Life changing stories of mission trips Declare his glory among the nations. Psalm 96:3
A publication of Henderson Hills Baptist Church 1200 E. I-35 Frontage Road, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034 www.hendersonhills.com Other books compiled and published by the Henderson Hills Writing Ministry: Hearts of Hope 2003 Hearts Growing in Grace 2004 Treasures From the Heart 2005 Hearts at Christmas 2005 Hearts of Faith 2006 Two Hearts as One 2008
Copyright© 2009 Henderson Hills Baptist Church
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright© 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Eric Granata Book layout by Dorothy Palmer Young Edited by Bonnie Lanthripe Photography by members of Henderson Hills Baptist Church
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” I Chronicles 16:31 What a great blessing for us to compile this book! It has been a privilege to see and record the outstanding work God has done in the midst of our church. Much prayer has gone into this project and we want to thank all who shared their stories and pictures, some emotional and difficult to share. Please accept our apologies if any names, stories or pictures have been left out or are incorrect. All effort has been made to be correct in dates, places and other information. Many thanks go to our Missions Director, Mike Wall, for his complete cooperation, inspiration and support. What a leader! Also, HHBC staff, Lauren Stewart, Jeff Wilson and Eric Granata, have been a great help. Special thanks go to the Mission Team at HHBC for their cooperation. This book could not have been put together without the help of men and women who submitted information, reviewed stories, and answered the many questions that arose. Our Henderson Hills Writing Ministry Team did an enormous amount of work. Writers include Alesa Campbell, Andy Deck, Kala Sigler, Diane Stout, Anita Wadley and Deborah Coplin who helped the novice writers. Pam Wanzer collected and screened the stories. Bonnie Lanthripe spent countless hours editing them and Pam Humphreys, Sara Odom and Sharlene Wulf assisted her. Many people helped on this project. Dorothy Young did an excellent job preparing the manuscript to send off. Thank you to our pastor, Dennis Newkirk, and our church body for their continual encouragement and willingness to follow God’s leadership. Above all, we praise God for His guidance in this endeavor.
Kathryn Spurgeon Writing Ministry Team Leader
Acronyms Used in this Book: HHBC–Henderson Hills Baptist Church, Edmond, Oklahoma IMB–International Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention VBS–Vacation Bible School FLOCK–Fellowship, Leadership, Outreach, Care, Knowledge (small group) UCO–University of Central Oklahoma OKC–Oklahoma City
Acknowledgements
Kathryn Spurgeon........................................5
Foreword Dennis Newkirk......................................................11 Introduction (Oklahoma) Mike Wall....................................................13 Belize, an Inspiration (Belize)
Jerry Childs...................................15
There was a Beginning (Belize)
Duane Lawrence.........................18
Calvin’s Stewardship Lesson (Belize) If That was My Boy (Belize)
Joey Sager..........................21
Larry Steele.....................................23
Hope for the Rejected (Guatemala)
Joey Sager.............................25
Staying Put, but Not Standing Still (Oklahoma) Andy Deck..........27 God’s Answer to Jeff’s Prayer (Belize) José’s Faith (Oklahoma)
Joey Sager........................29
Joey Sager.......................................31
Quechua Ministry (Ecuador)
Duane Lawrence..............................34
A Man Wanted by God (Ecuador) Not by My Strength (Ecuador)
Syretha Lair.............................38
Joey Sager.....................................40
Take up Your Cross (Mexico) Rita Hernandez with Anita Wadley.....42 Precious in His Sight (Romania) Mike Evans with Andy Deck.......45 A Long, Cold Night (Romania)
Joey Sager...................................48
He Has No Shoes (Nicaragua)
Syretha Lair...................................50
The Beautiful Baby (Nicaragua) Humility (Nicaragua) Moises (Ecuador)
Syretha Lair...............................52
Leigh Ann Hudson......................................53
Syretha Lair......................................................54
God’s Destination, Not Ours (Texas)
Cindy Loehrs.......................57
One Life, One Lord, One Mission (Oklahoma) Marci Wintz.............61 Get in the Game (Mexico) Ramiro Rangel with Andy Deck...........62
No Translator (Romania) Mr. Lin (Taiwan)
Mike Wall..............................................65
Justin Vorel.......................................................67
Praying for New Churches (Ecuador) Remember Aracaju (Brazil)
Larry Steele.......................69
Anita Wadley.....................................70
A Thousand Handshakes (Ecuador) Anne Frederick Kelley............72 Girl in the Pink Dress (Mexico) The Jungle Path (Kenya)
Kim Cusimano............................75
Luann Juengel with Andy Deck.............76
The Lady of Peace (Ecuador) Larry Steele with Deborah Coplin.....79 Jim’s Testimony (Ecuador)
Larry Steele........................................82
For Someone Special (India)
Kathryn Spurgeon............................83
Boy with the Blind Eye (Nicaragua) Marionettes (Ecuador)
Mark Holmes.......................86
Duane Lawrence.......................................89
From Meth to Missions (Nicaragua) Tommy Weathers with Diane Stout..91 A Life Changed (Mexico)
Lisa Thomas........................................95
Hooked on Missions (Mexico) Lost (Mexico)
Anita Wadley.................................98
David Barnes.......................................................100
Spiritual Warfare (Mexico)
Pam Kanaly......................................101
I Couldn’t Stay Away (Mexico)
David Barnes.............................103
Nicaraguan Men Don’t Cry (Nicaragua) Tommy Weathers............104 Because of the Cross (Mexico) Working Hard (Nicaragua)
George Rennix............................105
Leigh Ann Hudson............................106
A Divine Appointment (Ecuador) Scott Sigler with Kala Sigler...108 Muhammad and I (Southeast Asia)
Ryan Golliver........................111
Tsunami Star (Indonesia) Mike Wall................................................114 The Door Opened (Indonesia)
David James.................................117
The Road to Recovery (Mississippi) To Be Obedient (Afghanistan) Never Too Late (Ecuador)
Pam Whitley........................118
Anonymous...................................121
Mike Wall...........................................123
God in the Burning Bush (Kenya)
Nancy Dyer............................125
Year of the Rainstorm (Mexico)
David Mathieson......................129
Missions as a Family (Mexico)
Willie Smith.............................132
Firsthand (Mexico)
Eddie Feng................................................137
A Stark Contrast (Rwanda) For Eternity (Ecuador)
John Harrington................................139
Syretha Lair...........................................141
Ramón and the Shoes (Nicaragua) The Camino de Santiago (Spain)
Anita Wadley.................143
Josh Wall................................145
The Marble (Ecuador) Duane Lawrence........................................148 A Change of Plans (Taiwan) Shannon Sieg with Alesa Campbell..151 A Journey of Faith (South America)
Justin Vorel.........................153
Sister Fatimah (Ecuador) Ryan Northup........................................156 My Name Is . . . (Spain)
Mike Wall.............................................158
A Japanese Wedding (Japan)
Kathryn Spurgeon.........................161
An Educational Journey (Oklahoma)
Anita Wadley.................165
Generation to Generation (Mexico) David Barnes.........................167 The Question (Mexico)
Courtney Methvin...................................169
The Pocket Knife (Mexico) The Classroom (Russia)
George Rennix.................................171
Dana Hollis..........................................173
Her First Smile (Mexico)
Alexis Olson.....................................176
Ecuadorian TV (Ecuador)
Kim Swyden.......................................179
No Problema (Nicaragua)
Tommy Weathers...........................182
A Passion for Baseball (Nicaragua)
Adrian Savedra....................183
Reflections (Ecuador)
Kirk Humphreys......................................186
Hot Dogs (Oklahoma)
Mike Wall.................................................188
Rita the Evangelist (Mexico)
Willie Smith...................................190
Juba (Sudan) Chuck Newkirk...........................................................191 The Church (Cuba)
Mike Wall......................................................193
The Nightly News (Mexico) Verla Raines......................................195 Demonstrating Love (Ecuador) Garry Wester.................................198 The Fire, A Vision for the Future (Oklahoma) Mike Wall..............200 Mission Trip Information .............................................203
I’ve been considering how to classify this book. I might categorize it under Missions, Autobiographies, the Expansion of the Gospel, Personal Spiritual Growth, or Drama. However, my best description of this work is that it is about the power of the Holy Spirit. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV) Read this book with the Holy Spirit in mind and you’ll see what I mean. These testimonies are about what happens when a Christian is willing to believe and obey. Every Christian has a promise and a responsibility. Matthew 28:18-20 tells us that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. That is His promise to us; He can and will empower us to do whatever He calls us to do. Yet, we have more than a promise; we have a mission. God calls you and me to take this story to people everywhere. You will be fascinated by these true life testimonies; but look beyond the charm of the writing. Let them ignite your heart for the nations, the way these hearts have been set aflame. I know all of the contributors to this work. In fact, we are members of the same church. These are good, humble, and sincere people. Most of them have not attended seminary; few of them have ever worked vocationally for a church. That means that these authors live “normal” lives, support themselves in various careers, and volunteer their time to serve Christ. That makes this book all the more amazing and engaging. Here you will see how the Holy Spirit ignites hearts and changes lives. Perhaps in a subsequent edition, you may have your own story to tell. Dr. Dennis Newkirk Senior Pastor Henderson Hills Baptist Church Edmond, Oklahoma
As the cold damp air blows across the Andes Mountains, an old Quechua woman walks through her little mud and thatched-roof home, desperate to warm the place while her family is asleep. As she glances toward her homemade clay oven, she is relieved that some embers still burn from the night before. She hears her oldest son awake. It is time for him to go down the mountain and sell part of the family crop to those who may pass by. She picks up a small stick and moves the embers around and soon, to her delight, a spark ignites a fire. Now her day has begun. Embers were stirred in the hearts of our congregation one evening when a church member stood before us and said, “I’m going on a mission trip. Anyone care to join me?” He walked back to his seat, not knowing if anyone would respond. But sparks began to fly around the room and landed in the hearts of fifteen people. As the mission trip drew near, their passion and excitement burned stronger and stronger; even through the difficulties of this first mission, their calling burned brighter and brighter. Suddenly, it ignited. A small flame arose and soon engulfed a body of believers so that God’s name would be renowned across a nation–across the world. The stories in this book are not from professional missionaries, but from everyday people: school teachers, businessmen, homemakers, college students and children, just ordinary people with whom God did extraordinary things. People who stepped out of the comfort zones of their lives, took a risk, and allowed God to use them in ways they would have never dreamed. My prayer is that this book will be for you as it has been for us, an act of worship. As you read our stories, I believe you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and your heart will be moved and encouraged. As you travel with us to far-off lands, rejoice with us as we reflect on what God has done. What is most important is that you worship. Worship the Creator, the One who is worthy, the One in whom all things consist, the One who made everything possible. I have no doubt that as you worship, a flame will ignite deep in your heart–for God and for the world. Mike Wall HHBC Missions Pastor
1994 Belize team: Front row: Jerry Childs, Syretha Lair, Ed Rich, Pamela Summit, Peggy Cassizzi, Jim Stockstill, Vince Parker. Second Row: Ken Surritte, Larry Steele, Ned Kessler, Kevin Nicolin, Joey Sager, Les Miller, Duane Lawrence, Robyn Harry, Jeff Jester.
As long as I can remember, I wanted to be a physician. I believe God chose me for that field. I also believe the biblical teaching from Luke 12:48: “. . . From everyone who has been given much, much will be required.” In some third world countries, people have absolutely zero access to medical care. My vision was to go into remote villages and, hopefully, with my medical knowledge and supplies, save lives and end suffering and pain for others. I thought and prayed about this for quite a while. Henderson Hills Baptist Church (HHBC), my home church, was not involved in an adult mission program like this when I began to seek a way for my dreams to become reality. I found Global Outreach, a nondenominational organization, which assisted laymen in taking short-term trips to aid missionaries in the field. In 1985, I accompanied this group on a mission trip to the country of Belize in Central America. Anyone who has been on a mission trip will tell you they received more than they gave. That was the case for me. When I held medical clinics in remote villages, I soon realized I was not going to make a huge difference in the day-to-day lives of the people I treated. Giving medicine for coughs and colds, skin diseases and chronic pain helped them with simple things. These people worked hard to even survive. There were very few acute life threatening illnesses to treat because anyone who had a bad disease or serious injury died. Most important of all, many died without ever hearing the gospel. The native people were almost always very gracious and thankful, in spite of the fact I felt I was doing little to help them. I found myself more blessed than they were. After returning from my first trip, I almost cried at the airport when I saw a simple drinking fountain. There in front of me, flowed all the free water I could possibly drink, a luxury which is nonexistent in many places I served. In much the same way, there is a lack of the “Living Water” in so many places. People just do not know who Jesus is. Before going to Belize, I did not know if it would be my first and last trip. But, as soon as I got home, I knew God was leading me to go back. I could not quench the thirst in my heart. He kept reminding
me, to those who are given much, much is expected. I knew He had given me much. I went as a team member on several other trips. In time, I traveled to more remote and poorer countries. Sharing the experience with my family is something I felt led to do. I took my brother, who is a physician. I took my father and my son on another trip. Finally, my family went with me to a remote area of Honduras and later to Haiti. They were able to see first hand how fortunate we are to live in the United States. In spite of my fears, my children adapted to the poverty they witnessed, and accepted as an adventure the Spartan conditions in which we lived. I took some fellow workers from the emergency department where I worked, as well. They led teams to difficult areas and served in whatever capacity needed. In the early 1990s, I began to share my experiences with people at HHBC. I shared with our small group or FLOCK. I shared with children in Vacation Bible School (VBS). I shared with people I met in church. For one reason or another, no one committed to go with me. For a couple of years, I hoped and prayed people might volunteer to join me. Nothing happened. Finally, I shared my frustrations with my FLOCK leader, Arnold Hamilton. He had seen my passion each time I returned from a trip and decided to do some investigating. This was to be my last try. If this did not work I would drop the idea. But, I felt convicted that HHBC had so many talented and wonderful people with so much to offer. The blessings would be eternal. Arnold arranged a meeting with Ken Surritte, who, as youth pastor, had led several youth mission trips to Mexico. Anyone who has met Ken knows his dynamic personality. He was the spark that could ignite the fire for my vision. He was immediately excited about the prospects and said he would help get the ball rolling. At last I would have a chance to show how people could serve if they just made themselves available. One Sunday evening, I was given a few minutes to share my passion with our church. Overcome by my emotions, I showed slides of some of my previous trips and shared my desire to see our church join in spreading the gospel and ministering to those in need. Fifteen people stepped out in faith and joined me in our first adult mission trip from October 29 to November 4, 1994, to Belize. A medical/dental team, a construction team and a VBS team went on that trip. For me, it was a dream come true. I have watched as members of that first HHBC team have gone on many other mission trips. Many have led their own teams on trips, become leaders and important servants at HHBC, and even gone on to
help form new mission organizations. The first HHBC adult mission trip was just planting the seeds for more trips. Now we seem to have teams on the field almost year round. Sooner or later, God would have used someone to get HHBC involved in active missions. I am thankful He allowed me to be a part of its beginning.
Dr. Jerry Childs, an emergency medical physician, is married to Nancy. They have four children, Trey, Rachel, Emily and Abbey. In addition to mission trips to Belize, he has been to Honduras, Nicaragua, Romania, as well as England, Haiti and Mexico. He encourages everyone to consider taking their families to a third world country, saying, “They will be able to see firsthand the opportunity to serve the truly needy.”
Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. Psalm 96:3
There are rain drops and sheets of rain, but we had never seen anything like this before. Bottomless buckets of water poured on our heads. We tried to cross a swinging bridge, which was suspended 100 feet or so over the river, in this raging storm, as the bridge was tossed to and fro by a relentless wind. The night was pitch black and we could see nothing. We had to get a generator over the bridge and, man, it was heavy! I am not Indiana Jones. “How did we get here, anyway?” For me personally, it started in childhood, but for purposes of this story, let’s start where Henderson Hills enters in. I think it was in 1989 I got a call from Ken Surritte, youth minister at the church at the time. Ken said we had done youth mission work before, but never out of the country. He wanted to take a youth team to Piedra Negras, Mexico, probably the most economically impoverished city in Mexico. Would I help begin this work? I realized instantly that I wanted to go and replied in the affirmative. My first youth mission trip, we did mainly orphanage work– painting, building, fixing broken stuff and loving on the kids. There were several kids each of us wanted to adopt. I will never forget giving the children the little care boxes we had made. The first little girl opened her box and, upon seeing two crayons, immediately thought there must be some mistake. She began trying to find out who got shorted one, so she could give away her extra! We took along–best as I can remember–only a few vitamins, and some homemade first-aid kits, but it was a start. Over the next few years, we repeated the trip to Piedra Negras, adding some medical and dental work as we grew. Seventy-plus year-old “Green-Eyes” Gonzales was an inspiration. When a team was not going, I went myself and helped “GreenEyes” do things like haul gallons of water across the border to the prison, which we delivered to the prisoners who had no one to do so. Mexico did not reward prisoners with food and water. Someone had to bring it to them or they had none. Now let’s move forward to 1994. Jerry Childs stood before the
church announcing that he would like to take a group of adults on a mission trip to Belize in Central America. That’s how I came to be on that bridge. We were taking the “Jesus Film” to a group of indigenous Hondurans who had escaped across the border and were seeking sanctuary in Belize. That was quite a trip. Most of us had never been out of the country farther than Mexico, and we drove on in total darkness. There was no electricity in much of Belize outside the city. In order to reach the camp where we stayed for a week, we had to cross the Belize River by barge because the only bridge at that time was a long way from us. The barge sat on the other side of the river waiting for someone to come along who needed to cross to our side. Only then would the barge operator come get us. After an hour or so, he finally came, but he asked that we drive the bus into the water to the barge. The bus stalled. What were we to do? Well, there was this kinda preacher-looking fellow with us who someone said was a stockbroker. I wondered what a stockbroker would do on a mission trip and soon found out. Joey Sager climbed out of the bus, waded to the hood, opened it and got that bus going in no time! Now I knew what a stockbroker could do on a mission trip. He was also the guy who helped me haul the generator across the swinging bridge! After the trip to Belize, we followed with one to Ecuador, then one to Honduras, then back to Ecuador. We formed a mission leadership team and looked to the future, hoping to some day take three to four trips a year. Our goal was way too small. On our second or third trip to Ecuador, we were joined by Mike Wall, a long-haired, hippy-looking guy the staff assigned us. Us, with a staff guy! Well, we were up in the Andes about 13,000 feet at the foot of Mt. Cayambe, the third highest peak in the northern hemisphere of the American continent, just north of the equator. It was cold and Mike is not a cold weather guy. But we had a church service in which several became believers. The look in Mike’s eyes when a couple–both in their late 70s–walked that aisle said it all. He was hooked! Shortly thereafter, Hurricane Mitch hit Central America. Mike was there with a team forming one of our most important works, teaming with pastor Diomedes, a phenomenal Nicaraguan evangelist. We now send people to almost every continent and have initiated different ministries working together in many countries. Several of our young people have given three months to two years service to the mission board. Recently, Garry Wester, International Mission Board (IMB) head of the southern half of South America, visited us and remarked that it was time for churches to start tithing people as well as money. He said that when he was in the field, every time a team came it moved his work
forward six months in that community. We now have the communication and transportation capabilities to do much more work on our own than we did in 1994. Garry mentioned that Baptists have four missionaries in Buenos Aires, a city of twelve million, in which only two million claim to be believers. He said that is like having one pastor for the entire state of Oklahoma. With the IMB directive to start new house churches and move on, who is to disciple? Is it the job of the local churches? Can we tithe members? Will we ever have ten percent of our people doing mission work? What will the next twenty years bring? Let’s pray that God exceeds our expectations. Again.
Duane is a pharmacist. He and his wife, Glenda have been members of HHBC since 1971 and they have three grown children and six grandchildren. The 1994 trip to Belize was his first adult mission trip.
Barge in Belize
When Dr. Jerry Childs planned a mission trip to Belize in 1994, he really wanted HHBC to be involved. Arrangements were made with the church staff for Jerry to speak at the end of a Sunday evening church service about the upcoming trip. For whatever reason, Jerry’s time at the end of the service was forgotten or overlooked for one or two weeks in a row. The next week as we were about to dismiss, our pastor, Dennis Newkirk, remembered, jumped up, and apologized to Jerry for overlooking him in prior weeks. Then Dennis invited Jerry to come to the pulpit to make his announcement. Jerry poured his heart out, weeping as he spoke about the need in the tiny country of Belize. Although he seemed embarrassed by his emotion, God used his words and his delivery to touch many people’s hearts. Many volunteered to go on the first HHBC adult mission trip. After hearing him that night and remembering what an impact mission trips had made in my life when I was in high school, I knew God was calling me to go as well. On the trip, we divided into groups: medical, construction, and VBS teams. We were deep in the rain forest where leather shoes and gloves wear out quickly, and used bath towels would remain wet for days. At night the jaguars howling in the rain forest sounded like babies crying, and mosquitoes buzzed in the humid air. Huge cockroaches that could fly were everywhere, so I slept in my clothes to keep them off me. In the afternoon heat, howler monkeys belched out their calls. At night, we were awakened suddenly when large iguanas climbed the trees causing big nuts to fall off, slam onto the tops of our cabins and roll down the tin roofs. One day at lunch we were having chicken foot soup. I sat across from Calvin, the headmaster of the boys’ vo-tech school where the construction team was working and staying. Besides being the school’s headmaster, Calvin was the postmaster for Orange Walk District, delivering mail on his bicycle very early each morning before coming to open the Vo-tech school at daybreak. He told me how blessed he felt to live in Belize, and how grateful he was that he didn’t live in the United States.
I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly, so I said, “Tell me a little more about that, Calvin.” I couldn’t understand how he could possibly feel blessed to live in a place like Belize where there was so much poverty and human need, and where his own daily existence required so much effort. “God has given me three good jobs,” he said, smiling. “My family and I have plenty to eat, and my wife and I have put all our children through school from our earnings.We have a garden where we raise fresh vegetables and fruit to feed our many children. I’m so blessed to live where I live and how I live.” “I am told,” he continued, “that in America you have signs– bigger than a man–beside your roads telling you about things you don’t have that you should want. And although I’ve never seen American television, I’m told that your stories and programs are interrupted by people who show you pictures of beautiful things and tell you about things you don’t have that you should want.” The people in this area of Belize had no live television and most had never seen a TV commercial. Because of the extremely high humidity, video tapes would mildew after only a couple of months, ruining them. Calvin continued, “God knew I would have a hard time with so many distractions, so He saw to it that I was born and now live here, not in a place like the United States.” Then he said the following words, which have always stuck in my mind. “I am very thankful for all that God has given me, but I’m even more thankful for the many things He has not given me. He knew exactly what I needed, and where I belong. For that, I am very grateful!” As a financial advisor for many years, often being called upon to teach other financial advisors and to speak at Christian conferences on stewardship and on what the Bible says about money and material possessions, God had some new lessons for me that day. Calvin taught me not only to be very faithful with what God has entrusted us as stewards, but also he taught what only a man with Calvin’s life experience and love for the Lord could teach: When we’re counting our blessings, we should be careful to include gratitude for even those things which God in His infinite wisdom has withheld. Those “blessings,” too, enrich our lives. It’s a lesson I have never forgotten.
Joey is a Financial Advisor in Edmond, OK, for Sager Financial Group of Wachovia Securities. His team was recently listed as the top financial advisors for 2008 in Oklahoma by Barrons Magazine and Oklahoma Magazine.
I joined Henderson Hills in 1994. Without a church FLOCK or small group, it’s hard to get involved in church. Then I heard Jerry Childs talk one Wednesday night about the kids he had seen in Belize. It touched my heart and I thought I wanted to go. A missionary from Belize came and talked to us but I wasn’t sure about the trip. The trip cost a lot, and I thought it might make more sense just to send the money. At a work seminar, I heard that where there is no involvement, there is no commitment. I realized that applies to the church, too. So I went. In Belize, we went to a vo-tech school for boys. They trained about eighty boys in a skill, but the boys had to leave the school when they turned fourteen or fifteen years old. We also did some construction and had a small medical clinic. I still asked myself, “What am I doing here? Why am I doing this?” Belize was not set up for people. We stayed in a camp trailer with a lean-to. The bed was almost rotten and I could feel the bars underneath, and it was so damp it felt like it had been soaked with a water hose. The water was so cold you could hardly take a spit bath. But everyone worked well together. One of our team members misplaced his suitcase (at the end of the trip it was found intact) and never complained. If you stay a week with somebody, you grow to like ‘em or hate ‘em. Since it was a small group, we had time in the evenings to sit across from each other and talk. We heard each other’s testimonies. We kind of bonded. I was going through some hard times myself, and the Lord spoke to me on the trip. I still have the verse He gave me, John 8:32 (NIV). “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” It’s on a plaque with a group picture of everyone who went with us. Tough conditions made everyone stronger and caused us to want to go back. On the last morning, one of the women in our group gave her testimony to the group of boys. One young man stepped forward and accepted Christ. I noticed the local missionary in the back jumping up and down for joy. I thought the boy must be someone special to him, so I asked him about it.
“No, he’s no more special than the others,” he said. “It’s just that it’s his last semester. He has only a very short time before he will leave. He might never have another chance to hear the gospel.” That’s when I understood about missions. I knew if that was my boy, I would want someone to go talk to him about Jesus. I would want someone to take the time to go down there and help him. I never had a problem going on trips after that, not with time nor money. You see, just sending money wouldn’t have done anything for that boy. Larry started mission work in October 1995 while working at Tinker Air Force Base as a logistics manager. For the next three and a half years, unmarried and with time and money to do so, he spent his vacations doing missions. He has three children of his own.
Larry Steele wore wrap-around eyeglasses, and in one hand he carried a Polaroid camera in a plastic case, in the other he carried a Bible. On every trip, Larry brought an extra Bible or a Bible commentary to give away. Sometimes he gave it to the pastor or to a person who had surrendered to the ministry. All the team members on the mission trip had to sign the book. He pestered everyone until they did, counting names to make sure they had. Mike Wall even got tired of signing. But Larry didn’t give up. He bugged Mike until he signed. Joey Sager
And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.” Isaiah 12:4