NGU Global Impact Conference: missionary profile
Greg Weaver, Staff Writer
Photo by Mary Elizabeth.
Pioneers missionary, Marti Wade, shared her experiences learning and sharing stories with those who are physically and spiritually isolated during North Greenville University’s recent Global Impact Conference.
Wade has been in missions for 21 years, with her most recent endeavor being a part of Pioneers. For more than 35 years, Pioneers’ passion has been to see God glorified among those who are physically and spiritually isolated from the gospel of Jesus Christ — from Muslim bedouins in the deserts of North Africa and animist villagers in the jungles of South America, to secular humanists in Eastern Europe and middle-class Buddhist urbanites in the sprawling cities of East Asia.
“’We’ve mostly been in Eastern Asia, I’ve also spent time in Turkistan and Pakistan, but I see myself as a mobilizer,” said Wade.
Wade feels that the most rewarding part of global mission work is the chance to build relationships, crossing those cultural barrels to heal hearts.
However, Wade has also experienced hardships in missions. “Initially going into a culture, you don’t understand what is going on around you. That’s what happens,” Wade said, adding, “We as Americans are used to understanding people and being understood and we have to die to that for a while.”
Despite these difficult experiences, Wade noted that she never felt like she was in an extremely dangerous situation. “Most of the places I have been in have a high value of hospitality so I generally felt safer there than in the West, where I wouldn’t have known most of the people there,” said Wade.
Wade’s favorite memory on the mission field was in Turkmenistan. “One time I was in Turkmenistan and we were speaking with an old Russian woman and we were talking to her, hearing about her life and experiences, and she said ‘no one has asked me about my life before,’ and there’s probably people all over the world that can say that; that no one has asked them about themselves so we wanted to be someone who helped build those relationships.”
