Bringing Meaning to Life - 2019 Spring Vision Dinners

“I’m not the one with passion to go deep into parts of the world…Those are the ‘arrows’, but Mike and I are senders, the ‘bows’. That brings meaning to my life.”

Laura Gouveia wrote this after attending the first of two Spring Vision Dinners in March 2019. For Laura, this ministry is more than a great cause; it is something that brings meaning to her life. The GO Fund is one way that Laura is obeying The Great Commission, it is her way to invest in eternity. Why? So that the unreached would hear the name of Jesus!

Laura and Mike Gouveia at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Redlands, California.

Five years ago, Claude Hickman shared a powerful metaphor at the first annual Vision Dinner. Those who go are the “arrows” and those who send are the “bows” that launch them into ministry. Founder and Executive Director, Luke Womack, reminded the 2019 guests that we still need many bows and arrows to accomplish the task of bringing the Gospel to unreached people groups. Laura and her husband Mike are two of these “bows”, and they see their role as vitally important.

Founder and Executive Director, Luke Womack, addressing guests at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Redlands, California.

Laura writes, “Here’s what happens… Young, bright, passionate people go to college, get their degree and then desire to go to the ends of the earth to tell people about Jesus. However, along with their degree comes A LOT of student loan debt. So, naturally, they start working, next they find a spouse, next comes the kids and so on goes life while they chip away at loan debt. Next thing you know, “life” has gotten in the way of that passion to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) and while the yearning to go burns on, so does their debt. The dream, the calling, the passion gets set aside and we lose the opportunity for Jesus to be known.”

Laura and Mike see the problem and they feel the weight of the issue. However, they have found the solution: The GO Fund!

The 2019 Spring Vision Dinners brought in a total of $230,092, funding 45 years of missions work! That is the solution. Champions like Laura and Mike have made it possible for missionaries to go and remain on the mission field. The burden of student debt, or as one applicant put it, “the only barrier I have right now,” is the one thing keeping most missionaries from the field. That does not have to be the case. The GO Fund exists to remove this barrier so that the gospel can be heard in every tribe, tongue and nation.

The first GO Fund missionary partners, David and Emily Rimestad, shared with guests that the only reason they are on the field today is because of The GO Fund. After five years of living among the Malayali people in Papua New Guinea, David and Emily are close to fully comprehending and speaking their language and will soon begin creating a written language and Bible for the Malayali people. The gospel will soon be heard for the very first time. Champions, “bows”, have made this reality possible.

Justin Pardee interviews David and Emily Rimestad at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Redlands, California.

At the second Spring Vision Dinner, Keynote Speaker, Brooks Buser, shared his story of his time in Papua New Guinea. While Brooks has been able to see the gospel flourish in a place that had previously never heard the name of Jesus, he reminded guests that there are still hundreds of people groups desperately asking for a missionary to come share “the talk” with them. The task is still vast, and it will take many bows and arrows to accomplish it.

Keynote Speaker, Brooks Buser, addresses the guests at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Santa Ana, California.

Laura longs to see the task accomplished and writes, “I loved hearing the vision all over again. How important it is to re-visit why we focus on the things we focus on, isn’t it? They gave us a little wooden chip at the end of the night as a reminder to keep praying. Mine is taped into our budget book so that every month I keep the vision alive so that I may be faithful to what God may provide to continue supporting this organization.”

Laura and Mike are just one example of the bows that are helping to launch missionary arrows onto the field, and that brings meaning to their lives.  

Will you join Laura and Mike in bringing meaning to your life by sending missionaries to the unreached?

The GO Fund Featured on The Missions Podcast

Click the link below and listen to The GO Fund’s Founder and Executive Director, Luke Womack, discuss student loans, why they keep missionaries off the field, and the solution to this problem on The Missions Podcast. This 42-minute episode aired on 03/18/19.

In the 11th Hour

Rebecca remembers every detail of the room she was in when they heard the news. She and her husband sat on a couch in a temporary living space they were sharing with other families also being trained by their missions agency. Their list of belongings was downsized and their lives were in transition. Then, they got the call.*

“You no longer need to worry about your student loan debt, you are GO Fund partners.”

It was as if the couple had been anxiously watching a timer count down the seconds up until this moment, and they could finally see what the Lord was doing for a long, uncertain season. One month later, they boarded their plane to leave the U.S. indefinitely.

Years prior, the two met when they were both studying for their Master’s Degrees in Wheaton, Illinois. Rebecca was earning hers with an emphasis in Teaching English as a Second Language while her husband, James, was studying overseas ministry work.

They knew as they dated, when they were engaged and in their marriage that they were being led to move their lives to the unreached people groups of East Asia. Because of the heightened-security climate in the country they were being lead to, they were eager to use their degrees. “People will definitely ask, ’What are you doing here?’ And it would be a lot easier if we could say, ‘we’re teachers,’” Rebecca said. “You need a reason to be there.”

While confident their degrees would legitimize their visas in East Asia, they realized this bound them to several years of monthly payments. It is a burden that would wear down the limited finances they needed to thrive overseas. They knew it would be unwise to leave with the weight.

So, they asked, When? How will we be obedient?

The couple chipped away the total little by little, but the time and money it would take to completely rid themselves of the debt would take years. “People rallied behind us and gave a lot to pay it off,” Rebecca said. “We still had a lot and what we’d be making month to month overseas wouldn’t be a lot.”

Then, a friend told them about an organization that pays off the student loan debt of missionaries going to unreached people groups, The GO Fund. They did not want their hopes to climb only to be rejected but they still applied, trusting the Lord would care for their needs in his timing.

They simultaneously walked through an application process with their sending agency, and when they finished their last interview, one month away from being sent overseas, they were called and told they were going to be freed of their student loan debt.

“It was literally perfect timing. In the midst of our disappointments, God was working to make things work on his plan and timing,” James said.

One year after the family arrived in east Asia, the government implemented “Evaluation Criteria” for foreign workers. Any foreigners working in the country are now categorized by a points system. There are three categories – A, B, and C-level workers. You are more likely to be given a work visa status based on the category in which you are placed. The best way to gain points? Higher-level education.

“In hindsight, thinking about everything the Lord planned out for us to get to this place is just mind-blowing to us,” James said.

The couple are now in their second year of language acquisition and they welcomed their first child in July. Their next step is to seek university-level teaching positions in their city. They have already begun to respond to opportunities laid before them to share the gospel with neighbors.

Every conversation and interaction are embraced with the joy of knowing the Lord’s perfect timing provided how, where and when they were supposed to be.

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*Names have been changed for security