Call Me Blessed

I was twenty-one years old, working at the Baptist Bible College mailroom and life was good. I was spending a lot of time with one of my Dad's cute seminary students (later to become my husband). I was happy. Things in my life were going smoothly. It was one of those moments when everything was great just like it was. Then the phone rang. As I lifted the phone off the receiver I had no idea that it was one of those phone calls that you never forget. Usually those phone calls come in the middle of the night and make your heart stop as you are jarred out of sleep to figure out what in the world awakened you. This was in the middle of the day and the ringing phone had no special significance. It was the words I heard after I had identified myself that shook my world a little. Words so unexpected. Words that left me with completely mixed emotions. Words that left me with a decision to make that would affect the rest of my life. "We have found your birth mother." Wow! Those six words made my heart stop and my head spin. Mainly because at that moment in my life I wasn't looking for her. At least I didn't know I was.

I knew I was adopted from as early as I can remember. It was something my parents never kept from me. Adoption was perfectly normal to us. Out of the five members of my family three were adopted. So if you weren't adopted in my family you were in the minority. I grew up knowing that my birthmom was a young unmarried girl that wasn't able to care for me. My parents explained that she gave me to a family where I would have a mom and a dad, to grow up in a home where I would be loved and cared for. My parents prayed for my birth mom. They thanked God for her. I grew up knowing that I was an answer to my parents' prayers. I was special. I was chosen. My parents made it clear that God had great plans for me and knew exactly what He was doing when He placed me in their arms and home.

Did I ever doubt that plan? I can't say that I ever doubted that God had placed me in the home He did. I can say that I didn't always understand why. I was never angry though. I never had hard feelings toward my birth mom. To be honest the only time I brought up my adoption was when I was rebelling against my parents and thought that just maybe my birth mom would have been more lenient.

One other time I remember thinking a lot about my birth mom was after I had watched An American Tale. When little Fievel was separated from his parents and desperately searching for them I was struck with the thought that there was indeed a person out there with my flesh and blood. Maybe that person thought about me. The song "Somewhere Out There" would make me cry and wonder if truly there was someone out there underneath the same blue sky thinking of me and loving me.

Then I began to wonder what it would be like to find her. My crooked fingers have always set me a part from the crowd. It's one of those things that people might not notice right off, but the moment I point at something--BAM! Their eyes stare at my crooked finger and not at the direction to which I am pointing. It's the way God made me. I wondered if maybe her fingers were crooked. Maybe I could find her by her crooked fingers. Silly childhood thoughts.

When I was 18 years old my older adopted brother found his birth mom. At that time, as I remember it, I casually said that I thought that was interesting and something I would like to do some day. What I didn't know was that my Mom called the adoption agency and conveyed my desires. They informed her that I was too young and had to wait until I was twenty-one. I thought that was the end of the story. Unbeknownst to me the agency began the search.

That is how I found myself at twenty-one holding a phone and desperately trying to find words to respond to this life-changing news. Honestly I don't remember what I said. I do remember doing a lot of thinking. This was big. I wanted to know her, and yet I was hesitant. A million thoughts went through my head and took me in a million different directions. "What will my parents think?" "What if I don't like her?" "What if she is a bad person?" "Wouldn't it be better to just not know?" "You don't have to do this." "Why did they find her now?" and a million other thoughts. The one that nailed if for me was when I began to ponder that she, too, had one day received a call letting her know that I wanted to get to know her. She had gone through a million of her own thoughts and fears. Yet, in the end she had said yes. That's why they were contacting me. According to law in the state where I was adopted we both had to agree before the records could be opened. I definitely didn't want to be the one to say no. I didn't want to reject her. She had said yes, so I, too, would say yes. I was happy with my decision. If for no other reason I would meet her to say thank you and let her know that she had indeed made a good decision.

The next step was to have our records opened and for each of us to receive information about the other. I remember well the day I reached into the mailbox and found a fat envelope with the adoption agency's name on the return corner of the envelope. My heart did another flip-flop. I'm pretty sure my hands were trembling a little as I opened up the envelope and scanned the papers. I read the name of my birth mom for the first time in my life: Deanna Vanessa. I kept scanning and was quite amazed to discover that she lived in the same state where I lived. I later learned that she had left home to go to the state where I was born. I had lived in 5 different states after that and yet in the end we were living only a couple of hours from each other in the same state. That was pretty amazing to me.

We exchanged letters at first and soon switched to e-mails. I remember sending her pictures of me at different stages of my childhood as well as a recent picture at that time. Her response letter informed me that sadly we didn't look alike. I don't know why that was a bit disappointing, but it was. We wrote for a while and then decided we did want to meet face to face.

Since there are no "proper rules for meeting ones birth parents" and all I knew was the emotional reunions I had seen on talk shows I had to decide how exactly I wanted this first meeting to happen. I didn't know if a restaurant or shopping center would be best, but I finally decided to invite her to my house. I did know that I wanted to be alone the first time we met. My Mom was more excited about me having met Deanna than I was, and I knew I had to come up with a way to get her out of the house for a while so I could do this alone. I arranged with my Dad to take my Mom out. Mom being a mom knew something was up because she was being whisked away from the house for no apparent reason. She quickly figured out why and proceeded to take a very long time getting ready. Since we shared a bathroom I was left taking a shower at the last minute. Deanna, being the prompt person she is, showed up early. So when the doorbell rang (and my heart jumped again) I was thankfully showered and dressed, but I had a towel on my head and my parents were still around. I had no choice but to go to the door with a towel wrapped around my hair and greet my birth mom. It was definitely a way to break the ice and a very memorable moment.

One of the first things we discovered is that we do indeed look alike. Looking back at her childhood pictures was incredible as so many of her pictures looked like pictures of me as a kid. There are times that we have to look hard at a picture to figure out which one of us it is. Recently hair styles and color changes have made that a little easier.

Deanna quickly became a good friend. We enjoyed getting to know each other traveling back and forth across the state as our relationship grew. I was delighted for her to participate in my wedding. It was an emotional moment for everyone as she lit the candle that my Mom carried down the aisle representing my life that she gave to me and my parents.

There was one more moment that I remember quite well. It was when I realized just how special Deanna was. That was the moment when I held my first born child. Before that I always appreciated her decision to give me life and knew she could have made other choices. Yet, after experiencing a pregnancy and the movement of a child inside of me, after experiencing the pain of child birth, and after experiencing the amazing love that fills your heart when you finally hold your child in your arms I realized that my birth mom had made the hardest decision. For the first time I realized the sacrifice she gave. I was born after Roe v. Wade and it would have been very easy for her to just walk into a clinic and be done with her problem. Instead she left high school, her friends and family, and moved a couple of states away to live with strangers and wait out her pregnancy. She felt every kick and movement knowing that this child would belong to someone else. She went through labor knowing that in the end the baby wasn't hers to keep. Yet, she made the BEST choice. She sacrificed of her life to give me life. She prayed and asked for her baby to be placed in a godly home. Then she let go and God took care of the rest.

Getting to know my birth mom has been an amazing journey. She entered my life at just the right time and has been around for a lot of the ups and downs in the past years. We've laughed and cried together. We've talked and she has done a lot of listening. She is an amazing listener. My children love their Grandma Dee-Dee and she is a wonderful baby-sitter.

Not every person is blessed enough to have two very special moms. I think both of them are amazing, and I always say, "one mom gave me life and the other taught me to live." Today I want to say thank you, Deanna, for making the choices you made: choice to have me, choice to get to know me, choice to be a part of my life.

Happy Birthday, to a very special lady.

A Life Not Wasted

"And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives... and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted." - Nate Saint

Our church hosted a missions conference the past two Sundays. This was a new experience for me. As a missionary I have attended my share of conferences but this time I sat in the pew (chair, really) and watched. I watched as an American missionary in Brazil. I watched as Brazilian missionaries stood and shared what they are doing for Christ in Brazil. It was an incredible experience. My mind started going in a hundred different directions from the moment the first person started sharing and hasn't stopped. Five very different ministries were presented. Four of them actually started in the United States and had names and ministries of which I was familiar. Yet, I had never seen it from this perspective. It was exhilarating, overwhelming, and convicting.

We watched videos and traveled by boat, plane, car, and foot to remote places where people have never heard the name of Jesus. We heard stories of great needs both here in Brazil and around the world. Every time I watch a missionary video I'm ready to drop everything and get involved with that ministry, and this was no exception.

I guess the thing that touched my heart the most was the history behind the ministries. With four of the ministries coming from the United States I was curious as to what kind of people were behind these great ministries. So I started digging. What I found both encouraged and convicted me. They were ordinary people trying to serve God with the little they had. They might have had dreams of "maybe one day," but I honestly think they were just serving God in the moment.

This is quite a long blog but I had trouble cutting it short. The stories, simple as they were, inspired me. I've included the web addresses as these are not my words and those interested can go to the sites to learn more about these ministries.

-APEC (Child Evangelism Fellowship)

CEF was founded by Jesse Irvin Overholtzer in 1937. Growing up in a religious family, Jesse at the age of 12 was convicted of his own sin and sought counsel from his mother. He was told, "Son, you are too young." It wasn't until Overholtzer was in college that he heard the Gospel and trusted Christ as his Savior. Later as a pastor Mr. Overholtzer read one of Charles Spurgeon's sermons which stated, "A child of five, if properly instructed can as truly believe and be regenerated as an adult." The Lord used this statement in Mr. O's life to lead him to begin the ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship when he was 60 years old. The ministry has grown into the largest evangelistic outreach to children in the world. CEF is currently ministering in 170 countries and in every state in the U.S. (http://www.cefonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=31&Itemid=100189)

Brazil was the second country to which CEF entered in 1941. For 70 years Brazilians have received excellent training to reach children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and good materials have been produced to aid in this process. Only the Lord knows how many children have accepted Christ through this ministry.

-Missão Novas Tribos do Brasil (New Tribes Mission)

New Tribes Mission is steadfast in its goal of reaching people who have no access to the Gospel. That was the vision for our ministry when we were founded in 1942, and it is our vision today. Paul Fleming and five others had no funds or organization behind them when they dared to trust God to establish NTM. "It seemed that the Lord had pushed us into something, and we were confident that no man started New Tribes Mission; the Lord brought it into existence in spite of us," Paul wrote. New Tribes Mission continues to trust God, and God continues to be glorified. Today more than 3,000 missionaries serve throughout the world, and training programs in more than a dozen countries prepare missionaries for service among the thousands of tribes who have yet to hear. (http://www.ntm.org/about/heritage.php?page=heritage&io=1)

In 1947, the first missionaries from New Tribes Mission began the process of locating and evangelizing tribes in Brazil. Within two years, the seed was planted for a facility to allow Brazilians to get the same kind of missions training those overseas missionaries received, and in 1953 a new missionary organization, Missão Novas Tribos do Brasil (MNTB), was established. MNTB works in partnership with other NTM entities, and now operates two Bible schools and a missionary training and linguistics institute to prepare Brazilian missionaries for the ministry. The fact that multiple families have a third generation involved in the work is a powerful testament to God's faithfulness. 
 Eighty-three NTM missionaries work in partnership with MNTB and under its leadership. MNTB is working with 48 indigenous groups. Some missionaries are in the beginning stages of learning the indigenous language and culture to properly teach the Bible; in others Bible translation is on going; and in a few, an indigenous church has been planted. Our goal for those who accept the Gospel of Christ, is to help them establish their own indigenous church, which is governed and supported by their own indigenous people, who in turn will teach and reach other indigenous groups.
More than 90 indigenous groups in Brazil are still without the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (http://www.ntm.org/brazil/ministry_info.php)

-Asas de Socorro (Mission Aviation Fellowship)

Though I had grown up hearing the name of this ministry I had never looked into its history. I really enjoyed hearing how military pilots after World War 11 realized that they could use their pilot skills and planes to take missionaries to remote areas. Just a few good men willing to give of their time and lives revolutionized missions. "Some 60 years after 1 field pilot and 1 plane served 1 mission field in 1 country there are now 200 families with a fleet of 54 planes serving 600 organizations in 23 countries." (http://www.mafgiftshop.org/videos/beginnings.html)

This ministry started in Brazil when two young Americans came down and got a hold of a World War 11 plane that they rebuilt in their backyard. Today 50 years later there are 12 planes that reach out to tribes and villages in the most remote areas of Brazil.

-OM (Operation Mobilization)

Operation Mobilisation traces its roots to the prayers of an American housewife. In the 1950s, Dorothea Clapp began to pray faithfully for the students in her local High School. She asked God to touch the world through the lives of those young people. And God answered her prayers!

Mrs. Clapp gave the Gospel of John to one of the students, who later gave his life to the Lord at a Billy Graham meeting. That young man was George Verwer, the founder and international director of Operation Mobilisation.

At college, George and two friends met regularly to pray. They became burdened by the spiritual needs of Mexico. In 1957 the three friends sold some of their own possessions to raise money and gave up their summer holiday to distribute Gospels and other Christian literature in Mexico. The friends returned to Mexico the following summer and the next...

When they graduated in 1960, George and his friends traveled to Europe. They began work in Spain, sharing the Gospel and distributing literature. But the task of reaching the whole of Europe seemed overwhelming.

George and his small team realised that God’s plan was to mobilise His church to reach the nations. As they began to share their vision, hundreds of Christians responded. So Operation Mobilisation was born.

By 1963, 2,000 Christians had joined summer outreach teams in Europe. At the same time, the first year teams moved into the Indian sub-continent and the Muslim world. Their commitment was to reach those who had never heard the Gospel.

Such simple beginnings have shaped OM ever since. Today over 5500 OMers are working in over 110 countries bringing God's unchanging truth to literally millions every year. (http://www.om.org/en/about/history)

The culmination of 22 years of ministry, OM Brazil’s Training Centre both equips those wanting to serve in missions overseas and engenders ministries that reach marginalized people groups within the country.

Our culture is people-oriented, and Brazilians are thus well-suited to work in places like Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. Churches are often young, dynamic and ready to take on their role in world mission. OM serves the Church through mobilizing, recruiting, training and sending workers overseas.

At home, 85% of Brazilians are still not followers of Christ. We work to reach street kids, homosexuals, prostitutes, the homeless and drug addicts in urban centres as well as fishermen villages in remote areas. (http://www.om.org/en/country-profile/brazil)

-Missão Evangélica de Assistência aos Pescadores (Mission to Fisherman)

This ministry caught our attention, and I'm pretty sure Patrick signed up to visit one of the fishing villages and see this work in action. This ministry was started by Brazilians who saw a great need among the remote fishing villages along the coast of Brazil. One story they shared made quite an impact on me. After hearing about all of these ministries and the things going on in Brazil it's easy to think that this country has been reached with the Gospel. Yet through this little story it's obvious there's much work yet to be done. As these missionaries entered one remote village they begin to talk with the people. During the conversation they asked if they knew who John the Baptist was. The villagers shook their heads. The missionaries thought they would help clarify by telling them that he was a cousin of Jesus. When the villagers still responded with blank stares the missionaries asked, "You do know who Jesus is, right?" As the villagers shook their heads one man responded, "He doesn't live in this village, but he might live in the next village over." Wow! There truly are people right here in our "backyard" who have yet to hear the name of Christ.

Five different ministries working hard to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All started in unique ways by differing people with varying talents, perspectives and goals. What excited me as I read these stories is that God uses all types of people. A man in his 60s, young men, military pilots, housewives, etc. . .They were people just like you and me that were willing to serve God. Some left home, family, and creature comforts. Some just prayed. Yet what they did is still having an impact 25, 50, 70 years later. People are coming to know Christ. Yet there are so many more that need to hear. The job is clearly not done. There's much more to do.

These people truly did not waste their lives as they gave them to the Lord in service. What are we doing for the name of Christ? Will the fruit still remain and continue 50 years from now? Let us remember that "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last." -CT Studd