JOY MINISTRY WITH THE BASQUE – HISTORY

God’s initiation

We weren’t searching to add another child to the four we already had but when both the teenagers burst in the front door on the same day with the same question “Can we have a Spanish exchange student next year” we thought we ought to see if God’s hand was behind the requests. Our determination to do this was enhanced by a phone call from an adult friend asking if we would take a Spanish exchange student. When our family discussed the possible addition at the dinner table, they were all excited to add a new brother to the mix. We prayed and didn’t hear a “no” so the adventure began.

God’s revelation

When Hur came to us we believed he was Spanish; he had a Spanish passport and his exchange papers stated he was from Spain. But clues that Hur did not think of himself that way began the first day of school. He told us that the girl with the locker next to him was from Spain and wasn’t that terrible because she hated him. “Why?” According to Hur, she hated him because he was from the North of Spain and she from the South. Little hints such as this came our way but we did not understand what Hur was trying to communicate. Finally, after he received a T-shirt from us for Christmas that said “ESPANA” across the chest and he declared vehemently his hatred for the shirt, we realized that we needed some clearer communication.

“I’m Basque” Hur declared and then proceeded to tell us as well as he could what that meant. As our love for him grew, we spent time trying to find out what it meant to be Basque and we discovered that one thing it meant is that a Basque does not necessarily consider himself as Spanish.

Hur spent his days well in our house. He became more and more interested in the Gospel as he saw it expressed in our house and among our church family. He declared his desire to be a Christian and followed that desire with a commitment. Bill met weekly with Hur to go through scripture with him to help him grow up in Christ but we all knew that these discipling sessions would end soon as Hur had to return to his home. We tried to find an individual, parachurch ministry or church to continue the discipling but our search only confirmed what Hur had told us: “There’s nothing available in the Basque country”

Frustrated by our unsuccessful search for follow-up help for Hur, we followed him up with faxes; letters, phone calls and summer return visits from Hur. When the opportunity came for an extended visit to Hur, we jumped at the chance

In the Basque country, we found a small church attended by an American missionary. Taking the opportunity to talk to him, we discovered that the Basques were considered in mission circles to be an unreached people group – a group with no gospelizing church available in their own language and while the Catholic church might proclaim the Gospel, very few Basques, for political, cultural and social reasons, choose to enter the church to hear it. In fact, we discovered that while we had been living it up every night eating dinners with Hur’s relatives, this missionary of 23 years in the Basque country HAD NEVER BEEN IN A BASQUE HOME.

God’s prodding

God spoke loudly and clearly that we had stumbled upon something unique. While Basques were not open to outsiders, by virtue of us loving Hur well, we were family. As Hur’s cousins began to ask to come – some for a summer, some for a year – we realized that God had provided a path into a family and possibly into a whole people group. God pointed out that we were able to do what others hadn’t been able to do. Through bringing the mission field home to our family, we opened a door to people that refused to let in the in-place missionary.

Quickly, requests not just from Hur’s cousins but friends of the family came pouring in and that is when we realized we could not continue doing this on our own and as an aside to the other activities that made up our lives.

God’s provision

As we began to tell our friends Hur’s story and what God showed us about reverse missions, they wanted to be a part. Soon we found ourselves stepping beyond Hur’s family and friends and making the summer experience available to other Basque teens. We started with two and the next year jumped to ten. In 2005, there were 50 Basques here.

Not only did God provide kids but He also provided American families to “adopt” these kids. We discovered that wonderful families didn’t have to be families with teens, families with kids or even families with two spouses. The families that God provided were families interested in seeing the Gospel proclaimed to the ends of the earth and were willing to put their very hospitable flesh in the pot.

God provided in another way. The job of managing the summer became more than just one of us could carry. God brought Bill full-time into the ministry and gave us all we needed to flourish.

We discovered that the Basque kids who went to Young Life (an evangelical youth organization) loved the experience and parents asked us if their children could come back and go to camp again. God provided a connection with Young Life that allowed us to be put at the front of the line for precious camp space.

As the number of kids who wanted to come to the churches in our area exceeded the available families, God provided other churches that wanted to be a part of the mission. In each of those areas, God provided a Basque committee to make sure things ran well, families and kids were content and His name was proclaimed. That is where you enter the picture. Thank you for being a piece of the puzzle – God’s provision – so that more Basque kids can come to the states, love and be loved by a family and wrestle with the Gospel. As you continue on in the training process, we hope this brief background into the Basque ministry will provide you with an understanding of how so much of what the summer is about has been conceived by God.