A Dream Of the solution

As Scott* lie down to sleep one evening, he asked God questions about the future. He asked about his family, where they should go and how the Lord might use them. They wanted to go into cross-cultural ministry but weren’t sure how they’d get there. That’s when he saw it.

He imagined a scene as clearly as if he were watching a movie. He saw of a group of people who came together to raise money and use it to pay off the student loan debt of those trying to move to the unreached.

In awe, he went to see his supervisor and he shared the vision of this team that takes the burden of debt for missionaries. Excitedly, his friend responded, “I was just talking with someone from an organization that does exactly that earlier today.”

He was referring to The GO Fund. Scott and his wife Amy are members of a church whose vision is to see the Kingdom spread and Gospel shared among the unreached of southeast Asia. It matches perfectly with The GO Fund’s goal to pave the way for those who are sent.

Scott and Amy are now in their final weeks of preparation before they move to southeast Asia. Years before they decided to go, they knew they were not going to make that final leap until they could rid themselves of their student debt.

It has been their church’s vision to send 500 missionaries to southeast Asia in the next 20 years and it became both Scott and Amy’s burden to be a part of that vision in a long-term way. They even visited with their son on a vision trip for a few weeks and they fell in love with the people there.

Their son bonded quickly with the locals who sat outside of the hotel where they were staying, and he would excitedly run to them every time he saw them. The couple saw how their family could be welcomed and given opportunities to create relationship. They knew they were called to move their family to southeast Asia, but they hated asking their debt for permission to do what God was leading them to do.

Their ultimate desire was to be obedient to the Lord in whatever their circumstances, but the distance between moving and paying off their debt seemed insurmountable.

Once they connected with The GO Fund, applied and were interviewed, they knew they could be affirmed in their decision to leave for the mission field without the bondage of debt.

Scott and Amy’s long-term goal is to see a self-sustaining, local church planted. Because of how God used The GO Fund, a dream and a vision will come to striking reality as he brings many more into his kingdom.

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*All names changed for security.

God's Talk in the Jungle

A few days’ hike from the nearest city, through Papua New Guinea’s dense, lush forest lies the remote village of the Maliyali tribe.

For decades, the Maliyali chief mailed letter after letter, begging for missionaries to come and share “God’s Talk” with them. They knew there may be a God who is real, who loves and cares for them, but they did not know the story. They had no knowledge of the intimate details of who God is, what he does and how he chose to redeem them.

After a time, their letters shifted from, “Please send someone,” to “Have we been forgotten?”

In California, David and Emily knew they were called to go to where the Gospel was not yet preached. They partnered with an agency that is focused on Biblical translation and church planting. David and Emily were presented with the Maliyali, a people desperate for the story they were so ready to give.

For two years, they prepared to be uprooted. They sold all their belongings. They raised personal support to cover the expenses to move and build a new home. The one, insurmountable weight they could not lift— thousands of dollars in student debt.

David has a degree in theology and is geared with the skillset necessary to translate scripture into a language that has never been written. Emily's degree is in kinesiology and she is trained to give others physical care and advanced knowledge that provides healing. Both were tied and bound to future decades of loan repayment. The tribe’s future was still uncertain.

Through The GO Fund Champions, God prepared a way for David, Emily and their two children to build a home among these people. They were the first family accepted as partners of The GO Fund and they are there now, sharing God’s Talk with their new family.

Their new way of living comes at a cost. Emily has wrestled with debilitating stomach pains intermittently during their time. Their young daughter has suffered on-and-off again with different viruses and illnesses. The family was recently taken from their jungle home to the closest medical clinic when she was unable to shake a fever after several days.

The life they are finally able to lead is not a glamorous one, nor easy or popular. It comes with pain and uncertainty. However, they have experienced great joys and triumphs as well.

“As we cling to the Lord for strength and stability we are reminded of three truths,” They said. “One, that through hardship, trial and suffering the Lord is forging in us a resolve to be completely dependent on Him. Two, our hope is set on a Father who not only loves us but in His loving faithfulness has, time and time again, shown Himself in the past to be faithful enough to be trust yet again with our future! Three, furthermore, in His great goodness He allows us to be interwoven with a community of brother and sisters. You all, although distant, through your prayers, He provides us with those seen and unseen blessings that are in the accompaniment of our trials.”

For the tribe they have come to know and love? For them, there is no more waiting. There are no more unanswered letters – only God speaking through his servants as he calls many more into his kingdom.