Mark Gillmore: Hello, this is Mark Gilmore here with our Go Mission podcast, and I’m sitting here today with my son, Stephen Gilmore, who’s part of the Rohingya Project, led out of our Bible translation degree program at Baptist Theological Seminary.

For some time now, God has connected us through one of our graduates, Ben Sikma, and his wife, Sarah, to the Rohingya population here on the south side of Milwaukee.

And the Rohingya are one of the world’s unreached people groups.

They are 99 point something percent Muslim, and they have experienced amazing persecution in their Asian setting between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

And a number of them have had to escape persecution and gone different places of the world.

Several thousand have emigrated here to the Milwaukee area.

Another group of several thousand are further south in Chicago area.

And these are the two largest immigrant areas of Rohingya in the United States.

So we’re thrilled that God has given us this personal connection.

And we talked about this in a previous podcast interviewing Ben.

And finally, this summer, God’s been able to us with our Bible translation program to connect with Ben and to advance the language learning of the Rohingya, as well as the endeavor to connect with gospel truth and Bible study.

And so Stephen has been part of that project.

We’re looking for just ways that we can connect.

And one of the things, Stephen, I know that you love to do is just rollerblade.

You have a lot of fun with that.

And how did, you told me, how did rollerblading give you a connection to some of the Rohingya?

Guest: Yeah, well actually this summer started out, I went to an Eid Rohingya feast, which was the last day of Ramadan.

Their big celebration for the Rohingya.

And I was trying to connect with them and I didn’t really know how to develop relationships.

So the Lord put it in my mind, make a business card with different skill sets that you can do. obviously rollerblading popped into my head.

So on the first week or two, when we were trying to really culturally engage with them, I would just hand them my business card and then also bring my rollerblades along and, you know, just skate around and I can do a trick or two.

So that was obviously a blast for me, but I’m holding my hand right now, the business card that I made, it says inline skate slash rollerblade trainer and a few other things and and then it says esl instructor bible teacher just to trying to trying to perk their interest so that was definitely a blast so you

Mark Gillmore: have seen that opportunity open up that’s very cool i love that um have you um what other efforts have you made to uh just bridge that um that cultural barrier connect into their lives

Guest: yeah what we’re doing currently right now are ESL lessons trying to develop language long-term language relationships with them we we’re just coming out of our second phase where we’re doing Bible clubs we’re continuing we’re continuing those in our first location the second one will be a discipleship and so that’s been neat we’ve seen three children saved that way we mainly have connected with women and children through these things.

But right now we are trying to use

Mark Gillmore: ESL instruction to make further connections.

How did you start the first Bible Club?

Guest: Yeah, well, we went out, obviously, and just started, you know, talking to the first person we saw on the street, you know, handing out our business cards.

I made one for each person and there are different skill sets.

I made, I’m not really good at graphic design, but I made, you know, flyers and they actually look nice.

And we just started like that, like that, just praying, Lord, show us where to go.

Where’s the right location?

I mean, literally in those first two weeks, the first visit we even ever had, the first lady we talked to said, you can do it in my backyard.

I mean, that was the first, the first visit of the summer.

So clearly the Lord put it

Mark Gillmore: together.

Well, when you’re thinking of a project where you’ve got a timeline, limited timeline, we know this is far bigger than eight weeks, 12 weeks, but that’s what you’ve got to work with.

And we’re very much aware that God is, I believe, going to honor this step of faith and do things on a level that no man could plan.

Have you seen God intervene in a surprising way, maybe even a startling way that you could see him doing something, opening a door that there’s just no way you humanly could have planned it?

Guest: For sure.

About a month ago, there was a tragedy in the Rohingya community where three people drowned, father and his son, and then the father’s friend.

The father and the friend’s father died trying to save the son, who was chasing his soccer ball, into a drainage canal that had a strong current after heavy flooding.

Wow.

Yeah.

And then Ben and Sarah Sigma happened to be around.

And Ben’s very busy, so this is an absolute miracle that he was just around and visiting in the Rohingya community.

So he was at the Rohingya community store and was told about the happenings by one of the community leaders.

Well, he raced over there right away and was able to be comfort to the widow.

His wife was with the widow who was weeping uncontrollably.

So that has further opened doors for us.

Mark Gillmore: So there they are just literally within minutes or hours of it.

And they’re invited into the community.

Sarah is offering comfort to this lady in the loss of her child and her husband.

Guest: Right.

Mark Gillmore: That’s just startling to think of just the heartbreak they’re going through.

And now Ben and Sarah are a part of it.

Guest: Right.

So what we did to let you know a little bit more about the open doors that resulted.

We first got together with Ben and Sarah.

And both Ben and I said, we can’t just jump on this and think this is just for us to be able to reach out.

I mean, these people just lost their family members.

We can’t just use this for our own purposes, even though they were fine.

They’re good and right.

But what the Lord led us to do right away was get food, get different treats that they would like.

I went to a Rohingya store and asked, what do you think this family would like?

When can I go?

He said, I’ll direct you.

And so we’ve since then had multiple visits.

I made cards for them.

And for whatever reason, I forgot them.

And it didn’t feel good at the time.

But then that opened another door to bring the cards back again.

And then we weren’t able to deliver one.

And so we’ve been able to have four or five visits with those widows.

Mark Gillmore: You’re asking the Lord to show you these key persons, persons who would be bridges for the purpose of the gospel, Bible teaching, also bridges for the purpose of language learning.

Along those lines, have you seen God give you those key individuals that you’re looking to connect to?

Guest: Yes, some.

Mainly we’ve connected with some different ladies, some women who have been helpful, who have made themselves available for ESL instruction.

We’re still looking, though, we need to connect with male leadership among the community leaders, preferably.

Mark Gillmore: So this is really a matter of very definite prayer.

And I’m thinking of those listening to us here today who really could join in this prayer burden.

What is this key person?

Again, repeat, what is this connection that we need to be praying for?

Guest: Exactly.

So the four phases of the summer that we’re working in are phase one, cultural engagement, phase two, Bible clubs, phase three, natural text, phase four, translation.

So we’re bridging into phase three to be able to get to translation.

But what we’re trying to do is present the Rohingya with a culture preservation plan, a way that we can elicit texts, get different stories from the Rohingya, so that we can look at them and see how the discourse analysis works in the Rohingya language.

So what we need is a man to approve this plan.

And what the plan does is enables us to show them that eventually that Bible translation would preserve their language.

If you look throughout time, any language that has been translated, has a Bible in their language, has been preserved.

It’s almost timeless.

Mark Gillmore: Has God given you a key verse that has just given you a foundation for faith as you’ve been going forward?

Guest: Yes, at the beginning, the Lord gave me this verse, 2 Chronicles 14, 11.

It says, And Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power.

Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude.

And I certainly felt my weakness at the beginning of the summer when people would ask me, so what are you doing for your internship?

I would just say something about Rohingya and Bible translation, but inside I had no idea.

But I can honestly say that every time we’ve gone out there really not knowing what to do, the Lord has given us someone to talk to, has given us some fruit almost every single time.

Mark Gillmore: Well, as we conclude here, Stephen, could you equip those of our listeners here for the matters of prayer, specifically as we look down to these last few weeks of the summer, and even as the project continues from there, how can we join the prayer burden to see this project go forward?

Guest: Pray for us to not see this as a short term, but long term.

We need prayer to develop a long term plan as the Rohingya are eternal souls and they’re going to be here.

So they need a translation as long as they’re on this earth.

Number two, we just need boldness and wisdom and giving the gospel, when to mention Christ and when to move forward.

Three, we need help in language learning.

We’ve been able to do some, a lot through immersion, but we do have charts and grammar to be able to learn it, but we need just to put in that time.

So pray for us to be able to have that.

And then also pray for saved translators.

This is huge.

We really can’t move forward until we have translators who know Christ and have a burden to see the Rohingya have their own translation of the Bible.

And then lastly, and this is practically and specifically for me, as I go to have a meeting with one of the community leaders in these next two weeks, I have been working with Ms.

Bernstein on developing a culture preservation plan to present to him.

So that’s a really big deal.

This could be a make or break for the project.

But we have to take some risks.

We need to move forward.

So pray that the Lord would just intervene, that he would give us a plan that would actually work, that wouldn’t just sound good, and that wouldn’t just be attractive for him, although we need him to approve of it, and we need someone to be a voice in the community.

But pray that the Lord would give us exactly what we need so that we could move forward into translation.

Mark Gillmore: I think it’s an incredible privilege to join you, Stephen, and to see you connecting your young ministry life to reaching the Rohingya, one of the most despised and yet most needy unreached people groups in the world.

And we didn’t even have to travel around the world.

They’re right here, but that need is right here as well.

The challenges are there.

And we need God’s grace.

It’s been incredible to hear from you, just that sense that God has been leading you step by step every time you go out, even this death that God allowed to occur as an open door to connect in a far deeper way.

I’m just thinking of how critical it is that the Word of God gets into the language of the people.

Paul said regarding Timothy that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.

I’m sure there’s young people listening here that you could give that testimony.

From a child, you knew the scriptures, and you’re saved because the scriptures were in your language.

Think about the Rohingya children, the one, Stephen, that you rollerblade with.

They can’t say that.

They couldn’t even read the Bible in their own language.

They can’t say from a child, I know, I knew I could read it.

And that’s an eternal matter.

Before those children die, they need to be reading the Bible in their own language.

There is a time frame here.

It can’t be done in one summer, but it needs to be done over the course of several summers.

And it is a matter of prayer.

And so we do just implore you, our listeners, to uphold this project in prayer.

Get these prayer requests down.

Pray for them on a daily basis. and we are expecting God to do great things.

So remember that the only way to stay at peace in a world of turmoil and uncertainty is to stay on mission with Jesus in his Go Mission.