Overseas volunteers are workers who have acquired specific expertise often needed by LBTC. They may not be able to commit to long term mission work or may not have linguistics skills that are needed to become a staff missionary.

However they are able to offer specialized talents to LBTC perhaps on a short term basis. Their assignment can be brief like 2-4 weeks or longer like 2-3 years depending on the task which they perform and the time commitment they accommodate.

Overseas volunteers are not employees (staff) of LBTC but LBTC helps them raise necessary funding to support themselves while overseas; prepares them for the mission field; and acts as a liaison when associate organizations are involved in their assignments.

LBTC matches a volunteer’s skills with positions available overseas. For example, sometimes LBTC missionaries lack skills to accomplish a very specific task that is not directly related to their LBTC translation assignment but critical nonetheless to managing their home, family or workplace. Overseas volunteers are matched then to a missionary. This process may take a bit of time.

Below are three examples of how overseas volunteers have served effectively. We hope you too will be encouraged to consider this type of assignment and heed a call that God may be extending to you to be involved with Lutheran Bible Translators of Canada!

Technical Support

When LBT missionary Paul Federwitz found himself lacking an understanding of accounting practices, he could not link his students to possible uses of Excel in their day-to-day workplaces. So he encouraged his former supervisor and long-time friend, Scott Schuth, to come to Ghana as a short-term instructor in this specialized area. Scott as a volunteer missionary raised enough support for his June 2008 trip through help from LBT.

Missionary Kid Tutor

Another example, Christina Riddle is working as a volunteer tutor for little Karissa Esala, and making life a lot easier for Nathan and Sarah, Karissa’s parents and LBT missionaries in Ghana. Family support like Christina's frees Nathan and Sarah to work uninterrupted and assures them that Karissa is safe and well-cared for.

It can also add some entertainment for the family. The Esalas are amused by Christina's sense of humour. In Christina’s words, the following describes a brief encounter she had with an unwelcomed kitchen helper: I was baking bread on Thursday and went to the drawer for a measuring cup. A very cute mouse and I were very surprised to see each other, as evidenced by his scramble to flee and my very loud yelp…If I decided to kill things or not based on how cute they were, he would have been saved. But that’s not how I operate…By the time they (the Esalas) arrived, Little Mouse had wisely fled…”

Librarian

In this third example, the overseas volunteer worked through two or more organizations to perform her work.

Carol Martin, a member of St James Lutheran Church in St Jacobs, had been retired for several years. Looking for a new challenge, Carol decided she wanted to serve in Cameroon using her organizational and office skills. After a skills evaluation, she was matched and accepted a position as a librarian assistant. This assignment required Carol to work jointly with Lutheran Bible Translators of Canada, SIL Cameroon and the Rain Forest International School.

She raised her funding through LBTC and then LBTC "seconded" her to work with SIL who placed her at Rain Forest, a school managed by SIL. Carol's duties included assisting students with their studies, library management duties, preparing bulletin boards and teaching piano lessons to two sisters who wished to continue their lessons while attending the school.

Could you be a Scott, Christina or Carol? Are you a teacher, maintenance/ construction worker, housekeeper, bookkeeper, electronic/computer whiz, office staff or reception? Are you willing to serve the Lord by providing support to LBT missionaries?

• teaching/tutoring
• house parents/hospitality
• computer programmers and technicians
• maintenance and construction including specialists in alternative electrical generating systems
• bookkeepers, receptionists and general office staff
• printing

To learn more about what it takes to become an overseas volunteer with LBTC, contact LBTC.

• Laurie Lonneberg of Mission, B.C. who traveled overseas three times to build houses
  for missionaries in Sierra Leone and Cameroon
• Norman and Beverly Mossman of Burnaby, BC who printed Liberian Bible story booklets
• Dorothy Lueze of Kitimat, BC who spent six months in Cameroon tutoring the Weber children
• Frank and Margaret Pachal who spent several months in Sierra Leone assisting LBTC missionaries
• Judy Selkirk (and son Jesse) who spent a school term in Guatemala City teaching missionary children.

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