Shawn and Nancy Paul: When God Says Go

 Morning Star Missions
Life is Jesus Christ
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Today’s guests are Shawn and Nancy Paul who have been missionaries in Honduras and are presently serving in Guatemala. 

 Nancy has been serving in children's ministry for over 30 years. She has a huge passion for helping develop others with the same heart for children as she does. Today, she has trained countless children’s teachers in Central America.

She writes and produces her own children’s curriculum. We're even more excited that this material is now being shared with approximately 43 missionaries and ministers in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Belize!

 For those in the mountainous and rural areas, they still, to this day, depend on the local radio station. Shawn has seen remarkable success in reaching those on the radio. Currently, they are ministering on the radio in Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. Our vision is to expand to other areas of Central America. They estimate that they are reaching around 5 to 10 thousand people through this ministry.

In our conversation today we talk about 

·       What mission life is like for Shawn and Nancy 

·       The vision God has given Shawn for ministering online to pastors in all nations 

·       Nancy’s children’s ministry 

·       Missionary care 

·       There are many ways to be a missionary 

So let’s dive in…. 

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Transcript

 I have Sean and Nancy. Paul. Hi, guys.

[02:37] Nancy: Hi.

[02:38] Shawn: Hello.

[02:40] Jan: Nice to have you with us. You have been on the mission field for ten years. What led you to do that?

[02:49] Shawn: What led us to do go to missions? Yeah, it was basically the Lord because, like I try to tell everybody else, our life was fine prior to. We were doing quite well in our careers, financially, family, church life. Everything was great. So it was definitely God that said go. So we did.

[03:13] Jan: How did you decide where you were going to go?

[03:16] Shawn: You know, I mean, I would include Nancy in this, but it was kind of a thing that I kind of, you know, the Lord kind of led me down this path. And so, you know, missions. She was more of a missionary, short term team missionary than I was. I've been on a trip to Mexico, but as far as, you know, looking at missions, as far as something of interest, I mean, I was there to serve, pass out boxes, whatever it was. And then in 2007, at a Christmas party for our church, my pastor said he's going to Honduras, and the spirit of God just leaked in my heart and said, you need to go. So that march, I believe I went to my first trip to Honduras, and it was to the same organization that my pastor went to. And as a missionary, sitting there sharing about, you know, his mission organization, it just resonating my spirit. Like, you're coming here, you're not, not necessarily to that organization, but you're coming to Honduras to become a missionary. So that's how, you know, I chose Honduras. And then obviously my wife and I prayed it out, worked it out, and walked through that process of getting to the mission field.

[04:29] Jan: Isn't that something how you just know when God really wants you to do something?

[04:34] Shawn: Oh, yeah.

[04:35] Jan: I mean, it just doesn't, it keeps nagging at you. And I've had little times I go, really? You really want me to do that? You know, like start a podcast? Really? I don't know anything about doing that, but yeah. And then it turns out to be exactly what was right for your heart because, you know, diary, he knows the real desire of our hearts, doesn't he?

[05:02] Shawn: Well, you know, we've been in the mission field for ten years now, and, you know, I'm not going to say that, you know, it's etched in stone, but we just don't really have any desire to leave. You know, we, we love what we do. We love being here. We love doing the work that God's called us to, so.

[05:20] Jan: Was it when you went down there the first time and you probably had some little bit of a preconceived idea of what it was going to be like? Did it turn out to be that way or is it.

[05:35] Nancy: Well, first of all, my husband came down. Was it for three months in 2009? In 2009 he came down and I believe it was everything he thought it was going to be. However, the location was just maybe a little bit different. I can remember the year before we go, he actually went to Copanriones and prayed and fasted in there and then came back home. And a year later, somewhat like that myself, him and my daughter, we actually came to Copan and just kind of just to put our feet on the ground. And then, you know, went back and we just said, yeah, you know, this is it. And, and that's how we kind of, we did that. That was kind of the interesting thing. But it was a, it was a process for us. It wasn't a quick process, but it was a process that took a while that we had to work together on it and, you know, we had to be quiet and listen to God's voice directing and leading us.

[06:39] Shawn: But, yeah, yeah, I mean, as far as when you say, was it what we expected? You know, when we got on ground, we had a ministry that we thought we were going to connect with. Nothing against them, but they just really didn't have a heart for the rural communities, the rural pastors at that time. So that was really the only change that we experienced. A lot of missionaries experienced culture shock, I think, you know, myself, I try to share with people. You know, one, I been back and forth for five years, so I kind of knew what to expect. And then, you know, just the former military kind of guy inside of me just, you know, you know, you just kind of, I guess, you know, the military etched my heart, you know, in the way of just having grit and, you know, just overcoming and then being a business owner and so forth. My wife, I think you kind of dealt with a little bit of not, I don't want to say cabin fever, but, uh, let's just say little town fever, because we were out in the middle of nowhere, three to 4 hours away from a major city. So she did kind of get a little restless because of that. But that's really all only thing that we really dealt with. I would say that we went through culture shock pretty, pretty easy.

[08:00] Nancy: But in saying that going through culture shock, the other, the one, one thing that is interesting when you do go through cultural shock, or if you ever do, is that, you know, I don't think we jumped into it. We, we allowed God to prepare us and as a family as well as missionaries prepare us together and, you know, to be there for that support when, you know, I miss my grandbabies and my husband's there and he's, you know, loving on me and, you know, saying, you know, nice things to me to help me along here. So it wasn't as much as a huge difference for, like, Sean, but for me, it was a little bit more of a challenging because of the culture shock. Like you said, out in nowhere, not being able to know a lick of Spanish, but hello and goodbye. Hola, adios. And then having to go to the grocery store and try to figure out what I'm actually buying, you know, that was kind of a, and then to convert it, that was pretty much the only culture shock. That really kind of was a hindrance for me as well.

[09:14] Jan: Yeah, it takes a while, you know, to get used to different, you know, different foods or different things or different ways or cultural ways of doing things. Did you, I'm guessing that you probably built relationships first before you really started doing ministry.

[09:32] Shawn: Yeah, you know, we got on ground there, and like I said, the, the first ministry that we thought we were going to connect with because we specifically went there to go meet them and talk to them and make plans to connect with them. But it just, within the first two weeks, you just kind of knew that this was not working out. Actually, it was really good that the Lord, uh, put everything together because there was an evangelist that came to town and he was an American from Florida. It was already established community event that he had going. So I jumped aboard and said, hey, we'll help. And then, you know, it was evident that they needed somebody to do photography. We had cameras and everything. So Nancy and I both went the next day to go do photography for this team, and that's when we met Pastor Fabio. So really, within, I think within two to three weeks, we met Pastor Fabio. And pretty much for the nine years that we lived in Honduras, you know, Fabio was our, our connection to the communities. And through him, you know, he started out as a Bible study in one community on Thursday nights. By the time we were said and done in Honduras, I mean, he went to 16 communities. We built multiple churches, you know, reaching, you know, I don't want to, you know, evangelistically speaking, saying thousands of people, but, I mean, we touched hundreds of thousands, hundreds or thousands of people's lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ through Pastor Fabio. But also we did work with another ministry there that was more, it took a couple years to meet a key individual there, and then once we met that person. So there's two ministries that we were working with before we left Honduras.

[11:20] Jan: And you were probably the answer to his prayers. You know, he'd been praying to have somebody walk beside him and to help out, too, you know, so, yeah, well.

[11:32] Shawn: And I always tell people, you know, Nancy says it took some time for us to get to the mission field, which was five years, but, you know, I, I always tell people we didn't lead too early and we didn't lead too late, because Fabio was actually in the United States, you know, illegally, and he came back. So if it, you know, if we went too early, we would have never met Fabio. Maybe later, maybe we got, would got frustrated or something. I don't know. But when we got there, he just got back. Not, you know, within months, meaning like 30 days, but I mean, maybe six to nine months or whatever, he just got back. So it was a perfect timing for all of us.

[12:12] Jan: Yeah. Yeah. Would have been some of the obstacles that you've encountered.

[12:18] Shawn: Language would be, you know, for me, would be language. I don't know.

[12:23] Nancy: For me, I would probably say, well, I wouldn't say so much language because wherever I went, I had a translator. And as Sean says, he speaks Taco Bell Spanish. Well, I have my own language when it comes to space. I don't know. I've had a lot of people say, I don't know what you're speaking, but they understand you. And so that's, that's all that's important is that when we, when I do go up there or when I went out, I I could, I could speak, you know, to help, but whenever I ministered or something like that, I would always have a translator. So for me, you know, that was not a real hindrance because I'd always use it, you know, I'd always have her with me. And, but, you know, for Sean, yeah, that was, you know, you know, but in it, and even to this day, we don't speak fluent Spanish. And, you know, some people can say it's a good thing. Some people can say that's not a very, that's a bad thing. You should be fluent. But it also then helps us to rely on, you know, a national, somebody that we can come in and we can help, and we can build that partnership or that relationship with, and we can go, you know, go do something with, and it's, it was, it was a benefit for me to be able to, you know, have her with me. But an obstacle.

[13:53] Jan: Have there been obstacles to you sharing your faith?

[13:57] Shawn: No, not at all. I mean, there's no hindrances in Guatemala or Honduras or even El Salvador. It's totally a different environment as far as that's what, you know. Then, then in the United States, I mean, obviously in the United States, you're like, you're like, I mean, I, I don't live in fear, but I'm just saying, you know, you're just like, okay, if I say something, am I going to trigger somebody, you know, here? I mean, it's not. I mean, it's not even uncommon to see, like, maybe a police officer. Like, there's a marathon. It was a photo, a marathon. A lady fell down and hurt herself, and a police officer was praying over her. You know, you go into the governmental building, their scriptures on the wall, there's praise and worship music playing. You know, during one of the riots or whatever, there were police officers on their knees praying, you know, so there's no barriers here as far as to share the gospel.

[14:51] Nancy: I mean, that we have come across.

[14:52] Shawn: Yeah, I've never came across anything. I mean, you know, obstacles. I just don't really honestly can't sit here and say, you know, obstacles. What. What has prevented us from ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ? Really nothing. I mean, we've always been able to do so. I mean, obviously, you know, money, finances. I mean, if you had more, you could do more, you know, but, I mean, God's been very good to us to be able to do what we've done since we've lived here. So I'm. We're very fortunate, and I have no complaints. You know, I can't sit here and murmur about anything. And I. That's not even who I am anyway as an individual. So maybe there has been obstacles, but I'm just too, you know, happy go lucky that, you know, I'm like, I didn't even know there was an obstacle.

[15:37] Nancy: But the other thing is, is that, you know, you look at what is an obstacle, okay? You could take the two hurricanes, you could take the pandemic. You know, that can be an obstacle, but you have to adapt. Emission field is all about adapting. And if you cannot adapt, then that's an obstacle for you, because the culture is completely different in the United States than where it is in where we are. And you. It's not that you adjust to their culture, but you have to adapt through whatever it may be. We had the pandemic. Well, obviously, everybody was limited. Well, God supplied a way that we could get a pass from the mayor, and we were able to go out, you know, and, minister, we had that. So there's. There's always a way. You just have to seek God and find that way and adapt to, you know, whatever obstacles in front of you. I remember we drove through a barricade, so, you know, but you just do what you got to do for the gospel of Jesus Christ to get it out.

[16:45] Jan: Yeah. So, Nancy, you've been involved in working with the children and their children's ministry. Tell us about that.

[16:52] Nancy: Well, when we first landed in Honduras and we went up and we were, you know, going to the churches. I noticed right away the biggest, our heart was to minister, you know, to work together, to come to the field, to work together. And so, you know, we did that. And I never thought that I would be starting a children's ministry or working in the children's ministry. But I'm telling you, if you want to change a community, you want to change a country or whatever, you have to start with children. You have to start influence them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so when we went up to the communities where we went to minister, you would see the adults would be perfectly fine. The youth, they were nowhere to be found. And the children, they would out playing, running around, right, the pulpit, running down, you know, Kai's and mom and dad. So, yeah, so it was a vital need right there, the children's ministry. So wherever we went to minister, if there wasn't a children's ministry, we created one with the pastor, through the pastor, to seek and find somebody local or nationals that would be willing or had the desire to come teach and children. And so we did that for, well, I think we did it a year or so or maybe two in Honduras, might even been longer. And then my husband said to me, well, I think you're going to now teach teachers. And, you know, so then all the teachers came in and I started teaching teachers how to teach children, and then they would go back into their communities. So, like Sean would say, instead of teaching 70 children, which is what I taught in La Laguna, he said, now you have several teachers that are now going out, taking your material and teaching them, and you have hundreds of children that are hearing it.

[18:47] Jan: So which is a better model anyway, because that way it's coming from them and it powers them to be doing, you know.

[18:58] Nancy: Yeah, well, and it doesn't limit God.

[19:01] Jan: Right.

[19:01] Nancy: And so if you are developing and training people to be a duplicate or whatever of you, you know, a disciple or whatever the case may be, when God has you to go somewhere else, it, the seed that was sown doesn't fall on soil. That is bad. It's going to fall on good soil and it's going to continue to reap a harvest. So, yeah, that's kind of my, with children's ministry, that's kind of wherever I go, whatever I do, whatever community, that's my heart, that's what I go and that's what I, that's what I am. That's who I am.

[19:39] Jan: And I imagine that they just are loving it, you know, I mean, just having that, having the vision of something to do with their kids that they probably never even thought about doing, you know?

[19:49] Nancy: Yes. And I mean, you, you would talk to a child and you would say, what do you want to be? You know, and, oh, I want to be a farmer. I want to be, you know, as good as my dad or as good as my mom. But the, the word dream or hope was not a vocabulary that they knew. They never knew. Hey, I could be an airline pilot or I could be a president or whatever the case may be, but you go in there and you prepare them and you give them hope that they can be great, you know, who they are, and they allow God to come in and use them, then they can be anything. And that's the whole, that's the whole goal is to take the spirit of the Lord into everybody so that they can be empowered to go and do great things.

[20:43] Jan: Yeah. Yeah. Well, in some sense, that's what you're doing too, Sean, now that you're working with pastors, tell us about what you're doing with your online ministries.

[20:53] Shawn: Yeah, you know, I've kind of evolved a little bit over the years. You know, while in Honduras, it was more community is more ministering in local churches and so forth. Ministering to local pastors, you know, pastors conferences and so forth and so forth. Since we got to Guatemala, you know, I developed an online resource center, so to speak, for pastors around the world. We're connected to 232 pastors, I believe the last time I checked. And, you know, these are pastors in Africa, India, Pakistan and so forth. And so I just kind of, you know, felt like they're wanting more than what I can provide in the sense of more of a leadership role. That's just not my place in ministry. You know, I'm more of a teacher of the gospel, you know, more of a writer and so forth. And then life is Jesus Christ. That's the resource center.com that's taken, that's evolved into blogging, podcasting and also videos. So, so in saying all that, we've, I've talked to my local, I've talked to my ascending church in Kentucky we've been a part of for 30 some years. And, you know, our pastor, Pastor Terry Linscott's just more of a dynamic leadership, you know, God's place that in his life. He, you know, that's, that's who he is. You know, that's what he's anointed to do. So we've kind of collaborated together to develop an actual ministerial association. So that's, that's kind of a role that I've taken place in that actual, it's called alma abundant living ministerial association. I'm the director. I mean, you know, titles is no big deal, but, you know, director of minister relations.

[22:39] Jan: Somebody has to be the director.

[22:40] Shawn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so more or less, you know, I'm collaborating or I'm working with fellow ministers globally to, you know, bring them into the association and then part of, you know, then, then on top of that, you know, we're developing leadership type curriculum, leadership content, just various types of content that will help them strengthen their ministries. And then once we get our residency in Guatemala, we'll be able to lead country. Once you apply for residency in Guatemala, you can't leave. And so until that residency has been approved. So I would say that soon I will be able to go into other countries and hold pastor conferences and seminars. So that's kind of really what I see my role as is managing life is Jesus Christ platform. But at the same time, you know, holding pastor conferences, seminars, and then also managing the membership role and, you know, communicating with pastors globally, boy, that's like, that's big.

[23:46] Jan: Yeah.

[23:46] Shawn: I mean, right now it's manageable, so we just pray that it stays.

[23:50] Jan: Yeah, but, you know, just as it grows and people know that you're available and when people are hungry, they're going to seek it out and, you know, knowing how to, again, equipping people. Right.

[24:03] Shawn: Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's, there's so many different, you know, missions is a wide spectrum, you know, and I try to share that with people. A lot of people get this vision that, you know, a missionary, somebody that's, you know, in a local community building houses, putting roofs on, whatever it may be, you have a medical clinic, and that's great. And I'm not, you know, I'm not negating any of that. I'm not devaluing any of that. We go to church with many missionaries and probably many of those do those type of things, but it's just, you know, we did that. And again, it's not like we walked away or we graduated. We went to a higher level. It's just that God has just gravitated me more into this direction. You know, last year in. Yeah, last year. And really, actually, in December of 2022, you know, it just really was on my heart of reaching globally for pastors. So I didn't know how that looked. It started out as a resource center and just many pastors were coming, connecting, and then they were saying, we want to be a part of your ministry. We want you to be our pastor. We want you to be our leader. And I was just like, I'm sorry, I'm not a pastor and I'm not a, you know, you know, I, you know, I'm just not in that. That's just not what God's put in my heart, you know? And so like I said, that's how this just kind of blossomed into what it is now.

[25:27] Jan: So, yeah, and, you know, anytime you're starting something new, you have to figure out what is your, what is your true focus and where can you draw lines and boundaries and things to what, really? Because if you spread too thin and you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, really, it divides you up from where.

[25:47] Shawn: Well, it just spreads you thin and you can't be effective for really what you, you know, you, you believe that you're led to be doing. It's just like here recently, a couple weeks ago, I mean, I had to drop a lot of things. I just had to say, well, you're doing this and you're doing this and you're doing this. And I was busy. And like my pastor said, you know, he came to our home here, he visited Bible college here, probably about 4 hours away, and he came and stopped by our home and we got to talking. He says, are you doing works or working for the kingdom of God? Works is just being busy about a lot of good stuff, but doesn't mean that it's effective and also it doesn't mean that really God's called you to do it. It's just going to wear you out. And it's not that I was way off base, but what it was is just I had a lot of little things that I was doing, like, you know, posting to social media, doing this, sending out emails, doing this, doing that. It's just like, I'm done. There's no fruit in it. It's done.

[26:44] Jan: Yeah.

[26:45] Shawn: So I've really kind of fine tuned my life and, you know, basically I'm just better at saying no now than I was before.

[26:54] Nancy: So, yeah, when Peter got, was asked to get out of the boat and, you know, he got out of the boat and he had his focus on Jesus and that's what he's, but then when all the distractions and everything, that wasn't, you know, what happened. He sank. And not that we sank, but those things needed to be put away as well as, and so it, I think that goes for everybody.

[27:20] Shawn: I mean, I got a really good explanation on that, and it's from a pastor friend in Arizona. He, you know, use a story of Peter. I think it was Peter and John that went to the Mount transfiguration. If I'm wrong, for those listeners that's listening right now, I apologize. And then, and then, you know, Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah. I, again, could be wrong. And then Peter says, hey, how about if I build you all three a tabernacle? You know, and Jesus, like, you know, and again, it's kind of like today's phrase, like, hey, chill out. You know, slow down. No, we're not building no tabernacles here. And it's just kind of like, if Peter would have built a tabernacle, he could have totally distracted everything that Peter was supposed to be doing in his life. And all of a sudden now Peter's got a tourist, tourist attraction, you know, charging fees to see the tabernacle that he built, you know, a mount transfiguration. And I'm sure they'd still be here today. And so, see, it's like, like Peter was going to get distracted. So, see, we have to be the same way. We have to be very, very careful and not being distracted with all the shiny things, you know, and, you know, chase after what God's called us to chase after, not chase after what what we feel like might be good. And, oh, we could reach people by doing this. And it's just like, or, you know, we, I could increase offerings by doing this. And it's just like, I am so much more at peace today than I was three weeks ago because again, I was just chasing a bunch of shiny things, trying to get my name out. And in the hopes that someone's going to say, hey, I want to connect with you, I want to partner with you. And now I'm just like, God, you go do the connecting and partnering. I'm going to trust you and I'm just going to continue doing the work that you called me to do.

[29:10] Jan: Yeah, yeah. Because he's going to bring whoever he feels he's gonna put on their hearts, you know, sure. To be with you. And that's what it's about anyway. Just trusting him to do, first of all. Trust him. Yes. I believe this is what you're called me to do right now. And you're gonna make it go wherever you want it to be, you know? Yeah.

[29:31] Shawn: Amen.

[29:32] Nancy: Because there's mission field, there's needs everywhere, everywhere. And, and, but you have to, you have to pray and seek God for the need that you're to go and take care of or the need that is where you are supposed to be at.

[29:49] Jan: So that's, yeah, totally, totally agree with that. So any, like, personal stories of things that you've seen or people that have, you know, been impacted by what you've done?

[30:06] Shawn: Well, I mean, you know, I mean, we've seen a lot of that. You know, as far as, like, the Bible college that we did, you know, for a, we did a two year Bible college. It was extended, extended Bible college from the United States. We did two years there. I mean, you know, it's just pretty cool to see these pastors, you know, from the mountain communities. Probably many of them have very little education, and, you know, on the day of graduation, they had their family there. They had their diplomas holding up. I mean, they, they were just as, just as, I don't want to say proud, but they were just very, very happy. Their family is very proud of them. So, yeah, I mean, that's, that's a blessing, but, you know, just, just many things that you come across and being able to touch people's lives with either. You know, during the pandemic, we were able to feed just a lot of families. You know, we were able to be a blessing to many families. Kids coming up, lining up in front of our door, you know, as far as not our house door, but, you know, we had like a wall around our home, you know, lining up and we would feed several kids, but really kind of families because, you know, they were coming to get the food, and we gave them quite a bit of food to be able to take back home. So, I mean, just being used of God and those kind of ways, you know, hosting short term mission teams, it's a blessing to see the impact that you're making on people's lives because my life was changed on a short term team, you know, so I realized the value. A lot of times you have people say, you know, short term teams aren't really valuable. You could have saved that money and used it for the whole entire missions and yada, yada, yada. Well, yeah, okay, so the mission team spends 15 grand to come down. Yeah, you could have just gave it to the missionary. But see, to me, I look like this. How many people on that team that God is working on their hearts to become full time missionaries? I would probably say that to the level of who's becoming missionaries would be so limited because that's where people come to realization and they discover missions for their life, and they never even knew that that was even an option. So just seeing, huh?

[32:18] Jan: Yeah. But even for them to experience a third world country that they're not used to, that's just. That's huge. Everybody needs.

[32:24] Shawn: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I've seen youth. Their lives are radically transformed on the mission field, meaning they, you know, they. They, you know, because obviously, the accessibility of things and, you know, cell phones and toys and whatever it may be in the United States isn't available here, and they recognize that, and they begin to appreciate what they have at home, you know, and they take a whole different attitude. I mean, like, my whole entire life was radically transformed. Basically, the. The mission field radically transformed my heart in a radical way, and it answered a prayer in my life because I was so obsessed with money. So, you know, again, I discovered missions. I discovered to become a missionary, and then I was obsessed with money. I mean, I, you know, nothing. I'm not boasting, bragging. I mean, we were making a strong six figure income, you know, and I was obsessed with money. And, you know, that obsession ruled my life. You know, I was in sales commission. Sales. And if I even was down $2,000 in one month, we didn't even need all that money. I would just go into a tailspan of anxiety and depression, and. And once I got to the mission field, I'm like, wait a minute. These people don't have nothing, and they still have joy and peace, and so.

[33:44] Jan: Isn't there something, too? I mean, I just. You just see that they can be peaceful and happy and joyful. It's like, yeah, yeah.

[33:53] Shawn: So just seeing people's lives being touched on short term teams is another thing that I, you know, is a blessing for me to be that we could be that. That, you know, that. That conduit, to be able to bring that to them.

[34:06] Nancy: I would say for me, one. One great thing that I have seen and noticed is obviously those that are coming on the short term, but on them as individuals, when they come here, they don't feel adequate, that they could do what they are being asked to do in the mission field. And so I think while they're in the mission field, I believe God speaks to them. God changes and transforms their lives. So when they go back, they can come, they can do greater things and step up in the ministry of what?

[34:43] Shawn: So.

[34:44] Nancy: Oh, I never knew I could minister. Oh, you mean I can minister. I ministered to children, and now you go back, and now they are in the children's ministry or ministering or I never knew I could be a leader. And now the leader is that the person that was on the mission team is now leading the mission trips back and forth. And so for me, that, I think, is one of the greatest enjoyments of seeing how the life of the individual obviously has changed for naturally, but then, you know, for their abilities, their gifts, their talents, how it they transform when they go back to the US, that has been great. And it's odd because we talk about who we've seen transform the most and it's the teams or the people that come here from North America to South America or wherever. But if you ask me things that have, that I've noticed or I've seen where we've ministered, I would have to say it's not something that I definitely go and look for to see a transformation. You just go and you do and you be part of that transformation. So it's kind of like when you and your spouse are getting older, oh, you still look great, you know? Oh, yeah, we haven't gained weight. No, we haven't gained weight. Well, we just kind of grow together and it's not something that you really recognize. However, when we moved to Guatemala, they had a team that we weren't able to go to back in, in Honduras, and somebody had went up to them and said, well, can I tell you about Jesus? Let me tell you and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with you. And they said, oh, we've already heard that from Sean and Nancy. Oh, that, too. That, to me, that is a great compliment that we were there diligently doing what God had called us to do. And you don't know who this seed is going to affect. You just throw it out there and whoever takes. But eventually, I believe we will.

[36:53] Shawn: No, yeah, of course.

[36:56] Jan: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Anything else you want to share?

[37:04] Shawn: I mean, we really covered, covered everything in regards to missions. I mean, I would, you know, to me that I think the greatest mistake that a lot of people make when they look at missions, they see missionaries, they go, oh, well, I'm not a missionary. And so then what they do is they devalue who they could be in missions. And the thing of it is, missions is not just a missionary being on the mission field. Missions can be being a coordinator at the local church, you know, being somebody that goes out and talks to people on the behalf of missionaries, you know, somebody that could, you know, have charitable events, you know, like, you know, like a golf scramble or whatever it may be, or, or you're, you know, collecting things for missionaries, whatever it may be. You might be a team coordinator at your church to actually take teams to the mission field. So never minimize what you can do for missions. You know, again, I've seen so many things. There's a lady in Florida that I connected with. Her and her husband has a ministry where they go and teach and train churches on how to have missionary care. You know, more or less, you know, a lot of times, missionaries feel very alone. They feel forgotten. They feel left behind. And so what they do is they teach churches on how to actually connect with your missionary and how to ensure your missionary knows that you care for them. There's a lot of times that missionaries, they don't, you know, they're hurting, they're going through struggles, but they don't feel like they can call and contact their pastor because they feel like they may lose support, you know, so they're very tight lipped. Maybe they're going through some marital issues, or maybe their kids are going, you know, crazy in the mission field, whatever it may be, and they don't even know how to reach out. So that's the importance of, like, having missionary care. So, you know, never limit what you can do for missions. And again, you may not be called to ever even step in the foreign lands, but you may be called to be that one. Like, I remember this, you know, my mother in law's church, they support us, and we went and visited, and, and, and after church was over with, there was this lady, and she had her little table all set up and everything, and. And she was connected to another missionary there in Africa, and she was passing out, like, these art crafts that the kids made, you know? And so, see, to me, that's somebody involved in mission. She may never, ever, ever get to the mission field, or she may never, ever get to the mission field again cause of her age. But she's still actively involved in missions. So never limit what you can do for missions. And it may be in your local church or maybe, you know, in your neighborhood or whatever it may be, but you're still reaching people across the globe because of something that you're doing for missions.

[39:51] Nancy: I remember one of my, one of my greatest things for me was somebody don't gave. Bought me a quad, and that quad gave me access to go anywhere and everywhere where a vehicle could not go or should not go. But, man, it carried me. But I'm going to tell you what, when I received that news, I felt like a million bucks. And just like Sean said is, you know, you may not be able to go. But don't limit God, you know, with what you can do for a missionary or for missions. So, I mean, and that is so, so important. It's just like a. An injection you get in your arm that man. They do. They are behind me. They are support. Do you know what I mean? And that's so important. Exactly, exactly.

[40:48] Jan: So.

[40:48] Shawn: And again, you know, even minimizing just even an email or, hey, I've been thinking about you. How can I pray for you? You know, I mean, we had one lady, and it's not always about things and money. I'm just saying we have one lady that also my cash app goes off. I'm like, what's this? And she's like, take your wife out to dinner. You know, just little things like that, you know, so, you know, just, you know, just be used of God and allow God to lead and guide you on how you can connect with somebody or do something for missions.

[41:21] Jan: Yeah. So it'd be nice to put in the show notes or links and how people could get in touch with you or find out what you're doing or your website or whatever you got going like that, you know, just to spread. Spread the love. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, well, thank you for sharing all of that. I'm anxious to share it with my people. My people will be your people.

[41:47] Shawn: Your podcast people.

[41:48] Jan: My podcast people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Let's see. You could quit recording now if you want to. I just got back from. Really? Yeah. Spent ten days in Belize. Another gal that. Thanks so much for listening. I look forward to sharing another transforming story with you next week.