Chapter 11 from “Fully Equipped: Having What It Takes to Give Your All”
The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. – Proverbs 16:1
In 2011, the Lord led our family to make the transition from pastoring in Florida to preparing for service in foreign missions. Our first stop would be moving out to Texas to receive advanced practical training. It is important to remember that preparation time is never wasted time!
Upon arrival in Bowie, Texas in early August, we were hit with immediate culture shock. It was literally 115 degrees and all the grass was dead. We moved into an old house on the property of Baptist Bible Translator’s Institute. This would be one of the greatest years of my life! We attended class with several other families and single students. Everyone had a heart for missions.
Our teachers gave us a good dose of reality of what we might encounter in a foreign land. We learned the importance of understanding the culture and learning the language. In some cases, a missionary needs to learn the trade language and a local tribal dialect. It was emphasized that we need to go as students and servants. We learned phonetics, which is how sounds are made and identified.
The International Phonetic Alphabet was an invaluable tool that would assist us in quickly learning the language without a distracting accent. We were equipped to enter a village with no written language, hear the natives speak, and write down the various sounds using the IPA. Then other linguists can benefit from using the notes you have made. The goal is to apply this in areas where no Bible currently exist in the heart language of the people.
We learned morphology and syntax: the formation of words and sentence structure. Every civilization has order in their language properties. If you know how to use the keys, it is possible to unlock the doors to learning multiple languages.
We had other classes in Greek, and teaching English. We learned how to develop primers for illiterate societies. An exciting course was Firm Foundations, put out by New Tribes Mission. We learned how to efficiently teach the Bible stories chronologically from Creation to Christ.
In the mornings, we had class, then work detail in the afternoons. We worked on anything in need of attention, including the houses, grounds, and automobiles. We also had opportunities to record messages for the weekly radio broadcast, write articles for the quarterly titled Lift Up Your Eyes, and speak in nearby churches.
During Jungle Week, we learned to catch and kill animals, then prepare and cook them. We learned how to make a fire with a bow drill, along with flint & magnesium. Other fun projects included making natural shelters and gathering water from trees.
This training inspired me so much that a few months later when sitting on a pastor friend’s porch, a car driving by ran over a squirrel. My immediate reaction was to retried the fresh road kill, skin it, and bar b-q it to go on the supper table that night! Yes, I am sure our friends thought I had lost my mind!
The Breaking Point
The most significant factor of our family going to the foreign field was my wife’s surrender. I would not have peace or clear direction until this occurred. It was during the first semester during our studies when God got a hold of my wife’s heart regarding missions. I’ll let her share her testimony in her own words below.
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In 2011, my husband, three kids and I were living in a single-wide mobile home. So when a man knocked on our door, three separate times, and begged us to sell our home to him, I was excited. I started dreaming of a new house with lots of room for the kids to play. I was already planning the colors to paint each room, and how to decorate my kitchen. When Luke told me shortly after that he believed God was calling us into missions, and that we needed to move to Texas to attend the missionary training school, I was not excited. I actually started crying uncontrollably, and didn’t stop for at least three days.
You see, my husband has wanted to be a missionary since he was very young. I however, was not that way. I didn’t have anything against being a missionary, It was just something I never wanted to do. I have to say, the only reason I moved out to Texas to attend BBTI was because I loved my husband, but for no other reason. When we moved there, I absolutely hated it—115 degree heat and locust everywhere, not my place of choice. But the real reason I hated it was because of the turmoil going on in my soul.
I knew what Luke wanted to do—be a foreign missionary, but I was not willing to go. I kept praying that God would change Luke’s mind. I kept telling God what would really be better for our family. I was miserable and scared. Scared, because I knew the same love that made me follow my husband to Texas wasn’t strong enough to take me halfway across the world and keep me there. I knew something had to happen in my heart, but I didn’t know what, and I didn’t know how to make it happen.
We were at BBTI for a few months when Pastor Fred Schindler came through to speak about the family. He spoke to the class, the missionary wives especially, about surrender and being able to make it on the mission field. He spoke of how we need to cut the cords from friends and family back in the States – not so we never speak to anyone, but so that we can go to the field for the long haul. We needed to go without looking back or running home every time something difficult happens. We needed to be able to stand behind our husbands and do this! I left class early because I couldn’t quit crying.
I went home and got on my face before the Lord and opened His Word. I finally came to a point of surrender. I prayed the hardest prayer I’ve ever had to pray which was, “Lord, I don’t want you to give me the desire to go to the mission field; I want you to change me so that I want nothing else.” That was the hardest prayer I’ve ever had to pray because I was afraid of the answer. Immediately, a burden was lifted off my shoulders, and I had peace. I wasn’t ready at that moment to charge off to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, but I came to a place where I could allow God to work in my heart and truly change me.
Over the next few weeks I really delved into God’s word, sought Him in prayer, and received encouraging words from other missionary wives. About three weeks later, I was sitting in the front row of a church service while we were singing a familiar hymn, “At the Cross.” God used that song and spoke to my heart. The last verse says,
“But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe. Here Lord I give myself away ’tis all that I can do.”
It was at that moment that God changed my heart. I have to say He didn’t just give me the desire to go to the mission field, but changed me so that I wanted nothing else!
I’m realizing more and more that surrender isn’t one big thing for a moment, but many tiny points in our lives where God brings us a little further out of our comfort zone so that we will trust him a little bit more. Each day has its own challenges. My fears keep arising, and I can think of several excuses of why I shouldn’t go, and why we would be better off here in the States.
But God has given me a passage of Scripture that truly helps combat all of those fears and excuses. It is written in Isaiah 41:9-13, “…Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness…For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
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During our first semester in Texas, I would eagerly look over maps and study people groups in need of the Gospel. I wondered where we might go as missionaries. I learned about Thailand and how it was a needy place. It is strategically located in South East Asia with freedom for missionaries to enter. There were a number of missionaries there already and I began to correspond with some. I also knew they had good hospitals, so this would be appealing to Jamie. But God would not give me clear direction until she had come to a place of full surrender. What a day that was when she finally announced that she was willing to go anywhere God led us.
Where in the world does God want us?
I just couldn’t get peace about Thailand, however. I couldn’t get the Tibetan people out of my mind. I didn’t think there was any way humanly possible that I could reach them. But I would think, “We could start a Bible school in Thailand and send missionaries into Tibet!” I even told someone, “At some point, I know God will have us do something to reach the Tibetans.”
Nearing Christmas break, we looked at our personal finances. Our bank account was dwindling down and it seemed we couldn’t continue the whole school year without me getting a job. Before we left to visit family in Florida, we were given several Christmas donations by people, many whom we had never met. Then we saw God provide for our entire trip home and back through love offerings by churches we visited. I was able to represent the ministry of BBTI at several churches in Florida and tell about our burden for the unreached! We were even scheduled in churches on the night before Thanksgiving and Christmas Sunday!
God was about to reveal the next step of where we would eventually serve and who we would work with!
About the author:
Luke graduated from Crown College of the Bible in 2003. He married Jamie in July of 2006. God has blessed them with five children. Together they had the privilege of serving in the pastorate of a Baptist Church in Florida from 2007-2011.
In August of 2011, our family began our journey to serve the Lord as labourers among Unreached People Groups in Asia. We prepared ourselves at Baptist Bible Translator’s Institute in Bowie, Texas. During that time, God directed our path to work among the Tibetan people in the country of Nepal.
In February of 2014, we moved to Kathmandu, Nepal and experienced God’s work of grace and protection upon our family. We had the privilege to serve at the Crown Nepal Bible College. Teaching classes and preaching at youth conferences was a great opportunity for our family. We also were able to assist in outreaches to villages of the Tamang and Gurung people.
In 2021, we moved to Tampa, Florida. We currently are serving in our home church Southside Baptist Church and teach in the Christian Academy. Luke continues his writing ministry (www.pilgrimoftruth.com) and video messages on his YouTube channel (Pilgrim of Truth). His goal is to aid believers in making Christ known to the world. He continues to seek to assist churches in America. His heart’s desire is to help meet the needs of the unreached people groups in the world.
