March 1, 2025 • 50 mins
Joan shares her incredible journey of faith as she serves among unreached people groups in South Asia, highlighting the challenges, triumphs, and the spiritual battles encountered along the way. Her focus on empowering children as catalysts for community transformation underlines the deep compassion and love flowing through her mission work.
• Joan's personal crisis amid health emergencies
• The call to mission from an early age
• Life-changing experiences in remote villages
• The crucial role of children's empowerment
• Spiritual challenges and the essence of Buddhism
• Overcoming spiritual warfare through faith
• Closing prayers and reflections on the mission journey
"Life is life wherever you go."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years, myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work through the men and
women he has called to reach theunreached.
Hello friends, welcome back tothe Unreached Podcast.
Dustin Elliott here today, yourhost.
We are in season four and Ihave a really special friend
(00:50):
here today, someone that I'vegot to know remotely over Zoom
over the last year, someone whohas been in the mission field in
a remote part of South Asia,working predominantly in a
people group that is a Buddhistbackground, and my friend, joan,
(01:11):
is here with us today.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Thank you very much.
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're so happy to have you.
People can instantly hear youraccent and it certainly isn't
Texan, so why don't you startout?
Just give us a littlebackground on who you are.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I am Joan and I am originally from the UK, from a
small town in the south of theUK.
However, I've been in Asia forthe last two plus decades.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Oh, wonderful.
Okay, so 20 plus years andyou're married.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I am indeed married to a wonderful national, and we
have two teenage children.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes, and we're very fortunate that everyone had the
ability to travel to the States.
So y'all are coming to visitwith some friends and supporters
and carved out a little time tocome by and do a recording with
us today, so we're so grateful.
Thanks for being here.
Thank you All right, so we'regoing to we're going to drop a
bomb on everybody right here.
To start, let's just go throughwhat's happened in the last few
(02:07):
days.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay.
Well, warfare is something thatwe're very used to amongst our
particular people groups, andthis last week has, as we've
prepared to come to the Statesfor the first time as a family
my family's never been herebefore, although I have.
We've had some challenges.
Earlier this week, my husbandwas given a nice particular
(02:28):
drink to drink, which normallyhas no problems, and he had an
allergic toxic reaction to oneof the things within the drink
and within five, ten minutes hewas not feeling very well at all
and then suddenly he passed out.
Oh gosh, and it was pretty grim.
It was pretty grim.
(02:48):
Every time he sat up or stoodup, he lost consciousness.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Were you in a remote area when this happened or were
you in a more?
No, we were in the city.
We were in the city.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So, praise God, we were in a city, because probably
he would not still be here ifthat happened.
And so quickly I was able Imean, the Lord was so gracious I
was quickly able to call ourschool doctor and say, hey, what
do we do?
We think this has happened, andthey were able to call ahead to
the hospital and have someonewaiting there for us.
There wasn't even really timeto get him in an ambulance, not
(03:20):
that we have those kind ofthings, but so we were able to
call a taxi and literally wecarried him down unconscious.
We happened to be in a coffeeshop at the time, so there were
other people there that couldhelp, because if it had happened
at home there would have beenno one else to actually help
carry him.
And we drove across the city asfast as we could and got to a
(03:43):
hospital right the other side ofthe city that has good, fairly
good medical care and thedoctors are waiting there for us
.
They took us through to recessand by this time his heart was
at 30 beats a minute, totallyout of it.
Doesn't have any remembrance ofthat.
And then they worked on him foran hour, an hour and a half,
(04:04):
and they were able to get hisheart rate up to a point where
he was in consciousness andbegan to flush these toxins out
of his body four hours, whilstthey tried to flush out the
(04:28):
toxin from his heart and hisliver and other internal organs
that needed to come through it.
So it was.
This was just a couple of daysago, yeah this was Wednesday,
knowing that we were flying outon Thursday evening to come and
be here, oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So of course we're getting bits and pieces of the
story as you're able to share,goodness.
So of course we're getting bitsand pieces of the story as
you're able to share, yeah, andeveryone here is instantly
praying and obviously, you know,taken aback by the
circumstances, and so you had tomake some real-time decisions.
What are we going to do?
First, is he okay?
And once he stabilized and kindof came to, then you decided,
(05:03):
okay, we're going to get on thethe plane and you're going to
get on the next, basically nextflight out, right, because he
couldn't get on the same flightanymore, because he wasn't going
to be released yet no, actually, um, at that point we weren't
really thinking about the future, we were just thinking about
was he going to survive?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
and it?
The lord is gracious, becausethrough all that and and this is
not our first brush with deathwe've had, this is probably the
fifth time that he's fourth orfifth time that we've had a
brush with death, especiallywith Charlie.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
He likes to do this as a hobby.
Yeah, he does.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So we weren't really thinking about it.
But sometimes not knowingwhat's going on is actually a
real blessing, because the graceof the Lord was there to just
remain at peace and to know thatif it's not your time, it's not
your time, and if it is yourtime, that the Lord is ever,
ever present with you.
And so we let the doctors dowhat they were doing, and at
(05:59):
that point my brother-in-lawactually asked Charlie, are you
going to go tomorrow?
This is just after he'd comeout of recess.
And Charlie had said no, no, Ijust can't even think about that
right now.
At that point we were justlooking okay, what needs to be
done to be able to save his lifereally?
(06:20):
And it wasn't until later thatday when we needed to start
making decisions, less than 24hours before we're due to fly
what are we going to do?
And so later that evening, inthe busyness of it, within our
context, there's nothing private, so you don't have a private
room or anything.
Everyone is everywhere, many,many people around the bed we
(06:42):
were able to have a shortconversation about okay, what is
it that the Lord wants us to do?
And at that stage we made thedecision that the kids and I
would come on and we would dowhat we could to make a way for
Charlie to be able to join us.
However, there were no flightsto change him to.
The doctor said that he wasn'table to fly for the next um
(07:05):
three days because the toxinwill remain in his body and he
could, um could, have anotherepisode on the flight and he
wasn't comfortable to do that.
However, if we were wait towait for three days and he would
clear him to actually fly butwhen it came to actually trying
to find a flight, there were noflights out of our country, so
(07:27):
we prayed and then the Lordopened up a flight for him to
come, and so the Lord reallyopened the way for him to come,
and now he's actually in thereas we speak.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
What a path.
What a path.
Well, that's quite the start tothe episode and we typically go
back to like what was it likewhen you were a kid and how 'd
you meet the Lord?
But hey, this is real life,real time stuff going on, and so
we're obviously praying for himand getting here safely, and
he's got some exciting roles toplay and that's why he decided
(07:57):
to come and really trulymeaningful ones as well.
So I'm so glad you're here andwhatever God's got on your heart
where you just want to sharesome stories of the people you
care for and love and how you'veseen God work.
You just take it away.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Thank you so much.
Well, this is a note forparents.
I was eight years old in mylocal church when I felt the
call of God upon my life toactually serve him, and I can
tell you which seat I wasactually sitting in and I can
tell you which seat I wasactually sitting in.
And this summer, when we wereback in the UK, I actually got
to revisit that church andactually give testimony to okay,
(08:33):
this is where God really spoketo me and I hadn't been back
since I was 18.
So, yeah, it was a realblessing to be just to bear
witness to how God had used thatinstrumentally in my life.
So I was eight years old and wehad some missionaries come
actually from Bangladesh, andthey shared about what God was
doing within their context and Ireally felt the call to serve
(08:57):
the Lord in some capacity, maybeon the foreign field.
That's the call that I feltthat I had.
However you go along your life,you go to grow up and that's
not the way that my lifeinitially took.
I went and went to universityand had a few years of
wilderness with the Lord duringthat time and then came back to
(09:17):
the Lord towards the end of myuniversity and then began my
career, and it was during thattime that the Lord opened up a
possibility for me to go andstudy at Bible school, which I
at that point felt was forcrusty old people, because when
you're young you really don'thave many brains do you?
And so I did eventually yield tothat and went through some
(09:40):
Bible training.
At that time we actuallystudied a book called To
Missions, and the Lord justreally instrumentally used that
in my life.
Towards the end of myuniversity, I had the
opportunity to come to ColoradoSprings and they'd just opened
their strategic frontiers base,and whilst I was there, I was
just there for three weeks asone of their mission builders At
(10:02):
the time.
In the particular nation that Iserve now, they were having
some very, very difficult times,and so we spent many hours
praying for these local workersthat had been sent out from the
States to this nation.
The people themselves had hadto go underground because there
was great persecution, and inthat time of praying for these
(10:26):
people there was a real passionburned in my heart for this
nation and I felt this is thenation at some point that I will
go to.
However, it took eight years forthe Lord to actually open up
the opportunity, even to visit.
A couple of years later I hadthe opportunity to go to Bible
school, and at the Bible schoolwe read a particular book called
(10:47):
Challenge to Missions, and inthat book the Lord really spoke
to my heart about going longterm, and so I took three or
four short term trips 2001.
I actually traveled to thecountry where I serve and began
the work that now has, 20 yearslater, is formed 23 years later,
(11:11):
yeah 23 years later, okay, andthen you met a boy.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I did meet a boy.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Okay, well, I was never going to marry a national,
that was one thing, and he wasnever going to marry a foreigner
.
However, the Lord very clearlyspoke.
I actually spent my firstChristmas in country with this
young gentleman's family, andthere was nothing in it between
us, because girls and boys don'tgenerally spend alone time
(11:36):
together but it was seven yearslater, actually, that the Lord
began to speak.
It was his time to get married.
I had joined his church at thattime, and so I knew the family.
I knew their church family, andthey had made a suggestion.
His leaders had made asuggestion.
It's your turn, time to getmarried.
Why don't you pray about thisparticular?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
young lady.
Have you thought about Joan?
She's here.
This particular young lady,have you thought about Joan?
You know she's here.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And I don't know what his thoughts were at the time.
But anyway, we prayed and it'sa very unusual story.
We really do feel that ournation actually practices
arranged marriages and we reallyfeel that the Lord was the one
that brought us together.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And so then you were married, Iwould assume for a few years
before you had kids.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, we were married for two years.
Normally, within our cult,within my husband's culture, you
always have a baby in the firstyear, so that you can prove
you've got a proper marriage.
Um, we chose to wait two years,and then along came our son.
First of all, um, and then twoand a half years along came our
daughter.
A great blessing in a time whenI didn't actually think I would
(12:48):
ever get married.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So, yeah, fascinating fascinating and in the years
since you've raised yourchildren in a very remote area
and God's kept you there, forsomeone listening that's maybe
considering going in the fieldfor a shorter time than they
will end up being there.
Tell them about expectationsand where did the lord surprise
(13:12):
you?
And I didn't ever think thiswould happen.
And, yeah, go through some ofthat.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah.
Well, maybe I'll reverse alittle bit, if that's okay.
Um, in 2001 we obviously theworld was changed with 9-11.
And so we were due to go outjust a few days before that, and
so we actually delayed ourgoing by three weeks until
everything settled down a bit.
But when we actually got to ournation, we really didn't know
(13:40):
what the Lord would have us do,except we had a passion for
Jesus and our church sent us andreleased us and said go pray
and see what the Lord would haveus do.
Except we had a passion forJesus and our church sent us and
released us and said go prayand see what the Lord would have
us do.
And so there were no big plansto go for a long, long, long,
long, long long time.
And I think that's reallyimportant, as we we can have
every plan.
The Bible is very clear.
We can have every plan, but theLord orders our steps, and
that's really my experience.
(14:02):
I had a heart, I a passion, Ihad the knowing to go, but I
didn't know what it would looklike, and to hold that loosely
is super important, as anyoneconsiders.
What would the Lord have me do,even in your own nation, let
alone anywhere else, because Ithink it's very easy to idolize
people that go and serve indifferent places, idolize people
that go and serve in differentplaces, but actually life is
(14:24):
life wherever you go, andwhether you are here in service
or in another nation in serviceor whatever it may be, I think
it's important that every one ofus has their walk with the Lord
and we serve and love thepeople around us.
And so I went, and the Lordreally orchestrated it.
(14:46):
We didn't have a huge strategy,we just had a strategy to stay
with the Lord in the day andallow him to open the doors, and
I can say, at least for myself,that's what the Lord has done.
I'd gone on a short-term tripand we had been given a map, a
map of an area that we feltmight be important in the future
(15:07):
, and I showed that map toanother serving M in our area
and they said, oh, I know wherethis map is, I know where it is.
And my friend said oh, I knowpeople from this area, but
they're not here down in thecity right now.
But when they come, then maybethey can meet with you.
And at the time there were somedifficulties in the country, and
(15:28):
it made this young personreturn back to the city much
earlier than they had originallyplanned, and because of that I
was able to meet with them.
One of the difficulties for anypeople such as myself is how do
you stay in a country with acreative visa, and so I was
looking for a long-term visa.
(15:49):
We thought, okay, why don't welook at this particular area and
do some research and otherthings which would give us a
legitimate visa.
And so I showed the map to thisyoung girl and she said well,
these are my people, I wouldlove to take you there.
And so we planned a trip intothe area and because of the
difficulties in the country itwas a little bit tricky to get
(16:11):
in.
But even in that the Lordopened up a way for us to go and
we began our seven day trek inSeven days walk from the end of
the road at that time, oh, wow.
Totally unprepared.
I really didn't know what wewere going into.
It is very remote and isolated,it's very difficult to get to,
and the Lord opened the way forus to go.
It was a hard task.
(16:34):
It was very remote, it was very, it was rainy season and so
there was a lot of a lot ofleeches.
Actually it was landslides, andit was difficult.
And then we got to a bigmountain pass and at this point
we had Jesus but not many brains.
We weren't very wise in what wedid, because we had Jesus and
(16:57):
we had a message that wasburning in our heart to go tell
you, don't always take thepractical steps that you need in
order to ensure your safety.
And so we're at high altitudeand we begin our day of the pass
and we are ill-equipped for thetask before us.
We soon very discover that weare going into thigh-deep snow,
(17:21):
but anyway, the Lord was verygracious and I do remember as
part of this, as part of thejourney, we're at extremely high
altitude.
I feel very, very unwell andanother friend had actually
traveled with us.
That is a mountaineer, and heturned to me and he came with us
(17:41):
because of the safety risks.
And at one point he turned tome and he came with us because
of the safety risks.
And at one point he turned tome and he said how are you
feeling?
And I said I'm really feelingunwell.
And he said well, if you vomit,we will have to run you off
this mountain or you will die.
And at that point such feargripped my heart and I cried out
to the Lord and I said, lord,I'm OK, you're going to have to
(18:03):
help me here.
And it was like this grace cameupon me and the Lord just held
me and we probably trekked foranother five hours to the top of
this pass, and yet it was justlike probably felt like 20
minutes to me.
And so we went over this bigmountain pass and into the area
where we currently serve.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
I'm having a very Tolkien Lord of the Rings moment
here like picture in my head ofthis journey.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I think what we just want to make sure that the
listeners capture is remote.
There's no roads, you're notdriving, you're walking, you're
hiking.
It is treacherous.
You mentioned leeches.
I assume so as you're.
If it's multiple days, you'reobviously sleeping along the
path, and so I'm assuming you'redealing with those, probably
when you're laying down andsleeping, or maybe as you're
(18:54):
walking they're getting ontoyour clothing and into your
under.
I don't even want to go there,joan.
I don't want to go there, but Isee what you mean.
So you reached out, you criedout to Jesus and help me, and
then he turned the mosttreacherous part of the trek
into what seemed like a 20minute walk in your neighborhood
(19:15):
.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yes, and then, we went on this journey, we
continued, we had no idea howlong the day would actually be,
and darkness fell.
Then we discovered that wedidn't have the right correct
head torches and stuff for thejourney that we were on, and so,
about nine o'clock at night, wehit a big river, um, or some
(19:38):
streams, and so in the dark, inthe dark without flashlights.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, I mean, we were .
Yeah, we had jesus, oh mygoodness.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah and so we took our shoes and socks off and
waded through the glacial watersand carried on our journey as
if that's what one does.
And, yeah, we eventuallyreached a very remote village
and were able to stay there forthe night, about 10 o'clock in
the evening, and they laughed sohard at us, because who comes
(20:04):
over?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, who walks up at 10 o'clock at night?
Who walks up at 10?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
o'clock at night.
They did manage hard at us,because who comes over, who
walks up at 10 o'clock at night.
They did manage to feed us, wedid manage to eat and rest and
then the following day wecontinued down the mountain and
began to come much more intosmall, small villages.
I began to encounter thepeoples that have come to be
carried in our hearts.
What really stuck out to me isthe simpleness of life.
(20:29):
They live in stone houses withstone roofs.
In one room there is a fire inthe middle of the room and
everyone lives around that fire.
At that time it was open, justan open fire.
They would walk hours a day togo down, cut down trees, to be
(20:50):
able to provide for firewood tobe able to cook their simple
food.
And on that first trip we atepotatoes and we ate a particular
flower that they made frombarley, actually that they
harvest, yeah, a particular teathat they make with using the
leaves and the twigs that theyfind within their trees.
(21:10):
And just the simplicity of lifeand the harshness of life that
went on.
Amongst the.
There's just a remote locationthat they live in and it just
felt like we'd gone back to theStone Age.
What struck me actually when Ifirst went is how many children
these people have, because theydo not know how many kids are
(21:33):
going to survive.
But just being around thepeople the men and the women
were hard at work in the harvestand just talking to the ladies,
we met very many people who hadhad multiple deaths of their
kids because they didn't knowwho would survive and who would
not, and the and it's so harsh.
And then I remember speaking toone lady and she had had 14
(21:57):
children and every one of herchildren had died and now her
husband had died and so therewas just her and who would look
after her in her old age.
And it just struck us at thatduring that struck me just in
that time.
And that's how we've we've kindof come on to.
What we actually do is the lifeof the children, watching that
(22:21):
from the age.
I mean you had little kidsprobably.
I mean they all look muchsmaller than our kids because of
the malnourishment.
But there were kids five, sixthat all had their little
baskets that they carried ontheir head, that were all part
of the harvest jobs that weregoing on and everyone was
helping because it was that'show we're going to survive by
(22:42):
being able to bring in theharvest to be able to live on
for this next season.
And if we don't bring it in,there's nothing to eat.
Just that harshness of there'sno local shop to go buy anything
from.
At that time there was no localcommunication outside.
They would travel higher intosome other villages to be able
(23:03):
to trade.
But what you grew is what youate.
Just experiencing that, yeah,that was just very unique for me
.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
That would be very unique for anyone that's going
to hear this.
Yeah, that's incredible.
And yet you realized, once yougot there and you met them and
you saw that way of life, thatthis is where I'm supposed to be
.
Not, this isn't where I'msupposed to be, which I think
would have been the reasonableconclusion everyone else would
(23:32):
have come to.
But no, this is where God wantsme to be.
Yeah, and then my window, mydoor, is through the children.
It is, it's through serving themand teaching them and educating
them and caring for them.
That's how we're going toestablish our presence here,
(23:53):
build our trust here and helpmake a difference here in the
quality of their life and theirfuture.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, it was interesting.
I was very quickly realizedthat I was not cut out for the
adult way of life, but therewere lots of children around and
you could see that the childrenhad various different diseases.
They had popped bellies fromthe worms and, and actually we
now know that at that time overhalf the children died before
the age of eight and we didn'tknow that at the time.
(24:19):
And so, because we could onlywork for short periods, I could
only work short periods of oftime within fields.
We got to hang out with thekids in the village, as I was
just considering.
Okay, lord, how on earth areyou going to reach out to these
people Praying one day, and Ireally sensed that God spoke
quite clearly and he said if youwill love the children, I will
(24:41):
turn the hearts of the parentsto me.
And so that's what that was thethat has become the foundation
of what we do and how we areable to minister into the lives
of the family in order to seeGod's love be able to penetrate
these areas.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Now maybe take us through just a little bit
further along as you decideyou're going to stay there, but
you didn't meet, you didn't meetyour husband there.
That wasn't where the churchwas that you joined.
So you were traveling and goingthere for weeks or maybe a few
months at a time.
Then you were going back to amore densely populated area.
Right, tell us kind of whatyour rhythm was like.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, so I got to travel into the areas, into this
area, but it's actually arestricted area.
You need government permissionto actually be in these areas,
so it's not possible to livethere.
And so, based out of the cityand we would travel into these
areas, each trip was verydifferent and where we stayed at
that time Now it's open totourism a little bit more, but
(25:47):
in the first 15 or so years oftravel that wasn't the case.
So we would stay on people'sfloors the first few trips we'd
actually stay.
They have two story houseswhere the animals are underneath
and they're upstairs, so veryoften I would stay with the
animals downstairs becauseupstairs was very busy.
Alcohol is very much part oftheir way of life, so there was
(26:09):
very often drunk people and thatwasn't always a safe place to
stay.
And so when I was in thevillage, that's where we would
stay with known people, becauseone of the other dangers in this
particular area is they poisonpeople and so you have to be
very careful where you actuallystay.
But then I would actually livein the city, where we could
(26:31):
study language, where we couldactually begin to learn about
culture, because you have adominant culture and then you
have the local culture, and,first of all, I needed to learn
how to actually live andfunction within the dominant
culture, and so a majority of mytime was spent in the city, but
then traveling to parts of thecity where these peoples would
(26:53):
come and travel to and stay forshort periods of time.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Right, right, tell us about maybe just a small pivot
here to the predominant religionof the area.
How have you encounteredchallenges sharing Christ?
How has there been windows ofopportunity or similarities that
have bridged the gospel for you?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
The types of people that are the dominant religion
within our people group ofservice is a religion that is a
very communal religion.
To be in the group that we weserve in is to be this
particular type of buddhism, andso everything about the
(27:34):
people's life is a display oftheir religion.
Right?
So the particular type ofbuddhism that our people's um
practice actually is a way oflife.
It's much more than what theyjust believe, but it's a place
of birth.
They're into reincarnation, soeverything is about what's
coming next.
(27:55):
It is not about consideringtoday.
It's about considering the wayforward for tomorrow and being
able to provide for tomorrow.
Because tomorrow is dark, thereis only darkness in front, and
what I do today brings light totomorrow, and so the ways that I
(28:16):
provide for tomorrow are reallyimportant spiritually.
So I use my monk.
You cannot approach your owngods yourself.
You have to have anintermediary, and so they have
what's called lamas monks thatdo certain rituals for them that
will provide light for thefuture.
There is no assurance, there'sno reassurance for tomorrow.
(28:37):
It's all about my good works,and so there is this covering
and this heaviness, thisunknownness about tomorrow, and
so they're always looking for,they never know it's enough.
And yet I have to give my best,with my best works today to
make sure that tomorrow ispossible so they wake up every
day and they feel like they'rebehind on the scoreboard always
(29:00):
behind right, and now I've gotto go out and I've got to earn
more tallies, more marks, morescore to get that light for
tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Absolutely, and I can't do it all by myself, so
I've got to work to get somethings and then pay the monks to
do the rituals for me and myfamily.
Absolutely Right.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Buddhism is all about suffering.
It's all about the answers tosuffering and it's all about
being released from this earthlysuffering so that they can
actually get to what's callednirvana and actually realize
that this world is an entrapmentand to come to become nothing.
That is your ultimate aim, sothat you can be released from
(29:43):
this eternal cycle of rebirth.
So you're born, you live a life.
Through those works of today,you can ensure that your next
life, that you are born in abetter place than you are today.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
But you're not aware, obviously in this life, of your
last life.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
So they're not functioning with that knowledge.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
However, if you are they must think they did a
miserable job.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Absolutely You're suffering.
If you are suffering, that isyour own fault, because that is
because so, if you see someonethat's suffering on the street,
you may give them alms, you maygive them money, but that has
nothing to do with that person'ssuffering.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Because that person's suffering is because their own
fault.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
But I give you al yeah, but I give you arms, I
give you help, because my nextlife will be better because I'm
tallying up now.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
I'm tallying up for my own well-being, sure.
How does that relate to?
I know we talked about thisbefore, but how does that relate
to when a when a relative or aloved one passes?
There's something that they dopost-death to, where they're
trying to help pay their way toa better place, right?
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, they are.
A funeral is an interestingspectacle because the monk will
come and he will guide thefamily of how to provide for
their loved one to get to theafterlife, in preparation for
their rebirth.
And so they pay the lamas.
The lamas come and they dotheir chanting and they do very
(31:10):
many rituals which each time isvery, very different.
It's orchestrated by oneparticular monk, and then they
pay the monks to actually dothese things in order to provide
for the loved one's passageinto the next life and then,
ultimately, to be born again.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
So it's not a leap for the listener to realize then
that that system keeps themvery entrapped.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
It's very entrapped.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Once they've actually saved up enough whatever money
vegetables they have, and thenthey spend them for the loved
one.
In these capacities, they'reback at ground zero.
They go to bed that night, andthey wake up the next morning,
and now I've got to work mytally back up.
And so how amazing must it beto hear that God came and lived
(32:03):
the life you couldn't live andsuffered the death you deserved
on your behalf.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
The message that we carry in Christ is so valuable
and yet the Bible talks abouthow the God of this world has
blinded the eyes.
For a Buddhist to hear thegospel makes no sense to them
(32:31):
when we share our traditionalgospel with them.
It makes no sense when I sharethat christ died for you and he
suffered for you.
And they're able to see that.
They say, oh, I could neverfollow a man like that, because
their belief is that yoursuffering is because of your own
(32:53):
work.
So to watch Jesus suffer forthem, look at all the stuff that
he suffered how could he be agood man?
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It just requires us to.
It's not that we're creative,it's just that there is another
message for them to reallyunderstand.
Yeah, so let me tell you howthe Lord's led us after he had
spoken to us about loving thekids in the communities that we
serve.
It's very unique.
(33:22):
At least this wouldn't be thepossibility in the UK, maybe
it's a little bit more in theStates, but you can change the
life of a community by lovingand and changing the life of one
child.
And so the way that the Lordreally spoke to us, he said love
the children and give them theopportunities to be able to gain
(33:44):
an education, to be able tohave life skills, to be able to
have leadership skills and thensend them back to their people
to be able to be a carrier ofhope into their own people Very
counterculture, at least in myculture.
We would never separate familiesfrom their children.
In the communities that weserve, they're looking for their
(34:10):
children to be sent somewherebecause they know that by being
able to send their kids outsidethen they can gain an education
and when they return they willbe much more profitable for
their actual villages.
And so the way that the Lordled us to do that was to open an
educational center and toprovide a loving family home for
(34:30):
these kids to come to, toreceive an education, to be able
to live with us, to be able tohear the gospel for themselves
and to provide opportunity forthem to meet God themselves.
The kinds of kids that we focusupon are those who had health
(34:51):
issues that meant living in thevillage was either hazardous
they would actually not seeadulthood if they remained in
the village or those whosefamilies were not able to
provide for any of theirchildren to have an education
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
So, as we're thinking about these children that have
come down and been educated, andjust for the listener to know,
the vast majority of thesechildren have become Christians.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yes, they have.
Let me tell you the story ofone young man who came to us.
He was about eight years oldwhen he came to us and he was so
full of anger, so full ofdifficulty, and he had his story
about how he came to us.
And he was one of the young menthat actually probably would
not have survived in the familyif we hadn't have taken him,
(35:40):
simply because he had somehealth issues associated with
the harsh life that he'd had inthe village.
But this young man came to us,he was very angry all the time.
He would have outbursts ofanger, quite violent actually
and yet, as he began to hearabout the love of God for
himself, it began to soften hisheart.
Now, was it a momentarily thing?
(36:01):
No, it took years, but the Lordbegan to work on his heart,
begin to open his heart, beginto see a different value of his
life, to know that God valuedhis life, that God was ordering
his steps, and so, as thathappened, his character began to
(36:22):
change.
He began to find more peace, tofind more just to find more
centering for his life and tounderstand that he was called
with a purpose, that the lifethat he had come from which was
full of abuse, full of parentseparation, rejection of one
(36:43):
side of the family.
As these families divorce andthey remarry, they're rejected
by the new family because ofwho's going to inherit the land.
And so, when he came to us, hefound a place of belonging, a
place where he could be valuedfor who he is, discover his
value to God and to discoverwhat God wanted him to do with
(37:06):
his life and his purpose for hislife.
And so now this young man hascommitted his life to Christ,
has gone through the waterswhich is a huge deal within our
context and has actuallyreturned to his village.
He's now married, he has twochildren and now he's beginning
to work.
He helps run an NGO that bringstransformation to his community
(37:30):
, and they have very manydifferent projects that are
going on to help with theircultivating grounds, the kind of
crops that they can grow, andhe's bringing a sustainable
transformation to his communityand has actually even gone on
and won an award at the recentCOP meetings out in the Middle
(37:52):
East and has won aninternational award for what he
does.
And he is learning how to be abeliever within his community.
He is the only believer in hiscommunity and the persecution
that he faces, for that has beenquite has been difficult for
him, and yet he is learning whatit means to love Jesus and to
(38:15):
begin to love and share the loveand the light that is within
him with those around him.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
They're walking with the Lord now and something in I
think maybe a lot of people knowabout Buddhism, about these
prayer wheels.
We've seen these prayer wheelswhere they walk by and they spin
these wheels and I just picturethese kids going back and
they're not walking by thoseprayer wheels for the same
purpose and they're not engagingwith them in the same way.
Right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
The prayer wheels are very significant because in the
turning of them they're makingmerit for themselves.
Better next life.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And if somebody Googles prayer wheels this might
show up.
But the way I've seen it isjust think of a rock wall, ok,
and then carved into the wallmultiple axles with a wheel on
the axle, and so if you couldwalk by, you could, you could
spin.
Maybe there's six or eight orten or twelve or however many of
them in a row on the wall.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
you kind of just walk by it and you would spin these
wheels yeah, and inside theinside, each wheel has prayer,
written prayers, and thosewritten prayers, as they spin,
they then waft up to the sky andit's like those prayers are
actually released into theatmosphere.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Right, so you're engaging in some activity that
is, in theory, praying orestablishing prayers on your
behalf and that's helping yourdaily tally?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Yes, absolutely Okay, yeah, yeah, and so that's so
much part of their merit-making,all about merit-making.
And so, as the kids havelearned and have had their lives
transformed by God himself,they've met with the Savior,
(39:49):
they now know that thismerit-making is not the way that
they gain life, right, yeah,and so as they've gone back to
their families and they havebegun to share the stories, as
they've begun to share the lifethat they now have, what has
become evident is that our kids,that we have raised, are
different from the local kids,and so it is very much
(40:12):
recognized that they aredifferent.
However, they have facedpersecution because they've
stepped out of the corporatenature of a Buddhist community,
right, and so now, at least in aBuddhist perspective, the gods
in the house are fighting.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
All right.
And so, as the gods arefighting the persecution they
face, even though they can seethat our kids are different and
they carry a different light, adifferent peace, a different way
of life, their natural tendencyis to persecute that and cut it
out of themselves.
(40:49):
The reason for that is becausethe gods are fighting amongst
themselves and their gods arevery jealous gods and they
believe that if they don'tworship their gods and they
don't honor their gods, thosegods will cause them problems
and that they will come afterthem.
There is this spiritual warfarebetween the kids that we have
(41:14):
raised and others from thevillage.
My first trip into the villageopened my heart and my eyes to
understand the great darkness inthese areas.
The sleep and dreams are veryimportant in Buddhism, but to be
in these areas and actuallyexperience the demonic warfare
(41:37):
in our dreams was something thatI had not.
I just never experienced before.
So you've had serious dreams.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Yeah, far different dreams than you ever had in the
UK.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah, far different dreams, far different dreams and
far different fears that comeat you.
Far different experiences whereit's unexplainable fear,
unexplainable hopelessness,depression.
It is warfare, in an area wherethe religion actually practices
(42:11):
demon possession.
And so that they use aspiritual power and they welcome
that spiritual power into them,so that they may have power
over a different spiritual being, because it's very animistic,
this, this particular god orthis particular spiritual being.
I want to gain power over that,so I welcome the empowering of
(42:35):
another spiritual being that hasgreater power over that that
way I can guarantee and I canappease this, this particular
god, to be able to have powerover that particular god how
many gods are there?
more than you could number, okay, and what they do is they
inhabit certain things.
Every home has a particularhouse god and then you have
(42:58):
these gods that are over areas,which is why they won't leave
their villages, because theyalways have to have at least one
family member who continues tolive there to make appeasement
for their god.
The interesting thing is, youwill have some of these villages
, for example, live in New York,and when they have problems in
(43:18):
their life, they will phonesomeone or get a message to
someone in the village toactually do different rituals to
appease that God, because thatwas the God that caused them
problems in their location inthe other side of the world, so
it's almost like someone's gotto keep the fire burning at home
absolutely, absolutely.
And if you do not have that,then you cannot.
(43:39):
Your gods will be sad and thenthey will cause you problems,
and they, they have an abilityto reach you around the world
fascinating.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
So much of their turmoil is spiritual.
Yes, because really theirday-to-day life is plant harvest
, wood water.
Yeah, there's not a lot ofcomplications around how they're
going to climb a corporateladder.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
No, absolutely, and everything of that is controlled
by the lamas.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
So they tell them when they can plant, they can
tell them when they harvest,they can tell them when to go on
a journey, when can you go upthe mountain, when can you go
down the mountain.
It's all dictated by theirreligious beliefs, and so
everything that they do is anoutworking of the religious
culture that they live in.
They've never known anydifferent, and if we don't go
(44:26):
tell them that there's anydifferent, they will never know
any different, because when youlive under bondage, you do not
know that you're under bondage.
You just know that this is theway it works, because what
you're always looking for is howis my life going to work?
How do I stop when your life isnot assured of you and tomorrow
is not promised, and your lifeis so harsh?
(44:48):
How am I going to make my lifework?
And that's what we're alllooking for already.
How are we going to survive, tomake tomorrow possible?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
And the troubles of today are enough for today, and
tomorrow is a new day the Lordhas made.
It's such a different promisethat we live under.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
So when we're sharing with people, it's very, very
difficult for them to have anyconcept that it's a free gift.
It seems too easy because it iseasy, and yet it cost God
everything, everything,everything.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
This has been amazing .
Thank you, I know you've justhad an incredible few days and a
long journey and you're back inthe States for your second time
.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah, my second time.
Your family's first time, yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:30):
I would love to just unleash you as the prayer
warrior I know you to be, and ifyou'll just pray for the
listeners, the workers in thefield, those that are
considering, maybe even somebodyout there that hasn't fully
grasped this whole concept yet.
Just whatever God's got on yourheart, my friend.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Okay, sure, let me pray for us, father, we just
thank you, we thank you for yourgreat love for us.
That, father, while we werestill sinners, you chose to die
for us.
Father, we just thank you thatwe can draw near to you because
(46:12):
of who you are, not because ofwho we are, you because of who
you are, not because of who weare.
And, father, we just thank you,lord, that you are at work in
these remote areas.
That, father, your power isgreater than any other power.
And so, father, we just pray,father God, for your spirit of
wisdom and revelation in theknowledge of Jesus to be
(46:34):
released into these unreachednations.
Lord, that, father, the nationthat I get to serve in, father
God, we do pray, father God,that you would take the binds
away from the enemy.
The enemy has kept them indarkness, father God, and we
just pray for your release,father God, over them now.
Lord, that, father, that youwould pour out your love, father
(46:55):
God, that, father God, that youwould bring your love, father
God.
That, father God, that youwould bring a revelation, father
God, of who you are and whatyou have done, that you might be
rejoined with your children.
Lord, father, will you give usa heart and an ear after what
you are doing?
Will you mould our hearts, lord, father?
(47:15):
Will you give us suchsensitivity to your spirit to be
able to serve you in the placesthat you have us be?
Father, we want to be that lightto those around us, lord.
Father, we want to first knowthat light, and then we want to
be able to give that light tothose around us, father, that we
might be a witness.
(47:35):
You say in your word, lord,that we are your witness, that
we will witness about what youhave done, from Jerusalem to
Samaria, to the ends of theearth, father, god.
And so, father, wherever wefind ourselves serving you, may
you turn our hearts to know youand then to make you known
(47:57):
around us.
Lord, father, we want to seeyou glorified, we want to see
you lifted on high.
Lord, may you be worshipped inthe nations, in the nations,
(48:21):
father, we cry out that we mightknow the weight of your glory.
May we be transformed by therevelation of your love.
Would you build your kingdom inour hearts, in our families, in
(48:43):
our communities and within ournations?
There is nobody like you, andso we thank you that we can draw
(49:03):
near to you in faith by theblood of Jesus.
Holy Spirit, will you open oureyes today to see those that
you've placed around us, becauseyou love the individual that is
(49:25):
placed before us, and would youhelp us connect with them.
Will you help us share yourlove with them wherever they may
be, in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
And amen.
Thank you for listening toUnreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
(50:06):
life group, small group, d group, wherever you do life, and if
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unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years, myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work through the men and
women he has called to reach theunreached.
Hello friends, welcome back tothe Unreached Podcast.
Dustin Elliott here today, yourhost.
We are in season four and Ihave a really special friend
(00:50):
here today, someone that I'vegot to know remotely over Zoom
over the last year, someone whohas been in the mission field in
a remote part of South Asia,working predominantly in a
people group that is a Buddhistbackground, and my friend, joan,
(01:11):
is here with us today.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Thank you very much.
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're so happy to have you.
People can instantly hear youraccent and it certainly isn't
Texan, so why don't you startout?
Just give us a littlebackground on who you are.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I am Joan and I am originally from the UK, from a
small town in the south of theUK.
However, I've been in Asia forthe last two plus decades.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Oh, wonderful.
Okay, so 20 plus years andyou're married.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I am indeed married to a wonderful national, and we
have two teenage children.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes, and we're very fortunate that everyone had the
ability to travel to the States.
So y'all are coming to visitwith some friends and supporters
and carved out a little time tocome by and do a recording with
us today, so we're so grateful.
Thanks for being here.
Thank you All right, so we'regoing to we're going to drop a
bomb on everybody right here.
To start, let's just go throughwhat's happened in the last few
(02:07):
days.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay.
Well, warfare is something thatwe're very used to amongst our
particular people groups, andthis last week has, as we've
prepared to come to the Statesfor the first time as a family
my family's never been herebefore, although I have.
We've had some challenges.
Earlier this week, my husbandwas given a nice particular
(02:28):
drink to drink, which normallyhas no problems, and he had an
allergic toxic reaction to oneof the things within the drink
and within five, ten minutes hewas not feeling very well at all
and then suddenly he passed out.
Oh gosh, and it was pretty grim.
It was pretty grim.
(02:48):
Every time he sat up or stoodup, he lost consciousness.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Were you in a remote area when this happened or were
you in a more?
No, we were in the city.
We were in the city.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So, praise God, we were in a city, because probably
he would not still be here ifthat happened.
And so quickly I was able Imean, the Lord was so gracious I
was quickly able to call ourschool doctor and say, hey, what
do we do?
We think this has happened, andthey were able to call ahead to
the hospital and have someonewaiting there for us.
There wasn't even really timeto get him in an ambulance, not
(03:20):
that we have those kind ofthings, but so we were able to
call a taxi and literally wecarried him down unconscious.
We happened to be in a coffeeshop at the time, so there were
other people there that couldhelp, because if it had happened
at home there would have beenno one else to actually help
carry him.
And we drove across the city asfast as we could and got to a
(03:43):
hospital right the other side ofthe city that has good, fairly
good medical care and thedoctors are waiting there for us
.
They took us through to recessand by this time his heart was
at 30 beats a minute, totallyout of it.
Doesn't have any remembrance ofthat.
And then they worked on him foran hour, an hour and a half,
(04:04):
and they were able to get hisheart rate up to a point where
he was in consciousness andbegan to flush these toxins out
of his body four hours, whilstthey tried to flush out the
(04:28):
toxin from his heart and hisliver and other internal organs
that needed to come through it.
So it was.
This was just a couple of daysago, yeah this was Wednesday,
knowing that we were flying outon Thursday evening to come and
be here, oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So of course we're getting bits and pieces of the
story as you're able to share,goodness.
So of course we're getting bitsand pieces of the story as
you're able to share, yeah, andeveryone here is instantly
praying and obviously, you know,taken aback by the
circumstances, and so you had tomake some real-time decisions.
What are we going to do?
First, is he okay?
And once he stabilized and kindof came to, then you decided,
(05:03):
okay, we're going to get on thethe plane and you're going to
get on the next, basically nextflight out, right, because he
couldn't get on the same flightanymore, because he wasn't going
to be released yet no, actually, um, at that point we weren't
really thinking about the future, we were just thinking about
was he going to survive?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
and it?
The lord is gracious, becausethrough all that and and this is
not our first brush with deathwe've had, this is probably the
fifth time that he's fourth orfifth time that we've had a
brush with death, especiallywith Charlie.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
He likes to do this as a hobby.
Yeah, he does.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So we weren't really thinking about it.
But sometimes not knowingwhat's going on is actually a
real blessing, because the graceof the Lord was there to just
remain at peace and to know thatif it's not your time, it's not
your time, and if it is yourtime, that the Lord is ever,
ever present with you.
And so we let the doctors dowhat they were doing, and at
(05:59):
that point my brother-in-lawactually asked Charlie, are you
going to go tomorrow?
This is just after he'd comeout of recess.
And Charlie had said no, no, Ijust can't even think about that
right now.
At that point we were justlooking okay, what needs to be
done to be able to save his lifereally?
(06:20):
And it wasn't until later thatday when we needed to start
making decisions, less than 24hours before we're due to fly
what are we going to do?
And so later that evening, inthe busyness of it, within our
context, there's nothing private, so you don't have a private
room or anything.
Everyone is everywhere, many,many people around the bed we
(06:42):
were able to have a shortconversation about okay, what is
it that the Lord wants us to do?
And at that stage we made thedecision that the kids and I
would come on and we would dowhat we could to make a way for
Charlie to be able to join us.
However, there were no flightsto change him to.
The doctor said that he wasn'table to fly for the next um
(07:05):
three days because the toxinwill remain in his body and he
could, um could, have anotherepisode on the flight and he
wasn't comfortable to do that.
However, if we were wait towait for three days and he would
clear him to actually fly butwhen it came to actually trying
to find a flight, there were noflights out of our country, so
(07:27):
we prayed and then the Lordopened up a flight for him to
come, and so the Lord reallyopened the way for him to come,
and now he's actually in thereas we speak.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
What a path.
What a path.
Well, that's quite the start tothe episode and we typically go
back to like what was it likewhen you were a kid and how 'd
you meet the Lord?
But hey, this is real life,real time stuff going on, and so
we're obviously praying for himand getting here safely, and
he's got some exciting roles toplay and that's why he decided
(07:57):
to come and really trulymeaningful ones as well.
So I'm so glad you're here andwhatever God's got on your heart
where you just want to sharesome stories of the people you
care for and love and how you'veseen God work.
You just take it away.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Thank you so much.
Well, this is a note forparents.
I was eight years old in mylocal church when I felt the
call of God upon my life toactually serve him, and I can
tell you which seat I wasactually sitting in and I can
tell you which seat I wasactually sitting in.
And this summer, when we wereback in the UK, I actually got
to revisit that church andactually give testimony to okay,
(08:33):
this is where God really spoketo me and I hadn't been back
since I was 18.
So, yeah, it was a realblessing to be just to bear
witness to how God had used thatinstrumentally in my life.
So I was eight years old and wehad some missionaries come
actually from Bangladesh, andthey shared about what God was
doing within their context and Ireally felt the call to serve
(08:57):
the Lord in some capacity, maybeon the foreign field.
That's the call that I feltthat I had.
However you go along your life,you go to grow up and that's
not the way that my lifeinitially took.
I went and went to universityand had a few years of
wilderness with the Lord duringthat time and then came back to
(09:17):
the Lord towards the end of myuniversity and then began my
career, and it was during thattime that the Lord opened up a
possibility for me to go andstudy at Bible school, which I
at that point felt was forcrusty old people, because when
you're young you really don'thave many brains do you?
And so I did eventually yield tothat and went through some
(09:40):
Bible training.
At that time we actuallystudied a book called To
Missions, and the Lord justreally instrumentally used that
in my life.
Towards the end of myuniversity, I had the
opportunity to come to ColoradoSprings and they'd just opened
their strategic frontiers base,and whilst I was there, I was
just there for three weeks asone of their mission builders At
(10:02):
the time.
In the particular nation that Iserve now, they were having
some very, very difficult times,and so we spent many hours
praying for these local workersthat had been sent out from the
States to this nation.
The people themselves had hadto go underground because there
was great persecution, and inthat time of praying for these
(10:26):
people there was a real passionburned in my heart for this
nation and I felt this is thenation at some point that I will
go to.
However, it took eight years forthe Lord to actually open up
the opportunity, even to visit.
A couple of years later I hadthe opportunity to go to Bible
school, and at the Bible schoolwe read a particular book called
(10:47):
Challenge to Missions, and inthat book the Lord really spoke
to my heart about going longterm, and so I took three or
four short term trips 2001.
I actually traveled to thecountry where I serve and began
the work that now has, 20 yearslater, is formed 23 years later,
(11:11):
yeah 23 years later, okay, andthen you met a boy.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I did meet a boy.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Okay, well, I was never going to marry a national,
that was one thing, and he wasnever going to marry a foreigner
.
However, the Lord very clearlyspoke.
I actually spent my firstChristmas in country with this
young gentleman's family, andthere was nothing in it between
us, because girls and boys don'tgenerally spend alone time
(11:36):
together but it was seven yearslater, actually, that the Lord
began to speak.
It was his time to get married.
I had joined his church at thattime, and so I knew the family.
I knew their church family, andthey had made a suggestion.
His leaders had made asuggestion.
It's your turn, time to getmarried.
Why don't you pray about thisparticular?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
young lady.
Have you thought about Joan?
She's here.
This particular young lady,have you thought about Joan?
You know she's here.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And I don't know what his thoughts were at the time.
But anyway, we prayed and it'sa very unusual story.
We really do feel that ournation actually practices
arranged marriages and we reallyfeel that the Lord was the one
that brought us together.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And so then you were married, Iwould assume for a few years
before you had kids.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, we were married for two years.
Normally, within our cult,within my husband's culture, you
always have a baby in the firstyear, so that you can prove
you've got a proper marriage.
Um, we chose to wait two years,and then along came our son.
First of all, um, and then twoand a half years along came our
daughter.
A great blessing in a time whenI didn't actually think I would
(12:48):
ever get married.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So, yeah, fascinating fascinating and in the years
since you've raised yourchildren in a very remote area
and God's kept you there, forsomeone listening that's maybe
considering going in the fieldfor a shorter time than they
will end up being there.
Tell them about expectationsand where did the lord surprise
(13:12):
you?
And I didn't ever think thiswould happen.
And, yeah, go through some ofthat.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah.
Well, maybe I'll reverse alittle bit, if that's okay.
Um, in 2001 we obviously theworld was changed with 9-11.
And so we were due to go outjust a few days before that, and
so we actually delayed ourgoing by three weeks until
everything settled down a bit.
But when we actually got to ournation, we really didn't know
(13:40):
what the Lord would have us do,except we had a passion for
Jesus and our church sent us andreleased us and said go pray
and see what the Lord would haveus do.
Except we had a passion forJesus and our church sent us and
released us and said go prayand see what the Lord would have
us do.
And so there were no big plansto go for a long, long, long,
long, long long time.
And I think that's reallyimportant, as we we can have
every plan.
The Bible is very clear.
We can have every plan, but theLord orders our steps, and
that's really my experience.
(14:02):
I had a heart, I a passion, Ihad the knowing to go, but I
didn't know what it would looklike, and to hold that loosely
is super important, as anyoneconsiders.
What would the Lord have me do,even in your own nation, let
alone anywhere else, because Ithink it's very easy to idolize
people that go and serve indifferent places, idolize people
that go and serve in differentplaces, but actually life is
(14:24):
life wherever you go, andwhether you are here in service
or in another nation in serviceor whatever it may be, I think
it's important that every one ofus has their walk with the Lord
and we serve and love thepeople around us.
And so I went, and the Lordreally orchestrated it.
(14:46):
We didn't have a huge strategy,we just had a strategy to stay
with the Lord in the day andallow him to open the doors, and
I can say, at least for myself,that's what the Lord has done.
I'd gone on a short-term tripand we had been given a map, a
map of an area that we feltmight be important in the future
(15:07):
, and I showed that map toanother serving M in our area
and they said, oh, I know wherethis map is, I know where it is.
And my friend said oh, I knowpeople from this area, but
they're not here down in thecity right now.
But when they come, then maybethey can meet with you.
And at the time there were somedifficulties in the country, and
(15:28):
it made this young personreturn back to the city much
earlier than they had originallyplanned, and because of that I
was able to meet with them.
One of the difficulties for anypeople such as myself is how do
you stay in a country with acreative visa, and so I was
looking for a long-term visa.
(15:49):
We thought, okay, why don't welook at this particular area and
do some research and otherthings which would give us a
legitimate visa.
And so I showed the map to thisyoung girl and she said well,
these are my people, I wouldlove to take you there.
And so we planned a trip intothe area and because of the
difficulties in the country itwas a little bit tricky to get
(16:11):
in.
But even in that the Lordopened up a way for us to go and
we began our seven day trek inSeven days walk from the end of
the road at that time, oh, wow.
Totally unprepared.
I really didn't know what wewere going into.
It is very remote and isolated,it's very difficult to get to,
and the Lord opened the way forus to go.
It was a hard task.
(16:34):
It was very remote, it was very, it was rainy season and so
there was a lot of a lot ofleeches.
Actually it was landslides, andit was difficult.
And then we got to a bigmountain pass and at this point
we had Jesus but not many brains.
We weren't very wise in what wedid, because we had Jesus and
(16:57):
we had a message that wasburning in our heart to go tell
you, don't always take thepractical steps that you need in
order to ensure your safety.
And so we're at high altitudeand we begin our day of the pass
and we are ill-equipped for thetask before us.
We soon very discover that weare going into thigh-deep snow,
(17:21):
but anyway, the Lord was verygracious and I do remember as
part of this, as part of thejourney, we're at extremely high
altitude.
I feel very, very unwell andanother friend had actually
traveled with us.
That is a mountaineer, and heturned to me and he came with us
(17:41):
because of the safety risks.
And at one point he turned tome and he came with us because
of the safety risks.
And at one point he turned tome and he said how are you
feeling?
And I said I'm really feelingunwell.
And he said well, if you vomit,we will have to run you off
this mountain or you will die.
And at that point such feargripped my heart and I cried out
to the Lord and I said, lord,I'm OK, you're going to have to
(18:03):
help me here.
And it was like this grace cameupon me and the Lord just held
me and we probably trekked foranother five hours to the top of
this pass, and yet it was justlike probably felt like 20
minutes to me.
And so we went over this bigmountain pass and into the area
where we currently serve.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
I'm having a very Tolkien Lord of the Rings moment
here like picture in my head ofthis journey.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I think what we just want to make sure that the
listeners capture is remote.
There's no roads, you're notdriving, you're walking, you're
hiking.
It is treacherous.
You mentioned leeches.
I assume so as you're.
If it's multiple days, you'reobviously sleeping along the
path, and so I'm assuming you'redealing with those, probably
when you're laying down andsleeping, or maybe as you're
(18:54):
walking they're getting ontoyour clothing and into your
under.
I don't even want to go there,joan.
I don't want to go there, but Isee what you mean.
So you reached out, you criedout to Jesus and help me, and
then he turned the mosttreacherous part of the trek
into what seemed like a 20minute walk in your neighborhood
(19:15):
.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yes, and then, we went on this journey, we
continued, we had no idea howlong the day would actually be,
and darkness fell.
Then we discovered that wedidn't have the right correct
head torches and stuff for thejourney that we were on, and so,
about nine o'clock at night, wehit a big river, um, or some
(19:38):
streams, and so in the dark, inthe dark without flashlights.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, I mean, we were .
Yeah, we had jesus, oh mygoodness.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah and so we took our shoes and socks off and
waded through the glacial watersand carried on our journey as
if that's what one does.
And, yeah, we eventuallyreached a very remote village
and were able to stay there forthe night, about 10 o'clock in
the evening, and they laughed sohard at us, because who comes
(20:04):
over?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, who walks up at 10 o'clock at night?
Who walks up at 10?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
o'clock at night.
They did manage hard at us,because who comes over, who
walks up at 10 o'clock at night.
They did manage to feed us, wedid manage to eat and rest and
then the following day wecontinued down the mountain and
began to come much more intosmall, small villages.
I began to encounter thepeoples that have come to be
carried in our hearts.
What really stuck out to me isthe simpleness of life.
(20:29):
They live in stone houses withstone roofs.
In one room there is a fire inthe middle of the room and
everyone lives around that fire.
At that time it was open, justan open fire.
They would walk hours a day togo down, cut down trees, to be
(20:50):
able to provide for firewood tobe able to cook their simple
food.
And on that first trip we atepotatoes and we ate a particular
flower that they made frombarley, actually that they
harvest, yeah, a particular teathat they make with using the
leaves and the twigs that theyfind within their trees.
(21:10):
And just the simplicity of lifeand the harshness of life that
went on.
Amongst the.
There's just a remote locationthat they live in and it just
felt like we'd gone back to theStone Age.
What struck me actually when Ifirst went is how many children
these people have, because theydo not know how many kids are
(21:33):
going to survive.
But just being around thepeople the men and the women
were hard at work in the harvestand just talking to the ladies,
we met very many people who hadhad multiple deaths of their
kids because they didn't knowwho would survive and who would
not, and the and it's so harsh.
And then I remember speaking toone lady and she had had 14
(21:57):
children and every one of herchildren had died and now her
husband had died and so therewas just her and who would look
after her in her old age.
And it just struck us at thatduring that struck me just in
that time.
And that's how we've we've kindof come on to.
What we actually do is the lifeof the children, watching that
(22:21):
from the age.
I mean you had little kidsprobably.
I mean they all look muchsmaller than our kids because of
the malnourishment.
But there were kids five, sixthat all had their little
baskets that they carried ontheir head, that were all part
of the harvest jobs that weregoing on and everyone was
helping because it was that'show we're going to survive by
(22:42):
being able to bring in theharvest to be able to live on
for this next season.
And if we don't bring it in,there's nothing to eat.
Just that harshness of there'sno local shop to go buy anything
from.
At that time there was no localcommunication outside.
They would travel higher intosome other villages to be able
(23:03):
to trade.
But what you grew is what youate.
Just experiencing that, yeah,that was just very unique for me
.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
That would be very unique for anyone that's going
to hear this.
Yeah, that's incredible.
And yet you realized, once yougot there and you met them and
you saw that way of life, thatthis is where I'm supposed to be
.
Not, this isn't where I'msupposed to be, which I think
would have been the reasonableconclusion everyone else would
(23:32):
have come to.
But no, this is where God wantsme to be.
Yeah, and then my window, mydoor, is through the children.
It is, it's through serving themand teaching them and educating
them and caring for them.
That's how we're going toestablish our presence here,
(23:53):
build our trust here and helpmake a difference here in the
quality of their life and theirfuture.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, it was interesting.
I was very quickly realizedthat I was not cut out for the
adult way of life, but therewere lots of children around and
you could see that the childrenhad various different diseases.
They had popped bellies fromthe worms and, and actually we
now know that at that time overhalf the children died before
the age of eight and we didn'tknow that at the time.
(24:19):
And so, because we could onlywork for short periods, I could
only work short periods of oftime within fields.
We got to hang out with thekids in the village, as I was
just considering.
Okay, lord, how on earth areyou going to reach out to these
people Praying one day, and Ireally sensed that God spoke
quite clearly and he said if youwill love the children, I will
(24:41):
turn the hearts of the parentsto me.
And so that's what that was thethat has become the foundation
of what we do and how we areable to minister into the lives
of the family in order to seeGod's love be able to penetrate
these areas.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Now maybe take us through just a little bit
further along as you decideyou're going to stay there, but
you didn't meet, you didn't meetyour husband there.
That wasn't where the churchwas that you joined.
So you were traveling and goingthere for weeks or maybe a few
months at a time.
Then you were going back to amore densely populated area.
Right, tell us kind of whatyour rhythm was like.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, so I got to travel into the areas, into this
area, but it's actually arestricted area.
You need government permissionto actually be in these areas,
so it's not possible to livethere.
And so, based out of the cityand we would travel into these
areas, each trip was verydifferent and where we stayed at
that time Now it's open totourism a little bit more, but
(25:47):
in the first 15 or so years oftravel that wasn't the case.
So we would stay on people'sfloors the first few trips we'd
actually stay.
They have two story houseswhere the animals are underneath
and they're upstairs, so veryoften I would stay with the
animals downstairs becauseupstairs was very busy.
Alcohol is very much part oftheir way of life, so there was
(26:09):
very often drunk people and thatwasn't always a safe place to
stay.
And so when I was in thevillage, that's where we would
stay with known people, becauseone of the other dangers in this
particular area is they poisonpeople and so you have to be
very careful where you actuallystay.
But then I would actually livein the city, where we could
(26:31):
study language, where we couldactually begin to learn about
culture, because you have adominant culture and then you
have the local culture, and,first of all, I needed to learn
how to actually live andfunction within the dominant
culture, and so a majority of mytime was spent in the city, but
then traveling to parts of thecity where these peoples would
(26:53):
come and travel to and stay forshort periods of time.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Right, right, tell us about maybe just a small pivot
here to the predominant religionof the area.
How have you encounteredchallenges sharing Christ?
How has there been windows ofopportunity or similarities that
have bridged the gospel for you?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
The types of people that are the dominant religion
within our people group ofservice is a religion that is a
very communal religion.
To be in the group that we weserve in is to be this
particular type of buddhism, andso everything about the
(27:34):
people's life is a display oftheir religion.
Right?
So the particular type ofbuddhism that our people's um
practice actually is a way oflife.
It's much more than what theyjust believe, but it's a place
of birth.
They're into reincarnation, soeverything is about what's
coming next.
(27:55):
It is not about consideringtoday.
It's about considering the wayforward for tomorrow and being
able to provide for tomorrow.
Because tomorrow is dark, thereis only darkness in front, and
what I do today brings light totomorrow, and so the ways that I
(28:16):
provide for tomorrow are reallyimportant spiritually.
So I use my monk.
You cannot approach your owngods yourself.
You have to have anintermediary, and so they have
what's called lamas monks thatdo certain rituals for them that
will provide light for thefuture.
There is no assurance, there'sno reassurance for tomorrow.
(28:37):
It's all about my good works,and so there is this covering
and this heaviness, thisunknownness about tomorrow, and
so they're always looking for,they never know it's enough.
And yet I have to give my best,with my best works today to
make sure that tomorrow ispossible so they wake up every
day and they feel like they'rebehind on the scoreboard always
(29:00):
behind right, and now I've gotto go out and I've got to earn
more tallies, more marks, morescore to get that light for
tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Absolutely, and I can't do it all by myself, so
I've got to work to get somethings and then pay the monks to
do the rituals for me and myfamily.
Absolutely Right.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Buddhism is all about suffering.
It's all about the answers tosuffering and it's all about
being released from this earthlysuffering so that they can
actually get to what's callednirvana and actually realize
that this world is an entrapmentand to come to become nothing.
That is your ultimate aim, sothat you can be released from
(29:43):
this eternal cycle of rebirth.
So you're born, you live a life.
Through those works of today,you can ensure that your next
life, that you are born in abetter place than you are today.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
But you're not aware, obviously in this life, of your
last life.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
So they're not functioning with that knowledge.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
However, if you are they must think they did a
miserable job.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Absolutely You're suffering.
If you are suffering, that isyour own fault, because that is
because so, if you see someonethat's suffering on the street,
you may give them alms, you maygive them money, but that has
nothing to do with that person'ssuffering.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Because that person's suffering is because their own
fault.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
But I give you al yeah, but I give you arms, I
give you help, because my nextlife will be better because I'm
tallying up now.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
I'm tallying up for my own well-being, sure.
How does that relate to?
I know we talked about thisbefore, but how does that relate
to when a when a relative or aloved one passes?
There's something that they dopost-death to, where they're
trying to help pay their way toa better place, right?
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, they are.
A funeral is an interestingspectacle because the monk will
come and he will guide thefamily of how to provide for
their loved one to get to theafterlife, in preparation for
their rebirth.
And so they pay the lamas.
The lamas come and they dotheir chanting and they do very
(31:10):
many rituals which each time isvery, very different.
It's orchestrated by oneparticular monk, and then they
pay the monks to actually dothese things in order to provide
for the loved one's passageinto the next life and then,
ultimately, to be born again.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
So it's not a leap for the listener to realize then
that that system keeps themvery entrapped.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
It's very entrapped.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Once they've actually saved up enough whatever money
vegetables they have, and thenthey spend them for the loved
one.
In these capacities, they'reback at ground zero.
They go to bed that night, andthey wake up the next morning,
and now I've got to work mytally back up.
And so how amazing must it beto hear that God came and lived
(32:03):
the life you couldn't live andsuffered the death you deserved
on your behalf.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
The message that we carry in Christ is so valuable
and yet the Bible talks abouthow the God of this world has
blinded the eyes.
For a Buddhist to hear thegospel makes no sense to them
(32:31):
when we share our traditionalgospel with them.
It makes no sense when I sharethat christ died for you and he
suffered for you.
And they're able to see that.
They say, oh, I could neverfollow a man like that, because
their belief is that yoursuffering is because of your own
(32:53):
work.
So to watch Jesus suffer forthem, look at all the stuff that
he suffered how could he be agood man?
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It just requires us to.
It's not that we're creative,it's just that there is another
message for them to reallyunderstand.
Yeah, so let me tell you howthe Lord's led us after he had
spoken to us about loving thekids in the communities that we
serve.
It's very unique.
(33:22):
At least this wouldn't be thepossibility in the UK, maybe
it's a little bit more in theStates, but you can change the
life of a community by lovingand and changing the life of one
child.
And so the way that the Lordreally spoke to us, he said love
the children and give them theopportunities to be able to gain
(33:44):
an education, to be able tohave life skills, to be able to
have leadership skills and thensend them back to their people
to be able to be a carrier ofhope into their own people Very
counterculture, at least in myculture.
We would never separate familiesfrom their children.
In the communities that weserve, they're looking for their
(34:10):
children to be sent somewherebecause they know that by being
able to send their kids outsidethen they can gain an education
and when they return they willbe much more profitable for
their actual villages.
And so the way that the Lordled us to do that was to open an
educational center and toprovide a loving family home for
(34:30):
these kids to come to, toreceive an education, to be able
to live with us, to be able tohear the gospel for themselves
and to provide opportunity forthem to meet God themselves.
The kinds of kids that we focusupon are those who had health
(34:51):
issues that meant living in thevillage was either hazardous
they would actually not seeadulthood if they remained in
the village or those whosefamilies were not able to
provide for any of theirchildren to have an education
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
So, as we're thinking about these children that have
come down and been educated, andjust for the listener to know,
the vast majority of thesechildren have become Christians.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yes, they have.
Let me tell you the story ofone young man who came to us.
He was about eight years oldwhen he came to us and he was so
full of anger, so full ofdifficulty, and he had his story
about how he came to us.
And he was one of the young menthat actually probably would
not have survived in the familyif we hadn't have taken him,
(35:40):
simply because he had somehealth issues associated with
the harsh life that he'd had inthe village.
But this young man came to us,he was very angry all the time.
He would have outbursts ofanger, quite violent actually
and yet, as he began to hearabout the love of God for
himself, it began to soften hisheart.
Now, was it a momentarily thing?
(36:01):
No, it took years, but the Lordbegan to work on his heart,
begin to open his heart, beginto see a different value of his
life, to know that God valuedhis life, that God was ordering
his steps, and so, as thathappened, his character began to
(36:22):
change.
He began to find more peace, tofind more just to find more
centering for his life and tounderstand that he was called
with a purpose, that the lifethat he had come from which was
full of abuse, full of parentseparation, rejection of one
(36:43):
side of the family.
As these families divorce andthey remarry, they're rejected
by the new family because ofwho's going to inherit the land.
And so, when he came to us, hefound a place of belonging, a
place where he could be valuedfor who he is, discover his
value to God and to discoverwhat God wanted him to do with
(37:06):
his life and his purpose for hislife.
And so now this young man hascommitted his life to Christ,
has gone through the waterswhich is a huge deal within our
context and has actuallyreturned to his village.
He's now married, he has twochildren and now he's beginning
to work.
He helps run an NGO that bringstransformation to his community
(37:30):
, and they have very manydifferent projects that are
going on to help with theircultivating grounds, the kind of
crops that they can grow, andhe's bringing a sustainable
transformation to his communityand has actually even gone on
and won an award at the recentCOP meetings out in the Middle
(37:52):
East and has won aninternational award for what he
does.
And he is learning how to be abeliever within his community.
He is the only believer in hiscommunity and the persecution
that he faces, for that has beenquite has been difficult for
him, and yet he is learning whatit means to love Jesus and to
(38:15):
begin to love and share the loveand the light that is within
him with those around him.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
They're walking with the Lord now and something in I
think maybe a lot of people knowabout Buddhism, about these
prayer wheels.
We've seen these prayer wheelswhere they walk by and they spin
these wheels and I just picturethese kids going back and
they're not walking by thoseprayer wheels for the same
purpose and they're not engagingwith them in the same way.
Right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
The prayer wheels are very significant because in the
turning of them they're makingmerit for themselves.
Better next life.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And if somebody Googles prayer wheels this might
show up.
But the way I've seen it isjust think of a rock wall, ok,
and then carved into the wallmultiple axles with a wheel on
the axle, and so if you couldwalk by, you could, you could
spin.
Maybe there's six or eight orten or twelve or however many of
them in a row on the wall.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
you kind of just walk by it and you would spin these
wheels yeah, and inside theinside, each wheel has prayer,
written prayers, and thosewritten prayers, as they spin,
they then waft up to the sky andit's like those prayers are
actually released into theatmosphere.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Right, so you're engaging in some activity that
is, in theory, praying orestablishing prayers on your
behalf and that's helping yourdaily tally?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Yes, absolutely Okay, yeah, yeah, and so that's so
much part of their merit-making,all about merit-making.
And so, as the kids havelearned and have had their lives
transformed by God himself,they've met with the Savior,
(39:49):
they now know that thismerit-making is not the way that
they gain life, right, yeah,and so as they've gone back to
their families and they havebegun to share the stories, as
they've begun to share the lifethat they now have, what has
become evident is that our kids,that we have raised, are
different from the local kids,and so it is very much
(40:12):
recognized that they aredifferent.
However, they have facedpersecution because they've
stepped out of the corporatenature of a Buddhist community,
right, and so now, at least in aBuddhist perspective, the gods
in the house are fighting.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
All right.
And so, as the gods arefighting the persecution they
face, even though they can seethat our kids are different and
they carry a different light, adifferent peace, a different way
of life, their natural tendencyis to persecute that and cut it
out of themselves.
(40:49):
The reason for that is becausethe gods are fighting amongst
themselves and their gods arevery jealous gods and they
believe that if they don'tworship their gods and they
don't honor their gods, thosegods will cause them problems
and that they will come afterthem.
There is this spiritual warfarebetween the kids that we have
(41:14):
raised and others from thevillage.
My first trip into the villageopened my heart and my eyes to
understand the great darkness inthese areas.
The sleep and dreams are veryimportant in Buddhism, but to be
in these areas and actuallyexperience the demonic warfare
(41:37):
in our dreams was something thatI had not.
I just never experienced before.
So you've had serious dreams.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Yeah, far different dreams than you ever had in the
UK.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah, far different dreams, far different dreams and
far different fears that comeat you.
Far different experiences whereit's unexplainable fear,
unexplainable hopelessness,depression.
It is warfare, in an area wherethe religion actually practices
(42:11):
demon possession.
And so that they use aspiritual power and they welcome
that spiritual power into them,so that they may have power
over a different spiritual being, because it's very animistic,
this, this particular god orthis particular spiritual being.
I want to gain power over that,so I welcome the empowering of
(42:35):
another spiritual being that hasgreater power over that that
way I can guarantee and I canappease this, this particular
god, to be able to have powerover that particular god how
many gods are there?
more than you could number, okay, and what they do is they
inhabit certain things.
Every home has a particularhouse god and then you have
(42:58):
these gods that are over areas,which is why they won't leave
their villages, because theyalways have to have at least one
family member who continues tolive there to make appeasement
for their god.
The interesting thing is, youwill have some of these villages
, for example, live in New York,and when they have problems in
(43:18):
their life, they will phonesomeone or get a message to
someone in the village toactually do different rituals to
appease that God, because thatwas the God that caused them
problems in their location inthe other side of the world, so
it's almost like someone's gotto keep the fire burning at home
absolutely, absolutely.
And if you do not have that,then you cannot.
(43:39):
Your gods will be sad and thenthey will cause you problems,
and they, they have an abilityto reach you around the world
fascinating.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
So much of their turmoil is spiritual.
Yes, because really theirday-to-day life is plant harvest
, wood water.
Yeah, there's not a lot ofcomplications around how they're
going to climb a corporateladder.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
No, absolutely, and everything of that is controlled
by the lamas.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
So they tell them when they can plant, they can
tell them when they harvest,they can tell them when to go on
a journey, when can you go upthe mountain, when can you go
down the mountain.
It's all dictated by theirreligious beliefs, and so
everything that they do is anoutworking of the religious
culture that they live in.
They've never known anydifferent, and if we don't go
(44:26):
tell them that there's anydifferent, they will never know
any different, because when youlive under bondage, you do not
know that you're under bondage.
You just know that this is theway it works, because what
you're always looking for is howis my life going to work?
How do I stop when your life isnot assured of you and tomorrow
is not promised, and your lifeis so harsh?
(44:48):
How am I going to make my lifework?
And that's what we're alllooking for already.
How are we going to survive, tomake tomorrow possible?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
And the troubles of today are enough for today, and
tomorrow is a new day the Lordhas made.
It's such a different promisethat we live under.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
So when we're sharing with people, it's very, very
difficult for them to have anyconcept that it's a free gift.
It seems too easy because it iseasy, and yet it cost God
everything, everything,everything.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
This has been amazing .
Thank you, I know you've justhad an incredible few days and a
long journey and you're back inthe States for your second time
.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah, my second time.
Your family's first time, yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:30):
I would love to just unleash you as the prayer
warrior I know you to be, and ifyou'll just pray for the
listeners, the workers in thefield, those that are
considering, maybe even somebodyout there that hasn't fully
grasped this whole concept yet.
Just whatever God's got on yourheart, my friend.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Okay, sure, let me pray for us, father, we just
thank you, we thank you for yourgreat love for us.
That, father, while we werestill sinners, you chose to die
for us.
Father, we just thank you thatwe can draw near to you because
(46:12):
of who you are, not because ofwho we are, you because of who
you are, not because of who weare.
And, father, we just thank you,lord, that you are at work in
these remote areas.
That, father, your power isgreater than any other power.
And so, father, we just pray,father God, for your spirit of
wisdom and revelation in theknowledge of Jesus to be
(46:34):
released into these unreachednations.
Lord, that, father, the nationthat I get to serve in, father
God, we do pray, father God,that you would take the binds
away from the enemy.
The enemy has kept them indarkness, father God, and we
just pray for your release,father God, over them now.
Lord, that, father, that youwould pour out your love, father
(46:55):
God, that, father God, that youwould bring your love, father
God.
That, father God, that youwould bring a revelation, father
God, of who you are and whatyou have done, that you might be
rejoined with your children.
Lord, father, will you give usa heart and an ear after what
you are doing?
Will you mould our hearts, lord, father?
(47:15):
Will you give us suchsensitivity to your spirit to be
able to serve you in the placesthat you have us be?
Father, we want to be that lightto those around us, lord.
Father, we want to first knowthat light, and then we want to
be able to give that light tothose around us, father, that we
might be a witness.
(47:35):
You say in your word, lord,that we are your witness, that
we will witness about what youhave done, from Jerusalem to
Samaria, to the ends of theearth, father, god.
And so, father, wherever wefind ourselves serving you, may
you turn our hearts to know youand then to make you known
(47:57):
around us.
Lord, father, we want to seeyou glorified, we want to see
you lifted on high.
Lord, may you be worshipped inthe nations, in the nations,
(48:21):
father, we cry out that we mightknow the weight of your glory.
May we be transformed by therevelation of your love.
Would you build your kingdom inour hearts, in our families, in
(48:43):
our communities and within ournations?
There is nobody like you, andso we thank you that we can draw
(49:03):
near to you in faith by theblood of Jesus.
Holy Spirit, will you open oureyes today to see those that
you've placed around us, becauseyou love the individual that is
(49:25):
placed before us, and would youhelp us connect with them.
Will you help us share yourlove with them wherever they may
be, in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
And amen.
Thank you for listening toUnreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
(50:06):
life group, small group, d group, wherever you do life, and if
you want to connect with us,find us on Instagram at
unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
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