Monday, June 2, 2008
Beyond The Gates of Splendor
This is an brief excerpt concerning the story of missionary pilot Nate Saint and fellow missionaries Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Jim Elliot who went to Ecuador in 1955. Steve Saint, son of murdered missionary Nate Saint, has a ministry that continues to help the native tribes of Ecuador. See http://itecusa.org/ to learn more about his ministry.
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7 comments:
Have you ever done a missions trip, Jeff? I have never had the calling.
Russ,
No, but I have prayed about either going on a short-term missions trip, and/or becoming a full-time missionary. Years ago, I almost went with the Josh McDowell team to Russia, but the financial challenge held me back.
I grew up in Miami, FL, and most of the people I grew up around, especially in the later years, were Latin Americans (mostly Cuban), many of whom could not speak English. So, even though I am an American, I basically grew up in a non-American culture, where they did many things differently from Americans. Moving to Central Florida was a culture shock, because now I am mostly around Americans, and they do a lot of stuff differently than Cubans do. So I have had some limited experience witnessing in Spanish (though I don't even know enough Spanish to hold a conversation, and I am starting to forget the tiny bit I used to know) and handing out Spanish gospel tracts. I've even gone to Spanish churches twice; one of them had headphones where an interpreter told you the message in English, but the other church had no interpreter. The funny thing about that second church was, even though I couldn't understand the message, the Holy Spirit moved me to overflowing joy while I was in the service. So, even though there was a language barrier, the Holy Spirit was still quite active. I had a Cuban girlfriend at the time, and that's why I went to the Spanish churches.
A few weeks ago, I gave a Spanish gospel tract to a Mexican guy who did my lawn, and I gave him two "million dollar bill" gospel tracts to give to his small kids, that I had gotten from LivingWaters.com.
Last night, I went and saw "Prince Caspian." I had 79 "Narnia" gospel tracts ready to hand out as people were leaving the theater, but since I went to the 9:50 PM showing on a Sunday night, there were only 4 other people watching the movie, and 2 of them left before the movie ended, so I didn't hand out any tracts.
However, you can read about some of my past witnessing adventures here:
and here:
Man! I keep forgetting to include some visible text in the code when I include a link! It's kind of funny, because the HTML code is actually there, but there is no visible text to click on! LOL! But this is about the 3rd or 4th time I've forgotten to do that, so its frustrating!
Anyway, here it is again...this time with visible text to click on:
My 'Adventures in Christianity' page
My Journal
When I was in Jr. High School, I think it was, while scanning the Pastor's shelf of library books at the Lutheran church I grew up in, I saw a book that had some really gruesome pictures in it, of several men's bodies floating down a river, with spears sticking out of their backs. I read a few pages or so from the book, and looked at the photos, but that was about it. I read that they were 5 missionaries that were killed by the natives that they were trying to evangelize, in Ecuador.
Several years ago, I rented the documentary concerning those 5 missionaries, which contained footage of the actual missionaries.
I also saw "End of the Spear" at the theater, and I bought the book by the same title, which I am still reading. My sister read the book to her Montessori class, which she taught.
A few years ago, at the same time I bought the book, I heard Steve Saint and Mincaye in person, present a message at a church here in town. Afterwards, I met them both, and got them to sign my book (Mincaye used a thumb print, since he can't write or speak English). Steve is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He even gave me a couple books for free, when I came back to buy more for my mom and my sister, and said to consider them as Christmas gifts. Mincaye had the biggest smile, and he gave me bear-hugs twice. And yet, Mincaye is the one who murdered Steve's dad. Mincaye has also murdered many other men in his lifetime. The two of them are powerful evidence for the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit, made possible by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, dying on the cross for us. They are also an unbelievably powerful testimony to the power of forgiveness through the Holy Spirit, because Steve grew up with Mincaye and the tribe, and Mincaye adopted Steve as his own.
I saw Caspian as well.
I respect those that are missionaries and those that hand out tracks. My approach to witnessing is the 'philosophical talk' which may not always be overly academic, but I reason this is how the Lord wishes me to reach out to others in love. It is handy to point people to blogs in this matter. Many people cannot relate to thekingpin68 blog and so satire and theology is better for shorter and somewhat more simplistic articles. Some have told that they cannot understand much of that either, but each of us can only reach certain people. I am not a Billy Graham type and have no desire to be, although he is used by the Lord.
Thanks, Jeff.
I posted the Chinese Food Menu.:)
You're welcome---LOL! That Chinese Food Menu is hilarious!
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