Joy Bausum went to be with the Lord while serving as a SOWer in a children's home for Burmese refugees in Malaysia. Only 26 years old, her life was brief, but certainly full. She traveled more miles, visited more countries and touched more people with the love of Christ than the vast majority of Christians who live three times as long.
When I met Joy for the first time and interviewed her at IPHC School of Missions in 2009, I was very impressed by her enthusiasm to take on any challenge and travel to any location in order to serve the Lord she loved. Later that year we met again in Nepal, where I was impressed again by her spirit of service toward the people she worked among, her cheerful willingness to endure hardship, and her keen insights into the culture. Energetic and irrepressible, Joy took great delight in sharing the love of Jesus, especially with children.
The last time we met at School of Missions this past August, we were making plans for the mission to Malaysia she was about to embark upon, and I told her how much I admired her courage and her commitment to Christ.
Joy was an inspiration to colleagues who served with her all too briefly, and she will be greatly missed. She finished her course all too soon, but finished well. While her family and friends back home will endure great grief and sorrow at her passing, they can be proud that Joy laid down her life in service to the gospel, and met the Lord while doing what she wanted to do in the place she wanted to be.
I pray that Joy’s example will inspire many others to follow her to the mission field. Lord, send us many more like her, if You can find them!
--
Russell Board
Director of Missions for Asia/Pacific
IPHC World Missions Ministries
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