ECHOES AND QUOTES

Sometimes when it is quiet and my mind is free to roam I start to hear swirling quotes and see the speakers’ faces. Events and incidents flash in my vision in random sequence. And then I feel so very blessed to have been a missionary for nearly four decades.

Sit down with me and hear some of the voices that fill my memory.

“WHEREVER I'M INVITED"
We asked a young Swazi where he attended church. A hard hitting lesson, isn’t it?.

“AIDS IS SILENTLY KILLING US.”
A Swazi health official.

“WE ARE JUST HALF-PEOPLE.”
An African child living in hopeless poverty. A new pair of shoes and food everyday changed his self-concept. “Maybe I can be somebody someday.”

“IS THE STOCK MARKET WHERE YOU BUY COWS?”
An African government official trying to understand America asked me this.

“WHY DO YOU SAVE THAT STUFF?”
An African boy asked the missionary this when she blew her nose and put the Kleenex in her pocket.

“I DANG THE BELL.”
The cook’s remonstration when nobody answered the dinner bell.”

“I TOLD YOU A BIG ENOUGH LIE THAT YOU WOULD KNOW IT WAS A LIE AND LET ME SAVE MY FACE.”
Causing an Asian to lose face is one of the worst possible personal affronts. By his making the lie obvious you could let the speaker hide behind the words but you would not be deceived.

”YOU MAY HAVE WHITE SKIN BUT YOU HAVE A BLACK HEART.”
The Africans really were trying to honor me.

“WHY SHOULDN'T I BE A PROSTITUTE--AT LEAST I'M GETTING PAID FOR WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME ALL MY LIFE?”
A young teen told our staff when they encouraged her to stay off the streets.

“WHY DID YOU COME ALL THIS WAY ACROSS THE OCEAN TO SEE ME?”
A common question from the children and adults we help.

“HOW DO YOU GET YOUR STAFF TO TAKE SUCH RISKS?”
The head of UNICEF for an African country asked me this as we flew over “Stinger Alley”—a war zone where our teams risked ambush and land mines and missiles to get food to starving people.


“CAN I GO HOME AND LIVE WITH YOU.”
Over and over we hear this as precious little ones plead with us. How can we say “No” but we can’t say “Yes.”

“WILL YOU GIVE ME MONEY FOR FOOD FOR MY SISTER--SHE'S REALLY HUNGRY. WE HAVEN'T EATEN FOR DAYS.”
I’ve heard Asians, Latins ands Africans say this. You never forget it.

“WILL YOU HURT ME TOO?”
Usually it’s the children’s eyes that say this, not their words. Nobody has ever touched them except to hurt them.

“ALL OUR ICE CREAM IS COLD.”
A missionary in the Philippines had asked for a hot fudge Sunday.

“WE HAVE NO BREAD FOR AN ICE CREAM SANDWICH.”

“IF YOU DRIVE TOO CAREFULLY YOU WILL HAVE AN ACCIDENT.”
A Manila policeman told a fellow missionary this. He was very serious.

“DO NOT ENTER--FOR ENTRANCE ONLY”
A sign at the entrance to our doctor’s parking lot in Manila.

“IF I DON'T GO BACK MY FAMILY MAY NEVER KNOW THE PEACE AND LOVE I FOUND IN JESUS.”
A Vietnamese businessman who was on the evacuation flight with me out of Vietnam when Saigon was falling. He came to our church in Manila and found Christ. His company had hired a plane to take him back to get his wife and leave Vietnam for good.
I got a letter from him after Vietnam fell telling how they stayed in Vietnam and Jesus was helping his family.

“FOR THE FIRST TIME WE CAN SING”
A Buddhist couple that had just got saved in Saigon and were being baptized in water.

“I WOULD FOLLOW YOU INTO HELL AND BACK, BROTHER.”
My own brother Don after doing missions projects in war zones with me. Don is in Heaven now. His grave marker says, “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.”

“CAN I HAVE YOUR DOGGIE BAG?”
Queues of hungry children and adults wait for you to leave the restaurant

“ 'WHY-QUESTIONS' HAVE NO VALUE ON THE MISSION FIELD.”
“IT WILL TAKE YOU A YEAR ON THE FIELD TO SEE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT”
Advice from a fellow missionary when we first arrived in Manila.

“IF TWO NATIONALS FIGHT, THE MISSIONARY WILL LOSE.”
More good advice.

“GOD COULD NEVER FORGIVE ME.”
I’ve heard this so many different ways in so many different places. It’s one of the devil’s favorite lies.

“I KNEW IT WAS WRONG BUT I LOOKED GOD IN THE EYE AND DID IT ANYWAY.”
A desperate man asking for prayer before he faced his neighbor and and the neighbor’s ten year old daughter he had molested. He left the altar to go face them.

“LISTEN TO THEIR EYES”
Words my late brother Don wrote about the hurting children he helped us reach. Don died a few days after writing this essay.

“GOD GAVE ME A FORGIVENESS BIGGER THAN ANYTHING THEY COULD DO TO ME.”
Lt. Col. Paul Kari who was tortured for 8 years a P.O.W. in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison. He want back to the prison with me with a forgiving heart. Vietnamese national TV covered his visit.

“DADDY, YOU GO FIRST--IT'S DARK IN THERE.”
“MY ARMS ARE TOO SHORT--I CAN'T REACH IT.”
“HOLD ME.”
Sermons my children preached to me when they were toddlers.

“I WILL LIVE WITH YOU AND DO ANYTHING YOU ASK ME TO IF YOU'LL JUST GIVE ME FOOD FOR MY BABY”
A Vietnamese lady with a two year old daughter grabbed hold of me on TuDo street in downtown Saigon. Her body was the only value she could bargain with to save here baby’s life.

“YOU'VE CHANGED MY COUNTRY.”
Jose Napoleon Duarte, President of El Salvador, as he hugged my neck thanking us for building dozens of Christian Schools in his country. The 100,000 graduates at that time were truly changing business and government.

“TIME TAKES TIME”
My children got tired of hearing me say this.

“HOPE'S NAME IS JESUS!”
I’ll never get tired of telling audiences and hurting people this wonderful truth.

“THERE WE'VE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT EVERYTHING AND NOTHING ABOUT ANYTHING.”
A Filipino committee member was discussing the just adjourned meeting.

“THE DIFFERENCE IS THE SAME”
The Asian thought that ended it all and finished the question.

“GIVE US MONEY OR WE'LL TELL THE LAW WE DISCOVERED THESE DRUGS ON YOU.”
My captors in Manila threatened me. When they discovered I had only $23 and my mission would never pay for me they dumped me out of their car. Phew!

“JESUS, I’M GOING TO THANK YOU FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE FOR DYING FOR ME AND SAVING MY SOUL.”
Hearing our 5000 orphans and vulnerable children (sometimes six hundred at a time) sing this as loud and passionately as they can takes my breath away.

These and so many more echoes and memories remind me why I’m a missionary!