UNREACHED
In Revelation 7, John shares his vision of heaven with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world.
For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining.
Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work through the men and women he has called to reach the UNREACHED.
UNREACHED
What Are You Living For? Maya's Journey in Southeast Asia
The Season 4 kickoff episode features Maya, a missionary serving in Southeast Asia, who shares her journey from a comfortable upbringing to embracing a life dedicated to reaching unreached people groups. She discusses her cultural adjustments, the importance of building relationships in her new home, and the challenges of living out her faith in a foreign culture.
• Maya’s background as a Chinese American raised in a strong Christian household
• Awakening to the Great Commission and the concept of unreached people groups
• Insights into navigating cultural differences in Southeast Asia
• The significance of food and hospitality in building connections
• The relational emphasis in missionary work over immediate conversions
• Challenges tied to identity, access, and the legality of missionary work
• Growing faith and reliance on God amidst uncertainties
• Encouragement for listeners to consider their roles in mission work
Follow @unreachedpodcast on Instagram for more!
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven, with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb. Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world. For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining. Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work for the men and women he has called to reach the unreached.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, thank you so much for listening to the Unreached podcast. Today we kick off season four. Dustin has a special guest from the front lines of Southeast Asia, so let's jump into the studio and hear all that God has for us today.
Speaker 1:Hello friends, welcome back to the Unreached podcast Dustin Elliott here your host. Welcome back to the Unreached Podcast, dustin Elliott here your host. First up today kicking off our new season is a friend of ours that we've got to know over the last year. Her name is Maya. Maya is serving in Southeast Asia. She is a wonderful 28-year-old single woman and, as you may know, our most popular guest ever is also a 28-year-old single woman, although she's serving in the Middle East. So, maya, thank you so much for being here with us today and welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hey, thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
Speaker 1:Of course. So we're just going to have a candid conversation today. I think listeners would just love to hear your story.
Speaker 3:I know your listeners can't see me, but usually people can. I am Chinese American and so that means that my parents were not born in America, but they were actually born in Hong Kong. My dad came to the States as a freshman in college by himself. When he came he really came not knowing anybody, not knowing anything. He spoke some English because they teach it in Hong Kong, but he had no connections, no friends here.
Speaker 3:He's the youngest of six and when he left Hong Kong my grandma basically gave him a platinum necklace at the time, like the most expensive thing she had, and she said just do your best and if it doesn't work out you can sell this necklace and come home and you'll have a home here.
Speaker 3:And so that was kind of his story and I think, weirdly, in a lot of ways my life has mirrored his now because I ended up moving to another country not knowing anything or anyone, and I understand him a little bit better, I think, because of that. But anyways, he came to the States and then a lot of like college campuses will have some kind of outreach ministry, especially for international students or for people who speak a certain language, and so he came to a university that had a group of Hong Kong students already there and they kind of had this ministry where they would pick you up and get you set up and help you out. They kind of had this ministry where they would pick you up and get you set up and help you out, and so that was kind of. His first friend group was a bunch of Christians in America and he ended up becoming a Christian.
Speaker 1:How bad.
Speaker 3:I wish that story was told more often.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean it's another long story, I think, of how God moves peoples in the world to accomplish his plans. But yeah, that was his story. And then my mom came in high school with her family. So her dad left Hong Kong when she was very, very young so young in fact that she doesn't remember him at all and then he came and did the kind of classic immigrant thing of working in America and sending money home. So my grandma on my mom's side had the four kids in Hong Kong and then when my mom was 13, my grandpa saved up enough money to bring the whole family over, and so my mom's kind of first memory of having an earthly father was when she was 13. And she came to America and kind of met him in a weird way, and so that was a little bit of her story and her testimony as well, because she realized that everybody was talking about God as a father in her life, like the people who were Christians around her, and she had not really experienced having a father, and so that kind of piqued her initial curiosity about who God was and like what he is. You know, they ended up meeting and getting married later and then they moved to California where they raised my older brother and me, and so they were both Christians at that point and they were very involved in local church. They brought up me in the knowledge of the gospel in a body of really loving believers Chinese believers out in California. I think it was a really good church. I think I learned everything that you would want a kid in the church to learn, except missions. Maybe I don't say that as a criticism of the church I grew up in, but as a reality, I think, of the Asian American church as a whole. There are certain topics that are almost considered off limits. So youth pastors in particular, if they are going to preach about giving up your career and giving up, you know, your stable income to go overseas and be a missionary, that would be pretty controversial in an Asian American church, I think. In general Not always, not always, but that was kind of my experience and so what we learned was the Bible, but kind of how I took it in my own way as a kid was very much like.
Speaker 3:Being a Christian means that you grow up and go to a four year college and then you go to graduate school and then you work hard and you take care of your family and you take care of your parents, and that's all part of being a good Christian, and it's not that those things go against Christianity in any way. They're harmonious. But at the same time, really the point of Christianity is not that life, that comfortable security that we in America tend to really idolize in a lot of ways, particularly immigrant families, because they have worked so hard for it, because they have already sacrificed so much for it. And so when I got to college I went to a college that wasn't close enough to the church I grew up in to attend any longer, and so I found a new church, and this new church was different. It was different from my home church. This new church was a lot more focused on missions. This new church, I think, had a greater understanding of the Great Commission as it applies to kind of God's greater redemptive historical plan for the nations.
Speaker 3:And so in college I started going on some short-term mission trips. I started hearing more from missionaries. I started hearing basically what an unreached people group is and that these groups exist. Previously I really had no idea that these groups existed. I knew that there were people out there that weren't Christian. I knew that there were countries where there weren't a lot of Christians. But I did not ever really consider the fact that someone could not have any access to the gospel, meaning there wouldn't be a church in their language, there wouldn't be a Bible translation that they could read. So even if they wanted to, even if there was somebody that had some curiosity about God in that people group, they wouldn't be able to understand and they wouldn't be able to hear.
Speaker 3:And I think that really moved me, it really convicted me hearing how many groups are left, how big some of these groups are, and also realizing that the task that God gave to the church, the Great Commission, was given to me as well, that it wasn't some kind of side project that some missionaries in the church who are really passionate about well, it's kind of their thing right, like I don't do that, but I'm glad somebody does so like good for them. But realizing that every Christian has a part to play in it and trying to figure out at that point you know, freshman sophomore in college like what is my part and at the beginning that part was really just being a good sender I felt like I was not the person to be a missionary, I was not the person to go overseas, particularly with my family background. I kind of felt like, well, I just think it's not me because of this or because of that, or because my parents won't like it, because they've already done this, so I could be here. You know, I just don't think I'm the right person.
Speaker 3:And so I realized at this point, looking back, that a lot of those things were kind of just excuses for my own fears, even as there are real reasons and real, real things in my life. I was also just afraid. I was afraid to go, I was afraid of what would happen, I was afraid of what, you know, my family would say, or, yeah, I was afraid of the financial instability of it all at the same time. And so it took a lot of years, I think of God working on my heart and the spirit moving for me to come to a place where I could really let some of those things go and lay them down before the Lord.
Speaker 3:Those things go and lay them down before the Lord. Even, as you know, I think we're very quick to say, yeah, god, you could have everything. You could have my life, you could have my plans, you could have this, you could have that, but in our hearts, we know what we're not putting before him, we know what we're keeping from him, and I think there was a lot of those things that took me a lot of time and thankfully, a lot of other faithful older believers in my life were also working on that as well and kind of patiently discipling me and leading me and guiding me. So, looking back, it was really a lot of different things over a long period of time. I was not the kid that kind of jumped up and said yes, I want to be a missionary.
Speaker 3:I was not brave enough, but it was really a gradual process.
Speaker 1:What happened for you to go? Like that's my calling, like that's the role I want to play.
Speaker 3:To be honest, I still am not sure. Like every day I wake up and I'm like how did I get here? How did I end up here? There really is like so many people along the way, so many people in that, which is encouraging, I think, to mobilizers as well, like if you talk to someone and it doesn't seem like they're responding, like maybe you're just the second of a hundred people to do that work.
Speaker 3:But yeah, there were disciplers in college, particularly at my church, at my local church, that were really focused on just my maturity in the Lord. So not necessarily, hey, let's get you on a plane, but hey, let's help you to understand more deeply who you are in the Lord and live that out, and I think that is a huge piece of this. It's not really like our goal is to get more butts in seats on planes. Really, what we want to do is see people fulfill and be faithful to the task. More specifically, with regard to missions, I'm more so talked with a certain group of really convicted older missionaries, that kind of work with different organizations.
Speaker 1:That were being supported by your church, or did they have them come through?
Speaker 3:They had connections. So people at my church kind of knew people who knew people, and so either people would come to our church and speak or we would go on short-term missions to, you know, support other people or participate in different programs. And so, yeah, it was really a kind of gradual pieces coming together. Number one, like what are you living for? So that was a big question for me. Like I did not know what I was living for. I had never really made any major decisions up until that point.
Speaker 3:College is really when you kind of start doing that, and so I had never sat down and thought through, like hey, I'm giving God my Sundays, my Friday nights, my Wednesday nights, but what about the rest of the week? What am I doing actually with my overall life plan for him? Because my life doesn't belong to me. So that was kind of. The first major lesson for me was realizing that all my moments belong to the Lord, not just the ones I choose to give. And then the next thing was what is God doing? So if I'm giving my life to the Lord, I want to be about what he's about. So what is he about Besides my well-being and my good? What is he about, besides my well-being and my good, like God is doing something much bigger.
Speaker 3:God has laid out this plan in scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, of what he is doing in the world. That it's difficult to grasp, I think, as a kid who's listening to sermons on Sunday. It's a lot easier if someone sits you down and kind of walks you through it and you can see the thread and you can kind of follow from beginning to end where it started, where it was and then where it's going to end. And so for me, seeing that God created us, he created all the nations at the Tower of Babel, but at the same time he has always promised to bring them all to himself. But at the same time he has always promised to bring them all to himself. And we see that with Abraham's story, we see that in Psalms, we see that in the New Testament with Christ, and then we see it very clearly in Revelation at the vision of heaven.
Speaker 1:This may be a hard question to answer, but it's on my heart so I'm going to ask it. Is it conceivably easier for you to go because your roots aren't as deep in America as a second generation daughter of immigrants to America?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. I don't know, maybe I don't know if it's easier to go. I would say it is easier to stay there, and I think I've seen that play out in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 1:Well said.
Speaker 3:Not necessarily in the sense of like I'm. You know, I'm one of them in the place where I work, because I'm not and I never will be accepted fully as a local, but at the same time there are these multicultural parts of my background that I think make adapting to new situations easier. So I'm kind of used to sitting down and not being familiar with the food and eating it. Anyways, I'm kind of used to. You know, I talk one way with these people and I talk another way with those other people.
Speaker 3:I think that's something that a lot of people in America are actually very used to. We all do it to a certain degree. Right, if you're talking to your teacher versus if you're talking to your buddy at school. But when you grow up in a family that's not white in America, I think you kind of get that, you get the reps in. You do that a lot more than most people might think to do. And then, with language and culture as well, there are these big categories of culture that are really difficult to explain if you've not experienced them. And I think for me those categories already existed, because my family is different and Chinese people are different from American people, and so there's kind of a wider perspective to start from as a foundation when you're trying to learn something else.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, so let's go where you've moved, let's go spend a little time in Southeast Asia. Yeah, you, as you noted for the listeners are not a blonde, white woman, and so when they meet you, I wonder, I just wonder, what language do they expect you to speak?
Speaker 3:They expect me to speak their language.
Speaker 1:Right Are you fluent?
Speaker 3:I'm not fluent. There are about like seven levels of language that we use to assess, okay, and I tested like level six. Okay, so you're very, very close, sort of sort of. It's kind of like an upside down triangle where the levels get increasingly bigger and the difference between the levels gets increasingly bigger. I don't want to make this super technical.
Speaker 1:Would we say you're conversational?
Speaker 3:I would say I'm much more than conversational.
Speaker 1:Okay, good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, which I don't say to brag, I say to kind of encourage other workers to get there, to get to a place where you could have a worldview conversation. You need to be way more than conversational.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So now you're on site in Southeast Asia. You've lived there for several years. Two and a half, two and a half years. Why don't you tell us a couple of stories? Who have you met? What's been most surprising? What's been most surprising, what's been most challenging and like, what's been so encouraging?
Speaker 3:There is so many things that happen in your transition to a new place it's almost hard to like remember them all just because every day is eventful. I think my initial impression was that it's just like loud and hot. I think, like most countries are that way, they're loud and hot and partly weather, but partly people as well. Like, the people are pretty hot headed and very direct and very forward in ways that we're not used to here in America, and so, socially speaking, that took me quite a while to get used to. Just people kind of coming up to you, starting to talk really fast, no introduction necessary. They'll just kind of tell you things that you'd never asked them or, you know, expect you to kind of interact with them as if you've already been good friends. I mean, it's really warm, it's a warm culture, and so I've grown to appreciate it.
Speaker 3:But at the beginning it's pretty overwhelming, I would say, to have people do that, especially when they think that I'm a local because I look like them and so there's just a lot of confusion. I think, looking back, the first months and years are just kind of overall pretty disorienting because everything is happening and you don't know why things are happening. So people are saying things, you don't know why they said that, or they're doing things and you don't know why they did that and you're trying to kind of figure out this puzzle that's coming together. So it is, looking back, such a privilege to do that because you really get to walk into a whole nother world that God has created and a whole nother people and to understand them now and to know, oh, that's why they do that, they do that out of respect for me. That's really special.
Speaker 3:I think not everybody gets to have those kinds of experiences. So there are a lot of times where, like people that I'm trying to become friends with are doing things or saying things that are hard for me to take, are hard for me to hear, because that's not what we do. And yet now, looking back, I realize like they were trying to show me love, they're trying to show me care, so some really small things. Like people really like to bring you things, they really like to express their appreciation through gifts, and so a lot of the time, like they'll just show up. They'll just show up, not kind of checking, if you're home it doesn't really matter, because if you're not home they'll just go, but if you are home, then they'll come in, and so people would kind of bring me fruits that I don't like to eat or other things, and then sit and look at you and wait for you to eat it and tell them how great it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Or even I would get a call and it would be a friend basically being like, hey, are you home? And I'd be like, yeah, I am home, like do you want to hang out? And they'd be like, yeah, I'm downstairs. And I'm like, okay, cool, I guess I'll get dressed.
Speaker 3:I guess, yeah, I guess I'll get dressed and then go down and they've got like snacks for me or food for me or something, and usually they're not things that I'm used to eating. They're not not things that I necessarily like, right, and there's often way too much of it, like it's not a human size portion.
Speaker 1:Can you give us some examples For 10 people?
Speaker 2:Yeah, tell us what the foods are. Come on, we're all dying to know.
Speaker 1:What are the things that they bring that you don't like?
Speaker 3:They're really hard to describe sometimes. So there's like there's like some sticky rice desserts which honestly, they don't taste bad, but when you get 20 of them, like you're gonna be sick. Like there's no way, I don't know why they make so many. It's really out of love at the same time. They could just make like way less of them and everyone, I think, would be happier, because what happens is like there's so much left over and you can't keep it.
Speaker 2:It'll go bad, it's sticky rice so you feel bad if you don't eat it yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I can't like throw it away right, they just spent all day making it but also like I can't humanly finish it, and so there are certain things like that or certain fruits. There's like way more fruits over there than there are here. Like just tropical region, they just grow a lot of fruits. Some of them are really good and some of them aren't. So Some of them are really good and some of them aren't.
Speaker 3:So when you get like 10 of a fruit that you don't particularly like, or you get fruits that are like already overripe because they've been offered, so this is kind of a side tangent. But in our culture where we work, they make offerings to the ancestors and they do that twice a month. So they do that on all their major holidays plus twice a month, and there's usually fruit offered, and so in a tropical climate, like you know, those fruits ripen pretty quickly usually and then they're going to leave it on the altar until the last possible minute, and usually there's just a lot of it being offered, particularly on the holidays, and so you have like plates and plates and plates of fruit that someone has to eat eventually. I did not know that, you know when I went, and so I'd be getting fruits from my landlord.
Speaker 1:Well, there's no fat on fruit, so all the fat belongs to the Lord right Back to Leviticus. It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3:There's a rind, I guess, not quite the same, but yeah, I'm just getting a lot of fruit that's like just about to go bad and just like why? Why did they give this to me, like I wonder? Oh, it's because, well, it's because they have so much of it and it's about to go bad. And they let it get to that point because it was being offered. So you know, there's just a lot of confusion, right, and you're trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1:It's a bit of a mixed background of religion. Yeah Right, so there's some tribal animistic features.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Would you say is it an honor? Shame culture.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's, there's a lot of that Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm assuming so, because you would not if I, if I brought a bunch of food, like if I brought two dozen cookies to your house today you would not feel bad telling me I'm not going to eat all these, thanks for one. And I wouldn't feel shamed if you didn't eat them all. Yeah, but culturally they might feel shamed if you didn't spend that time with them and didn't eat what they brought.
Speaker 3:When you really become close with people, you can learn to say no. And it's basically kind of a dance where people offer you something. You should say no first. You shouldn't immediately say absolutely I'll have five. Like you should say oh, no, no, like I already ate, but they're going to ask again, and then that second time or third time or fourth time you can kind of decide do I want one, do I not want one? How close are we? If we're not close, I really should try it. If we are close, I could potentially say like no, it's all right, but if they keep, if they're persistent, then eventually you're going to have to say yes. So yeah, it's a weird ambiguity that Americans often are really uncomfortable with. We like to know are you actually offering or are you not? Those are the two binary categories in our head.
Speaker 3:In reality, a lot of other countries are actually just very relational. It's not a well, yes, I'm really offering. Oh, no, I'm not really offering. I just said it to be polite. There's kind of an in-between of like I really am offering. I would really like you to try some. I don't want to make you feel bad, but you know, if you don't eat it I might be sad, I might not Like.
Speaker 3:It's just kind of like more so about the relationship than it is who eats what.
Speaker 3:That's something that I've actually really appreciated growing in and getting to know the locals, who are all unbelievers but they really have a high value on other people's feelings and when they walk into a room I think immediately they kind of think about what their place is in that room.
Speaker 3:Am I the youngest, am I the oldest, am I the student or the teacher? And they really like adopt that role, whatever it is, and there's just kind of a mindfulness of others that I think we in America, being so individualistic, we kind of lack, because we kind of go into a situation thinking what do I want to eat and what do I want to drink and what do I want to say, and everybody could be eating or drinking something different, but in our culture everyone is always eating and drinking the same thing. There's never really a case where you order something, I order something, they get something, or we go to a house and you're drinking that and I'm drinking this. Everybody drinks the same thing. And so I watched as like I would go to people's houses and they'd kind of offer me something to drink.
Speaker 3:Whatever I pick, they would also drink Whatever I choose they would also eat, Not because they wanted to or you know, not because they didn't want to. It was really just a communal experience.
Speaker 3:There's never a time where my friend starts eating something and they don't give me some, and there's never a time now where I start eating something and I don't give them some. It's just kind of like everything we do we do together, and there's something really sweet about that. You know, it's not a, it's not a community that believes in the Lord, but it's a community that loves each other in a certain way, or at least has the expectation to seem like they do, and so that's something that I've kind of appreciated about living in Asia, even myself being an Asian, like I'm an Asian American, and so I'm not as Asian as them. So it's weird Like I've become more Asian since living there. It's just an odd experience, but in some ways really sweet to do that.
Speaker 3:And to now, you know, when you sit down to a meal in America, we know how a meal in America works. If you sit down to a meal in Asia, it's different. You know, maybe you sit down to a meal in America, we know how a meal in America works. If you sit down to a meal in Asia, it's different.
Speaker 3:You know, maybe you're not at a table, you're on a floor. Maybe you know you don't have a plate, you have a bowl and there's all these dishes in the middle and you don't know what they are. You know and you're you know you're using chopsticks, which I'm familiar with, but maybe not everybody is familiar with, but maybe not everybody is. And then there's like different dipping sauces. The different sauces are for different foods and you're not supposed to, you know, do this, you're not supposed to do that. Don't put your chopsticks here, don't put your, you know, your feet over there. Whoever's sitting next to the rice pot is going to serve the rice. Whoever's sitting next to the drinks needs to make sure that nobody's cup gets empty. Like there's just kind of unspoken rhythm to the way that people live, and so for me, one of the biggest encouragements has been engaging in that rhythm with them, like learning it, learning it, and then being able to do it, and do it successfully, and then not only like be like them, but distinguish myself from them in the ways that matter.
Speaker 2:So, in all, the ways that I want to be like them like that.
Speaker 3:I can because I know. Now I know the rules. It takes a lot of work to learn the rules, but you can learn them At the same time. Once you figure out why people do what they do, you want to figure out the things that you don't want to do or the things that you want to do differently to to display the glory of Christ in their culture, it's a whole different story, right? It's a whole different way of living a Christian life in another culture. So now you know like. A small example is like eating things that have been offered to the ancestors. It's a real thing for us. You know, it's something you read about in the Bible. Do we eat things that have been sacrificed to idols? But in America it's not really an issue because we don't have that kind of visual symbol of idols and food being offered to them. In this culture they do, and so-.
Speaker 1:Wow, I didn't even think about that until you just made that connection.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's certainly not something that I think I've ever anyway I know I've never encountered.
Speaker 3:And it's so helpful that Paul talks about it, because now we have a framework for it.
Speaker 1:Now we know why.
Speaker 3:Now we know why, yeah. So for us to read those passages and to think you know, is it helpful for me to eat these things? What am I saying by eating these things? What am I not saying by eating these things? You know, that really takes time to figure out. Every culture is different. And then, when I'm with Christians in this country, do I eat these things in front of them, do I offer them some?
Speaker 1:I mean, there's so much context in the New Testament for this conversation and, I think, a lot of us just kind of skip through because it's totally irrelevant in our culture.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so kind of the point that I was slowly moving towards is that once you understand their rituals and what parts of the ritual mean what, then you know what you can participate in and what you can abstain from, and when you do abstain you can explain why to the locals, to your friends. So, for example, like my friends will have to make a lot of things for their offerings. You know there's like decorations to make, there's certain dishes to make. I will help them in like making stuff if they ask me. I won't put it on the altar, I won't be the one to do that, and I won't light the incense and I won't they kind of like hold their hands in a certain way and bow to the altars. So those things I've learned now like I don't want to do and I can explain why to my friends in their language.
Speaker 1:And you have.
Speaker 3:And they understand yes, you have it. So you've had these conversations. You've explained why, yes, can you tell us, yeah, I mean, it's actually quite simple. I think there's an element of our missionary minds that tends to overcomplicate things, but really, this is the thing. These are the conversations that you have with good friends. They're not the conversations you have with strangers on the street, and so there's a lot of relational context there where they already know that you love them, they already know that you care for them.
Speaker 3:This is not your first meal together, and so it's actually quite easy to say hey, I really, you know, appreciate your culture, but I can't do this part because I believe da-da-da-da-da, so like I can't put these things on the altar because I'm a Christian and I only worship God and I cannot worship anything else. So I'll help you, but I'm not going to, like, put it on the thing. And they're very gracious, you know, they're totally understanding in that way. They're not offended. I think they're open to hearing why I think differently or why certain things I won't do but other things I will. You know, there's clearly thought behind it of why I'm choosing to say no, because I rarely say no. I almost always say yes, do you want to try this? Yes, do you want to go here? Yes, do you want to do this? Yes.
Speaker 1:So when I say no, my friends are really like, oh, she has a reason, this is a line she's not going to cross.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly. And so I wouldn't say they're great theological lessons, because so much context is required even for understanding those things, but they're kind of foundational. For hey, this girl is different and that is necessary for us in a lot of ways. In what we call pre-evangelism is, we are shining the light of Christ through our words and actions. Before we can clearly and verbally articulate the gospel, we're still preaching the gospel in other ways.
Speaker 1:I don't think a lot of us realize this how many years it can take to culture, train language, train Language. Training sometimes can be learning more than one language. Right, because there can be a majority language, another trade language, there can be a minority language, different dialects. You have been on site-ish for two and a half years, but you are not yet in the people group, the specific group that you are preparing to go to. So what we're sharing today is beautiful stories of your experience in the region, but tell us about what's coming up. So first fruit, what's happened in the two and a half years just in the region, and then what's going to happen next as you prayerfully go in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great way to put it. I actually think these two questions are connected in some ways. I think they inform each other, because if people ask me, like what kind of fruit have you seen? It's sometimes difficult to answer because what is fruit Like, what is fruit of the work? Ultimately, I want to say it's seeing people come to Christ. It's seeing people believe in Christ. Have I seen that in two and a half years? No, I think two and a half years is really the kind of ramp up to just starting work. If we're talking about the true work, I want to say that's proclamation of the gospel.
Speaker 3:To get to a point where you can proclaim the gospel, there's a lot of work involved in understanding the people and understanding the way that they live, the way that they interact. Like you want to be respectful, you have to learn how to be respectful. You want to be kind, you have to learn how to be kind all over again, not to mention language. Language is just a whole nother beast. Like how do you say something, knowing how they're going to interpret it? Like you can't actually just say God, they have so many words for God. What do each one of those mean and what kind of baggage do those words come with? And what word am I going to use for our God, for the one true God? And then how do I tell them that that God is different from any other God that they've ever heard of? All of that takes an incredible amount of time and effort. So I would say a lot of the fruit in the last two and a half years, from my perspective, has been, I guess, what you would call like seed planting, just kind of spending my time and my efforts in a way that other people can see that I'm different and that those differences relate to me being Christian.
Speaker 3:And so I have had a lot of friends say things like hey, I've never had a friend like you. You know, I've never actually had a friend that like sat and like listened to me so intently and like thought about me when I wasn't there and cared and then checked in again to see how that thing went that I told them about. Like they don't really do that with friends in their culture. They more so do it with family. And so to have a friend, especially in kind of the weird position that I'm in where I don't know anybody and I need help, and so we really build bonds, kind of through very practical means, like, hey, I don't know how to buy vegetables, can you help me buy vegetables? And they've seen me go from that to like, hey, let's talk about you know our spiritual beliefs. It's kind of a special bond that you make with people who are able to go with you on that journey and then they're like really seeing you. They're really seeing that you live by the things that you say, you do or you don't. You know the ways that I fail sometimes to be, to be kind or to be loving, and I apologize, you know that's they've never seen anybody do that ever. That's strange, it's really really strange. And so there's just ways where I'm different that they notice and they pick up on and then they respond to kind of in their human way. So that's really sweet.
Speaker 3:And then there have been a couple friends that I've actually been able to walk through the biblical narrative with, and those are pretty long stories, but I would say overall, to kind of sum it up, like it is amazing to watch unbelievers who have never seen a Bible hear these stories for the first time, having no idea where they're going. I mean, as a Christian who grew up in a church, like I cannot fathom not knowing how this Bible story is going to end, like I don't know what I would think if someone started telling me this story of Moses and I had no idea where this is going. You know, like he, he does what and then he goes where and his mom says what, like why you know? It's just really really odd. But at the same time, like there's kind of a wonder and excitement in unbelievers hearing these stories and they recognize the depth in them, even though they don't believe in God. They recognize the stories as something that is true, as something that is enlightening in some way in their kind of limited, unbelieving way. Yeah, so that's been a real privilege for me.
Speaker 3:And then seeing kind of like they now have a foundation for us to discuss further. So now we kind of can dig into those spiritual topics with a lot more grit because they have context for who Jesus is. So when I talk about things like no, I won't do that or I can't do that because of this, there's way more for us to go into. Because we've talked about the golden calf, we've talked about the 10 commandments, we've talked about Jesus and who he is, and how he is good and how he is worthy and how I'm not living a life of rules. I'm living a life of grace and mercy, and those things were not words that existed previously in their vocabulary. It's just groundwork, right, it's just groundwork, but I'm hopeful for that and I'm just amazed that God can do that in two and a half years, that you could go from not knowing how to say hello to being able to have these kinds of relationships with people.
Speaker 1:Amen.
Speaker 3:So, as we're talking about fruit, it is something that will take a really long time, kind of our ultimate goal in this. As you mentioned already and summarized really well, some of these unreached people groups that are left are difficult to get to for a reason. I mean, people like to say they're last for a reason, and so a lot of these groups will require learning two languages. You'll have to learn the national language and then the language of the specific people group, and that is our case as well. So the people group we want to work with, they speak the language other than the national language. It's not actually related at all, which is unfortunate. It's a different language family and so we're kind of, in a lot of ways, starting from scratch, but not quite, because there's a lot of cultural overlap this people group and the majority group. So there are categories for words that we already have now because we've learned the national language, but the words themselves are completely different, and so that will be kind of another journey. And then, besides the language and culture acquisition, the biggest challenge I think in the next steps will be kind of another journey. And then, besides the language and culture acquisition, the biggest challenge I think in the next steps will be our identity and our access to the region. So part of the reason that we're talking in these kind of general terms is because the government of the country we work in does not allow missionaries to work there, and so it's not legal to be a missionary, particularly in these sensitive areas. So you can kind of get away with it in the big cities. Honestly, like they don't really. They kind of know and they don't mind. When you're talking about these countryside areas where no foreigners live, where no majority people live, they're pretty sensitive. And so for us to say, hey, we're American and we want to go there, we need to have a really, really clear and solid reason for it. And when we go and we live there, we will be the first foreigners to ever do so. So we really need to be able to explain why we're there to tourists. They're friendly to people coming through. But if you want to live there, it's so strange and it's so weird that you're going to have to have a really creative platform to be able to be there.
Speaker 3:And I say platform not as a kind of like cover, like I don't say cover, because we want to be people of integrity. So everything that we say we're doing, we have to actually be doing. If I go to a certain area and I say I want to dig a, well, I have to be people of integrity. So everything that we say we're doing, we have to actually be doing. If I go to a certain area and I say I want to dig a, well, I have to actually dig that well, you know, we are people of our word. Everything that we do in the next years to come will partly be so that we can just exist there, like not just so that we can, you know, preach the gospel.
Speaker 3:But you know, preaching the gospel, but preaching the gospel takes time. Learning language takes time. To get that time, we have to have a reason to be there, which usually is running a business. So basically, we're going to have to set up a business out of scratch and we're not business people. So you can imagine that's kind of a long journey for us and then, along the way, it's really all in God's hands. I'm a very logical person. I'm a very logical person. I'm a very analytical person. I like to make plans. If you put this plan on paper, I'm not sure there's a logical person out there that wouldn't say what a terrible plan.
Speaker 2:It doesn't pencil Like it doesn't add up in no ways.
Speaker 3:I can see a thousand ways where this is going to fall apart and this is going to go wrong. It would not work in like so many ways, and the only reason we do it is because we have hope in God who can do all things, and so that's been a personal journey. For me is like seeing my faith in God needing to increase as we do this because just the logical part of me is like that's not going to work and that's not going to work and that's not going to happen and this is a bad idea. But seeing God kind of overcome those barriers in my own heart and obstacles and seeing him do things and bring me into people's lives in ways that I did not think I was a good fit for or ways that I did not think I was equipped for, has been really encouraging personally.
Speaker 1:This has been so cool, I'm so glad you came in. It was a layup when the opportunity came to have you on the pod and to kick off a new season and a new year. What a special experience. Maya, you've got a beautiful story. You've got a beautiful heart. We're thrilled to be a small part of it. And just whatever God's got on your heart right now, would you just turn that loose on all of us?
Speaker 3:Yeah for sure. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you because you first loved us. We are grateful for all the ways that you provide for us, all the ways that we are able to see and know, and all the ways that we don't even know or can't imagine. God, we trust that you are the maker of this world, that you are the maker of all peoples. We can't fathom how deep your love is for the people that we're trying to reach, but we know that you have all things for their good and in your plan, god, you will use all things for the good of your children and for your own glory. God, I pray for our team and our plans. God, I pray that you would use what little we have to offer, that you would make much of it. God, we know that we have received all good things from you, that you are the source, and we seek to give those things back to you. God, we pray that you would help us with that. Help us to love you more deeply, to be more faithful to you and to the work that you have provided for us.
Speaker 3:God, I pray for the listeners of this podcast and for the makers of it as well. God, I pray that you would encourage their hearts in the work that you are doing across the world. God, I pray that you would use this podcast and use these stories for your sake and for your plans. I don't know who's listening to this, or where, or when. God, I know that it's at the perfect time because you have ordained it, and I pray that you would continue to work out your ways and your wisdom in the hearts of those who are listening. God, we seek to serve you well and we seek to respond to the grace that we have been given. I trust that your Holy Spirit will do those good things. We pray all these things in your precious name, amen.
Speaker 1:And amen. Thank you for listening to Unreached. Our sincere desire is that what you've heard today will cause you to see the mission of God differently and your role in it more clearly. If this adds value for you and we hope it does would you please rate and review the podcast wherever you listen. Also, share with your family, your friends, your church, your life group, small group, d group, wherever you do life, and if you want to connect with us, find us on Instagram at unreachedpodcast, or email us at unreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
