"Let us make our life count for eternity"
How did you get into missions?
Soon after deciding to follow Jesus, a friend who later become my mentor invited me to join him on an outreach in a rural part of South Africa. After many such trips I started to partly understand my role in the Kingdom of God and the fact that mission is an expression of my identity as His child.
What is your missions experience?
After many short term outreaches with my church I, was sent to Mozambique to live at a bible School to help learn culture and language and to support the local church we were connected to for two years. I later joined the Doulos and served onboard for 8 years and then went on to serve in OM RSA after I married Carlien. In 2010 we joined the Logos Hope where I am currently serving with the leadership team.
How do you deal with cross-culture?
I am thrilled to be in a cross-cultural, multicultural environment. Of course, at first a different culture seems challenging to understand and or become familiar with but trying to get to the keys within each culture helped me incredibly. It is a journey of intentionality and discovery. I thoroughly enjoy it. Being able to listen and hear the other culture is an important step for me.
Please share one story from ministry/mission field that influenced you most.
I was on an outreach to the middle part of Mozambique in December 1998. We drove 3 days to get to our location where we were to help practical support a single Dutch missionary running an orphanage in a very rural part of the country. My job was to install a window. As we were working, a young boy came running to his dad who was working with us, shouting for help. We calmed him down and heard that his older sister is quite ill due to a snake bite. We drove to see if we can help take the girl to the clinic. We got to the small village, found the girl (frothing at the mouth) and got her to the clinic. The doctor had to be called for as he was away. I remember praying earnestly that God would heal this young 17 year old girl who had a 6 week old baby. Hours later we got the news that she had died and I remember crying out to the Lord why this had occurred. In the middle of the African bush, I had a clear sense of the Lord challenging me with this thought, “Seelan, you look at the physical suffering of this girl and you weep so much. How much am I weeping, my heart burdened when I look at the spiritual condition of people.” This gave me perspective and a deep desire to be a part of God’s work on earth.
What is one thing you will always remember from this experience?
God is truly seeking to restore a lost, dishonored, fearful people to Himself.
If somebody wants to join OM, what words of advice do you have for them?
We are called only to live one life someone once said. Let us make it count for eternity. Take a step of faith and see what the Lord can do with a simple obedience. OM is a wonderful place to learn, grow, fail and impact the world.