what does it
mean to be led of the spirit,you know, led by his eye?
I thought this has beensomething that's been so cool to
share with my grandkids,because it's a real tangible um.
(20:34):
It's vulnerability, it'sintimacy.
There's a lot of ways God couldlead us, and does, but he
wanted it to be completelyintimate.
Stephanie (20:44):
So yeah, that's so sweet and special and that you
have that type of relationshipand just thinking some people
might be listening, whether it'swith their kids or whether it's
their grandchildren um, how doyou build those types of
relationship where you can havethose vulnerable conversations
and just be able to get to thatpoint?
Karen (21:07):
you know, we don't live near our grandkids.
We're praying about moving tobe closer to them, but we see
them maybe once or twice a year,a couple times a year.
So it's a longing that we have.
But when we're with them, youknow, I just, every opportunity
that I have to speak, identityover them and really, you know,
(21:29):
even with the eye thing guiding,with your eye, it's it's, it
speaks our identity.
We see that reflection of howthey feel about us and so I just
love my kids as much as I canin a way that um makes them feel
safe.
Yeah, and I and I do have longconversations.
You know, if they want to throwa little tantrum or whatever,
(21:56):
you know I try to relate to it.
Don't trust me, I'm not aperfect grandma, but I, you know
, I've even said hey, I don't dothat.
So you know if you want to havethat, and it's interesting to
me because, oh, okay, grandma,you know I have grandchildren
that obviously love me and so ifI correct them they're not
(22:22):
running away from me.
I think they're actuallyhappier when they know their
boundaries.
I believe that now, again, I'mabsolutely sure I have more
patience with my owngrandchildren probably than I
had with my children, if I couldgo back and do things
differently with my children.
There are things, yes, why didI pick that hill to die on?
(22:45):
But again, as a grandmother nowI know I knew this was, but I
didn't know why.
And so you know.
Even the family table it was atradition in my family.
We ate around the table threetimes a day and we told stories.
My daddy, it wasn't where, thekids had to be quiet.
(23:06):
We all told stories, we laughedand then, of course, there was
coffee time in the morning,there was coffee time in the
afternoon.
We spent an immense amount oftime around the table.
I knew I wanted that for my kids, but I didn't really understand
the sacredness of the table.
Jesus invites us to a table, hesets a banqueting table before
us in the presence of ourenemies.
There's communion, there'sfellowship.
(23:28):
The table is something that issacred because we are offering
people a place and a space toget to know each other, to be
seen, to be heard, to enjoy goodfood and fellowship.
And you know, I think ifthere's something that I want to
see continued with my owngrandchildren is the value of
(23:52):
that time at the table where youcan be heard.
Let's talk, let's let's laugh,let's tell stories, let's dawdle
, let's not just.
You know, as a child, I got alittle tired of how long we
spent at the table.
But as an adult, as a child, Igot a little tired of how long
we spent at the table.
But as an adult, as agrandmother, I'm like, oh, I
(24:13):
want to offer that to mygrandchildren.
Where there is a, there's aplace where we're going to,
you're going to have myattention at the table.
Might have a lot to do duringthe day, but the table, that's
sacred, and how do we, how do webring that and communicate that
?
I think that's, that's ourchallenge.
Stephanie (24:31):
That's incredible.
Absolutely love the wisdom.
Yeah, you're bringing right nowand so thankful to be able to
hear that.
And as you look back, you said,yeah, you, you would have done
stuff different as all parents.
Um, but as you look back, whatwas it like being a child, a TCK
, and then raising TCKs?
(24:53):
How did you do some of the samethings?
What did you learn?
Yeah, and you've told us howyou've kind of transitioned into
being a grandmother.
But go back a little bit andtell us maybe a favorite story
or what comes to mind.
Karen (25:07):
I think, when I think about my own life and when I
share with them you know theparents that are heading
overseas.
One of the things I always tellthem is, I think, why my family
loved our favorite place in theworld was to be in this home in
the village.
And we had two homes ourmission center home and our
village home.
And we worked hard as a family,we played hard as a family, we
(25:29):
prayed together as a family.
But I think the reason why ourchildhood was not perfect but
beautiful was because my parentsalways made us part of what
they did.
They you know from the timethat my mom and dad, we would be
in the village and they.
There was no medical care, wewere very remote, and so they
learned how to give shots, theylearned how to take care of the
(25:50):
TB patients, and I can rememberas a three-year-old walking
through the jungle and goingwith my daddy, and you know,
helping him build the pasture,or we built a road.
It was a swamp and I carried alot of dirt and I mean we worked
hard, but we did it as a family, and so, you know, I just
encourage whatever your ministryis.
(26:11):
God doesn't call adults, hecalls families.
And so when my family, you know, we thought we were going for a
year, we stayed for five in thejungle.
We ended up staying 21, and 11of those were in the jungle and
10 were in Lima.
But when we moved to Lima ourkids didn't want to go and we
didn't.
Actually, I always said Icouldn't live in Lima.
Don't tell God you can't livein somewhere, he'll take you
(26:33):
there.
But we told the kids God wouldnot call us to Lima if he
weren't calling you.
He calls families and there aredoors that kids will open that
parents will never have theopportunity.
I mean, my sisters learned Borabefore my parents did.
They were the ones that led somany of the villagers to Christ
(26:55):
because they were fluent.
And so when daddy was, you know, starting to translate, he
would give my older sisters ascripture verse or you know a
few verses, and say go haveBible club with the kids.
And so many of the people cameto Christ with my sisters not my
parents sharing the scripture.
And so you know, we were partof what my parents did with our
(27:18):
ministry, because we weren'ttranslators, we weren't in the
village, you know.
We wanted our kids to know thatwe all had a purpose and I
think you know as hard as it wasfor that move to Lima.
You know all of my kids loveLima now, but I think if you
(27:42):
were to ask them individually,they could each share reasons
why they believe God took us toLima.
You know that there werereasons that God had for them,
people for them to influence andwhose lives they were to touch.
So those are some of thosethings.
You know.
Even now I've grown MKs.
They all three got to go backhome to Lima this last year.
Their brother, their youngest,is a pilot and he was able to
(28:04):
make that, facilitate that forthem.
And you know, I think when hesays, mom, I just need to go
home, I think he appreciates thefact that mom gets it Like
there are times where, just likeI live between all these worlds
, I look like an American and Iam an American.
So you assume that I think likeyou, but I don't.
I improve, I never quite fit,because I have a Peruvian
(28:27):
passport.
I've lived there 35 years of mylife but I'm not, you know,
obviously, a native.
I I'm bilingual, but I'm I'mAmerican, so I'm a gringa, as we
would say.
So you know, my kids have livedin that space too and when they
really just go, oh, I just wantto be home.
What's home, you know?
But I get it.
(28:47):
It's like you're always livingbetween cultures, always you
know, learning, and so, anyway,I think the kids appreciate the
fact that mom gets it and, yeah,and I love the fact that they
embrace.
They embrace their childhoodjust gives you a bigger
(29:08):
perspective.
But for all the challenges ofbeing a third culture kid,
there's so much blessing andbenefit in it.
Stephanie (29:20):
Yeah, that's such a blessing, I know, for all TCKs
listening and the parents andbut I love it doing it as a
family and God calls familiesand if you're listening and
you're not overseas right now,if you're in your home country,
like I am, you still can do itas a family.
We're still all ministers,right, and so I love that.
(29:40):
And I've got two olderdaughters, but I've got a son we
had later on in life and sototally different raising a boy
and all the energy and so myhusband's a pastor and just
being able to incorporate him,like we had the senior adults
over a bunch of them and did apancake breakfast and he helped
serve and talk to them andinteract and just being able to
(30:03):
love on them.
And so, yeah, we try to do thatand I'm really trying to do it
more.
And so, yeah, we try to do thatand I'm really trying to do it
more.
So, whoever may be listening,anything and everything is
opportunities to involve yourfamily.
So, yeah, so much good wisdomin that and then being at the
table and being able to talkabout what was great with that
or what was not, or you know andtell the stories.
I love, love, love hearing that.
(30:25):
All right, any advice, wisdomyou would give.
Maybe someone's listening rightnow that kind of feels like, oh
, I think God's calling me tomissions or calling me to get
out of my comfort zone in someway.
What would you tell them aboutlistening to God, about pursuing
that?
Karen (30:44):
I always tell people that the best place to be is smack
dab in the middle of God's will,the safest place.
You know, we were held up atgunpoint but God protected us.
Now I know that there's otherstories, there's hard stuff, and
yet I will still say absolutelythe best place to be, the
greatest adventure.
(31:04):
If your life is boring and dull.
That's not what Jesus everasked of us as believers.
It's supposed to be exciting,it's supposed to be filled with
adventure and the greatestadventure we can have is with
Jesus.
So you know, if we're trying toself-protect by saying, well, no
, I can't do that God, we'rereally actually denying
ourselves of the greatestadventure that he wants to take
(31:25):
us on, because when we go withhim, then we see him.
You know greatest adventurethat he wants to take us on,
because when we go with him,then we see him.
You know, in my book I havechapters on how God put somebody
exactly where they needed to be, when they needed to be there
and when I needed to besomewhere, where I needed to be
there, where this resource camein, like we watched God do
miracles, because we needed them.
If I live in a place where Ifeel like I can self-protect and
(31:46):
I can kind of keep my liferisk-free.
Well then, am I going to seeGod the same way?
So is that really the life wewant?
You know, I think I just tellpeople go where God wants you,
because that's the greatest lifethat's.
That's where he's going toallow you to become who you're
really supposed to be.
Stephanie (32:06):
All right, you've been talking about your book.
Do you have a title for thebook or when that's coming out?
Karen (32:17):
I actually wasn't going to bring up my book.
So you know what?
I have the rough draft, andI've had an editor look at it,
and then I got overwhelmed justwith how to make it accessible
to more people.
So, no, god actually woke me up.
I feel very much like God wokeme up one day with a title which
is in Spanish, la Vida Sabrosa,but it doesn't translate in
English.
It did give me an idea of whatI was supposed to write, though.
(32:39):
It's like the yummy life, thetasty life, but in Spanish,
that's the idea is.
It's all about that idea thatlife was never supposed to be
boring.
You know, it was not supposedto be boring, and so, um, I've
played around with different, um, titles I don't yet know in
(33:01):
English.
I think the latest one, let mesee life as it was meant to be,
but I not set there la vidasabrosa.
I don't know, I don't know yet,but that is.
That is something that I'mpraying actively about god.
How do I finish this?
Because it's just a collectionof.
You know, god was never meantto be known here.
(33:22):
He was meant to be known in ourhearts, very personally, and so
you know how can I inviteothers not to what I've had.
I don't want you to live mylife.
I thought my message.
I want you to want more foryour own life.
I want more.
I want you to want to gofurther with Jesus than I've
ever gone and to recognize thathe wants to talk, he wants to
(33:43):
interact.
Stephanie (33:44):
So, so good.
I wrote down some of the thingsyou said.
Maybe you could title itsomething around the table oh
huh, I don't know if you couldwork that in, but that uh
resonated a lot.
Karen (33:57):
The table, yeah the fact that god gave it to me in
spanish was just like um lord,what does that mean?
And I realized too that, youknow, maybe it's supposed to be
translated, but I'm one of those, I'm not one that's going yes,
I want to write a book.
I'm writing a book because Godjust would not let me off the
hook.
Stephanie (34:16):
He's given you so many life experiences and wisdom
and I know one of the thingsyou said was you love to
challenge young people and, I'msure, everybody to live
wholeheartedly for God, andyou've definitely done that here
on the podcast today.
So and you'll continue to dothat in the book and yeah,
Stories will make people go.
Karen (34:37):
I didn't think that was you know, maybe that was God.
Oh wow, you know, god set thisthing.
Maybe that was really him.
So just no stories, that's whatI like to do.
Stephanie (34:48):
Yeah, you're a good storyteller, so I'm excited to
see what God's going to do thebook, the title he'll give you
and the perfect timing whenit'll launch and go out.
But I've so enjoyed talking toyou and just getting to know you
and hear some of your story.
I know there's many, many morestories you can tell here, but
thank you so much for just thelegacy you have already created
(35:12):
and how you're pouring that intoyour grandchildren and then,
yeah, continue to pour intoothers through avenues like the
podcast and to share in God'slove and great challenges.
So good, thank you so much.
Karen (35:26):
I couldn't say no because , before I left Peru, I told the
Lord.
It was one of those light bulbmoments where I realized that I
was not, I was not using what hehad given me, stewarding it all
.
Well, for various reasons andactually a lot of those are
because I felt like themotivations of my heart had been
challenged.
And so you, just, you know, youjust start to shut up, shut
(35:50):
that off of right.
And so I told the Lord if youopen opportunities, I promise
that I'll walk through, becauseI don't, yeah, it's not about me
, it's about him.
And if I'm saying no to anopportunity but he wants to use
some part of my life or somestory, some crazy thing, you
know, he's taught me who am I tosay no, and that's where I'm
(36:13):
just trying to learn how to sayyes.
Stephanie (36:16):
So, sam, Well, thank you so much for saying yes today
.
Really enjoyed hanging out withyou.
Good to talk to you too.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
If you have any questions forour guest or would like
information about Northstar,please email us.
At podcast at nsaschool, welove having guests on our show
(36:38):
and getting to hear theirstories.
If you have anyone in mind thatyou think would be a great
guest to feature, please emailus and let us know.
And don't forget to subscribeso you don't miss out on
upcoming stories.
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