By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
It’s fall and while much of the area is focused on harvesting crops, the Christian and Missionary Alliance churches in Galion and Bucyrus are focused on a harvest of a different kind. The churches are having their annual missions conferences and as they have for several years are sharing missionaries for several special events.
“They (church members) have been giving faithfully to the Great Commission fund, they have been giving faithfully to a movement and to hear reports of how that’s going to different places,” veteran missionary Tim Westergren said about the value of the yearly meetings. “They have made an investment. What’s the return? They don’t receive it, but what’s the eternal return from their perspective as Christians and so it’s an exciting time.”
Westergren and JoLee Bubna are this year’s two touring missionaries visiting this week to share with congregations of both churches. Westergran and his wife Marilyn have been in Spain for 19 years, specifically Madrid, They have three daughters who are now all in college and when they return after a year on furlough, it will be a new experience.
“We’re going back without them,” Westergren said.
Bubna, along with her husband Tim, have also been on a foreign field for several years. They have been assigned to Brazil and the city of Sau Paulo for over 26 years. The Bubna’s three sons are now all grown with families of their own in the states.
“Our family, and our children, have felt very privileged to be able to be bi-lingual, to see a different culture, to have seen of the things you hear about, to be able to experience and see firsthand,” Bubna said about raising a family in a culture different than the one she grew up in, “It has opened our eyes to a lot of things and given us a different perspective that is priceless.”
Bubna grew up in the Midwest in Iowa, yet she says she’s always been sensitive to missions. She admits her calling was answer to the prayers of her grandfather who had hoped one of his children would serve as a foreign missionary. She met her husband Tim while both were students at Crown college in St. Paul, Minnesota.
My husband has been field director for 20 of those (26) years,” Bubna said. “Our job was to mainly walk alongside the pastors.”
The Bubnas also taught at a seminary in Brazil. JoLee says they have very few government restrictions when it comes to travel or to sharing their faith with one exception. She says the Amazon jungle area is limited both for the safety of the missionaries as well as the government’s desire to protect the culture of the natives there.
Westergren’s background, as well as his ministry, is different than Bubna’s. He was raised by missionary parents and grew up in Vietnam, He has a brother who also followed in his parents footsteps and is currently ministering in Cambodia. In fact, Westergren said, one of his daughters was also considering going into missions work.
Like Bubna, he met his spouse while in college. He and Marilyn went to Wheaton.
“We both had somewhat of a burden for Europe,” Westergren said of the couple’s call.
Westergren said as tough as the economy has been in the United States of late, it has been even worse in Europe, particularly Spain where they have seen many people leave the country in search of work and something better.
“We should have had a government shutdown. We’ve been living above the debt ceiling too long,” Westergren said about the Spanish economy. “It affects all the people we work with of course.”
Westergren says the downturn began in the construction field which had carried the economy for years. Inflation and overbuilding brought the industry down with a crash and has resulted in an exodus which has affected the church in that country because a significant part of the population in Madrid are foreign nationals that are looking for work in other parts of Europe.
Westergren and his wife spent much of their ministry as church planters. They also have a ministry of marriage and family counseling as well as teaching in a seminary there.
“I’ve not been involved in administration until the last three years,” Westergren said. While he wants to teach, he also wants to keep working in the local church. “It keeps you sharp.”
“There’s a lot of pressure on families,” Westergren said about life in Spain.
Neither Bubna nor Westergren are strangers to the area. Bubna’s husband was part of the missions conference in Galion and Bucyrus in 2008. Westergren also toured here 15 years ago.
Bubna said the missions conferences are not just an opportunity to report, but also to share a common call among all believers.
“The theme of this conference is ‘Be Light’. That’s what God called us here to be, to be hope and to be light,” Bubna said. “That thing of reaching out to be His hands and his feet here on the earth.”
Galion’s missions conference continues today with a pray fellowship with Bubna and a catered meal at 6 this evening with both missionaries. On Wednesday there will be a men’s lunch at Payne’s Pizza with Westergren with closing services beginning at 6 for children and 7 for adults.
The conference begins Thursday in Bucyrus with activities every day through Sunday when that conference concludes.