Janna Johns Just another weblog About
I went on a SUMMIT trip in 1993 with New Tribes Mission (NTM) to Venezuela. This started my adventures with NTM…
After going to Venezuela, I decided that two years of Bible school wouldn’t be a bad thing. It was at New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, MI that I was challenged with sharing the gospel with people groups that may never have a chance to hear. I then ended up going through the rest of the training with NTM. I completed two years of Bible School, and then went to Papua New Guinea for a year as an intern at the INTERFACE centre, after that I did a year of Missions Institute and one semester of Language School. I became an official member of NTM in January of 1998. In October of 1998, I headed back out to Papua New Guinea to work at Numonohi (Missionary Kid School) in their finance office and as a PE teacher for the school there. In 2000, I came back to the States and started working at the New Tribes Mission Bible School in Jackson, Michigan. I worked there for 6 years, 3 1/2 of those years I was one of the dean of single women there at the Bible Institute. My desire has always been to go back overseas. More recently the Lord has been laying tribal works on my heart. The Lord started laying Thailand on my heart in October 2005. Realizing that the language was a bit more difficult then pidgin, I thought that it would be best for me to go back to language school to refresh my language skills. I figured that one year in the states doing language would be better then floundering on the field in language study. I am really glad that I made that decision and have really benefited from this time of training.
In the past few years, the Lord has really been growing me in the area of “Not I, but Christ”. There are many things that I am capable of doing in my own strength, but God would rather use the weaknesses in my life, not what I think that I can do for Him. The Christian life is walking by faith and realizing that if I’m not allowing Christ to produce His life in me, then all of my good deeds are worth nothing. My desire is to look in the mirror and see Christ, but I realize there is nothing good in me that can produce that. It has to be totally the Lord working through me. I can’t minister to these single ladies, I can’t go back to school after all this time, and I can’t share the gospel among tribal people if I’m not allowing the Holy Spirit to work in my life. The cool thing about all of this is that God does not expect this to happen overnight. Time is something that He graciously gives me. I’m learning more and more that the cross wasn’t just for salvation, but that He finished the work on the cross; because of that, I know that growth can continue as I am accepted solely because of what He did on that cross.
Since being at language school, the Lord has continued to grow me. He has shown me that the technical part is doable, almost to a fault that I will work till it gets done totally right. But, what I forget is that going to Thailand isn’t about learning the language so that I can say that I did it, but it is about relationships. These are real people who need a real Savior. Can I get away from my organization and drive long enough to see that? Can I allow Christ to produce His love in me, so that the people can see that? Am I praying for my language helper now? I thank the Lord for this great opportunity to be here and for that reminder as sometimes I get so goal oriented that I forget about the actual goal. Seeing unreached people groups coming to the saving knowledge of Christ, and a wonderful daily walk and relationship that they too can have with Him.
