Participants: Jon & Natalie Wood
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000029A
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00:21 Hello, and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now.
00:24 I'm Natalie Wood, and today we've got 00:25 a very special show for you. 00:27 But first, I want to share one of my favorite verses, 00:30 and I know it's a favorite verse 00:31 of our special guest today. 00:33 James 1:27, "Pure religion and undefiled before God 00:39 and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless 00:42 and widows in their afflictions, 00:44 and to keep one's self unspotted from the world." 00:48 There is a challenge in that verse, 00:50 and I know that our young man who is our special guest today 00:53 has answered that challenge 00:54 in a special way in his own life, 00:56 and he's seen God answer that challenge as well. 00:59 You know, normally I have my husband Jon 01:01 on the show with me, 01:02 but today I've got our friend Christian Bunch. 01:05 And welcome to the show, Christian. 01:08 Thanks for having me. Good to be here. 01:09 Nice to have you here. 01:11 We want to a jump right in and ask you who are you, 01:14 and what are you doing now, and let's start with that? 01:18 Like you said my name is Christian. 01:20 I'm a senior business administration major 01:22 at Southern Adventist University, 01:25 and that's my life right now. 01:27 Okay, okay. 01:29 And you recently, last school year, right? 01:32 Last school year. You went... 01:35 To India as a student missionary, 01:37 served in the southern part of India in Tamil Nadu, 01:41 and absolutely I loved it, 01:44 completely fell in love with the culture 01:46 and the people. 01:47 Okay, and what were you specifically doing in India. 01:50 I know your job had a couple of different parts. 01:52 Yeah, so I had a few different roles, 01:55 but probably the main one 01:56 was sort of a stay at home dad for 13 kids, 02:01 who just completely messed me up in a good way. 02:07 And I really fell in love with them 02:09 and consider them family now, but I had other things to do, 02:14 I was doing some interviewing 02:17 of our Bible workers who were there, 02:18 but mainly I was with the kids. 02:20 Okay. 02:21 And what was that like as a business major, 02:24 why would you choose to go and work with kids? 02:27 I mean, what was that like? 02:28 Was that something that you'd always planned, 02:30 always wanted or... 02:32 Yeah, I was little different, I think I'm best at business, 02:38 but I'm passionate about ministry. 02:41 And so finally, I'm meddling between the two of those things 02:45 is sometimes a little bit difficult. 02:47 But the reason I was passionate about kids 02:51 is because of that verse 02:52 that you read at the beginning of the show, 02:53 James 1:27, "Pure religion is loving other people." 02:58 And it specifically mentions orphans. 03:01 And so, when the opportunity was presented to me 03:04 to be with these kids, 03:06 it was just kind of like a light bulb clicked on 03:10 that there was an opportunity that fit what was, 03:12 what I had seen in the Bible. 03:13 It's something that was real and genuine 03:16 and I wanted that for myself, but also for the kids. 03:21 Started out, focused more on myself, I think, 03:23 and then ended up more in the right direction 03:26 focusing on what God wanted. 03:29 So these kids, what kind of background did they come from, 03:33 where they all from good homes or... 03:36 Only about 1% of orphans are... 03:41 come from families where both the mom and dad have died. 03:45 And so the other 99% come from just broken homes 03:48 and broken situations, and India, 03:50 if I understand correctly has more orphans 03:52 than any other country in the entire world. 03:55 And so it's just, just rampant with orphans 03:59 and kids that need love, and it's almost tougher 04:02 when their parents have not died 04:05 because instead of feeling lonely, 04:07 they feel abandoned and unwanted. 04:10 And there were two kids in particular, 04:13 when we first got there who we learned their story, 04:16 and just heard from them 04:20 as I was hearing the translation 04:23 that their dad got drunk one night, 04:27 and was so drunk that he brought 04:29 both of these boys out and put their heads on a stump, 04:34 and raised a rock with the intention 04:37 of killing them, both of them. 04:39 And luckily a neighbor came out and stopped the situation, 04:44 and took the kids and brought them to us. 04:46 And so for us to teach them about a loving father 04:49 is just such a tough concept for them to grasp, 04:54 but working through that pain and that trauma with them 04:57 and being able to alternately point them to God 05:00 who really does of them brings a lot of joy, 05:04 a lot of joy to everyone involved. 05:07 Yeah, separating the father that they've known 05:11 from a true Father... 05:12 Yeah. The true Father. 05:14 Yeah. That's a hard thing. 05:16 And that was most of these kids 05:19 had gone through similar situations. 05:21 Some sort of trauma. Wow. 05:24 And tough family lives I mean, 05:26 I know some of them are very, very poor. 05:28 Yeah. 05:29 Some of them, their parents just can't afford them, 05:34 and so they have to go. 05:36 That's really hard. 05:38 That's really hard, and for them 05:39 to feel that rejection and to feel like that. 05:44 That's rough. 05:45 And there's such a need there which was why it was, 05:48 it's good to step into that, 05:50 because it wasn't always the easiest year of my life. 05:54 But knowing that kids needed love 05:56 and I could provide it, 05:58 because I had had parents who loved me 06:00 and people who loved me, and I knew a God who loved me, 06:03 being able to share out of that overflow 06:07 was a huge, huge blessing, just awesome. 06:10 So you've mentioned, you had some difficult times. 06:13 Do you have any stories of some of the more difficult things 06:16 that you'd like to share with us 06:17 or would you rather not talk about it? 06:19 I mean, there's quite a few, it wasn't... 06:21 Overall it's really good. 06:23 The climate was probably the worst, so being there... 06:27 The heat. The heat, it was... 06:30 When we went to bed, one night I remember, 06:33 we would usually sleep outside 06:34 just because it was too hot to sleep inside, 06:38 and so the breeze would be running over us, 06:40 and one night I remember looking at the weather 06:43 and the feels like temperature was 104 at 10 pm. 06:50 And so, it was just, it was tough 06:53 to be able to physically function 06:55 in that environment. 06:57 As well as being in a place where the devil 07:00 is just so strong, has such a stronghold. 07:05 People often don't see the Christianity in America, 07:09 but if nothing else you can see the fruit 07:11 of hundreds of years of Christianity 07:15 and the benefits that has brought to our country. 07:20 Because people are honest 07:21 and people have higher moral standards 07:27 and things like that, so the opposite is India. 07:31 And this is tough, 07:33 it's a tough place for people to live. 07:35 And that's hard, that's hard to see, yeah. 07:36 That's one of the biggest causes of culture shock, 07:38 I think it's learning that the world view 07:41 and idea of right and wrong and some of those things 07:44 we take for granted, you know. 07:46 Very much so. 07:47 And we don't realize that it's because 07:49 God was in this country, 07:52 the true God was in this country 07:53 from the very beginning. 07:54 Yeah. 07:55 So not that He's always here now unfortunately. 07:58 But so the... 08:01 The next thing I want to ask is whether or not you went 08:05 because you knew it was safe. 08:07 I know that you have some physical things 08:10 to be aware of when you travel and things. 08:13 And a lot of people think, "Well, I shouldn't go 08:16 because it's not a safe place to go 08:18 or it's not safe for me." 08:20 Did that ever enter your mind 08:21 when you thought about going to India? 08:22 You know, I... 08:25 It did, but I think that we place way 08:29 too much value on this life. 08:32 Like we treat it as the most precious thing in the world 08:37 and that we could never lose it no matter what, 08:40 and it's just not the case. 08:42 Life is completely of no value, 08:48 if it's not lived for God. 08:50 And so, when we find an opportunity 08:52 to spend our life and to live our life for God, 08:55 it just, it devalues our own view of our own life 09:01 and gives us a new perspective. 09:04 And also I remember, you sharing with me 09:07 as well as somebody else sharing with me 09:08 before I went that the safest place to be 09:11 is where God has called us. 09:13 And so, you can be in a cube with 10 feet of concrete 09:20 all around you buried 100 feet, 100 feet beneath the earth 09:26 completely locked in what most people would consider 09:28 the safest place on earth, 09:30 but if God has not called you there 09:32 it's not the safest place. 09:35 If He's called you to in a war zone 09:38 in the Middle East that is safer than that block, 09:43 full of concrete, 100 feet below the ground, 09:46 because safety is not a worldly view of safety. 09:51 Safety is found in doing what God wants us to do, 09:55 because we know that no matter what happens 09:58 we have, we have the greatest gift 10:02 of heaven waiting for us on the other side. 10:05 I want to ask you about one of the young people 10:07 at the orphanage, the little boy named Santos? 10:11 So Santos was, I think about six years old, 10:14 maybe five when we got there. 10:17 And tons of energy, tons of joy, 10:20 never really gets down. 10:22 He would get frustrated, 10:23 but he would never get down on himself. 10:26 And he had a deformity in the left side of his body, 10:30 so his left hand kind of curled up like this 10:34 and his left foot similarly would just kind of curl up, 10:38 so he would always walk on his tiptoes. 10:41 And very difficult for him 10:43 to interact with the other kids, 10:45 but because he was the youngest, 10:47 it didn't seem so bad for him 10:48 to be the slowest or anything like that, 10:51 because normally the slowest 10:53 is gonna be the youngest person anyways. 10:56 So anyways, a donor contacted us 11:01 and asked if we could take him to the hospital 11:03 and see if they could do anything for him. 11:06 I'm like, "Why didn't I think of this." 11:09 Yeah, of course we can. 11:11 So Santos and I, 11:13 and the director in India Israel, 11:16 we rode on a motorcycle to the hospital 11:18 and went in and saw the doctor, he's a Hindu doctor 11:21 and he said, yeah, I can do the operation. 11:23 And oh, he's an orphan, I'll do it for free. 11:26 And so was able to do surgery 11:30 on Santos' leg a few weeks later, 11:33 and just to see him go through the process of the hospital, 11:37 and the pain of getting the cast 11:39 and all of those things, but just super positive 11:42 through the entire thing, huge blessing to me, 11:45 and now he's able to run like the other kids. 11:49 And hand surgery is expected within a couple of years 11:54 when his hand further develops, they can kind of see 11:56 what areas they need to improve so. 11:58 Okay. Wow. 12:00 Yeah, but that's probably why he was orphaned 12:02 in the first place 12:03 is because that's a disgrace to have a child 12:06 who's handicap in anyway, 12:08 and so they didn't want him and we did. 12:12 Yeah. He's of value. 12:14 Yeah, huge value. He's of value to God. 12:16 So you weren't just there at the orphanage, 12:19 you did some other things too, you traveled a little bit. 12:22 Can you explain a little about 12:24 what you did outside of the orphanage? 12:26 So the great thing about Jesus for Asia's work in India 12:30 is that it's very supportive of the church. 12:32 And so there is a great relationship 12:35 with the church leaders and the church pastors with us. 12:38 So when we would say, we're from Jesus for Asia, 12:41 we were invited to speak in all these different churches 12:43 and to work with all these different pastors, 12:45 and to work accepting an opportunity 12:48 to do two weeks of evangelism in a village in Tamil Nadu. 12:53 So we did one week at one church 12:56 and another week at another church. 12:58 And the second week, 13:00 we were able to pray with this one lady, 13:05 after the service she requested special prayer. 13:08 She had been sick for something like a month or two 13:12 and hadn't been able to eat, 13:14 just was really, really struggling 13:16 and she looked very frail and very thin. 13:18 And so we prayed over her, and I just remember getting 13:22 very heavy in the room feeling, 13:25 feeling like there was something more at stake 13:27 than just what we could see. 13:30 And so praying over her and praying for healing, 13:32 and praying for God's Spirit 13:34 and all of those things to come in powerfully. 13:37 And then, the very next night going through 13:42 and we sprinkled water all over her house. 13:48 We prayed over some water and then we sprinkled it 13:50 which was a symbol of removing the demons 13:52 or anything that had been in her house, 13:54 because she was Hindu 13:56 and just cleansing, cleansing it. 13:58 And then a few nights later, we made the call 14:02 and she wanted to accept Jesus into her life. 14:05 And so the very next night, she had a... 14:10 There was a celebration for her decision 14:13 and a few others their decision as well. 14:16 And we were asked to give them new names, 14:19 because everyone is born typically with the name 14:21 of a Hindu god or something like that. 14:25 And so when they take on Christ, 14:27 they also take on a new name, which is really cool tradition. 14:31 And so they asked me if I would give her 14:32 and her husband a new name, 14:34 and I thought about it and prayed about it, 14:37 and I selected Rebecca and Isaac. 14:40 And so, Israel gets up there to announce their new name 14:45 and he tells everyone, this is Rebecca 14:49 and so the whole village is pronouncing Rebecca, 14:51 Rebecca, Rebecca. 14:53 And then they, it's like okay, 14:56 setting stone from now on she is Rebecca. 14:58 And then he gets to her husband and he's like, 15:01 and this is Ezekiel. 15:03 Uh-oh. 15:04 And he, and I was like what, what, what happened? 15:08 And so then they all pronounced it Ezekiel, Ezekiel, Ezekiel. 15:14 And so it's done and Israel sits back down beside me 15:18 and I was like, anna, which means older brother like, 15:23 I said Isaac and he was like, 15:26 oh, but it is done what do we do? 15:30 I said, okay, fine. 15:31 So we just moved on and... 15:33 He is Ezekiel. 15:34 He is Ezekiel now, hanging out in the village, 15:38 everyone calls him by name that was never intended for him, 15:40 but I'm sure there's some greater purpose and it was... 15:43 Yeah. It was really funny. 15:45 So did you find out later, how they were doing? 15:48 Yes. 15:50 She's better, physically better. 15:52 Awesome. 15:53 And God healed her in, which is expected. 15:56 Right. 15:57 We don't see those things in America, 15:59 so it's a little bit awkward. 16:01 But over there it's on a daily basis, 16:04 you see things like that, 16:06 because you see people being rescued from a darker world 16:09 into a world of light, 16:11 whereas a lot of us here are sort of in the middle. 16:15 Yeah, which is a scary place to be. 16:17 Yeah, it's a scary place to be. 16:19 And we don't have a recognition of the supernatural, 16:22 because we don't feel like we need it, 16:24 I can provide my own food, put it on the table. 16:28 I have a car to get where I need to go. 16:31 I have glasses and all of those kinds of things. 16:33 But when I need something in India, 16:37 I can't always get it 16:39 and so I really have to have God's power, 16:41 I have to have that faith, 16:43 otherwise my life is gonna be in shambles, 16:45 kind of like up on the mountain, and so, 16:48 just an opportunity to exercise faith. 16:51 Yeah, so that was one of my next questions was, 16:53 what happened to your faith walk 16:55 because of these experiences? 16:58 So I think the biggest thing that affected me was, 17:02 when I first went to India, I had more of, 17:07 more of a selfish outlook on missions 17:10 that it was self growth and self, 17:13 a chance to figure out who I was in Christ, 17:15 which I don't think were bad goals. 17:18 I think we all have to kind of have 17:19 our wilderness experience with Christ, 17:23 wherever that may be. 17:27 But one day, I just kind of had a realization 17:29 that it wasn't, wasn't about me, 17:32 like God didn't send me there to work on my own life, 17:35 He sent me there for those kids, 17:36 and for those people who didn't know Him. 17:39 And that was so freeing for me, 17:43 because I could go to bed in the most hot humid place 17:47 I could ever imagine and not think oh, 17:52 why am I here. 17:53 But I know I am here, God helped me get through it. 17:56 And so that, that paradigm shift for me, 17:59 it was just huge to realize that it really is not about me, 18:03 my whole life, my spirituality everything 18:06 that I'm doing, my education is not for my own purposes, 18:11 it's for God's purposes to advance His kingdom 18:14 and to give other people the joy of knowing Him. 18:17 And it kind of sounds like that would be a setback, 18:21 but it's really so freeing 18:23 because I no longer have to focus on my own needs, 18:26 I no longer have to wake up, 18:27 look in the mirror and think, "Oh, what is wrong with me?" 18:29 I don't even focus on it, I just look to Christ and... 18:33 Well, I mean, I tried. 18:35 I've looked to Christ and say, "What can I do for you?" 18:39 And then come what may, 18:43 I'll be okay because I'm not here for me. 18:46 And that plays into my next question. 18:48 What about love, what did you learn about love? 18:51 Or what did you see about love while you were over there? 18:56 Yeah, love is difficult. 19:01 Not easy, 19:03 but the kids really exemplified it, 19:09 because we would come, we would come back from working 19:13 or whatever and we're just sweaty and nasty and dirty, 19:19 nobody would want to touch us, and these kids are just like, 19:23 they just surround you. 19:24 And I saw a picture of God in that way, 19:28 no matter how filthy we are, He wraps His arms around us. 19:31 Additionally, I just... 19:34 Before I went out 1 Corinthians 13 19:36 really stuck out to me. 19:38 And if I do all of these things, 19:40 but if I don't love, I have nothing. 19:43 And so without sounding like we get salvation by works 19:49 that's not what I mean, 19:51 I just mean that if all of our religion 19:53 is in our heads, 19:55 if it doesn't translate into something better, 19:58 it's not really doing a lot of good. 20:00 And I see such a great need 20:07 in our church for people 20:10 to take what they have in their head 20:13 and to transfer it to their hands 20:15 and their feet and say, 20:17 "How can I alleviate this suffering 20:20 that is in the world." 20:22 And maybe, a lot of people don't realize it, 20:25 it's our own ignorance, and that's where travel 20:27 and missions really opens us up to the vast needs 20:31 that are in the world. 20:34 And I don't think it always has to come from a plan. 20:36 It doesn't always have to come from a different country. 20:38 It doesn't have to come from 20:41 some student mission's experience. 20:44 It can just be simply saying, "Okay, Lord, 20:46 I want to be Your hands and feet. 20:48 Truly I want to be Your hands and feet." 20:51 Not just throwing that in a prayer 20:53 but how do I do that? 20:55 And really living that out is the life blood 20:59 of spirituality for me, 21:02 because if my faith just stays in my faith, 21:06 well, then it's gonna die. 21:09 We have this kind of philosophy that I just get Jesus 21:14 and then it's done, period. 21:16 So you're converted, now you're in the faith, 21:18 you're going to church, 21:19 you're regularly attending, awesome, 21:22 but if that just means you get to warm a pew 21:25 the rest of your life, what is, what is that? 21:28 It only benefits you. Right. 21:30 But if you take what you've learned 21:32 and you take how God has led you 21:34 and you say, how can I change this dark world around me? 21:38 Then it's gonna make waves. 21:41 And so love in action really is Christ in action, 21:48 and it's a picture of Christ 21:50 that the world really needs to hear. 21:53 So can you share with us a little bit 21:55 about a difficult thing that came, 21:58 it started before you left 22:00 and then it came after you left, 22:02 it sort of finished, well, it's not finished yet, 22:06 because God hasn't been glorified, 22:07 but before you left, 22:10 we started having challenges at the orphanage. 22:12 Yeah, so orphanages in non-Christian countries 22:19 are very, very difficult to run. 22:22 And we started learning more and more of the problems 22:27 and of all of the red tape and the things 22:30 that the government wanted us to do for our orphanage 22:34 that were just financially impossible 22:37 and logistically impossible. 22:40 And so the government started checking in on us, 22:44 and it never went well, it never went well, 22:49 but we tried to comply with their regulations, 22:52 and I remember saying goodbye to the kids 22:55 when we left in May, and realizing 23:00 that I might never see them again. 23:02 And how hard, how hard that was and also just saying, 23:06 God I have no control, I have no power. 23:09 And that's exactly what happened is we left 23:12 and about a month later the government came 23:15 and they took our kids back to some orphanage, 23:19 which I'm sure is not giving them the home 23:23 and the family and the community 23:25 and the space to run 23:26 and play cricket that the kids needed. 23:31 And I got a call from the girls, 23:33 when they, when they were leaving that, 23:37 that just were saying, they're taking us, 23:40 like what do we do and just praying with them 23:42 one last time. 23:43 And trying to have some sort of strength 23:47 to tell them that God would be with them 23:49 and He would be their Father and that was, it was hard. 23:55 So yeah, the government in Tamil Nadu requires 23:59 for 25 orphans, 24:02 they want 13 full time staff, which is ignorant of... 24:06 Wow that's... 24:07 Yeah, especially when the kids are in school most of the day, 24:10 that's a lot of people. 24:12 And they want this building for eating 24:13 and this building for worship and this building for study, 24:16 and all of these different things 24:17 that are just impossible 24:18 and ignorant of the fact that right down the road, 24:21 there are families living in ten by ten houses 24:24 with six people and that's okay. 24:26 But somehow, we have orphans and therefore, 24:29 it's not okay for them to live in these environments, 24:32 and they have so many regulations, 24:34 which we believe are primarily just to keep Christians 24:36 from having an influence. 24:39 India does not value Christian non-profits coming in 24:44 but they do value education 24:47 and they really value international education. 24:50 And so just learning about this and kind of doing some research 24:54 while I was over there, what alternatives did we have 24:57 because it was impossible to meet all of the regulations 25:00 for an orphanage, translated into a school. 25:04 We can have a school, and these kids will come in 25:08 instead of as orphans, 25:09 they will just come in as boarding students. 25:13 And the plan is to only accept orphans, 25:16 so we won't be doing it for the ritz, 25:19 for the ritzy and for the high class people, 25:21 it'll be the lowest of the low class 25:23 that will be a part of our dorm. 25:26 And there we can educate them and we can share with them 25:31 the love of Christ in a way 25:32 that is sustainable over the long term, 25:36 and hopefully bring those kids back hopefully, hopefully, 25:40 praying about that, believe that God can do it. 25:42 Yeah. 25:44 So how much would it cost to do a school? 25:47 It's about anywhere from 80,000 to 120,000 25:52 so, we're trying to raise 100, 25:54 but really want to give these kids a life 26:01 that is so awesome compared to what they have. 26:05 I mean, they deserve so much after all they've been through, 26:08 and the positivity that they have, 26:10 and it's such a great environment for them 26:12 to grow up in. 26:13 And I want to give them the opportunity to have a life 26:18 that so many of us have deserved, 26:20 or not deserved, not deserved but received anyways, 26:23 and they do deserve it and they haven't received it. 26:28 And, so that's the plan, 26:30 Lord willing we'll be able to build a school 26:33 and bring in kids. 26:36 Now the other thing, the other reason 26:38 that we would like to have our own school 26:40 anyway is the challenges with the government schools 26:43 and testing and things like that. 26:45 Can you share a little bit about the Sabbath issues? 26:49 Yeah, so when we were there, 26:51 many of the kids had Sabbath exams 26:54 that they were not allowed to go to. 26:56 And these are final exams or very important exams 26:59 that can hold them back a grade. 27:04 And so, if we had our own school, 27:07 we get to set our own schedule, which prevents them from having 27:10 to go to school on Sabbath, 27:13 which would make a huge difference. 27:14 And we think that 27:16 with an international quality education, 27:21 we would be well supported by the government, 27:22 and the locals, and the community, 27:24 and it could be, has potential 27:27 to do wonderful, wonderful things. 27:31 All right. Well, I appreciate you coming and sharing with us. 27:33 Christian, I know you've got a class coming up soon, 27:35 you've got to go to. 27:37 So we want to finish here. I'm sure we could keep talking. 27:40 You have a lot more experiences and stories to share. 27:43 But I just want to challenge our viewers. 27:45 If you would like to be a part of making this a school, 27:49 please send your tax deductible love gifts 27:51 to Jesus For Asia, 27:53 PO Box 1221, Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 27:59 Call us at 423-413-7321. 28:04 Or check out our website at Jesus4asia.org. 28:08 May God bless you richly 28:09 until we see you again on Jesus for Asia Now. |
Revised 2017-10-16