A Letter From Colleen
I am a missionary. I have to keep saying that to convince myself. How does a retired woman from the corporate business world find herself in this position? Only God. In 2014 when Jon and I moved to Dothan we met Rick and Betty Stribling. Betty and I quickly became the best of friends. She told me about a mission she started 30 years before when she lived in Hawaii. She told me briefly about the plight of the Karen people and her mission trips to the refugee camps along the border of Burma. So, because I loved Betty and wanted to support her, I sponsored a child. And for years, that’s all I did. I paid my annual sponsorship fee. It didn’t really mean anything to me. This was a far off distant land, on the other side of the world to be exact.
In 2022, my friend kept getting sick and her medical team couldn’t figure out what was wrong. After several months and much testing, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that was literally affecting every area in her body. She bravely endured chemo treatments, even though they told her the best it would do would prolong her life, not cure her. She lingered for nearly a year until God finally took her home where she is now completely cured. One week before she passed on, her husband called and asked me to come to their house because Betty wanted to talk to me about something. At this time, she was too weak to sit up. She was lying on the couch so I sat on the floor beside her and held her hand.
She said, “I know this is a lot to expect of you and if you can’t, I completely understand, but I’m wondering if you would consider taking IAG when I’m gone and continue to help the children.” That moment was very surreal. There had never been any discussion about this. On the one hand I never expected it, but on the other hand I somehow knew it was coming. And at that very moment I was flooded with an overwhelming love for the Karen people, people that weren’t even real to me before this. I told her it would be my honor to carry on her life’s work and passion.
A few days later Betty was gone. Five months later Rick, who was unable to carry on in this life without her, also left this world.
So that’s how a woman, in the last quarter of her life finds herself doing something that she never dreamed about, never asked for and had no prior experience, finds herself a missionary. The ironic thing about it is that for the first time in decades I felt I was involved in something that I had no control over. I had no experience in missions, I knew nothing about foreign or international travel, I knew nothing about refugee camps. I had never even been on a domestic mission trip! You know what all that means? For probably the first time in my life I have had no choice but to fully rely on and trust my Father in Heaven. I need His wisdom, His knowledge, and His heart. And I am, for the first time in my life fully surrendered to his calling and purpose for my life. As my Pastor is fond of saying, nowhere in the Bible does it talk about a retirement plan of a condo on the beach where we spend our days picking up seashells.
So, rather than spending the rest of my days picking up seashells like I had planned, Jon and I hopped on a plane to the other side of the world. We got off the plane in Thailand, traveled to the refugee camps, and our lives were changed forever. These are no longer just people over there. These are our people, our family. We are affectionately known as pee and pu (which means grandma and grandpa).
I’ve had a couple of clear revelations recently. The things that we as American’s experience, even when we suffer complete devastation or catastrophe, are most times for a season in our lives. Sooner or later we usually come through it. But for the Karen people, this isn’t a season in their life. This is their life!
I’ve also found it can be easy to minimize God’s roll. A month or so ago, we had a sponsor for no particular reason, that we knew of, ask if IAG could use an extra $2,000. Well of course we could. So we promptly sent $1,000 to each of our camps instructing our contacts to purchase food for the people. They specifically targeted the elderly and those living alone. One of the elderly women that received food said she had been praying to God for extra blessing. Another real eye opener for me. A poor woman living on the other side of the world prayed. God heard that prayer. The Holy Spirit prompted someone in a nice comfortable home in America to give out of their excess to IAG. And IAG was used to answer her prayer. How beautiful and humbling is that!
It is now 2025, and we continue to see God’s hand in all we are doing as he brings the people and resources necessary to continue this mission. People that have knowledge and skills in areas where Jon and I are lacking. People with hearts of gold willing to give of their time and talents to fill in the gaps. So we continue, putting one foot in front of the other and fully relying on God to walk ahead of us. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but for today, we walk in obedience where our Father has placed us.