Looking at us thoughtfully, the woman asked, “Have you ever considered becoming field supervisors?”
Our first encounter with the idea of being a field director was back in 2004. God had been working on our hearts to become missionaries, and that summer, during Michigan Camp Meeting, we visited the AFM booth at the suggestion of a young pastor friend. The person working at the booth greeted us warmly, and we shared our experiences that led us to believe God might be calling us to missions. After our exchange, we submitted our application to AFM.
As we progressed through the application process, the time for our in-home interview arrived; however, we still had not given much additional thought to the woman’s question, “Have you ever considered becoming field supervisors?”
Clyde Morgan, founder and CEO of AFM, visited us at our home for two days. After welcoming him and allowing him to get comfortable, we discussed various missionary opportunities. As a result of our previous research, we were aware that mission work is physically demanding and that learning a new language can become more difficult as one gets older. Children are the quickest to pick up new languages, and our girls were 8 and 10 at the time.
“We are considering you to work with us as field directors,” Clyde responded. We later found out this was why the president came to our home, not someone from personnel.
Steve and I both felt that, even though we had professional and life experiences that would benefit us were we to be field directors, we did not have the mission experience we believed would be essential to understanding the missionaries’ challenges and to help them effectively. Plus, with our girls as young as they were, we did not want the travel inherent in the field director’s responsibilities to separate our family for long.
Clyde accepted our response and went on to share about the projects where AFM had also considered placing us as career missionaries. One of those was the Gogodala Project, which God clearly called us to two weeks later.
Fast forward 10 years, and another appeal to become field directors came as we sat in our mission home in Kewa, Papua New Guinea. Our field directors were visiting us, and they had brought the international field director along, who asked us to consider being field directors. Again, we declined, thinking we were not the right fit for the job and, besides, we were still busy with the Gogodala Project.
Another five years passed, and the new international field director asked us to consider serving as field directors while continuing to work at our project. He suggested that we could take on one or two missionary families and see how that would go. After praying and further discussing this offer, we felt impressed that the time had come to accept the invitation. We then began supervising the other PNG project.
In 2022, Hadassah Song launched to Southern Asia to work on the Brahmi project and requested that we become her field directors. When AFM followed with the same request, we accepted the assignment. During our first visit to see her at the Brahmi project, I felt God tugging on my heart to make a full-time commitment to this work. Later that year, after talking with AFM Administration, it was decided that, one year from that point, in September of 2024, we would return to live in the United States and become full-time field directors, taking on the responsibility for more missionaries.
Do we regret this decision? No! Has the job always been easy? No! There have been long hours of travel; learning to navigate new places and cultures; food and water borne illnesses during treks and on long bus rides; getting bit by leeches and bed bugs; challenges with project strategy and obtaining visas for the career missionaries to continue working with their target people group; political unrest and safety concerns, which then demands questions regarding the need for evacuation; along with other issues that arise.
Despite the difficulties, it has been worth it and rewarding because we are doing it for our missionaries and the unreached. These missionaries have become like family to us. We enjoy working with them as part of their team. We cry together, pray together and rejoice together. There is an emotional connection to them as they experience success and go through trials. Seeing God at work in the details for the sake of His unreached children, we are encouraged, and our faith is strengthened.
Please keep us in your prayers and also consider making a monthly pledge of support so we can continue to partner with our missionaries in reaching the unreached with the three angels’ messages.
