That's How the Story Goes...

In the year 1991, my mother gave birth to a son. I am he.

Allow me now to tell my tale. A tale of woes and foes, friends and family, life and death,

princes and princesses, frogs and swans, bats and gnats, evil sorcerers and conquering

heroes! Perhaps not all these are included in this story, but they make for a wonderful

introduction.

Not long ago--yet not too recently--the Lord our God called me. And I, in turn, answered

Him. Summer 2007 began my journey (or so I thought) which has taken me where I am

today and is leading me to far greater a place. How mistaken I have been. My journey

began at birth. At that moment I was introduced to the two people who would be most

influential in the years to follow. These two happened to bear the title of “Parents”--my

parents, to be exact.

As my life began, the Lord wasted no time in preparing me for my death: death

intangible, yet real; death incomprehensible, yet fully understood; death inexplicable, yet

shared with many--death referred to as “being born again.” Over 2000 years ago, God

sent His Son to this earth to suffer the complete wrath of His Father. Jesus bore sin--all

sin--and brought it to death, even death by crucifixion. Three days after His death, God

in His power gave life once again to His Son. Life everlasting! Glorified, having fully

satisfied the wrath of God, Jesus gives to all this gift of life. Having brought to legal

justice the wrongdoings of all mankind, He gives the option to every man and woman to

accept this eternal forgiveness. The acceptance of this everlasting life is what we call

being born again. To be born again, however, one must first die. For can a man, fully

grown, enter His motherʼs womb a second time? No. A man is born first of flesh. When

he dies to his flesh, a man can be reborn of the Spirit of God.

To die to flesh--to self--a man must sacrifice his will to accept Godʼs will. Sacrifice, they

say. A funny phrase for such a blessed experience. Indeed, since His will contains no

error, no mistakes, no faults, it brings to all who accept it great joy. The greatest

adventure is the one that follows the path with a narrow gate and few travelers. Each

footstep is ordered by God, allowing for the most tremendous trek through the time

given us. My footsteps follow this trail.

I was home-schooled my for all twelve of my school years. I was raised by two parents

far from perfection. But who honestly wants perfect parents? How could you ever live up

to their standards? How could you follow their example? How could God receive glory

through weakness if no weakness existed? Far from perfect, but close to God, they

were--they are. They chose to raise my siblings and me according to the standards of

Godʼs Word. Since my birth, my parents have poured into me their whole beings. And

God has blessed that.

I began piano lessons at a young age and continued for nearly seven years. I hated it.

 

In my first couple of years in High School, I expressed a great interest in Computer

Science. My dream job: software engineering. I hate computers.

Math, not my strongest subject, but possibly the subject I most understood. The only

times I received a grade that was not an “A” were the times I failed to turn in my work.

Itʼs hard to turn in work when you donʼt do it. “Why,” you ask, “did you not do your

work?” I found it boring to solve problems that were so simple that I found no problem solving. I failed to realize then that understanding math was not my problem, but doing

it. I hated math.

Science. Science, science, science.... I hated science.

In 2007, I gave God control of my life. I opened my hands, held out my heart, and

trusted to Him my every breath. For the most part. He took what I gave and made what I

am. In the same week I let go of my will, He gave me His. “Go to Japan,” He said.

“Okay,” I replied. After two years of prayer and seeking opportunity, God placed in front

of me a five week mission trip to Okinawa, Japan. I went.

In July, 2009, I arrived in Okinawa. After the second week of the trip, God decided I

should stay for a semester of Bible College. The place I was at just “happened” to be an

extension campus of Calvary Chapel Bible College. Near the end of my first semester,

God decided I needed to travel (alone) to South Korea and lead worship and teach at a

Calvary Chapel for the winter. So, I spent my first birthday, Christmas, and New Years

without Americans (mostly). God then decided I needed to return to Okinawa for my

second semester. I knew this was going to be my last semester of Bible College, so I

went. There I discovered He wanted me to go to California (but that comes later) to

complete a third semester.

Long story short, I returned from my five week mission trip 10 months after I had left.

Boy is time a funny thing when you live on the other side of the world!

As I remained in Florida for the Summer and Fall of 2010, God showed me His purpose

for me spending that time in Japan. I thought He wanted me to be a permanent

missionary there, but His thoughts are high above mine! In the eight months I spent in

Japan, I learned Japanese quickly, easily, and enjoyed the learning of language a great

deal. I came to a realization one day that thousands of languages, millions of people, do

not own the Word of God in their heart language. A personʼs heart language is the

language in which he thinks, dreams, and prays. Believe it or not, most of the world

does not think in English. Nor do they dream or pray in it. In fact, only 6% of the world

speaks English as their heart language. Yet, I have learned that 80% of Bibles are in

English. This is where Wycliffe Bible Translators comes into my life.

Having a gift for linguistics, a heart for missions, a desire for a rural, mountainous

lifestyle, and being born in a nation that makes achieving any goal easy, I decided to

seek out where I could fit in. God opened doors in ways I never would have imagined,

and today I am an intern at the Wycliffe USA headquarters. I work in the Prayer

Ministries Department.

I mentioned earlier the school subjects I hated. Now I will explain.

Research has shown that those who are musically innate (I grew to love piano after I

quit and found that I have a natural gift for hearing music) and those who are skilled at

math (natural sciences and computer sciences included) have a great chance of being

linguistically gifted. It just so “happens” that what I hated in my youth had actually

developed my brainʼs capacity to gift me in the exact area I love! Amazing how every

single step is ordered by God--even when unbeknownst to us.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011: I asked a recruiter at Wycliffe to recruit me. A funny request. I

am in the beginnings now of applying for Membership. This means that I will become an

“official Wycliffe missionary.” Which means I will be poor for the rest of my Wycliffe

career. Just kidding ;) It does, however, mean that I will rely on the support of a team I

am going to build--both in finances and in prayer. Especially prayer. It also means that in

January 2012, I plan on attending a semester of concentrated studies at the Canada

Institute of Linguistics (CanIL). These studies will prepare me for Language survey.

Survey is the beginning of every translation. A team of linguistically capable

missionaries go to people groups without a Bible translation and make detailed,

thorough reports on their language.

My (tentative) plan is to do this in the Himalaya Mountain range in Nepal. I plan to leave

at the end of Summer 2012 and return 2-3 years later. To accomplish this, several

things must take place. First, I am already interning with Wycliffe. I have 30 hours a

week in my job, 4 hours of classes, and a number of other responsibilities. Now I have

begun an intense application process that will take 4-6 weeks. After being accepted as a

Wycliffe Member, I will begin raising my support (referred to as Partnership

Development). I will be building (developing) a team of people (partners) who will

commit to first praying for me and second supporting me financially. Some will do one,

some the other, some both. In October or November, I will attend a missionary training

course called EQUIP at the Wycliffe USA headquarters. In December, I will continue

Partnership Development (PD) and take a couple of weeks to “rest” before moving on to

CanIL.

I am blessed beyond measure, my cup is overflowing, and I cannot contain this joy! I

want to share this with you for a few reasons. First, I thought you might like to know

what is happening in my life. Second, I wanted to encourage you with the word of my

testimony (however summarized it may be). Third, I want to challenge you to consider

what you are allowing God to do with you. Fourth, I want to give you an opportunity to

be a part of the Great Commission (specifically the translation of the Word of God). It is

so important that every believer have His Word, for the Bible is Godʼs primary method of

communicating with us! And you can take part in delivering it to every people, every

tribe, and every tongue. You can do this in two ways: first by praying. Commit to praying

for a Bibleless People group (bibleless.org). Pray for translations already taking place.

Pray for translators. Pray for me. Second, you can support the work financially. I still

need $1000 to complete the support for my internship. I will need $625 for the EQUIP

training program. And I will need financial support for many years to come as I follow

God on this epic journey He is allowing me to take part in! You can support by donating

once, or by committing to donate monthly, quarterly, yearly. However the Lord leads you

to give. The money I will receive from you is truly from God. He does not want His

money given away grudgingly, but cheerfully. If you do not feel the Lord calling you to

give, do not give. I donʼt desire that money. But obey the Lord.

Most importantly, though (and I cannot express this enough), I need your prayers. The

Enemy will do all in his power to keep me (and you, and all believers) from walking in

the paths of righteousness! Though a joy and a blessing to serve God, a constant battle

is fought with the Enemy. Please pray.

With that, I end my tale. Tragedy, mystery, romance, adventure, battles, and many

dances combine to form this epic journey! At least, thatʼs how the story goes...