Mark Gillmore: Hello once again, and welcome to the Go Mission podcast.

I’m Mark Gilmore, and in Acts 1 and verse 8, our Lord Jesus said that as you receive the power of the Holy Ghost, you’re going to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then he says the uttermost part of the earth.

Now, if I were to ask you today, where is that?

I wonder what your answer would be if you thought of the uttermost part.

Well, I am so privileged to sit here today and have with me to share with you a lady who I think did actually reach the uttermost part.

And so I have Margaret Stringer with me, and she is a dear lady who went to the mission field to, I think, the uttermost part of the earth.

So I’ll let her tell you about her uttermost part.

So it’s good to have you with us, Ms.

Margaret, and could you share with us your uttermost part?

Margaret Stringer: Okay, well, thank you very much.

And when I went to the mission field, I wanted to go as far away from home as I could go, and I did.

And I went to a place that used to be called Dutch New Guinea a long time ago.

And Indonesia took it away from Holland, changed the name of it several times over the years.

And it was Irian Jaya for many, many years.

Some people might have read the book, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya.

Exactly.

And then more recently they changed it again, and now it is called West Papua, Indonesia.

It’s just north of Australia.

It’s on the same island as Papua New Guinea.

It’s just the western side of that island.

Mark Gillmore: Now, I know that God put on your heart as a child this desire.

Could you share that?

Margaret Stringer: Yes, I was saved when I was 11 years old.

And my pastor’s wife would give me books to read, and these books were all about missionaries. although I had not seen a missionary, but I was reading books about Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, Mary Schlesser, Amy Carmichael, and was reading all those books, and the Lord spoke to me through those books and gave me a burning desire to be a missionary, and I surrendered in my church when I was 12 years old.

Mark Gillmore: So how did he get you to West Papua, to Irian Jaya?

Margaret Stringer: Well, that could be a very long story.

Yes.

There were six of us kids.

I was the fourth of six children.

And when I was eight years old, my father died.

And we were living out in the country.

And my mom had to go to work.

And we sort of raised ourselves.

We didn’t have a lot of, we didn’t have any money.

But we ate well because we were in the country.

We had a big garden.

We had cows and chickens and all those sort of things.

And our butter and eggs and everything we had.

So we ate very well.

But we didn’t have any money, and it appeared that there was no way in the world I was going to get to go to the mission field.

And I had a burning desire to be a missionary.

I begged God, please, please.

I’d cry myself to sleep begging God, please let me go to the mission field.

I really, really wanted to go to the mission field.

And I got out of high school and moved over.

I was in South Carolina in the country.

Moved into the big city, and that was a traumatic experience, just to move into the big city.

And I got a job and started working.

And then from South Carolina, I transferred to Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

And I had a job there in a hospital and went to school full-time, worked full-time, and graduated and got accepted with a mission board.

And it was God-fulfilling daydreams that I never thought would happen.

Mark Gillmore: Wow I’m thinking that There’s maybe young people Facing some challenges That maybe you felt in your youth And thinking that They maybe stand in the way Of what God maybe wants to do Or could do But those challenges Can actually make you, can’t they?

Margaret Stringer: Absolutely The challenges you face Getting there Are really going to be good for you When you get there Because those challenges make you strong and make you the independent person that you need to be to do the mission work on the mission field.

And I think God does that intentionally, that this didn’t happen by accident, that God does that to make you learn to trust him and learn to work.

That’s a big thing, too, is you need to learn to work, and learn to work and learn to trust him, and he’ll help you through those challenges.

And you have to have a desire.

I think the one thing with me was this burning desire to be a missionary.

And that helped me an awful lot to challenge me to keep working at it.

Mark Gillmore: That desire pushed you through those challenges.

Yet the challenges were not in the way.

They actually were part of the preparation.

So you get to Papua, and you arrive there.

That was, what year was that?

Margaret Stringer: 1964.

Mark Gillmore: 1964.

I guess that feels a lot like the distant past probably to many in our audience, like that is getting back there close to Noah or something.

It was pretty close.

There’s not, this is very remote, and what was life like then?

And maybe just kind of bring it to today.

How is it still similar the way people live over there?

Margaret Stringer: Well, we were down in the swamps and the rainforest in the southern part of the island.

And the people had not had a lot of contact coming into that part of the island.

And so when I got there, they were very primitive.

They had no written language.

Nobody even had pencils, paper, or anything like that.

Didn’t know how to use it if they had it. and they had not even know who God was.

And so they were living in a very primitive situation then, and that was 1964.

But they’ve changed a lot, not a lot.

It’s still pretty primitive, although they have more outside influences coming in, and there are more of them are being able to go out, to go to school at some other places and get a little bit better education.

So it is changing, but it’s still pretty primitive.

If you were to go there, you would still have an adventurous experience in living there.

Mark Gillmore: Were there some dangers that were part of it, living there?

Margaret Stringer: Well, I didn’t see too many dangers.

It was a lot of inconveniences that you get used to.

Like we didn’t have a—we’d catch rainwater off the roof, And that’s what we use for water and for heating water for washing dishes or whatever.

We had to heat it in a 55-gallon drum out in the yard.

And then we had running water.

Run it in the house.

Get a bucket and run it in the house.

And that was our running water.

That was running water, yes.

And we had to have a bush shower.

Just you have a bucket on a rope and a pulley and put water in it and pull it up and tie it on a rope and hurry because you’ve only got a bucket of water and you’ve got to get it finished in a hurry.

And you can’t use an awful lot of water because we do depend on rain.

And in the dry season, then you have to be very careful with using your water.

And we had electricity.

We’d turn a generator on about 6 o’clock at night and turn it off about 9 o’clock.

So that’s about the only time we had electricity.

Mark Gillmore: So you went there to be a missionary, which is to get the gospel to them.

And you had mentioned even that God, they were prepared for that in some ways.

And just describe, how did the gospel come?

How did they respond?

How were the churches planted?

Margaret Stringer: This was pretty interesting.

In the mid-50s, a missionary and his wife went into the area and had to come out after just a few months, had to come out for health reasons, and they were not able to return.

So it was closed.

It was opened and closed within months.

And so then it was the mid-’70s when we went back in there for the second time.

So it was like starting a new ministry because that first one was not there very long.

But the people were responsive.

They wanted us.

In fact, they had been sending word out to us asking us to send them a missionary, and we just didn’t have anybody to send at the time.

So when we went back in, the people were responsive, and they liked us, and they were anxious to hear what we had to say.

And so it was hard as far as the living conditions, and the language was unwritten, so I had to analyze the language and make the alphabet and reduce it to writing and those sort of things, which makes it not so quick.

So it took a while to do it, but the people were responsive, And that was a blessing to have people that want you there and want to hear you.

It just makes you really anxious to hurry up and learn the language.

Mark Gillmore: Do you remember the first person who came to Christ or a key person who came to Christ?

Margaret Stringer: Well, we had found some people up north of us who were still practicing cannibalism.

And so we went into that area, and I was on the first trip in there to those people.

They thought I was a spirit, and that’s a whole new story.

That was a really, really exciting thing.

And I will never forget the first convert we had there.

It was Bido.

Bido was the assistant chief.

The chief was Powell.

You become chief if you’ve killed the most people.

Powell had killed the most people.

Mark Gillmore: Wow.

Margaret Stringer: And he was not interested in the gospel.

Bido was very interested.

And it was five years from that first contact when we had the first convert.

Bido prayed for the first time. and I still get goose chills.

Yes.

Thinking about that.

Beto says, God, I’ve killed and eaten people.

I’ve stolen women.

He said, I chopped an assaret man’s chest open with an axe.

And he said, I just don’t want you to think about that anymore.

That was their way of asking for forgiveness.

And I was sitting there with big goose chills and I was thinking God’s forgotten it.

That’s amazing.

And he won’t think about it anymore.

Mark Gillmore: That’s, what a way to describe forgiveness.

Margaret Stringer: Yes.

Mark Gillmore: Today, where’s that man today?

Is he?

Margaret Stringer: He died.

Okay.

He died in 2004 or 2005, I’ve forgotten.

Oh.

But I would go up there.

Oh, and they would, the people killed one of their twins.

If they have a twin, they felt that the wife had had an affair with an evil spirit out in the jungle.

And so her husband would beat her, and then they would kill one of the twins.

And we had not even been there much to give them a lot of teaching about that.

But Bido’s wife was the first one to have twins after we entered there.

So we went up for a visit one day, and Bido came out so proud.

And he says, no, no, we didn’t kill our twin.

We didn’t kill our twin.

And that was so exciting that they didn’t kill their twins, and we weren’t even there to try to be sure they didn’t kill it.

And they didn’t kill the twin.

But I would go back, and I would say, Bido, what are you doing?

Are you serving the Lord?

He said, yeah, whatever.

We had to send somebody up there to live with him, to teach him.

He said, whatever he says, I’m doing it.

I’m doing whatever he says.

Yes, I’m serving the Lord.

It’s wonderful.

Mark Gillmore: What a joy.

Margaret Stringer: Yes.

Mark Gillmore: Sometimes I’ve tasted of that as well, and I think the greatest joy is to be the one who brings someone the gospel, to see them receive it, and just know in your heart that if I hadn’t gone, they would never have heard.

I think that is the greatest privilege.

I think that’s the heart of a missionary, and it’s the thrill of a missionary.

And as I think of so many young people listening, I think the greatest thing I would want, I would covet for your life is that privilege.

I was just reading a comment just today by C.T.

Studd, a great missionary, who went to the uttermost part of Africa, and he said this, I remember the day I led my first soul to Christ.

He said the thrill of it eclipsed every other pleasure I had ever had in life.

And that’s the joy of being a missionary.

Did you ever, in the course of your days, did you ever feel like quitting?

Did it ever get hard?

Margaret Stringer: Yes.

I think, you know, I just was so honored and thrilled that God allowed me to be a missionary because I really, really wanted to be a missionary.

But yes, there were times when I became very discouraged.

And one time in particular, I was more discouraged than I’ve ever been in my life.

And I thought, I can’t stay here another minute.

I can’t do it.

But at the same time, I knew that I was where God had called me.

And I knew that if I quit, I’d be out of God’s will.

And so, you know, when you can’t stay and you can’t go, you’re in bad shape.

And I was really in bad shape.

Fortunately, though, the Lord got me through it.

And I’m glad I didn’t quit.

I’m so glad I didn’t quit.

Mark Gillmore: And yet, as I’ve gotten to hear you and just watch you share, I feel like those moments actually were pretty rare, that the joy of the Lord was your strength?

Margaret Stringer: Well, just the joy of, I think, I think for myself especially, because I just didn’t think that God would ever let me do it.

Although he had called me, you know, I wasn’t spiritual enough to know if he’s called me, he’s going to let me do it.

And I was young and naive and hadn’t grown very much spiritually.

And so I was just so thrilled that God did allow me to do it.

And I just always felt that, man, you know, I shouldn’t be here.

But he let me do it.

He gave me that privilege.

And see, I don’t understand when preachers are preaching a message and call on commitment for the young people and they just sit there.

See, they all should be jumping up with their hands in the air saying, let me do it, let me do it, because that was how I felt.

Just let me do it.

I’m here.

I want to do it.

And so knowing that God, I’m here.

He let me do it.

I’m here, and this is such an honor and such a privilege, and I don’t ever want to get over that, knowing it’s a privilege to serve him.

Mark Gillmore: What a great perspective.

We often think about maybe young people who are afraid to surrender their lives because God might call them to be a missionary.

And for you, it’s the other side.

Like, God, I want to surrender my life to you, but I’m afraid you might not call me to be a missionary.

That was the glory.

That was the vision that God had given you, and certainly he was calling you because he was giving you that heart.

But if we really saw the opportunity of our lifetimes, we’d be begging him to call us, begging him to send us.

Margaret Stringer: Yes, absolutely.

Mark Gillmore: As we think of that region now, you came back from the field in 2005 after serving for over 40 years there, saw God reach a people group.

And looking now for our perspective back into that area and back into that region, what are the open doors there?

Is this kind of pioneering spirit still needed?

Margaret Stringer: Yes, it absolutely is.

And not just where I was, but there are other areas right there on that southern coast, southern part of the island.

And some of these places, like where I was, we’ve had missionaries, and the missionaries have had to leave.

And the church is still not very mature, and some of them need some church leaders training is desperate for that.

And although we translated the scripture, if they don’t get teaching, they can end up forming a cult.

I was just picking out one verse, and it’s happened.

I’ve seen that happen in some of the other tribes.

So we need people that would go in and just be willing to take them where they are and train the church leaders.

Because we have some church leaders that can’t read.

So we desperately need church leaders.

And it would be a pioneering spirit.

Because even we had built up a pretty good station where we were.

And it had several houses.

But when we left, we turned all that over to the church.

And they don’t take care of it.

And I’m sure none of those houses are livable. so you know it’d be a real pioneer spirit you’d feel like you’re going back to start from scratch as far as building up the the station and getting you somewhere to live those sort of things

Mark Gillmore: i’m thinking how those people there in seng go when you arrived were sending out folks to send us a missionary that’s still happening there’s still valleys and peoples that are waiting for their missionary.

Yes, yes.

And also just remembering that like the groundwork, the church that’s been established through your ministry there is a great foundation to reach into other tribal areas, to other peoples, and yet we still need that missionary role in that region.

Margaret Stringer: We need that because the people are still pretty primitive. and they’re not really good at, they’re not leaders.

If you go to the tribes up in the mountains, they’re natural leaders.

Our people are not leaders.

They’re more followers.

So they need somebody that encourages them to move and to do some of these things.

So having a missionary there that they would respect and look up to and follow, it would be really good.

Mark Gillmore: Now that’s in current modern-day Indonesia.

Is it possible to get in through Indonesia then in that missionary role?

Margaret Stringer: A lot of times if you talk to somebody, they say, well, Indonesia is closed, but Indonesia is not closed.

And visas are still being granted.

And even out of where I am, visas are still being granted.

It would be hard to get a – if you say you’re going in as another different mission board, they might not let you do that.

But the existing boards, and that’s not, you wouldn’t be closed anyway because you could go in under a different mission board.

And we’ve done that where they can just sort of come in under the name of our mission or any existing mission that would allow you to do that.

And then when you got in there, then you can switch over your own mission.

Or sometimes you can get a visa into other parts of Indonesia like Java, Jakarta, some of those places you can get visas for.

And they may say, no, we’re not going to give you a visa to go to Papua.

But if you go into the part of Indonesia and get a visa, you’re free once you get the visa.

You’re going to go to language school while you’re there to get through language school.

Just move.

So there are ways to get in there.

Mark Gillmore: I love identifying the ways to get in there.

That’s part of the GO mission.

And so thank you for that.

Well, would you have just a final word to challenge our young people with the mindset of missions?

Margaret Stringer: Yeah, absolutely.

Just know that, as I told the young people here this morning, God doesn’t need you.

He can do just as well without you.

If he puts his hand on you and calls you to do a service for him, you have been highly honored.

You’re somebody because you’re serving the King of Kings.

It can’t get any better than that.

You can’t do anything with your life any better than that.

Serving the King of Kings, what an honor.

And I expect to spend eternity thanking him for that privilege of serving him.

Mark Gillmore: And right alongside of you will be your other dear loved ones who are from that region, who are your eternal partners in praise.

Margaret Stringer: What a thing to look forward to.

Mark Gillmore: That is the ultimate.

Well, you’re just an ordinary person, a humble person, but you were available.

And God did something extraordinary through you.

And that’s where we all are. ordinary people who God wants to use in an extraordinary way.

We talk about being world changers.

And Ms.

Stringer, you’re a world changer because you obeyed.

And you went, lived not in an easy place, but saw God do a great work.

And so young people, let’s not miss the opportunity to join our God in changing the world.

Remember, 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.