Fall 2021 multiply.net
together that the world may know Jesus
Witness
Sent by God
From Everywhere to Everywhere
Witness Fall 2021 Contents Editorial: We are All Sent by God.................... 2 Tibetans in the Neighborhood.........................4 Bound for Peru..........................................................6 Broken Glasses..........................................................8
We are All Sent by God Editorial by Vic Wiens
Shared Mission with the Congolese...........10 I Saw It Happen....................................................... 12 The Rest of My Life.............................................. 13 The Duty of Love...................................................14
Staff Managing Editor..................Mark J.H. Klassen Layout & Design..........................Darcy Scholes Illustration & Design..................... Colton Floris Prayer Mobilization..........................Nikki White Story Research..................................Eric Geddes Circulation.......................................... Robin Lesser Media Director................................ Daniel Lichty
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Have you ever been publicly corrected? Ouch! It’s painful, but the lesson is not soon forgotten. On a study leave in 1989, I spoke at a mission conference at Forest Grove Community Church in Saskatoon. I was the junior missionary, with only five years of experience, while G.W. Peters was the senior mission statesman, with nearly fifty years of experience. I spoke first and gave a well-intentioned call to faithfulness in mission, asserting that some are called to go, like me and my family, and some are called to stay, like the sending church I was addressing. When my senior colleague took the pulpit, he corrected me in no uncertain terms. “Brother,” he said, “you do well to re-examine the Scriptures, and re-think your message. Did not Jesus commission all his followers to “go and make disciples”? And did he not send all the gathered disciples “as the Father sent me”? Finally, did he not prophesy on the Mount of Olives to all the apostles, saying “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem… and to the ends of the earth?”
Did not Jesus commission all his followers to “go and make disciples”? And did he not send all the gathered disciples “as the Father sent me”? What could I say? G.W. Peters was right. In hindsight, I think he was not only correcting me, but the entire church. We are all called, all sent, all witnesses, and all must be going according to God’s assignments for us. It is God’s mission and God who sends. Before we go anywhere, whether crossing the seas or crossing the street, we are sent. Before the foundation of the world, God the Sender started his mission by designing the perfect plan of salvation, which included Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But isn’t it amazing that the Triune God chose to include and send us, his jars-of-clay people? It started with Abraham being sent by God to “be a blessing.” The sending story continued when God sent Israel from Egypt to “be a kingdom of priests.” Throughout the Old Testament, there were further sendings in God’s mission to the nations, such as Elisha to the Syrians, Jonah to Nineveh, and Daniel to the Babylonians. The New Testament story is centered around the incarnation of God the Son, which is the supreme sending. Yet the sending gift goes on
The mission has not changed, nor the message, nor the mandate to the messengers.
and on through the Church as Jesus commissions his disciples and then God the Father and the Son send the Spirit upon the Church to empower them for this divine mission. The Spirit of the sending God has been sending the Church since the day of Pentecost. He sends the Church collectively, such as the scattering from Jerusalem in Acts 8, and sends the Church via specially assigned individuals like Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:4) and many more missionaries to follow. However, as I was rightly corrected, let us not exclude ourselves from God’s sending. God doesn’t only send prophets like Jonah and apostles like Paul. He sends ordinary folks like merchants and migrants (Acts 11:1920) on his extraordinary mission. He gives his missionary Spirit to “all people … sons and daughters … young men and old men” (Acts 2:17). Furthermore, the sending continues to everywhere, “… Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In this edition of Witness, you will read stories of sending from Mexico to Peru, from France to Burundi, and from USA to North Africa. But God’s sending is not just from nations to nations, it’s from neighborhoods to neighborhoods. You’ll read about Kora reaching out to Tibetan immigrants in North America, illustrating well that we are sent not only across the seas, but across the street. Maybe God is sending you across the hallway or the classroom. My wife and I were sent overseas to Brazil for many years, but now we are crossing our driveway to reach out to our neighbors or crossing the city to serve among our Punjabi friends. I had the joy of teaching a course on mission at Columbia Bible College last year. My students were both spiritually devoted and culturally sensitive. One question came up more than once regarding the appropriateness of us in the West going to other peoples and religions on
a mission. “Who are we, after centuries of colonialism, and after Christianity’s missteps time and again, to go and share our good news?” It’s a fair question, and I agree that we should evaluate our methods, but in terms of our identity and authority, I would say this, “We don’t go as Canadians or Americans, we go as ambassadors sent by the King of kings. We are fully authorized and sent by him—it’s his mission and his message.” In his amazing grace, God has seen fit to place us as an MB family on mission in 68 countries and even more ethno-linguistic people groups. However, today the world is smaller than ever as the nations are in our cities, even at our doorsteps. We live closer to each other than at any time in history. Still, we should recall the words of Jesus to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side,” that is, to the unreached (Mark 4:35, 5:1). Will we go over to the other side? In this issue of Witness, we tell stories of reaching Buddhists, Muslims, animists, and others. Yet for every story of reaching one, there are countless lives and communities still unreached. The mission has not changed, nor the message, nor the mandate to the messengers. Some methods will change according to culture and generation, yet the essence remains the same. Jesus’ commission to his disciples remains for us: ‘As the Father sent me, so send I you!” Instead of asking, “Are you sending me?” should we not ask, “Where and to whom are you sending me?”
Vic Wiens currently serves as the Interim General Director of Multiply. He and his wife, Marty, spent twenty-five years as missionaries in Brazil.
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Tibetans in the Neighborhood Mark J.H. Klassen and Eric Geddes Names have been changed for security and privacy reasons.
Kora lives in a Tibetan neighborhood where she serves as a youth worker. It’s where she first encountered a Tibetan boy named Champo. They met when Champo was about twelve years old. “He was kind and friendly,” recalled Kora, “but he was also filled with self-loathing and convinced that no one liked him. He told us repeatedly, ‘Everyone hates me.’” Kora and her team of youth workers kept speaking truth over Champo and asked if they could pray for him. “One day he said yes,” she said. “We prayed over him, and he began to change. Over time, we noticed that he stopped talking about hating himself. Then he told us one day that he knew God was real because he felt his presence inside him.”
“We prayed over him, and he began to change. Over time, we noticed that he stopped talking about hating himself.” When Kora asked him to share more about his newfound faith, Champo was hesitant. He was nervous about how his parents would respond. He thought they would likely perceive his relationship with Jesus as a rejection of Tibetan Buddhism and kick him out of their home. It was difficult for Kora and her teammates to know what to do. They understood that for most people within this immigrant community, to be Tibetan was to be Buddhist, even if they lived in North America. That’s right, Champo and his family don’t live in Asia— they live in one of North America’s largest cities, where there are, according to some estimates, as many as 10,000 Tibetan immigrants spread out across the city. 4 | witness
“There are over 4000 Tibetans in my neighborhood alone,” said Kora, “all within just a few city blocks. To my knowledge, that’s the densest population anywhere outside of Asia.” Kora grew up in Southeast Asia as the daughter of Multiply global workers, but when she moved to North America, she began to learn about immigrants from all over the world living in the city where she settled. She was especially intrigued by the large Tibetan population and saw both the needs and the opportunities within this unique Buddhist community. “Of those ten thousand Tibetans in our city, we know of only ten that are followers of Jesus,” she said. “They make up a very small fellowship, but they are meeting together regularly.” According to Kora, only a handful of Christians in the neighborhood are reaching out to the Tibetans among them. With some disappointment, she said, “In the whole city, I know of only one church among hundreds that is actively engaged in outreach to their Tibetan neighbors here.” “Most churches in North America still have the mindset that cross-cultural ministry is overseas,” concluded Kora, “it’s somewhere else, and it’s something only a few people are called to.” Kora hopes that this ministry among Tibetans will challenge churches in North America to embrace the idea that all believers are called to reach out to their neighbors, wherever those neighbors are from. “Because no matter where you live,” she continued, “most of us have neighbors now from other cultures. Maybe God brought them to our streets so they could hear the Gospel from us!” Kora is passionate about encouraging other believers to engage their neighbours who come from different cultures around the world. She hopes that they will be more
adventurous in trying different foods and communicating across language barriers. “Ask your neighbors about their festivals,” she pleads, “and learn about their values, their worldview, so you can effectively communicate the Gospel in a language they will understand.”
“He thought he was the only Tibetan in the whole world who was interested in following Jesus.” Kora and her teammates are not asking Champo to reject his Tibetan identity or heritage. They understand that his family is still very attached to their Buddhist traditions and practices. “Some of the youth that I work with tell me that their parents make them pray to the spirit shelf in their apartment every night before bed,” she explained. “When I go to some of their events here in the city, it’s like walking into a Buddhist temple in Asia. Their religion is still very much a part of their identity, even here in North America.” That’s why it was so significant when Kora introduced Champo to two other Tibetans in the city who had embraced following Jesus. “They shared their testimonies with him and prayed for him in a Tibetan dialect,” said Kora. “It was powerful. Champo was blown away, because he had never heard someone pray to Jesus in his own language before. He thought he was the only Tibetan in the whole world who was interested in following Jesus.” Since meeting those other Tibetan believers, Champo has continued to grow in his faith. “We’ve seen him become more confident, and at the same time more
humble,” explained Kora. “He’s becoming a leader within his community.” Kora resolved to provide Champo with as much encouragement as possible and then waited patiently for him to talk about his faith in Jesus with his peers and his family. “We don’t rush this process,” she said plainly, “because we know the cost is real and it has to be led by the Holy Spirit.” Clearly, the Holy Spirit is at work in Champo’s life. This past summer, at a week-long camp for Tibetan youth, Kora and her teammates watched in amazement as the young Tibetan took the next step. “At the start of camp, in front of all the youth,” Kora shared, “Champo stood up and prayed for the leaders and for the camp participants. He was obviously nervous, but it was so sweet. Some of the other youth were shocked, but Champo continued to declare his faith in Jesus throughout the week.”
PRAY Please pray for Champo’s faith in Christ, that he would continue to grow in strength and wisdom. Pray for other Tibetans like him who desire to follow Jesus. Pray also for Kora and her teammates as they work among Tibetans in North America. Pray that many more churches will begin to support this work and become involved in local cross-cultural outreach.
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Bound for Peru Mark J.H. Klassen
“We’ve never been to Peru,” said Pablo Chavez, “but we can honestly say that we are in love with the people there and the churches, and we can hardly wait to serve among them.” Pablo and his wife, Maricela, are from Orange Cove, California. This year, they started their training with Multiply to become full-time global workers. They hope to begin their long-term assignment in Peru in 2022. Both were born in Mexico. Maricela came to California with her family at the age of ten. As Catholics, the family didn’t know what to expect from the Mennonite Brethren church in Orange Cove when they moved into the same neighborhood. As farm workers, the family was impacted by the big freeze of 1991, which left the area in an economic crisis. It was the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and the Mennonite Disaster Service that brought relief and assistance to many families in need, including Maricela’s. Through those efforts, Maricela’s mother was endeared to the church in Orange Cove and she came to a new saving faith in Jesus. Maricela was fifteen at the time and wasn’t ready to embrace the same. However, gradually she also came around and found her own expression of trust in Jesus. 6 | witness
In gratitude, not long afterward, she took an opportunity to serve on a short-term assignment with MCC. That assignment took her to Mexico City, where she met a young man named Pablo. At the time, Pablo was active in one of the local churches that assisted with hosting Maricela. However, his own path to faith in Jesus was a difficult one. With a father who was an alcoholic, Pablo had been on a similar path of substance abuse and religious hypocrisy. “I was also the product of a praying mother,” Pablo said, who came to faith in Christ as a teenager. “I really didn’t think I deserved a second chance but, by God’s grace, I gave up religion and started a new life of serving God and others.” After developing a friendship during Maricela’s stay in Mexico City, the couple continued their relationship at a distance until 2003 when Pablo came to the US on a fiancé visa. They were married in California that year. In Orange Cove, the couple became more involved at the MB church. The congregation appreciated Pablo’s leadership gifts and within two years he was invited to become their pastor. “I had been serving as a worship leader and I did not want to become a pastor,” said Pablo,
“but eventually I surrendered to God’s calling upon my life, and although I wasn’t trained, he equipped me.” Eventually, while he served the church in Orange Cove, Pablo finished his education and became a full-time middle school math teacher, which allowed him to serve as a bi-vocational pastor. Maricela had studied counseling and worked first as a school counselor, then later, after further studies, as a marriage and family counselor. The couple was also blessed with three sons: Isaac, Joshua, and Samuel. By 2020, Pablo and Maricela were positioned well to build on their professional success and financial stability. “God had blessed us,” Maricela said. “We were comfortable and secure. But we felt we had to ask the question, ‘Now what?’” As the couple talked and prayed together, they sensed that God was inviting them to consider trusting him with more. “At that stage, we could have indulged ourselves with new cars or a bigger house or a more exotic vacation,” Maricela confessed. “But we decided to trust God with something bigger. We felt like it was time to lay down those other desires and let God lead us.”
“We felt like it was time to lay down those other desires and let God lead us.” “Ever since I gave my life to Jesus as a teenager,” said Pablo, “I knew I had to be ready to go wherever God called me. Over the years, he tested us, and we knew he was preparing us for something.” Part of the testing for Pablo came several years ago during a season of pastoral ministry that was particularly trying. “I went through a time of depression,” he admitted. “I was really discouraged about the church, and I was feeling misunderstood.” At that time, the couple heard about a spiritual formation group led by a spiritual director and trainer named Steve Reimer. “That group really helped us get healthy spiritually,” said Pablo. “It was a three-year journey with seven couples in ministry. Together, we not only became more authentic in our relationships with Jesus, but we became better equipped to help others.” Around the same time, Pablo and Maricela attended a conference and met with Galen Wiest, Multiply Mobilizer out of Fresno, California. “I remember we had breakfast with Galen and he was talking about Multiply’s work in Latin America,” said Maricela. “My heart was pounding, and I was asking myself, ‘Could this be it?’”
After that breakfast, the couple went for a walk out to a river nearby. “We told each other what was on our hearts,” said Maricela, “then we told God in prayer. Then we talked to our kids, then our church family, and we started getting ready.” After eighteen years of marriage, three children, and sixteen years of pastoral ministry, Pablo and Maricela are ready for what God has for them next. They are both excited about the new adventure that awaits them in Peru, but it hasn’t come without sacrifice. “When Pablo resigned from his job, so we could launch into our training,” said Maricela, “that was hard. It was a big step for us, but we’re trusting God and moving forward.” As they prepare to move to Peru, the couple has decided to complete their training to become certified spiritual directors, a two-year program under the training of Reimer. In Maricela’s own words, a spiritual director is simply someone who walks alongside another to help them grow in their relationship with God. As Pablo thought about serving pastors in Peru, he said, “This training will give us tools to be a resting stop in their lives, the oasis in the middle of the desert where travelers can rest their souls.” Offering spiritual direction will be one of the ways they will serve churches and church leaders in Peru. “We’re so excited about what God has for us in Peru,” said Maricela. “But we know it’s going to be challenging too. We’ve been told that missionaries don’t last in Peru. We’ve been told to expect spiritual warfare. We’ve been told about the heat, and the mosquitoes. We know it will be hard at times. But we also know that God is faithful. He has called us to trust in him. He will prepare us for what lies ahead.” “God has a plan for Peru,” said Pablo, “and we want to be a part of it.” On a recent online video call with some of the MB pastors in Peru, his heart was stirred in a way that brought confirmation to his own sense of calling. “We heard about some of their struggles, and I just felt a strong spiritual connection with them. I believe that God himself is the one fueling our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Peru.”
GIVE Please consider a financial gift to help support long-term workers like Pablo and Maricela Chavez. To learn more about investing in mission, go to multiply.net/give multiply.net | 7
Broken Glasses Aurélie Hirschler Aurélie is from France and was mobilized in 2021 to Burundi where she has been appointed the Pedagogical Advisor at the Karubabi Harvest School. She serves with Multiply in partnership with Mennonite churches in France.
With dismay, I looked down at the broken frames in my hands. Just like that, when I had been so careful! It would be inconvenient, at the very least. They would be expensive to replace. Perhaps, I thought to myself, I could get by without them, or even borrow someone else’s for a time. If anything, my broken glasses reminded me that I see things differently without them. In a similar way, my time in Burundi has reminded me that I see things differently than my African brothers and sisters. Since arriving in Burundi, my worldview has been radically challenged. Let me give a few examples. 8 | witness
In my work as a teacher at the Karubabi Harvest School, I have been frustrated many times by the last-minute preparation of lessons by my co-workers. “Why not prepare for class in advance?” I asked. One teacher replied, “There is no guarantee I will even make it through this day! Why should I prepare for something that may not even happen?” On another occasion, I burst into praise, admiring the beauty of the lush landscape and majestic mountains. My Burundian companion commented, “You see beautiful mountains, but I see places where terrorist rebels are hiding.”
On another day, I made a simple comment of appreciation about the rain that was met with a stern reminder of how dangerous rain can be in Burundi, where floods and landslides displace thousands each year. Are my perspectives wrong, or only different? It is a careful balance, knowing when to allow myself to be corrected, and when to gently and respectfully offer a viewpoint that may challenge others. While visiting churches back in France, I tried to help my supporters see things from a Burundian perspective. Sending an abundance of hygiene supplies, for example,
is not helpful for families that do not have any mindset for storing things. They don’t keep extra, because they only use what they need for the day, or maybe the week. I am still learning to understand and embrace these differences. I need discernment to identify the plank in my own eye before presuming to point out the speck in another’s (Matthew 7:3-5). Pray for me in Burundi, that God would help me understand the perspectives of my brothers and sisters here, and that he would bless me with his vision, his truth, and his Spirit. multiply.net | 9
Shared Mission with the Congolese Mark J.H. Klassen
“Most of them came to America as refugees, with very little,” said Terry Hunt, Eastern District Minister for the US Mennonite Brethren, “but when I saw the vibrancy in their spiritual lives, I said to myself, ‘They’re so much richer than us.’” For the past couple of years, Hunt and other USMB leaders have been developing a special relationship with a network of about thirty Congolese congregations spread out across the US. “This is a God thing,” said Rick Eshbaugh, Central District Minister for the USMB. “Initially, these churches were asking for our help with some very practical needs, especially for the members who had recently immigrated, but it quickly became apparent that we shared so much in common, including a shared mission.” These congregations are made up of recent immigrants from Africa, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In recent years, due to ongoing conflict and injustice in DR Congo, thousands became refugees. Many left the country in search of freedom and peace, including thousands of Congolese Mennonite Brethren. Many of these emigrated to the United States where they began again as families, and as churches. Within the global MB family, it is well known that Congo is home to the second largest MB conference in the world, second only to India. “North American MBs have been sending missionaries to Congo for more than a hundred years,” explained Eshbaugh, “but today something different is happening, now they’re sending missionaries to America!” For Hunt, this was a humbling reality. “As Americans, we are the ones in need,” he stated plainly, “Look at our nation, how divided we are, politically and racially. Our Congolese brothers and sisters are bringing a fresh 10 | witness
perspective on our shared mission. They’re bringing hope to our nation.” About five years ago, Eshbaugh felt similar when he met Claude Tambatamba, Pastor of the New Jerusalem Temple in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “I was introduced to a very vibrant church community,” said Eshbaugh, “and Claude was a very progressive leader and networker.”
“Our Congolese brothers and sisters are bringing a fresh perspective on our shared mission. They’re bringing hope to our nation.” Very quickly, the networking began, and global connections were made between MB leaders in Congo and the US. Soon after, a meeting was held with some of the key leaders of the Congolese churches, as well as USMB leadership and representatives from Multiply. The simple question was asked, “How can we help each other?” “There were a variety of needs that we became aware of,” said Galen Wiest, Mission Mobilizer with Multiply from Fresno, California, “but mostly we recognized the need for friendship. Before anything else, we just wanted to build strong relationships with one another.” Henri Ngolo, another key Congolese leader, was a bivocational pastor in Ohio who also held a senior position with Costco’s marketing department. “Henri was already doing a great job of networking immigrants for support and practical help,” said Eshbaugh, “but he was also intent on providing mentors for the Congolese pastors.”
Ngolo invited USMB leadership to connect their pastors with Congolese pastors. It was a way to build friendship and to help these immigrant leaders to better understand their new context in America. Some of them also needed practical and logistical support, even with tasks like starting a bank account or getting a driver’s licence. “We’re trying to be there for one another,” said Wiest, who went on to explain that the pandemic was particularly challenging for certain Congolese communities in the US. “They were hit hard by COVID. A lot of people got sick, some lost jobs and went hungry. When we were able to step in and help in simple ways, trust was built between us.” Ngolo began connecting regularly with Doug Hiebert, Multiply’s Regional Team Leader for Sub-Saharan Africa, who lived and served in Africa for many years but recently transitioned back to Canada where he still serves with Multiply full-time.
story and in the MB Confession of Faith. And so, in that way, they’re just seeking out their extended family.” Language barriers and cultural differences make these partnerships challenging at times, but the sense of family and the mutuality in mission keep pushing these churches together. “They are our brothers and sisters,” said Hiebert, “so we have a responsibility to one another. Sure, sometimes it’s hard and messy, and sometimes it’s exhausting. But we are family, and we need each other.”
PRAY Please pray for strong relationships and fruitful partnerships among these churches in the US. Pray for each of the leaders mentioned in this article, that they would be catalysts for effective shared mission.
“Sometimes it’s hard and messy, and sometimes it’s exhausting. But we are family, and we need each other.” “For me, it feels like I’m returning the favor,” Hiebert said, “because when my family moved to Africa, we needed a lot of help from our brothers and sisters there to learn the culture. Now we need to offer the same kind of help to immigrants who not only want to adapt well to their context but who want to make an impact for the Gospel among their new neighbors.” That missionary zeal was what impacted Terry Hunt. “Make no mistake,” Hunt said, “they are on a mission. When I first heard these Congolese pastors saying that God had called them to be missionaries here, I was won over. That pushed me to pursue them and to build relationships and forge partnerships. Our churches need that kind of vision and passion.” Hunt said that about twenty Congolese congregations are now formally affiliated with the USMB, but there are many more in the network and the number of churches keeps growing. When asked why the Congolese churches sought out relationship with the USMB, Hunt made it clear: “They identify as MBs. They feel very at home in the global MB
Shared Mission: The USMB is formally affiliated with more than twenty Congolese churches in fourteen different states. Claude Tambatamba is the liaison to a network of congregations in Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. Henri Ngolo is acting as the liaison to another network of churches in North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, and Maine.
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I Saw It Happen Travis Jost Travis is from Wichita, Kansas, and serves with Multiply in Burundi where he recently hosted a team from TREK 2021.
Their names are Josh, Maryn, Shanae, and Alex, and they made up a small TREK team that visited us in Burundi. The word that keeps coming to me when I think of them is “courageous.” They responded with faith to a call to fly thousands of miles from home during a pandemic and to live on mission in Africa. And boy, did they ever. For three months, our team in Burundi was blessed to share our lives and ministry with this TREK team of four young adults from Canada and the US. Their experience of Africa included meeting with national leaders and evangelists, living with local church members, tasting new foods, sharing stories, learning, dancing, struggling, doubting, and laughing together. They experienced the full richness of the united body of Christ. And I saw it happen. On Easter Sunday, I saw Revelation 7 played out at a church in Muramvya called the Shammah Temple Fellowship, with every tribe and tongue praising Jesus
together. The bride of Christ brought together a spectrum of his created people—ambassadors of reconciliation— for his glory. That morning, I saw one of the TREK team members, a young lady from the US, interacting with an elderly lady from a small tribal people group, greeting her, honoring her, smiling. What a beautiful picture of unity in diversity! And I saw it happen. I saw these four young adults, armed with only a few choice words and their translation tools, boldly cross the language barrier to develop lifelong friendships. I saw it happen repeatedly during their stay. I saw them bury their pride and reach out for connection despite awkwardness and misunderstanding. They touched the hearts of the people in Burundi. And I saw it happen. I saw the Holy Spirit at work in amazing ways around this team. By chance, during their stay, we met a couple that splits their time between the US and Burundi, working with the hearing-impaired. It just so happened that one member of the TREK team had studied sign language in university, which opened a door for fruitful interaction with a local community of hearing-impaired students! It was evidence to me of Paul’s declaration in Ephesians, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” During the past three months, I saw how God wove all things together for our good and for his glory.
Alex, Shanae, Maryn and Josh in Burundi with Travis Jost
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By the end of their stay, the fruit of the Spirit within the TREK team was so visible to the people of Burundi that a whole fleet of hotel staff turned out to wave furiously and with deep affection as they said goodbye. It was only four young adults for three months, but the TREK team had an impact on Burundi. And I saw it happen.
The Rest of My Life Michelle Quiñones Michelle, from Wichita, Kansas, participated in TREK 2021 and was sent to West Africa with a team of four.
West Africa changed me. It wasn’t just being in a different country or a different culture. It was because the Wodaabe friends that I met there treated me like family, and family shapes who you are. Our TREK team spent time learning about the traditional ways of the Wodaabe people group, and that impacted me. But beyond that, I came to know and love them as my brothers and sisters in Christ. There were many ways in which this bond was formed. For example, several of us on the team were hosted by a local pastor. He was like a wise father to us, opening our eyes to dream bigger. When he shared his own vision for his city, I prayed for his passion to rub off on me. Learning from him, I went from being asleep to waking up. At another point, one of the young men who considered me to be his sister approached me with a surprising request. “You are my older sister,” he told me solemnly. “In our culture, it falls to you to find me a wife. Will you do that?” Swallowing my smile, I respectfully suggested that he might want to pray about that, and trust God to provide.
Being family meant that sometimes I gave, and sometimes I received. As a teacher by profession, I was welcomed into homes to do tutoring in English and piano. My students, however, then became my teachers as they worked to improve my French and help me understand the culture. The closer we became, the more I cared about them all. Sometimes that was hard. One of the church youth leaders shared with us his vision to reach his own people. He told us about venturing into the bush to share the Gospel with other Wodaabe. He also told us about his plans to host a Christian concert during the annual camel races—an event almost exclusively attended by Muslims. I was moved with both admiration and concern. We knew that he would be risking his life to make Jesus known. Would I someday lose this brother that I just met, because of his sincere commitment to the Gospel? I don’t know how to describe everything that I experienced in Africa. I just know that I want to live and serve like that for the rest of my life.
GO Are you ready for a discipleship-inmission experience like the TREK program? To learn more about TREK and other mission training experiences with Multiply, go to multiply.net/trek or call your Regional Mobilizer at 1.888.866.6267.
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The Duty of Love Ghaith This story was sourced by R & M, Multiply workers in Europe who serve with StoryChannel (storychannel.tv), a media ministry to reach Berber-speaking people groups across North Africa (multiply.net/storychannel).
My name is Ghaith and I’m from Tunisia, North Africa. When I graduated from high school, I went to university, and it was a new beginning for me. On our campus, there were a lot of concerts at the start of the year, with a lot of foreign bands singing and dancing. For young university students, it was wonderful and exciting. One of the bands was from North America and, although we didn’t realize it at first, they were singing songs of worship to Jesus. We didn’t mind because we just liked the melodies. When the concert ended, we met with one of the band members. His name was Nate. We discussed a lot of issues with him about the differences between our cultures, our countries, and our religions. Afterward, we exchanged contact information and we kept in touch, even after Nate returned to North America. My email conversations with Nate often came back to the differences between Christianity and Islam. I had always respected other religions like Judaism and Christianity, but I knew almost nothing about them. I believed that there was something good in them, something from God, but I had also heard that they had been corrupted over time. I wondered how that had happened, and even why God would allow it.
I never had the opportunity to meet a Jew or a Christian, so that I could talk about these things. Until I met Nate.
However, I never had the opportunity to meet a Jew or a Christian, so that I could talk about these things. Until I met Nate.
Nate showed me passages from the Bible that I had never seen or heard. They described a religion that was so different to what I had experienced in Islam. In our traditions, in order to communicate with God, you had to clean your hands, wash your face and your feet, which wasn’t really something spiritual. You needed to repeat these same movements, the same rituals, bowing down and reciting prayers from the Qur’an. But it didn’t feel like a relationship with God, at least not an intimate one. From Nate, I learned that Christianity was different, very different from Islam. With Christianity, there is a spiritual relationship with God. It is not about cleaning
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To watch the full video interview with Ghaith and hear him tell his inspiring story, go to multiply.net/ghaith
your hands or washing your face. It is not about how many times you pray or how you bow down. You may do all these things, but if your heart is not clean, then the traditions are worthless. In fact, Christianity is not about religion, it is about relationship with God the Father, and he is the God of love. There is no doubt about this in the Holy Bible. You wouldn’t find anything like that in the Qur’an. It is a totally different message in the Bible, a beautiful message that we never heard in Islam. When I heard these things from Nate, I felt things in my heart for the first time. The Word of God had a special influence on me. It touched me. I felt Jesus knock on the door of my heart. However, I did not respond right away. In fact, it took me a long time. But after five years of looking for the truth, I finally decided to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It was the best decision I ever made in my life. Immediately, I was different. I felt peace and I felt comfortable within myself. No pain and no stress. Nothing. It was total comfort.
their friends. Just hang out with them, share a coffee, talk, debate, laugh together. Play video games, listen to music together, anything that would be helpful and relevant to them, to help them understand that Christians are not the enemy. Many Muslims have the wrong idea about Christians. They think we will not accept them. So, our mission is to show them love. That is our responsibility. Muslims just need to know about Jesus. So many of them are thirsty. They sincerely want to know God. We need to show them the Word of God and show them the love of God.
That is our mission as the ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and that is what we must do. It is our duty of love.
GO Where is God sending you?
The biggest thing for me was the unconditional love of God. There was no limit to how I could communicate with him. He was my Father in heaven and I was his child. I was no longer an unworthy slave, with no dignity. God did not create us to be his slaves. He does not need our worship. He doesn’t need anything from us. We need him, and so he came for us in the flesh, and he died for our sins on the cross, and then he rose from the dead.
In this story, Nate from North America was on mission in North Africa where he met Ghaith. That one meeting after a concert in Tunisia opened the door to a longdistance, long-term relationship between the two young men that eventually led to Ghaith’s decision to follow Jesus.
I would love to recommend that all followers of Jesus show the love of God to Muslims. Give them a Bible. Be
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