Teen-agers take to the jungle

Teen-agers take to the jungle

U.S. teen-agers are getting out of the pews and into the jungle, living a simulated missionary experience courtesy of JAARS, a North Carolina-based missions group.

...Getting a taste of missionary life is the purpose of weeklong Jungle Jump Off camps on the grounds of JAARS headquarters in Waxhaw, 35 miles southeast of Charlotte. The young people learn about the realities of missions work and are encouraged to consider that God may be calling them to become missionaries.

...The Jungle Jump Off camps cover everything from the training missionaries receive to what happens when they get to the mission field. The teen-agers learn how missionaries in a tribal setting live, work, interact with native people, and adapt to new cultures, Dori and Rick Pfizenmaier, who run the program, told Religion Today.

..."We take them out of their comfort zones," Dori said. Each camp has four champas, or primitive stilt homes, and a cooking pit and mud stoves where meals are prepared. There is no hot water, electricity, or telephone service.

...Those conditions are similar to what Wycliffe translators experience when living among remote groups in Africa, Latin America, and South Pacific nations, Rick Pfizenmaier said. Teens sleep on wood floors or in hammocks, cook and eat in the open, and do building projects and other tasks. Rides in small planes and helicopters provide a glimpse of missionary travel, he said.

...Campers observe ethnic customs at lunch. An African meal of rice and ground nut stew is served and campers are cautioned not to offend their hosts with reluctant looks or negative comments, Dori said. In accordance with African tradition, girls serve the boys before they can eat, and everyone sits on the ground and eats without utensils, using only the right hand because the left hand is reserved for hygienic tasks.

...Missionaries impersonating tribal people, complete with native dress, interact with the campers. The teen-agers experience the difficulty, even with a translator on hand, of explaining the Christian faith to someone who does not speak their language. "Just learning their culture was hard. But if you want a chance to tell them about Jesus, that's what you have to do," a camper from Roanoke, Va., told the Charlotte Observer.

...They may want to become part of a support ministry, which is what JAARS does. It assists Wycliffe Bible Translators by providing technical, mechanical, transportation, and personnel support to its missionaries around the world. Wycliffe has translated Scriptures into more than 500 languages and is working on projects in more than 1,000 language groups, JAARS said.

...On the final day, participants get a glimpse of the entire missionary experience. They go through the motions of applying to a missionary agency, taking cross-cultural and language training, obtaining permission to work in a foreign country, putting up with bureaucratic red tape, and gaining the trust of the indigenous people. "They get a chance to live all that they have been learning about in the past week," Rick said.

...The teen-agers are encouraged to consider that they might be called to the mission field. Bible studies cover the need to preach the gospel to the world, and services include talks by the Pfizenmaiers, missionaries home on furlough, and their children, they said. The activities are geared to help them "be open to the idea that God might want them to serve in some capacity," Rick said.

...They take tours of other JAARS facilities and its two museums, watch video presentations about the work of Wycliffe and JAARS, and meet missionaries. They learn the importance of support services such as transportation, construction, computer skills, and media production.

..."You don't have to be a doctor or a pastor to be a missionary," Rick said. "We have people working in administration and personnel and public relations and finance and communications. Whatever your vocation is, God can use it to help missions."

Teen-agers take to the jungle