Latest / Kenya Kronicles / Episode 3 - Kenya Kronicles - Friend Of The Ministry
Transcript
- Joshua Ngao: As we wrap up today's program, I want to leave you with this simple invitation. if the work of Fishers of Men Ministries has encouraged your heart or strengthened your faith, would you prayerfully consider becoming a partner in this mission? Your support brings hope, shares the gospel, cares for children and families, and makes an eternal difference in communities around the world. Every gift, every prayer, and every act of encouragement matters. To learn more or make a donation, visit FOM Ministries.org. That's FOM Ministries.org. Or call 5-6-3 8-2-3 58-19 And don't forget to stay connected with us. Be sure to like and follow the Fishers of Men Ministries Facebook page and subscribe to the Kenya Kronicles podcast wherever you listen or watch podcasts, so you never miss a story of God at Work. Thank you for watching and listening, thank you for praying, and thank you for helping us share the love of Christ with a world that desperately needs hope. God bless you, and we'll see you next time. Ken Peel: Welcome back to Kenya Chronicles. I'm Peel. for joining us today. And course, on the past couple of episodes, we've talked with Joshua Ngao who is the founder and president of Fishers of Men Ministries. Last episode, we spoke to Wayne Stuedemann who head of board ⁓ and also contributor and fan of the ministry. today, we're titling this Friend of the Ministry. And that's because we have a very sweet person that has been involved in this ministry for a very long time. her name is Sue Williams. Hi Sue, how are you? Sue Williams: Well, hello, I'm just fine, thank you. Ken Peel: Yeah, thanks for joining us today. Sure excited to hear your story on how you got involved Fishers of Men Ministries. So tell us a little bit about yourself for those that don't know you and then maybe go into how you got involved this ministry. Sue Williams: Well, I was born in Clinton but ⁓ due to my parents' employment I lived all over the country I to twelve different schools before I graduated high school. ⁓ So experienced a lot of people in a lot of places. And ⁓ I met my husband, Dale, ⁓ and we've married for ⁓ fifty three years ⁓ and Ken Peel: Congratulations. Sue Williams: He is my biggest supporter and ⁓ he takes good care of me. ⁓ I was at a Bible study and I heard about Kenya and a trip there and all of a sudden my hand just went up in the air and I said, I'd go Ken Peel: you ever been someplace like that before, that time or? Sue Williams: no, no. And I'm a person that gets lost in parking lots. ⁓ Ken Peel: ⁓ my goodness. So tell me a little bit about your faith. How did you come to the Lord, Sue Williams: well, we were always raised to go to church and Sunday school, when son was born ⁓ I gotten a wrist problem and so was at home and I had a cast on my wrist ⁓ and my came to visit and this was when I thirty years old and I'm now seventy nine. so I stood in my kitchen and I said to the Lord, Lord, if you can use me, all I have is my voice. It's ⁓ And next day I was called to be a lay reader at our church and from there it exploded and I a Sunday school teacher and then I went to different classes and ⁓ got interested in organizations and ⁓ became on the board of the Clinton ⁓ Women's A Glow, which is an international nondenominational ⁓ women's group around the world. And ⁓ them I went to conferences and I took courses I became a Christian counselor and just ⁓ traveled all over the United States ⁓ going to conferences and learning and building my faith and it got stronger and stronger. Ken Peel: Hmm. Wow, that's great. would you say that you're someone that kind of jumps into things quickly or does it take some convincing for you to do something? Sue Williams: Mm-hmm. I study it. I look at the people involved, the foundations. Ken Peel: Sure, yeah. And so take us back, if you will, kind of to the beginning. I know you talked about how the church was going to take a trip to Kenya and you raised your hand, but so take us back to the beginning and how you really kind of got involved with Fishers of Man and how that all came about. Sue Williams: Well, actually it wasn't through our church. I was at a a Bible study and a visiting pastor came through and he was the one that had been over there before and said that a trip was planned and if we would like to go. ⁓ And at time I was writing ⁓ a bible for a bilingual paper out of Rock Island ⁓ and he that, ⁓ maybe you could document and write down Ken Peel: Gotcha. Okay. Sue Williams: things and maybe you'd be interested to go. And that's the first I heard about it. we did some paperwork back and forth and it was decided I could go. Ken Peel: Great, so from there, then how did you get introduced to Joshua? Sue Williams: Well, first of all, ⁓ went to my husband and I said, I've been called. I I ⁓ the Lord wants me to go. And had two sons in school ⁓ and were not rich. We are not rich people. So ⁓ I did was cash in a life insurance policy to pay for my ticket. And I took five in two days. and lost luggage and arrived in Kenya. And Joshua was one of those that came to pick us up And ⁓ that's where met him first. Ken Peel: Okay, and so from there, he obviously told you about the ministry So how that all transpire? Sue Williams: Well, ⁓ he was pastoring a tiny little church, no electricity and ⁓ sides and no water anything like that and ⁓ he said there was a service so we went and did a service in his little church people just were so excited and I just him and and how he with all the people and And I thought, What a wonderful person, what a young man he is. And he was about thirty six at the time. Ken Peel: And so how did this whole situation happen to where you and he, came back to the United States Tell me a little bit about that story. Sue Williams: Well, we became very close in the time that I was there. we prayed for people, we cared for people and the love that the people had for us, they ⁓ just to circle us and ⁓ when had morning devotions, people would show up at the door just to hear us with our morning devotions. And ⁓ became and he says I would like to do so much for my people ⁓ for the ⁓ so I said, Well, when I get home I'll see what I can do ⁓ when I did get home I contacted the Kenyan embassy and the American Embassy and ⁓ it almost a year of back and forth and this Squeaky wheel gets attention and they got tired of hearing about me so they offered Joshua a visa. Ken Peel: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ⁓ That's fantastic. So earlier we talked about that you're not a person that just jumps into something. do research and you explore something. So did do that here? I mean, did you really kind of investigate a little bit before you got ⁓ super Sue Williams: Well, by the time Joshua came, was brand new. ⁓ mean this was you years ago. ⁓ And we were at the very beginning and just connections were made here ⁓ so that connected with different churches and got invitations. It's all the Lord. He orchestrated everything. I was just a conduit in this and and a connector ⁓ like a switchboard operator. Ken Peel: Right. Sue Williams: and connected people with people. Ken Peel: Yeah. That's great. So tell us a little bit about what you remember about that first time that, Joshua came and you were involved with him and getting this whole idea of how to take care of his people and the children and pastors. Talk a little bit about how all of that vision kind of happened. Sue Williams: Mm. Well, the night he sh arrived we were at the ⁓ Quad City Airport night and he to stay at our house. So we were the only ones there for him. And ⁓ brought home and I took him to prayer the next day, and things just came together. His desire to and when he went back home on that first time he wore four layers of clothes on the airplane so that he could give some away. ounce of his luggage was filled so that he could give. ⁓ there was one we were out went to a little farmer's market ⁓ and I picked up some bananas and I bought I brought back to the car. Ken Peel: Ha ha. Sue Williams: And he says to me, Where'd you get those? And I told him, and he says, How much did you pay? And I told him he grabbed those bananas and he went back to that stand and he shook his finger and he said, You overcharged this lady. And the way he runs this Fishers of Men ⁓ Every is accounted for. And I so impressed with his his constant it never about him. Ken Peel: You Yeah. Sue Williams: It was always about others. And I l fell in love with the people so much. They were so dear, so sweet. And they had so little. Ken Peel: Yeah, So Joshua, I want to ask you real quick about something from those days about your relationship with ⁓ Sue. Talk about that little bit. Joshua: About your relationship with Sue. Talk about that a bit. thank you. Thank you so much for doing this for us and having me here today. for Sue, I can say it's God who brought to ⁓ in nineteen ninety seven and ⁓ lot of things happened ⁓ as she was trying to get me here. The American embassy ⁓ tried to refuse to give me a visa the Lord orchestrated it and ⁓ I was able to come ⁓ One thing that she said is was funny, when I arrived at the airport, it was in February, I stepped out of the American Eagle that was parking ⁓ in the middle of the the airport and got out and back in the plane and it was very cold and I was not dressed for cold. then at the following day as we we were driving ⁓ for prayer, I thought she was she wanted to kill me because she was driving on the wrong side of road. And so that was with some the experiences that I had. But when I arrived the Lord opened door for me. And at that time I went to ⁓ all around the country. I had ⁓ speaking in California, ⁓ in ⁓ Seattle, Washington, ⁓ most ⁓ a lot states. So I went a lot to ⁓ to speak ⁓ and ⁓ that's how I I started but then ⁓ Sue and Dale They took me I can say they adopted me their own son that now we celebrate them as ⁓ parents. our parents are gone, but now we have parents who take care of us. They celebrate all our birthdays for our children and everything. So they are part of a big picture ⁓ of us. Ministry wise, she has been a board member since we started the ministry here. And ⁓ she's a faithful board member, being a secretary for the board ⁓ and she loves ⁓ ministry ⁓ in Kenya ⁓ has supported lot, but more because a prayer person. She prays a lot for the ministry. Ken Peel: Well, fantastic. So Sue, you've been supporting this ministry, you and your husband have been supporting this ministry for a long time now. What would you say keeps you engaged? What kind of sustains your commitment to the work that's being done here, Sue? Sue Williams: Well, before I even Joshua ⁓ my husband and I were first married in the early seventies, we a little girl in Philippines through it was a that was ⁓ going on that's similar where you supported a child and we did it for eighteen years. And ⁓ so with this concept I ⁓ that when you start something you stick it. you watch and you make sure that it is correct and right ⁓ and godly full of prayer ⁓ and thanksgiving, how we and care for and pray for our sponsors ⁓ because the lives are changed in these children to see it ⁓ is is beyond It just touches your heart and makes it grow. Ken Peel: Yeah, I that you've probably had a lot of memories, ⁓ a of, God moments in your involvement with this If you were to say just one of those ⁓ opportunities that God has put you or ⁓ situations that you have been what would you say would be story about that? Sue Williams: Hm. are just so many. right now, a little that wasn't even born when I was there. I met her parents. But she went through of Men all the way through school, went on to college, became teacher, ⁓ and now she teaches. And still support her. And was just married this a month And to see her grow to know how much her life was affected by just the little bit of support that we would give each month to care for her ⁓ make her life flourish makes it all worthwhile. Ken Peel: Yeah, talking with Sue Williams, who is one of the board members, but also one of the but influential supporters of Fishers of Men. This is Kenya Chronicles. Thanks for joining us on this episode. so, Sue, someone is watching or listening to this podcast right now and they're, they're feeling like you, ⁓ they to raise their hand. They want to get involved. They want to maybe either sponsor a child or they want to sponsor a water well or they want to just give in general to help the ministry wherever it needs, what encouragement would you give them right Sue Williams: I would say is so worth it. when you figure ⁓ to a child it's like two dollars a day. And that their education, their spiritual leadership, their food, housing, clothing, everything two dollars a day and invests in something. ⁓ Now Before we only see what's going on on television. Few of us are gonna be able to travel there in person. But when you have that connection you write back and forth with your child and we a ⁓ opportunity bless a life ⁓ and a life and help them to help the people are all around them. It is worth it. to stay with that and just look to the time when heaven calls me home and I see all the people were affected just I said yes. ⁓ Ken Peel: And so Sue, as we wrap up today, what do you hope that as we've talked and you've told your story about how meeting Joshua, ⁓ how him to the States, how you saw his heart for helping other people and how you continue to see that today, what's one thing that you would like to have people take away from your story today? Sue Williams: would say how important it is. we hear all the time about everything is about ours as individuals. But that's the world talking. When God talks, he says, Help others. And this is so important. ⁓ And give to the general need, when your own household sees the rise in prices, we forget it costs so much more to Buy a bag of rice, postage, just to send our mail, our letters to the children and back, to keep the lights on in the office. penny is and appreciated, ⁓ and good for us to give. Ken Peel: Yeah, amen. Well, today on Kenya Chronicles, you've heard just a glimpse of a story that has been in the making for a long time. We've talked with Sue Williams, woman who saw a need, who felt God tug at her heart, who raised her hand to say, yes, want to go and serve people and is making a difference even today, feeding children and building schools and digging wells and planting churches and many things over the years. Sue, I just want to say thank you for coming on this ⁓ and sharing your heart. And we can tell just by listening to your voice that this means so much to you and what you've been doing. And I too can't wait until we get to glory one day and see the impact that you and Joshua and everyone involved in this ministry has made. So thank you for... taking the time to join us on Kenya Chronicles. Sue Williams: And thank you, Ken, for all you do. Thank you for getting the word out. It's so important.