Episode 218

Have you ever recommended a Christian fiction book, only to preface the recommendation with tons of warnings, disclaimers, or caveats? Why are there so few books in that genre that can be recommended without reservation? Today on the Removing Barriers podcast, we interview a guest who at one point wondered the same thing and decided to do something about it. Bethany Klassen was born in Canada but grew up in Mexico after her parents obeyed God’s call on their lives to serve the Mennonite population there as missionaries. An avid reader from her youth, Bethany always struggled to find books that exalted Christ and did not pollute the reader with questionable content or doctrine. She is now a talented author that has stepped into the Christian fiction space to create books with biblical (not just moral) values, encouraging stories, and the shameless exaltation of Christ. Her works include Sins of the Past, Tomorrow’s Promise, and the newly published Seven Seconds. Listen in as we interview her about her upbringing as a missionary kid, her motivations and goals in writing Christian fiction, and the future endeavors God has in store for her. We will also be giving away one of her novels, so stay tuned for details on how to score a copy of your own.

[Bethany]

The verse that helped me was, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. And for me, it was just as simple as that. Once I realized it and I studied it on my own, I just had to come to that conclusion. If you believe, you have life, and if you don’t believe, you don’t have life. And it’s as simple as that.

[Jay]

Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers Podcast. I’m Jay and I’m MCG. And we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

This is episode 218 of the Removing Barriers Podcast. And in this episode, we will be sitting down with Bethany Klassen. Bethany is an author of three books and many more to come. Bethany, it is a pleasure to have you and welcome to the Removing Barriers Podcast.

[Bethany]

Thank you so much for having me.

[MCG]

All right, thank you for placing us in your busy schedule.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removingbarriers.net slash donate. Removing barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

All right, so Bethany, you’re an author. Congratulations.

[Bethany]

Thank you so much.

[MCG]

Great. And also you told us you were recently engaged.

[Jay]

Oh, congratulations.

[Bethany]

Yes. Thank you.

[MCG]

I won’t ask you why he’s not here, but we don’t want to see him anyway.

[Bethany]

Yeah, it’s actually a long distance relationship, so.

[MCG]

Oh, that’s fine. My wife and I did a long distance relationship as well, and we’re married now, so it works.

[Bethany]

Okay. Yes, it definitely does.

[MCG]

All right. So tell us about your journey, the books you have written, the books that are available. How did you get into becoming an author, especially a Christian author, which we don’t normally see too often. And not only that, not just a Christian author, but someone who holds to the fundamentals of the fate.

[Bethany]

Well, I’ve always enjoyed writing, literally since I learned how to write. We were actually on deputation at the time, and so I was in the back of the van, and I was learning how to write, and I had horrible, horrible penmanship at the time. But yeah, my mom would yell from the front of the van which letters I needed to make the word that I was asking her about. I would ask her, how do you spell this word, and then she would tell me the letters, and we would just yell back and forth in the van. And I would, write it out and I would write my stories. And so that’s how I started. I’ve always enjoyed story writing. And yeah, so it was always a hobby for me. And then as I got older, I also really enjoyed reading. And so as I was reading, I realized that there wasn’t as much fiction in the genre that I enjoyed, that was good Christian fiction as what I would have liked to see. And so I realized that there was a need for it. Especially because there is a lot of Christian fiction, and yet a lot of the fiction that would come within the category of Christian fiction is still not the Christian fiction that I was hoping for. It would be called Christian fiction, but it wasn’t very deep. Like there was nothing, no deep truths brought out in the fiction. And often there were things that I didn’t agree with, even though it was called Christian fiction. So I just realized that there was really a need for good, solid Christian fiction that brought out good truths And yet, I didn’t want to write anything that was like too preachy, where you felt like you were reading a sermon by reading fiction, right? Because people want fiction to be entertaining. So I tried to write stories that are full of action, very interesting to read, and yet where there’s a clear gospel message brought out throughout the book, but in a way that it’s brought throughout the story, not just, you where you feel like you’re reading a sermon. So that was my goal and something I enjoyed. And so I decided to, my dad encouraged me and my parents encouraged me to try self-publishing. And so I decided to try that. And it was a lot of work. It is a lot of work, and yet it’s been totally worth it. And I’ve had so much fun with it. And I just feel very blessed to be able to do what I enjoy doing as a side job and make a little bit of money with it, but then also just provide good fiction for people to read. So yeah, it’s been a lot of fun.

[MCG]

All right. You need to tell us some of the titles you have and how can folks get a hold of these titles.

[Bethany]

Well, I publish through Amazon. So the easiest way is just to go on Amazon and look up my name, Bethany Claussen, and my books should come up. I also have a website. It’s called bethanyclaussenbooks.com. And I have all of my information on there, contact information. My books are also on there with a link to the Amazon listing. And that would be the easiest way to get in touch with me.

[MCG]

All right. Well, let me see. So I’m looking at it right now and I see you have Sins of the Past, Seven Seconds, and Tomorrow Promises. Give us a little bit of a maybe a short summary of each of those and what is the inspiration behind of it?

[Bethany]

All right, very good. Well, Sins of the Past was my first book. That one, it remains my favorite, and I think it is a favorite among most readers. It’s a Western, so I’ve always enjoyed the Western genre. I just find it fascinating. It’s a time era that has so much… there’s so much history, but also so many interesting characters. I mean, you read novels, but also true stories of people who lived during that time era, and it’s just fascinating. And so as I was actually reading a true story of an outlaw, I came up with this idea for students of the past. Because I had the thought, well, what if an outlaw who was involved in various crimes and even a couple murders and whatever, what if he were to get saved? What would happen? How would he try to make amends for what he had done? Or how would someone like that find redemption? And so as I was thinking about that, I came up with this story, and that’s where Sins of the Past came from. And so it’s just a really neat book to write because the main character, he goes through this whole redemption And it was a story that I didn’t want to wrap everything up perfectly in the end of the book, because that’s not realistic, right? Real life does not just, just because you get, doesn’t mean that all of life is going to become perfect after that. There’s still results that come from your actions. And so that’s how that book kind of ended up. I resolved some things, but not everything. And so because of that, now people were like, we need a sequel. And so that’s where Tomorrow’s Promise came in. That was the sequel that I was never planning on writing. And since the past was meant to be a standalone, but because everything wasn’t resolved completely in the end, people wanted a sequel. And so I started thinking about it and I’m like, oh, well, I could write a sequel. You know, there’s enough characters I could. take a couple of characters and kind of branch off from there and write another book. And so I wrote Tamal’s Promise. And that one was taking a different main character who is actually a preacher. And so he’s a preacher in the Wild West. And that was a really fun story to write as well, because, I mean, you imagine a preacher in the Wild West, like he would have had all kinds of adventures and met all kinds of interesting characters, and yet his message would have been the same as what it is now in today’s day. That was a lot of fun as well. And then my most recent one, which is 7 Seconds, that one is about a bull rider. And again, this is an idea I had years ago. We were in a restaurant and they had bull riding on the TV. And so it’s never a sport that I’ve watched. I actually think that’s a very wise. choice of career because of all the injuries involved. But again, it was something that I just thought of, what if I would have a character that was a bull rider? And what kind of story would that give? And so it’s just this idea forming in my mind for years before I finally wrote out the story. And yeah, so again, a very fun story. And that one is actually a contemporary, a modern story. And yeah, so that was a lot of fun as well. So yeah, those are the books that I’ve written so far.

[MCG]

All right, I have two questions. I’m going to let my wife come in. the Western, is there any gunfighting in there? Because you need to please to the male audience as well.

[Bethany]

There is gunfighting in there, yes.

[MCG]

All right, that’s good. And secondly, the seven seconds, I know from bull riding, 8 seconds is a perfect score. So why is 7 seconds? At least, that’s what I think. I think 8 seconds is a perfect score. So why 7 seconds and not 8?

[Bethany]

Here’s where I have to debate on whether I should give away that spoiler or not. There’s a reason.

[Jay]

So if you want to know why, and 7 seconds and not 8, go buy the book.

[Bethany]

Yes, exactly. No, there’s reference made to a seven-second ride in the book in a couple different ways. And there’s a reason why I gave it that title. And yeah, I just thought it was the perfect title. And my family loved the idea of that title. So I just, yeah, I had fun with that one too. But yes, you’re correct. Eight Seconds is the perfect ride. And that is why I named my book Seven Seconds.

[Jay]

Very good. Shameless plug. Go and buy the book if you want to know the reasoning behind Title 7 seconds. All right, Bethany, tell us about your upbringing. You already mentioned that while on deputation or traveling with your parents, that you had a love of writing. You were in the back of the van trying to form letters, and your mom’s up at the front yelling back, hey, how do you spell this word? This is how you spell it. So the Lord has clearly given you a love of writing, coming up with stories, and you’ve come to the point now where you can put your words to paper, create these books, these stories that are meant to not just entertain, but also to point people to the Savior. Can you tell us more about your upbringing as a missionary kid? And tell us, for example, where you grew up, what country you grew up in, what country were your parents missionaries to? Let’s start at the beginning. Tell us more about your background.

[Bethany]

Okay. I was born in Canada in Wink, Manitoba. And so, yeah, it is where I was born and yet I did grow up mostly in Mexico. My parents were missionaries here to Mexico, to the Mennonite people of Mexico. And so for me, Mexico feels like home just because I was so young when we left Canada. I was six years old when we moved to Mexico. But before that, though, we were on deputation for several years. So some of my earliest memories are from deputation and traveling. And so then, you know, home was a place where we went here and there in between traveling. So, yeah, Mexico really does feel like home because from six years old until now, this is where we’ve lived. Of course, we’ve made a lot of trips back to Canada to visit family. And so it is like a home away from home. But as far as what feels like home to me, Mexico would still be home.

[Jay]

Okay. Now, when you were six and younger, because your parents were on deputation for a few years before you actually moved down to Mexico, did you understand what was happening? Did you understand that you were about to go to a whole new country, whole new culture? And do you think maybe that lends to your creativity and your sense of adventure when you’re writing these stories? Did you understand what your parents were setting out to do, or was that something that you understood later on?

[Bethany]

I would say that’s something that I understood later on, and it wasn’t ever a sudden realization. It was more something that kind of gradually happened over time, I would say. As a kid, I feel like, and some kids are maybe different. I know some kids are maybe a little more deep thinkers or realize more what’s going on. But for me, as a six-year-old kid, and even earlier, like I really, I didn’t think much of it. It was just the life we had. We traveled around, and then when we moved to Mexico, I was just happy to have home where we could settle in and we could play a bag because traveling all the time, I mean, you play in the vehicle, but once you can finally get out of the vehicle, like you don’t even need toys. You just enjoy having space to run around. And so I was just happy to be in Mexico. And I saw my parents’ enthusiasm. And so, of course, leaving home was somewhat hard. I remember finding it hard to say goodbye to my grandparents, but mostly because all the adults were crying. So I cried too, because, you know, everyone else was sad about it. it. But as a six-year-old, I really didn’t process very much what was going on. It was just, that’s just what our life was.

[MCG]

So tell us, what are missionary parents generally like? Personally, what are your parents like, especially growing up, being a missionary kid?

[Bethany]

Well, I think I have the most amazing parents, so I’m blessed with very good parents. I don’t know, they’ve had a huge focus on family. And I think that’s partly because we are missionaries and we’re out here where we’re away from the rest of our family mostly. And we haven’t always had as many friends. And so they have really encouraged us as siblings to become very close and to really appreciate that relationship. And we have a very close relationship as a family and that has been a huge, huge blessing to me. And so that’s something that I really appreciate about them. And then also that They have helped us to have the mindset that being in the ministry is a blessing, and it’s an opportunity, and it’s not a burden. It’s something that you do with joy, and it truly is an opportunity. Yeah, I just feel like they’ve done so much in helping us to fully emphasize the right priorities and given us so much helpful advice, and we… Yeah, like usually in the evenings before bed, we all sit in the living room for a while and unwind and we’ll just discuss all kinds of things from how our day went to, you know, spiritual topics to whatever, like just all kinds of different things. And they’ve been very good parents in helping us to be in the ministry, but also on a personal level, you know, just placing that priority on family and on building up that relationship.

[MCG]

All right, so let’s park here a little bit and draw out some more details here. I grew up in the Caribbean and I guess a place where missionaries will come to. And I’m going to be very broad and general in my description, but you’ll probably find one missionary that they’re very involved in the people of the community. They’re very involved with the locals. Their kids will play with the neighborhood kids. And then there’s the other one that will say like, no, my kids are not going to be out and about and mingling with the neighbors and the local kids, but they’re going to play with their siblings. Were you guys allowed to be friends with the local kids in your community that you can go outside and play with them? And whatever, I don’t know much about the culture of Mexico, but whatever they would do as kids growing up, like growing up, we were playing in the streets, maybe playing, you know, cricket or something in the streets. Were you guys allowed to absorb that much into the culture or were you more like stay inside, don’t mingle.

[Bethany]

No, well, one thing is, because we’re among the Mennonites, it’s a very different culture than the Mexicans. And the Mennonites culture is a lot more reserved. So that in itself… made it that we didn’t mingle with neighborhood kids very much. We did a little bit. We had a few neighbors where we would have them come to our yard or we’d go to their yard and we would play. So we definitely did some of that. But in general, I would say neighborhood kids don’t do that quite as much as in some cultures. They do somewhat, but they’re more, I guess, maybe stay among their families a little bit more. But I’m just saying what was the normal thing in our village where we lived and where we grew up. And for us, we did mingle with the neighborhood kids a little bit, but not like we were out there every day playing with them. It was more we played as siblings, and then once in a while we would play with the neighborhood kids. And that’s kind of Mennonite cults somewhat that way. They will play with neighborhood kids, but maybe not quite as much as some cultures would.

[MCG]

Okay. How is the Mennonite culture different from, I guess, the general culture of Mexico, just for our audience sake?

[Bethany]

Well, it’s actually very interesting. To this day, I find it still very fascinating that the Mennonite live in Mexico and that they live right next to the Mexicans and they coexist because the Mexicans are very outgoing, very friendly, very expressive, and generally they make friends very easily. They’ll tell you their whole life story, you know, just after meeting you the first day. And Mennonites are the opposite of that. They are reserved. They like to make connections. So usually one of the first things they’ll ask you is who you’re related to. They’ll try to make a connection. If they can go back far enough with your family and their family and figure out if you’re fifth cousins or something, then they’ll be happy. So they try to make a connection. And once they’ve made that connection, they’re a little bit more trusting. But generally, they’re fairly reserved. It would take a little bit longer to win their trust or build trust to the point where they would actually share deeper things with you, where they would listen to what you have to say. And they’re not expressive at all. They’re very inexpressive, which is part of their reserved nature, I would say. They… They have a different sense of humor. They don’t really understand sarcasm. Well, I’m speaking of the traditional Mennonites now. Like we have a whole mixture of Mennonites now in this area. The younger generation are becoming very Americanized, I would say, at this point. But the more traditional Mennonites, they’re very reserved, very inexpressive. They’re a close community among themselves, but they won’t really let outsiders in very easily, especially like Mexicans, the traditional Mennonites, they would see the Mexicans as worldly people. So they’ll do business with them that they would frown upon the Mexicans coming into a Mennonite church or a Mennonite getting married to a Mexican or things like that. So the two cultures really are very different. They’re very opposite in many ways.

[MCG]

Another Cuban question, do they speak Spanish or English in the village?

[Bethany]

German, actually, low German.

[MCG]

I should have known that.

[Jay]

You mentioned the difference in culture between the Mennonites and the Mexicans. And there’s a third mix in here. It’s your personal culture, none of which is your culture. So you have a mix of these three cultures in a new country. Did you ever find that there was a struggle in your personal identity or in your national identity, whether it was Canadians, Mexican, did you ever struggle with any aspect of your identity as a missionary kid?

[Bethany]

Not a lot. Personally, that’s not something that I would say had a really deep struggle with. In a way, there’s always a little bit of that struggle, I think, for any missionary kid, because we are Canadians, we come from Canada. So naturally, that tends to be more of our culture, I would say. So being out here, living out here, we definitely don’t fit in with the Mennonite culture. We almost do because we come from Mennonite background. My parents my dad especially, but they both come from Mennonite backgrounds. So that is where we come from. And yet we, my parents both mostly grew up in Canada. So they’re Mennonite background, but they have that Canadian culture. So for us coming back here, there’s like some things about the Mennonites that we understand that they are that way, but we don’t relate with them very well, you know. And then in Canada, though, when we go back to Canada for visits, there’s certain things there that we can’t fully relate with either. And so I know some people describe missionary kids as having a a culture all their own. And in a way, it is just that way. For me, it wasn’t a struggle because, as a kid, I didn’t think much of it. And as I got older, I guess I realized that it was that way. And we even have talked about it as a family, that is the case. But for me personally, it’s never really been a deep struggle.

[Jay]

Okay, and you talked about the fact that you didn’t have that struggle at all. Well, not at all, but it wasn’t something that you deeply struggled with. Did you find that within your personal family culture that there was a difficulty there? Was there ever any expectation that you are to behave a certain way because of who your parents are? Did that put you at odds at all within the culture that you found yourself? Or was it more a situation where your parents wanted you to come to an understanding of both the gospel and of your place in a missionary, you know, setting all on your own without imposing that identity on you.

[Bethany]

Again, I think it was fairly easy that way. I mean, there’s certain expectations for sure, especially with my dad being the pastor in our church. Some of the kids we would play with in church, they would sometimes make comments like, oh, you’re the pastor’s kid, or, you know, they would expect us to either take leadership because we were the pastor’s kids or, you know, certain expectations like that. You know, you go back home or you visit other churches and there’s always those certain expectations because, well, you’re the missionary’s kid, right? So they expect you to know the things and have the answers. And yeah, I guess there’s just those certain expectations. But again, those were things that I was kind of used to because, well, I am a missionary kid and missionary’s kids say, well, there are certain things about them that are different. So some of those expectations are, well, it’s fair, right, because it is a certain type of people. And there’s certain things that come with that type of people, and other expectations are, maybe sometimes not completely fair either, but then again…

[Jay]

Yeah, it’s interesting to try and decipher, right? Because how much of the expectation is what we think others have of us as opposed to what they actually have of us? How much of it is what we have of ourselves, but we’re saying that others have it of us? And so there’s always that dynamic working there. And I think it’s absolutely wonderful that it sounds like your parents really had a healthy balance where you didn’t grow up feeling like you were torn asunder by all of these different expectations. You’re an author, you seem completely normal and well-adjusted, and it seems like your parents really struck that perfect balance. By God’s grace, of course, I’m sure they would say. And that’s wonderful to see.

[Bethany]

Well, and another thing is, partly, for us, it’s maybe a bit of a different situation than for some missionaries, because we’re not on the other end of the world or anything. We are in a society where, yes, we are among the Mennonites, but there’s a lot of people here who have lived in Canada for a long time, or they have moved back and forth between here and Canada. It’s very common in this area. There’s a lot of Mennonites that have a very heavy Canadian influence. even an American influence because we’re five hours from the border here. So we’re very close to the States. And there’s people who do business in the States all the time. So this area here, so many people who come here, they say this doesn’t even look like Mexico. This looks like, you know, almost in a way. Right. And so it’s almost not like living in a different country. It is, it is different, but it’s not as different as someone who would live, you know, in some other very foreign country. So that makes a difference as well. But no, as far as certain expectations, I think as Christians in general, there are certain expectations that we should fill. There’s expectations that people have of us. And partly, yes, those expectations are different for missionary kids. But I guess for my parents, when they would focus on expectations that they had of us or expectations that we should be filling or we should be meeting those expectations, it was more as a Christian, not as a missionary kid, if that makes sense.

[MCG]

Yeah. How did you internalize that? Because I imagine it’s, as you say, it’s not just maybe a missionary kid, but being a pastor’s kid. And I guess no matter where you grew up, there’s certain expectation of pastor’s kids or whatever, that sometimes we forget that they’re kids and kids go into behaved, kids going to do stuff. How did you internalize it as maybe as a teenager, maybe even younger growing up? How did you internalize it per se?

[Bethany]

Well, I think that is something that does bring pressure for a lot of pastors’ kids. They feel that pressure. And at times I have felt that pressure that you want to keep that certain attitude, you want to be serving in church, you want to be and not just keeping the attitude outwardly, but inwardly as well. You want to have the right mindset towards church and towards people in church and towards your friends. You want to be a light in the world and you want to also be a good example of what a pastor’s family should be, because yes, the people in the church, they do look to you for an example, not to me. as much as my parents, but yet they look towards our entire family as an example of what a family should be, right? And so there’s some people, again, some of our friends in church who have said, oh, your family seems perfect, or they’ll make comments like, oh, I can’t imagine your family doing something like this or that or whatever, or it seems like your family doesn’t struggle. So there’s always that, and it makes you feel like, oh, well, you need to realize that we’re human too, right? And we make mistakes, we sin, we struggle with all the same things everyone else struggles with. So in a way, there is a little bit of that pressure to be a certain way. But again, the only difference between that and any other Christian is that… as the pastor’s family, people are looking at you more. But as Christians in general, it still applies. We should be doing all those things just because we are Christians. And it makes no difference whether you’re a regular member in church or whether you’re the pastor’s family. All right.

[MCG]

Yep. All right. Well, Bethany, why don’t you tell the folks again where they can find your books before we go into this break?

[Bethany]

Okay, well, you can find my books through my website. That is the best place where you can find all the information about myself, about getting in touch with me, my story, and then also my books, of course. My website is called bethanyclaussenbooks.com. Yeah, I have a mailing list that you can sign up to through there. And then I have my three books listed on that website as well, where you can find the links to the Amazon listings. And then I believe my Instagram account is also linked through my website. I am on Instagram. You can find me that way. And yeah, otherwise, just on Amazon. Again, just use my name, Bethany Clausen. If you type in Bethany Clausen books, my books should come up in that way as well.

[MCG]

All right. And we’re going to be doing a giveaway of one of your books. So the first listener. to reach out to us and tell us which one of the books that Bethany has authored you would like to have a copy of, we will personally get you a copy of that book. Now, you cannot be a relative or family member of Bethany, nor a relative or family member of myself or Jay. Otherwise, you can request a book. Also, I will say you can’t be a close friend neither because I know some of your close friends probably going to be listening, especially the ones in Canada.

[Bethany]

Yes, that’s right.

[MCG]

All right. You’re listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. We assist you down with Bethany and we’re learning all about her life growing up as a missionary kid and now as an author. We’ll be right back.

[Jay]

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[MCG]

All right, so Bethany, let’s get back into it. So now you’re an adult and you’re an author. What would you say is the difference when you compare your upbringing as a missionary kid to other ministry, maybe deacons? maybe pastor, maybe lay person in the church. How would you compare that? Or even to regular kids.

[Bethany]

Well, one thing I thought of right away was we have a lot of opportunity, or in our family at least, we’ve had a lot of opportunity to visit with and listen to some pretty amazing people. We have people who come through church, missionaries, pastors, different types of, yeah, preachers and speakers. And with my dad being the pastor, we host them in our home. And it’s just an amazing opportunity because as kids, even as young kids, we got to sit in the living room and listen as my parents would visit with them. And sometimes we would get to ask questions and we would get to visit with them on a personal level as well. And that is something that as a kid, I never thought much of it, that we got that opportunity. It was just something we did as a family because my dad was the pastor, but as I got older, started to realize what a special opportunity that is, because other kids in church, they see the pastor who is visiting or the missionary, and they get to hear him speak from the pulpit, but they don’t get to hear all the amazing stories that they tell behind the scenes when they’re visiting just with my dad and my mom. And so for me, that was something that I always really, really enjoyed. And it was It was like the icing on the cake. You know, if we have a conference and we have a special speaker come through, I mean, I love hearing the messages and the preaching, but having them in our home and hearing, you know, hours of conversation, it’s just, it’s very special. So that’s something that’s different as a pastor’s kit. And otherwise, I guess there’s also the aspect of being involved in ministry in a lot of unique ways. You get to kind of see the behind the scenes of what goes into planning a church event or planning a camp, or you just get a lot of opportunities to be involved. And yeah, it’s a big blessing.

[Jay]

You mentioned earlier in the podcast that your parents were keen to have you understand. understand that ministry is a blessing and that it should be looked at that way. You just talked about the different opportunities you had to just sit and listen to some of the conversations that happen when people who are in ministry are engaging. And I’m sure that gives you a unique perspective on everything, particularly that has to do with the church. Can you share some advice or perhaps you could just tell us what would you tell missionary kids today as a result of your experiences and the blessings that you’ve had of seeing things behind the veil, as it were.

[Bethany]

Well, I think that any missionary kids or pastor’s kids should just appreciate that they are in that family and that they have parents who are surrendered to what the Lord has called them to. And I’m not belittling any other people in church, any other families, because there is- Of course, yeah. Amazing businessmen out there, and each person has their calling from the Lord, but as missionary kids, you get that unique opportunity, and I think it should be appreciated for what it is. and it is where the Lord has us. And another thing is, though, to get involved in your parents’ ministry, but also realize that the Lord will have a calling for you, and it may have to do with your parents’ calling, but it won’t necessarily always have to do with your parents’ calling, because that was something I always kind of assumed, that my ministry would be here in my parents’ ministry, in their church, that I would always stay here, and as I got older and Yeah, I thought about it more and I prayed about it more. And I felt like I came to a point where the Lord was just asking me, like, would you be willing to leave? Would you be willing to leave your parents’ ministry or your church or your home? And go back to Canada, for example. Is that something that you would be open to? And that was something that, for me, I struggled with a little bit, which is strange because a lot of people, they maybe struggle with surrendering to go to a foreign mission field. And for me, it was a struggle to surrender to leaving the foreign mission fields because it’s my home. And it’s something that I always dreamed of. I always dreamed of staying here in Mexico and helping in my parents’ church. And yet that was something that I felt the Lord was working on with me, and I surrendered to that. And yeah, so it’s pretty amazing how the Lord works. So as missionary kids, I think it’s good to just be in prayer and be ready for the Lord’s calling on your life, specifically His calling for you, which may not have to do with your parents’ calling.

[MCG]

Yeah, you know, a missionary told me once that one of the things he’s really grateful for having his kids grow up on the mission field was that they were able to see things that they probably would not see in the United States. By extension, I would probably even say Canada, which is a lot of kids that grew up in a Christian home, they grew up in a solid church. And they never really see the power of God to transform someone’s life to the fullest. And I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen in the States. It’s just that it’s a little bit rare to see someone like maybe living in witchcraft that gets saved and totally 180 degree turn around. So I would imagine that some of the things, the testimony you can get from the mission field is something you may not have seen in Canada, you may not have seen in the US. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but can you speak to that?

[Bethany]

Yes, that is true. You do see different things because yes, like in the States and Canada, it’s, I mean, it’s becoming less of a Christian culture more and more over time, but it is, it comes from, especially the States, it has a Christian history, right? So that’s what it was founded on. And so most people are familiar with those ideas, even if they’re not saved or they’re not Christians themselves, but they’re familiar with the Bible, at least. on a basic level. But yeah, they’re familiar with the Bible. They’re familiar with who Jesus Christ is. And there is, yeah, it’s just a different culture. And being in Mexico and among the Mennonites, you do definitely see different things than what you would see in Canada or in the States. And it is a testament to what God can do in people’s lives. And we have people in church here who have gone through a lot to come to church because with the Mennonites being a very family-oriented culture, when they want to leave their Mennonite church and come to a Baptist church, they often get a lot of pushback from family and friends. And so for them, sometimes they actually almost get shunned from family and friends. And so it’s a big decision for them. And it’s, yeah, it’s a hard thing for them to do because it means giving up family and friends potentially. And so being a missionary kid out here, it’s just neat to see the people who do make that decision and they come to church and they set that aside and they make the right decision and how the Lord works through that. Because one family in particular that I’m thinking of, they made the decision to come to our church even though their family was very against it. And through that decision that they made, they’ve been able to influence their family in a great way so that even though they don’t come to church yet, they are not opposed to our church. And it’s just amazing to see how the Lord works through that.

[Jay]

Can you tell us more about how the Lord saved How old were you when you came to the realization that you need a savior? And I imagine living in a home where your parents are missionaries, your dad is pastor of the church. Well, you probably heard the gospel. Probably don’t even remember the first time you heard the gospel. You’ve heard it so much. So when did you come to the realization that you personally needed a savior? And can you take us back to when you got saved?

[Bethany]

Yes, gladly. I got saved at a very young age. We were still living in Canada. I would have been right around five years old. And it was just after a church service. And like you said, I don’t even remember the first time that I heard a salvation message because I grew up in church. My parents made the decision to go to church and they went through those, yeah, those hard decisions. And so I was privileged to be able to grow up in a Christian church right from the start. But yes, it was after a Wednesday evening service. And we just came home. And I remember we were actually staying at my grandparents’ house at the time because we were renovating our house. And so we went down into their basement and my dad was just tucking me in for bed. And I just remember asking him about it and asking him to explain it to me. And he was able to explain salvation to me. And being very young, I just took it for what it was and just accepted it. And it was very simple. And I just remember him saying goodnight to me after I prayed and I realized I was a sinner and that I needed the Lord in my life. And I accepted what he had done for me. And yeah, so I prayed and I accepted Jesus as my savior. And I just remember my dad going back upstairs and it being dark in the basement and just laying there and just praying and being excited about it. But later on in life, I actually began to doubt my salvation. And it was at that time that I actually thought about it more deeply. I actually struggled with doubt for quite a few years. I struggled for a while. I was probably around 13 to 14 years old. And so I tend to be a fairly private person. I don’t like to share what’s on my heart with people. So I found it hard sharing about my doubts with someone else. And so I finally came to my dad with those doubts and he talked with me about it and asked me some questions. And then he told me to read in the book of 1 John and just study it and then come back to him if I had more questions because talks about how to know that you are saved and how to test that whether you are saved. And so I read through First John and I kind of got more assurance and I kind of set it aside for a while, but it came back up when I was around 16 years old and it just bothered me like it was… I felt like it was on my mind constantly. And so that’s where I went to the book of Romans. And at that time, it wasn’t just a matter of doubting my salvation, but it was more a matter of like needing to go back to the gospel and figuring out what exactly is the gospel and realizing what I believed and not just seeing, you know, what my parents believed, but what I believed. And then also just studying the Bible and coming to that conclusion on my own, that it is as simple as what I have been taught, because I was always taught that you need to come to the realization that you’re a sinner, which I believed. I knew that I was. But then also just that all you have to do is believe that Jesus paid for our sins and you need to accept that sacrifice and that he will save us. And so it was a matter of me just wondering about that. what does it mean to believe? is it really just believe, So it wasn’t so much like doubting my salvation, whether I had done it or not. It was more like doubting the gospel itself almost in a way. And so I went to the book of Romans and I just studied it a lot. And I studied the words and the. definitions, and I just had to come to that conclusion, through my own study. And I came to the same conclusion as what I had always been taught, that Jesus did make that sacrifice. And if we accept that sacrifice for our sins, that He justifies us. And the verse that helped me was, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. And for me, it was just as simple as that. Once I realized it and I studied it on my own, I just had to come to that conclusion. If you believe, you have life. And if you don’t believe, you don’t have life. And it’s as simple as that. There’s nothing else that can be done for it. You just have to believe. You have to realize you’re a sinner. You have to believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he can and has the ability to save you. and you accept it. And so at that time, I accepted it, and I believed that was all that there was to it, and that Jesus was able to save me. And so now, looking back to the time that I got saved as a kid, I do believe I was sincere in that as a child, that I truly did get saved. And I think I just overcomplicated it in my mind as I got older. I had to come back to that. And studied on my own and come to that same conclusion again on my own. But I do believe that I did accept Jesus as a child.

[MCG]

Amen. So Bethany, think about the 13 year old, 14 year old, or even 16 year old girl growing up in the mission field and having doubts. How would you encourage that young lady today?

[Bethany]

Well, I would tell them that they should do some study on their own, because for me, that’s what I needed to do. Talking to someone else helps for sure. And I would encourage people to talk to others because others can direct you towards good passages to study. They can, you know, share wisdom with you. Other people, such as your parents, your pastor, other godly mentors in your life. It’s good to talk to them. So I wouldn’t say don’t do that, but I would say together with doing that, do your own study as well. And take the Bible and study the verses, compare the verses with each other, but then also look up the definitions to the words. What does redemption mean? What does justification mean? What do all these words mean? When Romans talks about all those words and it explains everything in such detail, looking up the definitions to the words gives you a much better understanding. And when you do that on your own, you come to the conclusion on your own and you realize that faith is something that you have to, it has to be your own faith. You have to accept it. You have to believe it. You can’t ride on your parents’ coattails. Just because they believe it doesn’t mean that that’s good enough for you. It has to be you believing it.

[MCG]

What do you say are some barriers to salvation that might be unique to missionary kids?

[Bethany]

I don’t know if I would say unique to missionary kids, maybe more unique to kids who have grown up in a Christian home, would be similar to what I have struggled with is just, well, this is something I’ve heard of happening more often than one would think, is where someone grows up in a Christian home, sometimes they think they accepted Christ as a kid, but then looking back later on, they realize that they didn’t, that they weren’t sincere about it, they just did it because a friend did it, or they just did it because It was the thing to do, you know? Sometimes that happens, and then later on in life, you realize that you didn’t, that you’re not actually saved, and then that can sometimes be something that holds you back because of the fear of admitting that, that you haven’t been saved all these years, and you’ve been serving in church, and everyone thinks you’re saved, and then all of a sudden, you’re not, and you have to admit that, and you have to get saved. So that may be a barrier, and again, I think that’s something that is Christian kids in general, it would definitely apply to missionary kids. And otherwise, yeah, I mean, it’s the same for anyone accepting Jesus as their savior. The barriers are there for any barriers that are common for anyone else could also be sometimes common for people who have grown up in a Christian home as well.

[Jay]

And how would you say those barriers are removed?

[Bethany]

Well, when it comes to Kids who have grown up in a Christian home, well, they need prayer just like any other lost person needs prayer. And this is something that my dad has always done. When we would pray before bed, he would always include in his prayer that we would receive Christ at a young age. And so I remember even as I was older, he would pray for the younger siblings that they would receive Christ at a young age. And I think as parents or as friends of other people, who have grown up in a Christian home, we need to pray for, parents need to pray for their kids, or grandparents need to pray for their grandchildren, or friends need to pray for their friends, or whatever. Just because they’ve grown up in a Christian home doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily easier for them to get saved. It is in a sense that they have access to all that, but they still have similar barriers to anyone in the lost world. They have the advantage because they have good parents who are making sure that they’re in church and they’re there to answer questions for them. So in that sense, it’s a lot easier for them to get saved. They have so much more opportunity, but they’re still lost and they still need prayer, just like anyone else. So that’s what I would say would help in removing those barriers.

[MCG]

Bethany, it was indeed a pleasure. Thank you for joining us on the Removing Barriers podcast.

[Bethany]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Jay]

Thank you so much for listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. Make sure to rate us everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

Thank you for listening. To get a hold of us, to support this podcast, or to learn more about Removing Barriers, go to removingbarriers.net. This has been the Removing Barriers podcast. We attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.