JAARS Volunteers Speak |
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| Here are a few stories of JAARS Volunteers. | ||
David and Shirley Aldridge |
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Shirley Aldridge kept a list of places she wanted to visit and JAARS
was on it. During a 1996 summer vacation trip, she and husband David
decided to check out the place to see what they would find. They
expected not much more than an airport where pilots trained.
To get there, they took a series of country roads and wondered, “What could possibly be way out here?” Arriving at a beautiful 600-acre campus with much more than an airport totally surprised them. “It was wonderful,” Shirley says. “We stayed over night and took a tour the next morning. The JAARS bug bit us, for sure!” Read More |
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Kent and Nancy Allain |
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| What’s one more change of address when you have moved 25 times while in the military? That was the question Kent and Nancy Allain asked themselves as they weighed the possibility of a permanent move to the JAARS Center. Read More | ||
Aja Angel |
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“It’s exciting to know that what you’re doing is critical to the work of Bible translation.” Aja Angel feels passionately about what she’s doing at JAARS. Aja (pronounced “Asia”) was introduced to JAARS when her home church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, brought a group of people to JAARS Day, an all-day open house event. During that day, Aja learned about the diversity of needed skills at JAARS and how JAARS utilizes volunteers. Aja felt compelled to respond. Read More |
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Dick and Ann Baer |
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| Moody Bible Institute, Wycliffe Associates banquets and thirty years of praying for two missionary couples committed to Bible translation were all part of God’s design in leading Dick and Ann Baer to JAARS. In 1992 the recently retired couple was eager to become involved in some type of ministry for the Lord. The JAARS Center was an obvious choice and they arrived on campus to spend the winter volunteering. Read More | ||
Larry and Terry Blackwell |
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| “Are you calling us, Lord?” That’s what Larry and Terry Blackwell prayed in 1994 after listening to keynote speaker Henry Blackaby, co-author of Experiencing God: How to Live the Full Adventure of Knowing and Doing the Will of God. His challenge to get involved in missions work evoked an excited and positive response from the Blackwells. But finding a way around obstacles to their involvement seemed daunting. Read More | ||
Sue Bormuth |
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| Sue Bormuth had read Wycliffe publications over the years, but never suspected she would one day get involved in supporting Bible translation. In the spring of 1995, she and her husband moved to North Carolina to be near their adult son. Only a few months later, her husband suddenly fell ill and passed away. Alone in a new place, her children grown, Sue wondered, “Now what will I do with my life?” Read More | ||
Glenn and Jo Carter |
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| The advertisement jumped off the page, “Do you want to serve the Lord for a couple of weeks? a year? the rest of your life??? Call Wycliffe Bible Translators. They may have a place for YOU!”
Glenn and Jo Carter opted to take an early retirement although their future plans were uncertain. All they knew was that they did not want to spend the rest of their lives basking in the sun, playing golf, shuffleboard or cards! So Jo called Wycliffe and was referred to JAARS. Subsequently, in 1990 they traveled from their home in Nebraska to Waxhaw, N.C., for their first six-month stay as volunteers at the center, a decision supported by family and friends. Read More |
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John and Judi Clarke |
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| John and Judi Clarke toured the JAARS center and caught what they call “JAARS fever.” John noted the Construction and Maintenance Department and said, “Hey, that’s what I’ve been doing all my life. I could do that.”" Judi, with experience as a rental agent saw the Housing Department and said, “That’s where I can use my skills to support Bible translation.” Read More | ||
John and Marlene Custer |
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| Is it possible that God could use a former funeral director to further His kingdom? “You bet,” John Custer replies. “From childhood my wife, Marlene, and I were captivated by missions and cross-cultural experience. As a married couple, our desire has been to remain open to wherever the Lord wanted to ‘plug us in.’ ” Read More | ||
Theresa Custis |
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| In 2002, after a move to Charlotte and a divorce, Theresa Custis had lost everything: her husband, her job, her big house, her luxury car, and her 401k. A self-described corporate woman and “carnal” Christian, her job skills included information technology, photography, and videography. Read More | ||
Thom Elkinton |
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| Thom Elkinton leaned forward on the edge of his seat, blue eyes riveted to the closed circuit TV broadcasting from the Houston Space Center. The screen showed an astronaut repairing a damaged satellite. He was able to operate independently of the shuttle thanks to the newly developed Manned Maneuvering Unit. Thom and his colleagues were responsible for designing and fabricating the unit and were only too aware of the perils if anything should malfunction. Only when the astronaut stepped safely back into the shuttle did the tension break and the celebration begin. Everything had gone perfectly. Read More | ||
Lloyd and Linda Harder |
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| Truck driver Lloyd Harder scratched his head and tried for one last time to solve the logistics problem presented by his latest assignment. One missionary family. A house full of furniture. Plus two vehicles. Lloyd’s job was to relocate all of the above from Toledo, Ohio to Van Nuys, California. Read More | ||
Debra Kieft |
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| Most people are passionate about something. For Debra Kieft, an attractive mother in her forties, it’s art. Working on a master’s degree in art administration from the University of North Carolina, Debra searched for a summer internship to meet course requirements. She had heard of JAARS and its Museum of the Alphabet at Church of Charlotte where she attends. Making a call to Arthur Lightbody, an assistant to JAARS’ president, she learned of the possibility of involvement with the museum. Read More | ||
Rollie and Beth Mersfelder |
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With retirement approaching, Rollie and Beth Mersfelder were certain that God was calling them to full time service—from the deck of a sailboat. After their thirty years in the classroom, they wanted to sail throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America. Then they would tie up to a village dock and use their God-given skills, good health, and energy to help people they encountered. Their purpose was to “live for and serve Him.” Read More |
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Jerry and Jan Reid |
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| They call them RVs (Recreational Vehicles). But we
could call Jerry and Jan Reid’s RV an RVV—a Retired
Volunteers’ Vehicle.
After Jerry took early retirement five years ago, he and Jan joined RVICS (Roving Volunteers in Christ’s Service—and used a significantly smaller RV—a Travel Trailer. For the next three years, every three to four weeks they packed-up that 32-foot-long and 8-foot-wide Travel Trailer and drove to different sites to volunteer: Toccoa Falls College in Georgia, Children’s Ranch in Orlando, a city rescue mission in South Carolina, retreat and conference centers…. Read More |
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Mike and Jan Rogers |
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| A sign in Latin on Mike Rogers’ office door says: Servus Servorum Dei “Servant of the Servants of God.” That sums up how he and wife Jan see their assignments at JAARS. As a corporate manager with an airline company, Mike experienced how able assistants saved him time and effort. Now in his retirement years, Mike is happy to take a back seat and lend a hand to JAARS computer department supervisors, course developers and instructors. Mike oversees classroom reservations and set-up, computer movements, purchasing office supplies, emailing—just whatever needs to be done. “None of it is glamorous, but overall, it frees up others to do their jobs, and that’s what I like,” Mike says. Read More | ||
Matt and Stacie Rogie |
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| “Where else can you participate in a domestic mission with such a huge global impact?” That was the motivation for Matt and Stacie Rogie to lead a church group to JAARS. Read More | ||
David Sampson |
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| College graduation is usually a time when family come
to see the graduate receive a diploma. For David Sampson it was
different. David graduated with a major in Mechanical Engineering and
a minor in Computer Science, then returned home.
“My parents are Wycliffe translators. I went to Africa to help them and other missionaries in the area in technical areas for a year and then came to the JAARS Center. I’m here helping while seeking God’s mind on what He wants me to do long term,” David says. Read More |
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Sarah Sherrouse |
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| Sarah is her name. But she’s neither plain nor
tall. Sarah Sherrouse, who stands only 5 feet 6 inches tall in her
garden shoes, is nevertheless every bit as brave as the star of Sarah,
Plain and Tall. She takes on wasps’’ nests, poison ivy, and
three-feet-long copperheads single-handed.
Well, not exactly single-handed. Read More |
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Daniel Von Fange |
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| Daniel Von Fange could be described as a self-taught computer whiz-kid. For the last several months, he has volunteered his skills to JAARS three days a week. First assigned to Information Technology, he built a web application for IT personnel. That took three months and involved learning a new programming language. Of that experience Daniel says, “Fun!” Read More | ||
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JAARS, Inc. PO Box 248 Waxhaw, NC 28173 |
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