Isaiah 25:3-5
"Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a
shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat."
When I first heard from the forty something year old School Psychologist from Indiana who had a wife and four young children in the home I must admit I had my doubts about his eventual placement on the mission field. After all why would he want to use up his summer vacation serving out in the hot hazy humid faraway land of El Salvador? Psychologist John Pence indicated on his application that he desired to:
"get out and live the gospel by meeting physical as well as spiritual needs of those less fortunate than myself".
Well, I thought, we DO offer opportunities such as he described with each and every one of our CFCI mission bases. But to leave his wife and children back home while he went to serve other children and families in a foreign land? It kinda didn't make sense to me. But then as I communicated with John's wife Renee I heard her speak of her strong support of his going. Renee stated time and time again how excited she was for her husband to experience the blessing of "giving of himself" to the glory of God in this way. Ok. On we proceeded with John's application. John requested to serve for five weeks in our El Salvador base. He indicated that though he would be willing to serve "where ever needed" he would most like to help with home construction if at all possible.
John was placed with our mission base in El Salvador where he is currently sliding into the homestretch of his summer mission service. I had the inclination to check up on John and his wife Renee only to experience one of the greatest blessings I could have received. Renee replied back to me with attached letters John had been writing to all of his financial supporters back home. Renee described that though John is a man of few words he had been able to articulate in such an effective manner as to have brought many of his backers to tears. I read several of John's "updates" and succumbed to the same tearful conclusions. God isn't looking for servants with ideal "season's of life" or a perfected "set of skills". He's just looking for a willing heart that says, "Lord, hear am I...send me." John just plainly wrote me and said, "Here am I...can you send me?"
Here is an excerpt from one of John's "updates":
"I observed an English class sponsored by Christ for the Cities in the morning and a soccer clinic in the afternoon. I began my own Mission work promptly the next day. I've spent the week helping to build a home for a local family. I've been working with a crew of five men from the church. Despite them knowing almost no English and my knowing almost no Spanish, we have managed to erupt in gut-busting laughter at least on an hourly basis. I've discovered a common bond between men on a construction site that seems to transcend both space and culture. Their work ethic and ingenuity amazes me. There's none of the time-saving tools that I'm accustomed to working with...just yesterday we were trying to level something and used a tube filled with water to do the job. We don't even have a wheelbarrow, when pouring concrete for the floor yesterday, we mixed it all by hand and shoveled it on the road and carted it into the building with 10 gallon buckets. We are working in a shanty town called Soyapango. Coming from a land of plenty like the U.S. it would be hard to truly comprehend the suffering and need that exists in places like these all over the world if one didn't actually live it or experience it first-hand.
To be part of an effort to help just one family have a little bit of security and comfort is a heart warming experience that I think everyone should have. I would like to thank you all from the very bottom of my soul for providing me the opportunity to actually live the Gospel."
"get out and live the gospel by meeting physical as well as spiritual needs of those less fortunate than myself". Mission accomplished John Pence. Thank you for offering your time, talent and treasure so that one family may experience the loving outstretched arms of Jesus in a real and tangible way.
John shared in other pages how he was able to help in clothing those who have no clothes by participating in a t-shirt giveaway to any man that did not own a shirt. He also shared how he had served food to some of the hungry children in the village. What an honor and a privilege it is to know that back here in my little office sending and receiving emails all day that I too participate in "living the gospel" as we join forces to meet needs of the poor and hungry. Here is a photo of John (on the left) along with several of our other short-term missionaries serving in with the El Salvador base missionaries. Thank you John for all you have given.
Penny Slosson
Short-term Individual Missions Coordinator
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