Last week, BBC had its annual Missions Conference. The program was designed and run by ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism). On Friday, the last day of the conference, we had an activity called “The Amazing Grace Race.” “Missionaries” were selected from each of the four groups, and these were sent to another classroom to deal with things that you might encounter on the field.
The “sending Churches” read and discussed 3 case studies from actual situations involving missionaries with various problems.
My sister and I were chosen as missionaries, and when we had finished our “field work,” we returned to our sending Church.
We arrived just in time to catch the discussion for the last case study. My interest turned to distress as I realized what they were actually discussing. Here follows the case study . . .
“CASE STUDY 3
The Context: First Term Missionaries with a Medical Emergency
The Dilemma: A missionary family commissioned by your Church departed for the field after two years of pre-field ministry. They successfully completed the 9-month language and culture study and assimilated into their ministry team. They have nearly reached the midway point of their first 4-year term of service. They are involved in a Church plant. He is a theological educator and is teaching a couple courses at the Bible school. She is a nurse and is serving through compassion evangelism in a clinic ministry with a fixed number of hours per week while also mothering their two pre-school children. God’s grace has enabled them to adjust well to cross-cultural living and serving. But their 2 year-old daughter has developed recurring urinary tract infections that have not been eliminated over the span of seven months. And the wife is expecting their third child four months from now in early June. The medical care on their field is seriously lacking. Having studied the options and consulted with their field team, home Church, mission administrator, and mission medical director, they decide to return home for a scheduled 6-month medical emergency in order to obtain a diagnosis and treatment for their daughter’s recurring illness and to deliver the baby. They plan to return to the field and resume ministry when the newborn is two months old and has built up immunity – important given the underdeveloped field where the family lives and serves. Five months into the medical leave in the
The Thyng family. I didn’t know them very well, but the memories of the tragedy itself were enough to cause me to cry. I looked back 3 rows at Naomi. She was crying, too.
Dan and Amy were fellow missionaries, on my field, and they were new. They were just to the point where adjustment could shift into effective ministry. When their 2 year-old daughter Kate had a recurring urinary tract infection, they decided to return to the States. Another concern was Amy’s highly pregnant state. With an impending birth and a 2 year-old in poor health, the family returned to
My parents were able to go out for the funeral and Naomi and I took care of our little sisters. My parents were treated as a part of the family. We were all given intimate details of the tragedy and funeral. The long-term repercussions of how this would affect the Thyng’s, their ministry, and even PNG’s field were devastating. As I listened to the case study, I cried. All the memories came back in a rush. My mind went numb, yet it shot in every direction. The session concluded, and we all headed to the concluding session of the conference. The memories continued to rush in, but this time, they were accompanied by other memories. Memories of Abi.
I picked up parallels that I hadn’t seen before.
I was afraid.
So, I sat in the concluding session, trying to pay attention, and trying not to cry.
I cried for
I wanted to be willing and able to give up anything and everything for the service of Christ.
I was giving up future children, my sisters, my father, my life.
I cried.
Abi is in
Her answer: no.
She proceeded to tell me what God has done through her suffering. She told me of a story where she had the opportunity to share Christ’s message with a lady who had asked her what happened. “God saved my life from necrotizing faciitis.”
I envy Abi. She is only 13, but she is learning to trust God in ways that even I at 22 have problems with.
She made a powerpoint presentation of pictures telling her story. They play the song, “It’s Gonna be Worth it,” as the pictures played through.
What a great testimony to God!It’s gonna be worth it!!
Abi’s face is worth it.
It’s not for us, it’s not for our glory. It’s all for God. It hurts sometimes. It hurts A LOT.
It’s gonna be worth it all.
