those who soon returned home un able to cope with “ the frustration and discouragement, disappoint ment in evangelism, failure to hurdle the language and cultural barriers, incompatibility with fel low missionaries and nationals and a general, underlying lack of spiritual depth and maturity.” Dr. Smith believed that through a practical, firsthand experience in the foreign mission field, young people who wanted to serve their Lord would be far better equipped to fight, not only the physical hardships, but also “ the more subtle and far more dangerous at tacks of the enemy.” With this purpose, P r a c t i c a l Missionary Training was founded and has offered this effective summer pro gram each year. Today PMT offers this experi ence to c o l l e g e sophomore-age young people who are spiritually mature and who are sincerely seeking the Lord’s guidance both daily and concerning their life’s work. PMT states that trainees must be “missionary volunteers, i.e., willing to serve the Lord wherever He might lead, at home or abroad, ready to trust God for every need.” During the course of the summer, the trainees write a prayer letter to those at home who have financially or prayer fully supported them and to those interested in the work o f PMT. Many times they have the oppor tunity to share their experiences in their home church also. This is just one phase of the practical training in missionary work. Each summer a group of train ees travel to a foreign country. In recent years they have gone to Mexico and Central America, where they visited missionaries and were involved at least par tially in the routine of daily mis sionary life and work. Led by Rev. Ken Bemis, PMT Director, and Rev. Ken Royer, the group first travels to Mexico City where they study during a two-week orientation program at Wycliffe headquarters. Here they are giv en training and background in various areas ranging from Mexi
can history and Spanish to good manners and homiletics; from the work before language trans lation can begin to medical work and personality tes ts . These weeks beg in the concentrated summer study of God’s Word and what He has to say to each in dividual concerning this experi ence. Many trainees feel that one of the greatest values o f the summer is the personality test given dur ing the first week. The young peo ple have an opportunity during this time to examine themselves objectively. Throughout the sum mer, as each individual reacts to various typical missionary situa tions, he is able to see his response from this perspective. Before ever reaching the field as a full-fledged missionary, trainees can under stand and develop their personali ties, allowing the Holy Spirit to develop their characters. After Mexico City, the group travels on throughout Cen tra l American countries : Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nica ragua. Trainees visit nearly every type of missionary work — Bible institutes f o r the na t iona l s , schools for missionary children, Christian camps, b o a r d in g schools, and village churches. The group has many opportunities to perform various duties o f mis sionary life from preaching, sing ing, giving testimonies and object lessons to cooking meals, working on church and home construction, picking fruit and typing. During a two-week visit to Wycliffe’s Jungle Camp, the trainees live in huts and are put to work with the routine duties o f the camp — attending linguistic classes, pre paring three meals a day for 70 people (which included butcher ing the cow and canning it for later consumption), swimming, canoeing, heating and sterilizing water, and hiking 24 miles over night in the rain. While attend ing Clinic Classes, the group gave shots to each other and learned about diseases o f the jungle. According to Rev. Ken Bemis,
preparing missionaries
for the TASK
by Peggy Sanders
O n J une 20, 1969 thirty-five anxious, earnest young people converged on El Paso, Texas, and prepared for a two-month journey through Mexico and Cen tral America. They wou ld be trained in methods for future work, analyze and develop their personalities, train themselves to combat their opposition, and sub merge themselves in the beliefs which dominate and guide their lives. The future profession o f these youths, however, is missionary work at home or in a foreign country, and the personality study during the summer is to help them r e a l i z e each individual’s own strong and weak points as they work closely with others daily. The enemy they are pre paring to fight is Satan who works through emotional exhaus tion and discouragement to de feat Christ’s missionaries. These young people immerse themselves in Scripture in order to know better the reasons for what they believe and to overcome those things which would hinder their Holy Spirit-directed lives. The story o f this group actual ly began in 1949 when Dr. Oran H. Smith, then serving as assis tant pastor of Chicago’s Moody Church, became concerned about the rate of missionary failures—
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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