Tuesday night we were privileged to dine with some of our heroes, men and women who have served the Lord for most of their adult lives and who now at retirement age, rather than sitting back and letting the younger generation do “the Work of the Gospel,” continue to serve tirelessly as the Lord enables them.
Paul and Oreta Burnham arrived in the Philippines in May 1970. Because of their 39 years of faithful ministry, there is a thriving church in the Ibaloi tribe today. Burnhams raised their five children in the tribe and later four of those children and their spouses returned to the mission field to continue their parents’ legacy. Martin, their oldest son, gave his life for his Lord after he and Gracia were taken by insurgents in 2001. During that year long ordeal, Paul and Oreta parented Martin’s three children back in the US, providing physical and emotional support to the family. Although officially retired from New Tribes Mission, Paul and Oreta continue to make trips to the Philippines to assist in the translation of the Bible into the Ibaloi language and to reconnect with the believers When they are in the US, they provide encouragement and a place to stay when any of their 23 grandchildren needs them. We have been friends with the Burnham family since our own years in the Philippines and were delighted when we heard that they were coming to visit. They wanted to see the three families in McNeal whom they knew from the Philippines and what better way to accomplish that than to get together for a Filipino dinner?
Jim and Edna Ferguson are retired from NTMA and live here in McNeal. Before becoming a missionary, Jim was a crop duster pilot to support his family. After joining New Tribes Mission, he and Forest Estelle, another pilot, were challenged to start a flight program to provide air support for missionaries serving in tribal locations around the world. They purchased their first airplane in 1969 and based it out of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. From July 1972 to April 1976, Jim served as the pilot forthe flight program on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. He and Edna served Paul and Oreta by providing aviation service into and out of the Ibaloi tribe. Upon returning to the U.S., Fergusons continued to serve in leadership roles with Tribal Air/Communication (which later became known as NTM Aviation) in Grant, Nebraska and then McNeal, Arizona until their retirement in April 2002.
Monty and Kathie Rasmussen were challenged by Lee German to go to the island of Palawan in the Philippines to serve our tribal missionaries there. They first arrived on the field in November 1970 with their four children and served on both Palawan and Luzon until they were relocated to McNeal in 1986. Martin Burnham flew in and out of the tribe for years in Monty’s plane and claims that it was Monty’s example that challenged him to become a missionary pilot. We met Monty and Kathie in May of 1982 when we first arrived in the Philippines. They have been dear friends and close associates ever since and we praise the Lord every day for their example in our lives. Although they are at retirement age, Monty continues to work part time in our engine shop and Kathie and I co- teach the student ladies class every Tuesday morning.
As we sat around the dinner table and listened to these six reminisce about the early days, laughter sporadically erupted from the group, and we caught a glimpse of what it will be like in glory when we sit at the marriage supper of the lamb and feast with all those who have come before us in the faith.
As I thought of our time together the words of Steve Green’s song “Find Us Faithful” kept running through my mind:
We’re pilgrims on a journey of a narrow road, and those who’ve gone before us line the way,
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary, their lives a stirring testament of God’s sustaining grace.
Surrounded by so great a crowd of witnesses, let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who’ve gone before us, let us leave to those to those behind us,
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through Godly lives.
Chorus:
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way.
May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe, and the lives we lead inspire them to obey.
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.
After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone, and our children sift through all we’ve left behind,
May the clues that they discover, and the memories they uncover,
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find.
May God find us all faithful!
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