Faith in Practice

Jim and Barbara's minds are often a million miles away … or at least a few thousand.

And their bodies will soon follow.

As missionaries for the international organization, The Mission Society, Jim and Barbara Gray have traveled the world. From Ecuador to Canada, Mexico to Meridian, Miss., together they've shared the Gospels with strangers, witnessed heart-breaking poverty and battled everything from hurricanes to SARS.

"You've got to have an adventurous spirit," Jim says, sitting on the couch of the couple's Anniston home. "And the key word, in any kind of mission field … 'flexibility.' Things simply never go according to plan."

Jim and Barbara will be crossing their fingers and praying for the best once again as they head to Les Cayes, Haiti ,in mid-June. One can only hope things go better the second time around.

Last August, when they traveled to Les Cayes the first time, Jim and Barbara were greeted by Hurricane Dean. The Category 4 storm pummeled Haiti with strong winds and rain, but a greater catastrophe was averted as Dean passed some 50 miles farther south than originally predicted.

And now Jim and Barbara are ready for a return visit, this time with perhaps a greater understanding and appreciation of both the social and political climate of the area.

"We know now what we're getting into," Barbara says with a shrewd grin. "But I'm sure there will still be a few surprises."

And while the couple is looking forward to rekindling past friendships, their return journey to Les Cayes isn't solely to evangelize. During the first of their two-week stay, Jim and Barbara will be teaching a computer-based, English as a Second Language program, offered to pastors and students through American University of the Caribbean. The software program, created by the Virginia-based, nonprofit organization Project Light, uses biblically based stories as a means of outreach for missionaries.

"Through this program God has the opportunity to not only teach a new language but to teach a love for the Gospels," Barbara says. "And the tutors who help to facilitate the program are being reached too. It's working all the way around."

The Project Light software is the same that Jim and Barbara initially offered training with last August and are using this upcoming trip as an opportunity to check-in with past students while seeking out new ones.

"It's a joy when we can help people improve their lives, while also introducing them to the love of Jesus Christ," says Barbara, who also works at the Learning Center at Faith Presbyterian Church. "People's lives are so impacted, and it lasts long after we leave."

"We give them the tools," Jim adds, "and then they have ownership. What they choose to do with it is their decision."

In addition to the software training, Jim and Barbara will spend a week with a pastor named Joas Cadet, whom they met in 2006 when the young man attended a SiFat (Servants in Faith and Technology) training seminar in Lineville, where Jim and Barbara were discussing the Project Light software and its value to missionaries.

Though only about 45 minutes away, because of roads that are "virtually nonexistent" it takes upwards of three hours to actually reach Gross Morne, the tiny mountain village where Cadet serves as pastor, Jim says. And the only source for good drinking water is up to six miles away.

"Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere," Jim says. "For people who haven't been there … it's unimaginable."

But for Jim and Barbara such adventures have become a way of life. Jim's parents were also missionaries and he was actually born on a Navaho Indian reservation.

"It's in his blood," Barbara says with a wink.

Their first mission trip was in 1993, where they, along with their four children spent time on a Choctaw Indian reservation in Meridian, Miss.

"That was really a life-altering experience for us," Barbara says. "The whole family was exposed to a new world, a new culture and a new way of life.

"We left feeling like we'd found a fresh purpose in life."

While each of their children is involved in some way in various mission fields, Jim and Barbara, as much as they enjoy staying home, strongly intend to keep traveling.

"This is the path that God has put us on," Barbara says. "All we can do is follow what he's laid out for us."

For more information

• Jim and Barbara Gray are asking for donations of used lap tops for their upcoming trip to Haiti. Anyone willing to contribute, contact them at grayb@projectlight.org

• To learn more about the English as a Second Language program, contact either Jim or Barbara Gray at 835-9799.

Links

• Project Light: www.projectlight.org

• The Mission Society: www.missionsociety.org