Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000093S
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00:00 (lively music)
00:21 - Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now. 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and my husband, Jon, is with me today, 00:26 as we share the youth Mission Show 00:28 our young people did a few years ago. 00:31 Hello love. - Hi darling, how are you? 00:32 - I'm doing fine. - Praise the Lord. 00:34 - You know, it's a joy to talk about this show 00:37 because it was such a growth experience for our young people 00:42 but it was also an opportunity 00:44 to show so many varying aspects of mission work 00:48 and missionary life. 00:51 I guess, I'm not sure exactly where we should start, 00:54 but maybe kind of how we ended up doing the show? 00:57 - Okay, all right. 00:59 Well, it started out as a request and an idea, 01:04 there's a lot of missionaries out there 01:07 and a lot of youth don't really, 01:10 I mean, in the past when you and I are growing up, 01:13 there's all these mission stories, 01:14 these books about missionaries and their challenges 01:17 and travels or something like that. 01:18 Hardly anything these days from missionary story, 01:21 and why is that? 01:22 One reason is there's hardly any missionaries out there 01:26 and the missionaries that are out there, 01:27 aren't really on the front lines 01:30 as much as they were in the past. 01:32 The missionaries that we sponsor as a church 01:34 are more in the administrative side of things 01:38 or something like that. 01:40 - Teachers and- - Doctors and stuff like that, 01:43 which is needed but it's not not that same push. 01:45 - It's not front line mission stories as in. 01:48 - Exactly, and so we thought, 01:50 well, what if we had mission stories in the modern media, 01:54 which is television video. 01:57 And so what if we did a video series for the youth 02:01 but instead of having old people talk about it, 02:04 why don't we feature young people 02:06 going into the mission field, interviewing the misters. 02:09 Now originally, we were gonna have them 02:11 see what it was like to be a kid in the mission field. 02:15 - But there aren't a lot of missionary kids out there. 02:18 - No, that's hard. 02:19 The ones that we were thinking about 02:21 when we first had the idea, they kinda like grew up, 02:25 and so we switched it to having in the youth interview 02:29 and meet the missionaries. 02:31 Now I used to work at Pacific Union College 02:34 and I would take youth from our program, 02:37 I was teaching in the video program, 02:39 we would go overseas and we would interview missionaries 02:42 that were over there. 02:44 They were underfunded but making a big impact 02:47 and the impact that it had on my college students 02:52 really inspired me to, hey, this is something 02:56 that makes a difference in the lives of young people. 02:58 - Right, even taking them short-term 03:01 can make such a huge difference, it can open their eyes, 03:03 which is one of the reasons 03:05 we call our short-term mission trips, vision trips. 03:08 We don't call them just mission trips 03:10 because you can't do a lot of mission 03:12 when you're not there very long. 03:14 You don't really get to know the people, 03:16 it's not immersive really, 03:19 and so it's like to have the opportunity to at least see 03:22 and open your eyes to what's out there 03:25 and what the world is really like. 03:27 - Right, exactly, and the biggest takeaway 03:30 or the biggest impact that I saw happening 03:32 was when our youth, 03:34 were seeing people that had been successful 03:37 in the business world for instance, 03:39 and they gave it all up and they moved to the mission field, 03:42 living in bamboo huts, 03:45 and they were happier than the people that were back home 03:48 that had everything that they needed 03:50 and living a normal life. 03:52 In other words, they were told 03:53 that this is how you become happy. 03:55 You get a good job, you go to school, 03:59 you have a nice house, nice car and be secure 04:01 and all that kinda stuff. 04:02 That's the road to happiness. - Financial security. 04:04 - Exactly, and then they're meeting these people 04:06 that had that, gave it all up and they're now happier 04:11 than anyone that they know that went that- 04:14 - The regular way. - The regular way. 04:16 The American Dream so to speak and so- 04:18 - It is a big difference for them. 04:20 - And so we thought, well, let's try that with, 04:23 and we happen to have a couple of teenagers at the time. 04:27 - So our daughter Mary Ann was 14 at the time 04:30 and her best friend also 14, 04:33 and our son James was 16 at the time 04:36 when we went and shot the show. 04:38 - Yeah, and he was the producer. 04:40 And Lilyann- 04:42 - Which was a big challenge for him 04:43 to learn what it really meant to be a producer 04:46 on a show like that and traveling. 04:49 He had producers support. 04:50 - Yes. (both laughing) 04:52 His dad. 04:55 I kinda knew how much work it really takes 04:58 to put a series together. 05:00 - Yeah, 'cause you have a little bit of experience. 05:02 You kinda knew what we were in for 05:05 trying to shoot this show in six weeks. 05:07 - Right. 05:08 So we just wanted to give people 05:09 a little taste of the different episodes 05:12 and a little bit about how it's impacted our young people 05:15 and other young people around them 05:17 as they came face to face with the missionaries 05:20 and the lifestyles that they have chosen. 05:22 - Right, so the first episode 05:24 was from the travel getting there from China and on the way. 05:28 And then the second episode was when we arrived 05:31 and we went to a floating market and dealt with jet lag, 05:35 and met a missionary from a sensitive area. 05:38 But this clip that we wanna share is from the third episode 05:41 where we were driving North in Thailand 05:43 and we drove eight hours and never passed another Adventist. 05:48 - Right, now just to give you kinda behind the scenes, 05:53 this was hard because this was the third episode. 05:56 This is the fourth that we started the travel from America. 06:02 And so these young people adapted so well 06:05 'cause jet lag, it's 12 hours difference. 06:07 So noon is midnight, midnight is noon. 06:11 - And your meals are in the middle of the night. 06:14 - That's when you're hungry anyway. 06:16 At around noon, you you're supposed to eat, 06:17 but you're like, I don't feel like eating. 06:20 - All right, let's watch this clip now. 06:22 - Okay. 06:23 - We're gonna spend the night in Sukhothai, 06:25 and then in the morning, 06:27 we're gonna take another bus to Chiang Mai. 06:30 And along the way, 06:31 we're gonna stop at different towns and pray for them, 06:35 because like the whole way to Chiang Mai, 06:37 there's like no Adventists. 06:39 So we're gonna claim promises 06:42 and claim those areas for Jesus. 06:47 (calm music) 06:58 - There's over like five million people 07:00 that live in this valley, and over the next five hours, 07:04 we will not even come within 100 miles 07:08 of a single church plant. 07:10 - We're claiming Joshua 1:3, 07:12 that wherever you plant the sole of your foot, 07:14 that have I already given unto you. 07:16 We're claiming that God will send someone here 07:20 to represent Him in this area that doesn't have anyone. 07:26 (calm music) 07:58 - We love and thank you. 08:01 - This was such an experience for our youth. 08:04 Being in a place where there was no other believers 08:09 and being in a bus that long, 08:10 without coming within 100 miles of a believer. 08:15 We don't re kinda think about it but these kids that grow up 08:18 in Adventist churches, Adventist families, 08:21 they don't really get that kind of exposure to ministry. 08:25 And for them to pray, 08:27 they felt like they were like entering in 08:29 and able to do something. 08:31 - And the awesome thing 08:32 is that now there's a family in one of those cities. 08:36 - That's right, the cities we spent the night in. 08:41 - Those young people, our young people, 08:43 have gotten to see the answers to their prayers, 08:45 because we were praying for people to come 08:47 and live in those cities and be a testimony 08:50 to God's power and God's love. 08:55 - Yes, and so prayers make a difference. 08:58 - And so our young people who have had the opportunity 09:00 to see that firsthand. 09:04 - It's a cool thing 09:05 when you go into these areas that are unreached, 09:07 because if something happens, that's like for God, 09:13 for his kingdom, that's like the only thing. 09:16 So like if somebody comes to Christ in those areas, 09:19 that's like 100% church growth rate, 09:22 just one person it's like 100% church growth. 09:25 Whereas if you do something here in America, 09:27 it's cool and it's really good, 09:30 but it kind of blends, there's so much going on. 09:34 And they kinda when they're in that situation, 09:35 they kinda feel like well, it's up to me. 09:38 There's a real need and you can see it, 09:41 and that's impacting also. 09:44 - Right, and the power of prayer, 09:46 we just really want our young people 09:48 to understand the power of prayer 09:49 because when we pray, God can do amazing, amazing things. 09:54 Well, we've got a lot more clips to go through. 09:56 So the next one is from the young people 09:59 getting to go to a people group called the Lahu, 10:03 and we got to go to their church that day 10:05 and this is their experience there. 10:10 - We came to this village, 10:12 that's just a few miles from the media team that we visited. 10:18 - [Girl] So people are from a tribe called Lahu, 10:22 and we went to church here and it was really nice. 10:24 - We got to teach Sabbath School and- 10:26 - For the children, we told them stories 10:29 and taught them to sing "Jesus Loves Me" in English, 10:32 and it was actually really fun. 10:35 Even me when I've been on trips before, 10:38 I was like, "Well, I can't really do anything." 10:39 So I'd just need to sit and watch, 10:41 but then we got to teach them something 10:44 and tell them stories. 10:46 And it was really fun and it was really good. 10:49 I think that definitely, 10:52 you're never too young to be a missionary. 10:55 - That insight that she had, that's huge. 10:58 - Yeah, it was a neat opportunity for them. 11:00 Really, really wonderful. 11:02 Now, we took them to another place. 11:05 This is from episode four 11:07 and this one's a little bit different because it's a temple. 11:14 - So the reason we took them here 11:16 is because we wanted to kinda step over 11:18 the line of cultures. 11:24 We wanted to give them a sense 11:27 of what the local people believe, 11:31 how they worship, how they seek God. 11:34 So we wanted to see, this is a whole different worldview, 11:38 when you come to a church, a Christian Church, 11:42 it's very different 11:44 than when they go to one of their temples. 11:47 - Very much so. - Yeah, this is kinda cool. 11:52 - We looked at trying to decide 11:53 whether we should come here or not, 11:55 and we're like, oh, that looks really, really pretty 11:57 and really cool, we should go. 11:59 When we got here, we're like, oh wow, 12:01 the picture didn't do it justice at all. 12:05 - This temple was actually made by an artist 12:07 not not like a priest or anything. 12:09 It was an artist who, 12:11 this is their interpretation of like heaven and hell. 12:15 It's got like white and then like silver outlines and stuff. 12:21 - You can notice on this sidewalk, 12:24 there's like imprints of flame 12:27 and there's hands, kinda creepy. 12:31 This part is the hell I guess and the temple is heaven. 12:39 - Can you imagine how that would affect 12:41 our young people's minds 12:42 seeing there are people that grow up 12:44 in that kind of mindset, that kind of understanding. 12:49 - It makes the beauty of Jesus so much more beautiful. 12:54 So yeah, that was an artist's interpretation 12:57 and so it wasn't an actual temple. 12:59 I mean, it was a temple- - But we went there later. 13:01 - It wasn't built by the monks and all of that. 13:05 - So it's more accurate probably to their mindset 13:07 of how life and salvation works and everything. 13:11 - Right. 13:13 Well, the next video, 13:15 this is one of our young people's favorite parts, 13:17 especially James. 13:19 And Mary Ann talks about it, 13:21 she still wants to go back and finish the ride 13:23 because you all had to cut it short, 13:26 we call this the Ride to Pie. 13:28 (both laughing) 13:30 - 'Cause that's the name of the town 13:33 that we spent the night in. 13:35 It was a long ride, it was two days. 13:38 We should have done it in three but we crammed it into two, 13:40 and along the way, my shift lever broke 13:43 so the Lord performed a miracle 13:45 and got that thing going again, 13:46 and this is very intense days. 13:49 - Yeah, yeah. 13:52 (lively music) (motorcycle engine roaring) 14:04 - [Girl] The Northern part of Thailand 14:05 is mostly untouched by the gospel. 14:08 As far as we know, 14:09 we did not pass any missionaries on the whole way. 14:12 (lively music) 14:22 - See right here, this is my shift lever 14:28 and it's supposed to go on right down there. 14:34 I rode one motorcycle and Lilyann was behind me, 14:38 and James wrote a motorcycle and Mary Ann was behind him. 14:41 We swapped off a couple of times but that was kinda like, 14:44 in the first day it was like eight hours 14:47 and the second day was 12 hours. 14:50 - Oh, on motorcycle. 14:53 I remember how tired you were 14:54 when you got to the other end. 14:56 We took a minivan then got there more quickly. 14:59 - You guys went straight and went loop. 15:01 So the reason why we drove so hard 15:03 is we wanted to get to Leroy's place, 15:05 in the refugee camp the next day before he left. 15:09 - Right, so here's a video of that. 15:12 (lively music) 15:21 - We're in the Maeramoo Refugee Camp 15:23 and we finally got to Mr. Sharon where he's teaching. 15:27 He has like a classroom 15:29 and so you can hear them in the background. 15:32 He's currently teaching a class 15:35 by using the Bible to teach them English. 15:37 So we are here just to learn 15:40 kind of more about what he does 15:41 and what life is like in refugee camp. 15:44 - [Sharon] As though they have been waiting ages, ages. 15:48 Ages were long time, ages and ages. 15:53 - We're still at the refugee camp, 15:54 we just talk to the principle of the school here. 15:58 It's actually junior college 16:00 and he told us a little bit about the camp. 16:03 It was founded in 1985. 16:06 They can't actually leave the camp 16:09 because they are refugees from Buma. 16:11 - It's really hard for them to get an education. 16:14 They aren't really allowed to work outside of the camp 16:17 so they don't have any money really. 16:23 - It's really that they have school here. 16:25 (calm music) 16:29 - [Girl] As we watched Mr. Sharon teach English, 16:30 we were impressed by his enthusiasm and commitment. 16:34 He uses Uncle Arthur's, My Bible Friends, 16:36 to teach English along with Bible stories. 16:39 We can tell he loves sharing the truth in this simple way. 16:45 - So then we went to see some people 16:48 that had flown in to do some dental training 16:50 for some students at a local school there. 16:53 (calm music) 16:57 - Even visiting a lot of missionaries 16:58 and like just seeing like how they do everyday life 17:01 and they seem really happy, really content, 17:06 of course they have struggles. 17:09 I assume like when they first came over here, it was harder 17:12 'cause like they probably missed home 17:13 but they seem really happy 17:16 and it's exciting to just see what they do 17:20 and difference that they're making in the world around them. 17:22 So I've enjoyed having a privilege of meeting them 17:26 and seeing them, yeah. 17:31 - This is so profound to me that a young person can see 17:35 that those people that are following the path of service, 17:38 path of Christ, that's where the happiness is. 17:41 That's huge. - In spite of struggles, 17:44 trials, whatever else they have to go through, 17:47 difficult circumstances, 17:49 they find happiness and they find great happiness. 17:52 - It just exposes Satan's lie 17:55 and living for yourself is where the happiness is. 17:57 - Right, exactly. 18:00 Well, this next one is branch Sabbath school class 18:03 that was in the same area. 18:05 (calm music) 18:13 - You know these babies 18:14 have their diapers no? - Yes. 18:15 (both giggling) 18:18 - It feels like you stepped right into like a mission book, 18:22 a story like out of the house kind of, 18:24 'cause like there's all the pigs 18:26 and animals underneath the house 18:28 and you climb up a little ladder, 18:30 you're in like a little hut thing, house. 18:38 It's quite an experience but it's good. 18:43 (man speaking in foreign language) 18:47 (calm music) 18:56 It's like a huge culture shock, I don't know. 19:03 It's just like wow, kind of. 19:08 You read about stuff like this but to actually be here 19:11 is just like you get all the smells and everything. 19:18 (pig snorting) 19:22 - You like that shot of the pig at the end there? 19:25 - Yeah, that's pretty funny. 19:26 But again, it was like a total, 19:31 you're like in the mission story book as she was a saying, 19:33 and it was really an eyeopening experience. 19:39 - Yeah, and that's what's so needed. 19:41 I mean, our kids grow up in this bubble 19:46 and they think the whole world is like America 19:48 and to take them outside that bubble 19:50 so they can see what the world is really like. 19:56 Those concepts and those visions or those understandings, 20:00 may like go underground for years, 20:03 but they're never completely forgotten. 20:07 And so when they think about America, 20:08 now they think about America as being one way 20:11 or one kind of life, 20:13 there's many people that don't have that art 20:15 and they now know that by experience, not just theory. 20:18 To me, it's like every single child 20:22 should have that experience. 20:25 - And that's one of the reasons we shot this show 20:28 is to share it with those that won't be able to go. 20:31 We know that there will be young people that can't go 20:34 and so to make sure 20:35 that they have the opportunity to see this also 20:38 and see others experiencing this will help them as well. 20:42 - And maybe encourage them to go. 20:44 - To take the opportunity to go. 20:45 - Right, because it's a matter of priorities really. 20:50 - So then our next section is we went to Gail's 20:53 and some of our viewers might know who Gail is. 20:56 She's a nurse and we'll see her in a little bit, 20:59 but the road to her place is quite intense. 21:01 So the first video is of the road to Gail's place. 21:07 - This is Auntie Gail's truck. 21:09 We were wondering why such a small sweet lady 21:12 would need such a big, tough truck, but we soon found out. 21:15 The road to her house is rough and steep 21:19 and it's much steeper in real life 21:21 than it looks in the video. 21:24 Basically we are right in the back of the truck, 21:27 we've had a lot of steep corners and stuff, yeah. 21:31 That's where these little thing 'cause it's so dusty. 21:36 It's like you pass these trucks 21:38 and you're like this far away from hitting them. 21:42 So that is not good. 21:45 (lively music) 21:56 These roads are rough from the dry season, 21:58 but in the rainy season, 22:00 all the dust and dirt turns into deep slippery mud. 22:03 (calm music) 22:07 When the truck won't make it, they take a motorbike. 22:10 But even that can be a lot of hard work. 22:15 - So we finally arrived at Gail's 22:17 after going through the bumpy road, 22:18 and the next day we went to a village. 22:22 (calm music) 22:27 - Is he swollen at all? 22:33 - Not really a lot of people have come, 22:35 but those who have come she's treated them. 22:37 It's just cool to watch her check on them and stuff. 22:43 And so now we're gonna have worship 22:45 and a lot of kids have come, few kids have come, so yeah. 22:50 (singing in foreign language) 23:21 - I'm the most fortunate person in the world 23:23 because I have the very best job of anybody 23:26 because I get to meet people and help them physically 23:29 and that makes a bridge to their heart 23:32 so I can help them understand more about God. 23:34 And I get to tell people about God every day, 23:37 some that never heard before. 23:40 So this is the biggest joy 23:43 you could ever have this side of heaven. 23:47 - We love Gail. 23:49 - Yeah, we do. 23:51 - But for her to share, the young people just love Gail too. 23:57 To go there and see what she does 23:58 and how she treats the people 23:59 and then they have worship together with them 24:01 and it just brings of joy. 24:03 - Very inspiring for our young people. 24:06 - All right, the next part, we go to a slum 24:08 in the big city of Bangkok. 24:10 - Yeah, so from the jungle to the concrete jungle. 24:14 (Jon laughing) 24:16 - The kids are getting here and stuff so. 24:21 When we arrived at the slum, Josh Bauder greeted us 24:24 and showed us into the building they're renting for church. 24:31 (speaking in foreign language) 24:33 (lively music) 24:38 (speaking in foreign language) 24:52 We asked Josh to tell us 24:53 how they started to connect with the kids. 24:56 And he told us this little girl's story. 24:59 - This is Nong Toi. 25:01 (speaking in foreign language) 25:09 - So the rest of that story about the little girl, 25:11 you have to watch Mission Trek to get, 25:13 we don't have time to share it here. 25:14 - Right, and that's that missiontrek.net. 25:17 Just so we get that in there so people know where to watch. 25:20 - Missiontrek.net not .org.com, but.net 25:25 - .net, right. 25:26 - The next clip, 25:27 we're gonna go to a large temple in downtown Bangkok. 25:31 (lively music) 25:52 - This is the Reclining Buddha 25:54 that is as old as the United States. 25:57 It measures 150 feet long and 50 feet high, it's really big. 26:03 (lively music) 26:07 The ordinate paintings on the wall were originally there 26:10 to teach the general public the stories of Buddhist search 26:13 for enlightenment as well as Thai history. 26:16 I don't know how to read this kind of textbook, 26:18 but we were intrigued by them. 26:26 I don't know if you can hear the clink, 26:29 the little dinging, whatever it's called, 26:32 but people are putting money in these buckets like penance, 26:38 so they're trying to earn merit 26:40 by giving money for their sins. 26:45 - After shooting this and seeing the impact 26:47 that it has on the young people, 26:49 we would like to do more of these kind of vision trips. 26:53 In fact, we had one planned for the summer of 2020, 26:57 and we kinda got derailed. 27:00 But we're hoping in the future to be able to do this 27:02 and not only do it as a vision trip 27:05 but an educational vision trip. 27:07 So that we bring like a classroom curriculum to our students 27:14 but not in a classroom with four walls, 27:16 but we take them into the actual environment of missions. 27:20 - To educational experiences like this. 27:22 - Exactly, because the biggest impressions 27:25 really are seeing number one, the need 27:28 and number two, the happiness of those that are serving. 27:33 - Well, unfortunately that's all we have time for today. 27:35 - We're only about halfway through the trip. 27:36 - I know we've got a lot more to cover. 27:38 - So we're gonna have a part two, Mission Trek, 27:41 JFA now Mission Trek part two. 27:43 - Right, I'd like to thank you for joining us today 27:46 and if you would like to be involved, 27:47 you can contact us at Jesus for Asia, 27:50 P.O. Box 1221, Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 27:56 Call us at 423-413-7321 28:00 or visit our website at jesus4asia.org. 28:03 May God richly bless you until we see you next time 28:06 on Jesus For Asia Now. 28:08 (lively music) |
Revised 2020-10-13