She Had One Question at a Funeral… and It Changed Everything

A single question can follow you for decades: You have one life to live, so how will you invest it? That question landed on Judy in the most ordinary place imaginable, a funeral home in Owensboro, and it quietly redirected everything. Judy grew up on a Kentucky farm, built a career, and then chose a path that has taken her across the world for nearly three decades of Christian missions. 

We talk about what missionary life actually feels like when you step into a new culture with new languages, new expectations, and zero control. Judy shares stories from West Africa and her current work in the mountains of North Africa, where local believers face real pressure and whole communities remain unreached people groups. We get into the behind-the-scenes reality of Bible translation and scripture resource development, including why it matters when a language has not even one translated word of Scripture. 

One of the most practical parts of our conversation is oral Bible storytelling. Judy explains how oral cultures learn in community, how truth is carried through repeatable stories, and why storytelling can be the key to discipleship when literacy is low or Bible familiarity is thin, even here in the United States. We also name the hard lesson every gospel worker learns sooner or later: we can’t force the results, because God is the one who draws people and brings the harvest. 

If you care about faith, purpose, the Great Commission, and how real people live it out from Owensboro to the ends of the earth, this one will stay with you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these stories.

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It's been a great episode and I hope you share this with all your Owensboro friends! Thanks for the support and again, if you have questions or guests ideas, send a text!

Transcript

One Life To Invest

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Uh the Lord said to me, You have one life to live. How are you gonna choose to invest it?

Meeting Judy And Finding Home

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Sometimes life doesn't change on a stage or in a big moment. Sometimes it happens in a funeral home, right here in Owensboro. Standing there looking at a life that had just ended, Judy had a thought hit her that she couldn't chick. You have one life to live. How are you going to invest it? It wasn't a voice, it wasn't loud, but it was clear, and that moment changed everything, was started on French Grove Street, turned 28 years into serving all over the world, and in places most of us would never go, reaching people who've never even heard the gospel. And the crazy part, that same question is still sitting in front of us all. So if you join us today, thank you. Please share this with a friend. You don't even know what the episode's about yet, but you're going to have a great episode coming up. But then also, you know, I'm excited that we have the Blue Bridge crew out. It's a new name we have for our followers. Something torn, cheesy, maybe, but it's kind of fun and just want to give you guys identity. But today I have a special guest on, our friend Judy. Judy, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Well, thanks, Brad. Great to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Yes, ma'am. Alright, so Judy's originally from Hardinsburg, Kentucky. So don't hold that against her. She's from Breckenridge. Oh, hold on a second. I'm sorry. I'll just I'll just uh introduce you again. Like, hey. Alright, guys. So I have a special guest from with us today, and that is our friend Judy. Judy, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Well, thanks for having me, Brad.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Yes, ma'am. All right, and Miss Judy comes from Breckenridge County. She grew up just outside of Hardinsburg, Kentucky. She now lives all over the world. I mean, she has a really cool story. And so she spent a lot of time in Owensboro. And so I think she's definitely a gift for the city. And more people need to hear her story. So you are you ready, Miss Judy? Sure. All right. So uh, you know, you've been in Owensboro probably more than not lately. And so for you, what makes Owensboro Owensboro for you?

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Well, Brad, you know, Owensboro is a special community that I call my home now, just because it was so welcoming. And I love the small town atmosphere where we know our neighbors, we care about our neighbors, and yeah, I feel that love and support here. But but also, yeah, it's just kind of a crossroads of the U.S., actually. And it's just a place where you can call home and do life and being a part of a community and know your neighbors and be able to serve and love them too.

Farm Roots And Work Ethic

SPEAKER_02 3:00

That's awesome. I like that you said crossroads because I feel like I I've been here five years, and I either hear we're a southern state or we're Midwestern, and people don't know how to don't know what to do with that. Yeah. And so I would definitely consider this a crossroads for sure. Yeah. You know, you grew up on a farm in Breckenridge County. How did that shape your heart and the way you see the world now?

SPEAKER_03 3:17

That's a great question. You know, grew up on a farm, working on a tobacco farm, probably like a lot of your listeners, you know, that are my age or or so, that uh yeah, so working on a farm and you know, just appreciate the land and the values of uh rural Kentucky, rural America, really. And yeah, life's not gonna hand you anything. You have to work for it. And it that gave me just a basis to know that, you know, in in this life we have to work and get after it. And I was taught that at an early age on our family farm.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Yeah, and you have a great work ethic. Every time you hear, I'm like, how's this lady rest? You know, like she's about to go back, and I feel like she's been everywhere. And I and I love that. I love that. So it's been really cool. You know, you look at back at your years at Hardinsburg or even Western Kentucky, you know, you are a hilltopper. Were there people or moments that helped shape your faith or even your sense of calling?

Early Faith And Mission Models

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Uh when I was young, when I was uh and I attended New Bethel Baptist Church there in rural Hardensburg, we had a pastor that I just really loved, and his name was Ron McClung, and he actually the pastor that uh baptized me, led me to faith. And, you know, our little church was growing and booming and doing, and you know, we had a youth group for the first time and all those things. And then he and his wife said, We felt God's call on us to go overseas and serve as missionaries. And I and I actually said, Hey, we need you here, we need missionaries here, don't leave us. And they went on to explain just about how the world just didn't have access to the gospel, didn't have access to God's word and their language necessarily, and they just felt this compelling to leave a good, growing, comfortable place and go to a place that didn't have it. And so that was my formative years. And lo and behold, here I am, all these years later, doing a very similar typework overseas.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Well, and it's really cool, like you you say how they had such a impactful moment on your life, and you know, to them, they're just like we're just entering God's call. And the fact that like years later, absolutely you see their fruit of their ministry is really cool.

unknown 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

So so thank you to the McClungs if anyone listens that's part of that family.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

Yeah, and South Georgia now, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Yeah, South Georgia, all right. Okay, so you know, obviously, some people think that there's just like big, like you know, the the clouds open up, a dove comes down, and God's like, hey, you're going to go to wherever. Yeah, that's not always the case. But but was there a single moment when you were being called missionary work, or did it unfold gradually? Were there little things happening? You're like, hey, maybe God's calling me elsewhere.

A Funeral Home Calling

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Yeah, that's a great question. You know, God obviously can have the ability to do that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

He does, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

But that's not how he called me. I was actually, you know, after upon my graduation from Western Kentucky University, I came to work here in Owensboro and I worked at Miles Farm Supply here on the edge of town. I worked with farmers, and I had colleagues that I really considered as brothers. And this one friend of mine, Jeff Barry, his sweet little mama and daddy were in a car wreck, and his little sweet daddy died in that car wreck. And I was at the funeral at up here at James H. Davis funeral home. And at that funeral, you know, uh Mr. Dixie Barry was in a casket, and the Lord said to me, You have one life to live. How are you gonna choose to invest it? No, so it wasn't an audible voice, it'll be clear, but I had that impression on me. And and that's when I decided, you know, that I heard clearly that he had bigger plans, he had uh he had a different plan, let me say a different plan for me to serve, and that's that's kind of where it started, right up here on Fretica.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Yeah, yeah, a lot of things happen on Fretica, so that's good. You know, I have a lot of friends who have in the past felt called to go elsewhere, even if it's just temporary in college over the summertime, and I know their families have really pushed back on it.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Uh even friends, but I'm not saying that your family did it or anything like that, because I don't know your family, but I know sometimes, you know, when you do the crazy thing, you're like, you're like, hey, I'm gonna go overseas and share Christ. People are like, whoa, like, why don't we think this through a little bit more? And so how did your family and community react when you told them, hey, I'm I'm called to go overseas?

SPEAKER_03 7:45

Well, uh, I won't use the words my mother said to me. And that she wasn't really pleased with it to say the least. And of course, everybody thought, oh, she's just going through a phase, she's just having a a religious moment in her life, and this'll pass. And so everybody was, you know, they were kind. They there are a lot of colleagues of mine that I serve with who have a very different experience and they have a lot of pushback from their families. I I did not have that, but everybody, you know, just ah, it's a phase, it'll pass. And uh yeah, so 28 years later, I'm still in this phase.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

So yeah, yeah, that's cool. I mean, I just I'm glad you were able to get support like that. So, you know, you're so let's let's go back a little bit. So, you know, you're you're getting told, hey, Judy, we're gonna send you to X, and you're like, all right, this is this is real. Like, and you get on the plane, you step out, you know, you take a few steps, and you're like, okay, this is my new home. So take us back now. Like, what how did that feel? What was that like?

Choosing A Field And Culture Shock

SPEAKER_03 8:45

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so just to be clear and transparent, nobody says they're gonna send you to X Place. I chose where where I wanted to go. And those folks who are with our organization, you totally have a choice of where you want to go.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

And no one is gonna send you to a place that you don't feel called to. But you have to articulate all those things in the process, right? So all that to say is, you know, I looked at all the different applications about where you could go, what you could do. And when I accepted the position that I started out as a career servant overseas, that that job request, as we call them, used the same kind of vocabulary that I use. So things like you need to have a pastoral heart for this position. You have to have a servant spirit, you need to be able to enjoy the success of the people that you're serving as your own success. And so it was that kind of verbiage that that got my attention. But, you know, I literally laid down, you know, laid the job assignments down on the floor and, you know, got on my face before the Lord and just said, you know, you show me which one that you want me to do, Lord. And that's how I ended up with my first career assignment overseas was this position with the the same kind of wording that I I I Judy would use to describe myself and my calling.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Yeah. So going over to a new country, new culture. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So how what was that like? I was sure it was culture shop. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

You know, I have lived and served in West Africa and very little English in the part of West Africa where I live. It is a what we say, a French-speaking country or a francophone country. And but that's just the language of education. You know, there are lots of heart languages that people speak. And so obviously, I was also not the same color as everyone else, so I really stuck out like a sore thumb. And so learning language and learning culture and learning to press into that and love people where they are, and being so humble that people had to serve me because I was just like a little baby. And that's so I had all these things I had to learn. And so it was overwhelming, it was daunting, but I remember the promise from Scripture that the Lord said that He would be with me no matter where I went. And so I have said to him from time to time, Okay, Lord, you said you're gonna be with me. Well, here we are.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Yeah, yeah. And it's kind of scary. You're like, What I don't even know, I don't you know what's next. And so if people want to be in control, you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Absolutely. We do. I I enjoy that myself. But whether that is moving from another state, I lived in Illinois for a while, didn't, you know, uh when I moved to Owensboro for that matter, I always tell people the only person I knew in Owensboro when I moved here was Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Wow. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

So it was, you know, a start of uh, you know, my life post-college. But again, the Lord is with us in all these different phases, and it is daunting, it is intimidating. You have to learn all, you know, you have to be willing to start over and be a learner, but uh, you know, the Lord is with us.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

So that's awesome. And so uh, you know, you've been doing this for 28 years, and so what's one story from your time I mean, and you're currently still still out there, but what's what's one story from your time as a missionary that still moves you deeply when you think about it?

SPEAKER_03 12:22

You know, and to narrow it down to one story that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, well give us a give us a few, you know, within reason. Yeah.

North Africa And Unreached Peoples

SPEAKER_03 12:28

But you know, I'm just thinking about this current work that I'm doing right now, and I'm working in the mountains of North Africa. It is even not in the region of the world that I normally work in. And the language there is Arabic, and so I don't speak that language. And so I'm going yet to a new place, learning new culture. Although it's quite similar to to the climate and culture of West Africa. I have had to go through this experience once again of learning and how to serve in a this new capacity, and you know, not an expert whatsoever. And so anyway, we're working amongst very Muslim people groups, and it's in a pocket of North Africa where there are more than 60 unreached and unengaged people.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

And as you go into this area, uh, we are invited by the local church, and so there's just this little pocket of believers who face persecution daily and to be able to go in there and serve them, working alongside with them, and to help them to get God's word into their language and to all these other languages that surround them, as well as the the true gospel in a language that makes sense to the local people. So that's been a real treasure. But just recently there's this one particular people group. We call them the Notka, but it's not their real name because you know, for security reasons. But, you know, this year 2025, there is not one known believer of Jesus in that people group, and uh the overwhelming joy responsibility of sharing gospel, the true gospel, with those people who have never heard an accurate, clear explanation about what we mean by the true gospel. There have not there have not been workers in that part of the country because it is dangerous, it is remote, it is very inaccessible. But at the same time, Jesus died for those people too. And it is a joy to be able to work with African believers who have the burden to take the gospel to those folks. And so my background is in storytelling and scripture resource development. And in that particular language, there's not one translated word of scripture in that language, not one word. And so, even if you had believers, how in the world would you disciple them in another language? Would you disciple them in Arabic? A language that is a domineering language that the government has stated that, you know, we our goal is to to wipe out the ethnic languages of our country. So anyway, all that to say is it's been a real uh it has been very challenging to say the least, physically, emotionally, and spiritually to go into this dark place. But at the same time, too, you know, the the Lord Jesus Christ is with me, my team, and He has plans for those precious people who have never had access before.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, and that's exciting. I'm I'm really excited to see, you know, what that looks like in 10, 15, 20 years from now. Absolutely. You know, who knows? Like you guys are are in there doing the foundational work.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

It's absolutely yeah, absolutely. You know, we're preparing the ground. We're we're excited that there is a Bible translation team that has now targeted this language. And so the statistics that I'm quoting come from them because they have done research on the ground. So we're excited that scripture is gonna, it's coming. And but our our prep work and sharing stories and giving people the overarching picture of scripture through stories in that language, we hope and pray will just prepare the ground for success for future workers as well as African brothers and sisters that surround that people group.

Invitation To Church And Rec

Letting God Bring The Harvest

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Hey, quick pause. I'm Brad Winter, host of All Things Owensboro Podcast. If you're looking for a church that feels like home, we'd love to invite you to First Baptist Church Owensboro. We gather Sundays at 10:30 a.m. right next to the Blue Bridge. Infos in the show notes, and if you reach out, my family will gladly sit with you. Looking for a place to get active, connect with others, and have fun as a family? Then come check out the rec at FBC Owensboro. From open gym and a weight room to upward sports and community events, there's something for everyone. Memberships are super affordable, just$2 a day,$10 a month, or$60 a year. And get this, families, you only pay$120 max for the entire family for the whole year. And if you're a senior, college student, or one of our city heroes, like a teacher, first responder, or healthcare worker, you get a discount too. The wreck is more than a gym, it's a place to belong. That's really cool. It makes me think a lot of like Jim Elliott, who you know, and I if you're a believer and you know anything about missions, he's probably one of the main ones that you probably know. And so the fact that like what happened with him and his friends that went down there with him, and how that did not end in a very good way, but but looking back, like his wife got to go back and reap those benefits spiritually from seeing them come to know Jesus, that people group, and worked in some really cool ways. Absolutely. And so, you know, you know, and we talk about this, but mission work brings both beauty and hardship. So there's times where you're like, Man, today was awesome, and next thing you're like, what am I doing? And and I think as a human, like that's just that's just how we react. But what's been one of the hardest lessons you've learned along the way over these last 28 years?

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Hardest lessons. Well, I mean, just the err ever returning reminder that I'm not capable to do this on my own. That it absolutely must be God at work, that you know, you you have such an urgent sense of people coming to know Jesus as their savior because it sounds dramatic, but it that's because it's true that these are life and death decisions about eternity on the line. And so you just want everybody to come to know the Lord. And and you can accurately share the gospel, you can put, you know, if you're looking at apologetics, you can make all the clear explanations of why Jesus does make us right with God, but in the end, faith is a gift and people will look you in the eye and say, I believe everything you've told me, but because of my family, I can't follow Jesus now. And it breaks your heart because none of us are promised tomorrow, are we? So just that urgency that come on, you know, we're Americans, we wanna we wanna get things done, you know, we wanna uh see results. Uh we we answer to the church, we want to go back and tell everybody, oh, all these people that got saved. But the reality of it is it's the Father who draws people to himself, and he is the Lord of the harvest, not us.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

And so our job is to sow, and he is the one that brings the harvest. And while we are impatient, he's even he wants people to come to him more than anyone else. He draws people. But the bottom line is it is a hundred percent him that draws people and gives people the gift of faith to come to him, and then the wherewithal to stand during persecution. So, yeah, that's you know, you we want to think, oh, I have I'm here, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. And reality is the older we get, the more we realize it's all Jesus. I'm just along for the ride. Yeah, yeah.

Why Storytelling Reaches Oral Cultures

SPEAKER_02 20:57

I think I've kind of learned that too. I know in seminary I was trying to share the gospel with a coworker of mine, and I went up to one of my professors, I'm like, what am I doing wrong? Like I've shared it clearly, I've shared it multiple times, and he was like, Hey, look, sometimes you're just going from point A to point B, or maybe from point, you know, E to F. And you you're somewhere along that line. And so I and I so I think I've even then since then, like I've kind of even changed my mindset, you know, like especially with um with Apollo guys, like some of them I've known for three or four years, yeah, and I've had really good conversations with them, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're believers. I mean you hope that, but again, like you said, like we're not the harvester like the Lord is, and so that's really hard to remember a lot of times, uh especially in our Western culture. All right, so one thing that's different in our Western culture than others is storytelling. Yes. Um, it's something that, you know, yes, uh as we are on our podcast, we are storytelling. We use storytelling in different ways, but you know, I know you're one of kind of the pioneers behind that. And so where did that passion first take root?

SPEAKER_03 21:54

You know, Brad, I would say, you know, I was in sales prior to. Going into the mission field. But that passion for me to to when I began to really understand orality was just this concept of you know going overseas and realizing that not everyone best learns through literate means. Okay. And I'd be surrounded with really intelligent people who speak three, four, five languages and they have never been in a school one day of their life. Okay. And so it's not an issue of intelligence. It's the fact that people learn differently. And whereas, you know, our traditional education system is very much an independent, one-on-one type situation. Oral cultures learn in a community. And they guard truth, they guard knowledge as a community. And that is part of how they guard the integrity and yeah, just the base of the story or whatever. So, you know, we we've seen this phenomena highlighted in different miniseries and and television shows, but but you know, storytelling, this oral culture, the way people learn, it's not just Africa, it's Asia and it's around the world. And so just this passion, I I remember very well going into a Bible study the first time, the first time I went overseas to serve and just looking up and we, you know, prepared this lesson. And you know, it was late at night. I looked up, and there are like 50 people surrounding us wanting to hear what we have to say.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

And there are refugees from another country in that country, and they're just they're there to hear news. What's you know, what's going on. And that knowing to share the gospel in a way that's that penetrates people's hearts to the point where they just have to go and share it with somebody else. Because that's the only way this world is gonna hear about Jesus is when every believer, every person who is a seeker, even, will go out and share what they have learned. To be able to articulate, articulate it so clearly in a way that makes sense to others in their own language, i it's very evident that that is not gonna happen through your typical pen and paper literate models.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

So yeah, I get it. I mean, I'm a kinesthetic type learner, so I need to move and like the way I the only way I survived seminary was I I would do laps around our apartment reading a book. Um or it would have not worked. I mean, so you know, you talked about uh sharing these Bible stories, and I've even even here I remember like the first time I remember hearing about that, I think I was here maybe a year, and you you had come in and you talked about storytelling. I think Paul had mentioned it, and I remember I went to an Apollo football practice when I was able to do devotion on on I think Thursdays and Fridays at the time, and I remember saying, like, okay, like let's talk about David and Goliath.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

And this is America. And I know like people who listen to this, not everybody's a believer who listens to this podcast, but you know, I'm I'm looking around and I'm like, hey, how many people have heard the story of David and Goliath? And I think out of the 60 or so kids in there, three raised their hands. I'm like, all right, scripture, I scripture's great, we want to go by scripture, but I'm like, I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna storytell. And that seemed to go a lot better. And so I think even in today, like even in America, like it's it's something that needs to be more and more thought of and used because Bible literacy is is probably I wouldn't say all the time low. I don't I don't know the statistics, but it's pretty it's pretty low. And so I think like this is this is something that's even resourceful here in the States for sure. And so so you know, we talk about stories and how they connect with people. Absolutely. So when when can you come back with a time where you know you told a story and it truly connected with somebody and that really surprised you? Good or bad, but it surprised you.

When Ezekiel Wakes Up A Church

SPEAKER_03 26:19

And how we met with our African brothers and sisters in the leadership team, and we were kind of kicking off our new season. And I heard the story of Ezekiel when he has the vision of the drab bones coming to life. And that's an old testament story. And here we are with these educated pastors in the room, and they didn't know the story. And they walked away, and they were pumped up and ready to get to get at it for the dry bones of our churches to come back to life, yeah, to get out there and be about our father's business, to get out there and share the gospel with the neighbors and family and villages. And and that stemmed from the story from Ezekiel of the dry bones coming to life. And that really surprised me. I thought, oh, we'll have the story and we'll have a nice discussion, but man, it really pumped him up, and so that was funny.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Yeah, you just never know. Yeah. And so, all right, well, you know, your faith has evolved through all these seasons, you know, from when you were younger to now being a m a missionary of 28 years. And so, from a young woman in rural Kentucky to a missionary throughout the world, sharing Christ-cross cultures, what had how has your faith evolved through that process?

SPEAKER_03 27:46

As far as my faith evolved, I think you learn to be a lifelong learner. Brad, as you get older, you're just gonna find out more and more that you don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

And you're gonna discover your inability to make things happen, you know. And that you just have to put your faith in Jesus and how we have to grow in our faith. And how do we grow in our faith? It's not by you know listening to great motivational speakers, or you know, you're at church every time the doors open, are those things good? Absolutely. But our faith grows by knowing God's word, his revealed word through scripture, that we know it, we have it in our hearts, we can share it when we need to, as you raise your kids, as you interact. But my I you know, my faith has grown because I know God better, but because I know his word better. And that, you know, he is not going to reveal anything that does not comply with his word. And as we uh learn the word, we know him better and can trust him more and can put more of our faith in him. So I have learned I I just you know, my love for scripture is has never been stronger. And and to put that into practice and to be, you know, just a better person because I want to look more like Jesus and less like me.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yeah, that's uh that's uh it should be all our goals as believers for sure. And and it's definitely hard, uh, but it's worth it. So, you know, you you've been to all these different places. Sure. You've you've met so many different people. For sure. Uh and so what do you hope they remember most about you, not just as a a title of missionary or anything like that, but as a as a person.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

You know, one thing is I want people to walk away saying, you know, that you know, Judy loved us, and she loved us in a way that she's willing to serve us, you know, regardless. But also loved us enough to share the truth of scripture and point people to Jesus. And so that's what I want folks to to know about me is that you know, she's a person that loves everybody because they are made in the image of our great God, and they deserve respect because of that. They are image bearers of our great God, and so we love them, and I love them so much that I want them to know the truth of the gospel, and so hopefully people can walk away saying, Man, she's convicted and she's a hard worker, but what we do know is that she loves us.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

Yeah. And this could this could really well, very well bleed into this last question. Okay. Um, but you know, a lot of times is uh we think of the word legacy, maybe not as much as we I'm I would say most people don't listen, don't think about it a whole lot. But at the end of the day, you know, and I'll say this at every episode pretty much, but on the tombstone, that dash is what really matters. Uh the dates are cool, but the dash is what really matters. And so what legacy do you want to leave? And again, that could bleed very well into this last question, but sure.

SPEAKER_03 30:57

Well, I hope the legacy that I leave is one of Judy loved her savior, and she loved him so much that she wanted to serve him, and that I want everyone to know that Savior, that you can find forgiveness, and then you can find purpose, and you can find your community, and then you can be in relationship with a holy and perfect God because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Now, Jesus doesn't need me to work, he can do all he can do all this without me. But at the end of the day, I want folks to say, yeah, she loved her savior, and that she did everything she could to point everybody to him.

Rapid Fire Life On The Road

SPEAKER_02 31:48

That's awesome. I think it's that's quite the legacy to leave too. And so that's neat. Alright, well, we're gonna go into 270 seconds of fame. I don't actually record this time on the time, so it could be four and a half, could be a little longer than four and a half. But we got 20 questions of what asked uh in regards to I think 20, it might be 15, I don't know. It's not numbered this time around. Uh, but Judy, are you ready?

SPEAKER_03 32:08

I'm ready, brother.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

All right. Here I am. So the first the first question I have for you is what's the best thing about growing up on a farm?

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Uh you can go barefoot.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Alright. Uh what's your who what's your favorite small town Kentucky tradition?

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Oh, Derby Day, man. Come on. Kentucky, come on.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

This is a good one, yeah. Come on. Uh sweet tea, lemonade, or black coffee?

SPEAKER_03 32:28

Black coffee.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Black coffee, all right. Uh, one word to describe life in Hardinsburg.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

Uh slow.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

So, all right. Uh what's your favorite season back home in Breckenridge County?

SPEAKER_03 32:38

Oh gosh. I would say summer. Summer. Summer, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

All right. Uh, how many countries have you visited? Just your best guess.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Oh, mercy. 50.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

50. Wow. Uh, most unusual food you've ever had to try on the mission field.

SPEAKER_03 32:54

Oh, sheep brains for breakfast.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Oh man, yeah, that sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

It's challenging.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

Uh, what's one phrase you learned in our language that you still use today?

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Um, one is okay, uh, the big thing is greeting people.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

Is to always say hello. And so people think I'm so weird because every text I send, every time I see somebody, is you say, hello, how are you? How are you doing? Because it recognizes that you're a person. Okay. And to not do that is so incredibly rude. It and so um that has bled over to my life in the America.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

So whenever you know, I'm so she's so weird. Well, that's why. It's because you're so used to about respect, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

That's awesome. Uh what was the longest travel day you ever had, and was it worth it?

SPEAKER_03 33:45

I have about uh 72 hours made up a day of travel. Yeah, so yeah, and it's worth it. Yeah, when I go into the mountains of North Africa, you know, and you know, one point of that was uh five hours on a four-wheeler in a country without a hospital. Yeah, that's yeah, that was a long day. But yeah, it was you know 72 hours of travel on on four different airplanes. Wow, yeah, yeah, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

So you're exhausted. Yeah, to say the least. To say the least, uh uh is there a sound or a smell that instantly takes you back to the mission field?

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Um a sound probably be a rooster crowing.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

The smell would be like what you'd probably Americans would probably associate it with campfire.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Because people cook over, you know, wood and coals in Africa a lot. So that smell automatically tells me, oh, somebody's, you know, making the water for the coffee or whatever. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah. All right, well, flip it over to the other side of the world. What's the smell or sound that takes you back home?

SPEAKER_03 34:46

Uh Coca-Cola, Coke Zero.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:49

Yeah, because a lot of places in Africa you can get a Coke, and it's also a safe thing to drink because it's bottled, right? And so a cold Coke, you're just like, oh man, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Yeah, I was saying, I know in Dominican, we went to the Dominican Republic, like they're all about Coke. Yeah. In fact, they were giving us like little cups while we're in the middle of working. Here goes Coke. I'm like, I'll just take, I just want water. Like, no, no, take Coke, and like they'll put brown sugar in it. It's oh wow. It's a whole different experience. Yeah, it's a whole experience. Um, all right, so you know, you're a storyteller. Uh so what is your favorite Bible story to tell them why?

SPEAKER_03 35:22

Jesus Calms the Storm from Mark chapter four.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

Uh it's short, it's rich in theology. It teaches that when we are with Jesus, he brings peace. And that concept of peace is a worldwide concept that everybody's looking for.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

Yeah, that's cool. I didn't think about that. That's awesome. All right, if you could tell just one story from scripture to the whole world, would it be Mark IV or would it be something different?

SPEAKER_03 35:48

To the whole world, yeah, I would tell Mark IV.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

Mark IV, okay. Something like that. There's no point in asking you. Okay. Uh a verse that carries you through tough days.

SPEAKER_03 35:56

Uh, when Jesus said, um, uh in this world you will have trouble. But uh I've overcome the world. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

It's my wife's favorite verse, actually. She loves that verse, Sean 1633. That's awesome. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:12

And then also Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Yeah. Nobody comes to the Father except through him.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Um, all right, so John 14. John 14, 6, right? Yeah, John 14.6. Uh, if storytelling had a soundtrack, what song would you play under your favorite one? Oh! I know that's that's from Chatty, I'm sorry. ChatGBT helped me out with that one.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Oh. Okay, so ask that again.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Uh, so if storytelling had a soundtrack, what song would you play under your favorite one?

SPEAKER_03 36:39

Uh I I don't have a favorite one necessarily, but just this past Sunday we sang A Blessed Assurance, and the chorus says, This is my story, this is my song.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Yeah, it's a good one, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

Praising my savior all the day long. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

I like that one. I was I'm really glad that we sang that too. All right, so uh I don't know if it depends on where you're located in the world, but are you a morning person or night owl?

SPEAKER_03 37:00

I'm uh yeah, it really depends on where I'm at. I think my preference would be a night owl. Okay, but my work necessitates. Yeah, you have to be a normal morning person in Africa.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Yeah, I I have to be a morning person to get my kids to school, so that's I'm probably more night owl, though. Uh, what's your go-to comfort food when you're away from home and have the ability to eat a comfort food?

SPEAKER_03 37:25

Well, if I'm in the bush of Africa, it's peanut butter.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:29

Okay. For a lot of reasons, if you think about it, that you know, it's protein and yeah, and so that would be definitely a comfort food because you can often get bread. So if you have peanut butter, you know, that is a filling food. Um, you know, pizza would be definitely a comfort food uh that you you know you can make easy enough and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

That's cool. All right, uh if okay, so this is a fun one. Uh if you weren't a missionary, what other path might have you taken?

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Um, I would definitely be in sales.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Would it be in the agriculture sales role?

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Gotcha. One thing you always pack when you travel.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Oh, uh I I have a suit, I have I have a uh a good uh medicine uh kit with me when I travel.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 38:15

And you know, that medicine is not just for me, but for all the folks that I'm with. Because invariably somebody gets sick.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:22

Where we go. And so it's good to be able to minister to people, show them your love with good medicine, uh, also help them, you know, just get better.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

And do that in the name of Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Yeah. All right. Uh what's one thing you wish more people understood about missionary work?

SPEAKER_03 38:39

Oh, it's it's not just for a certain set of people that get some sort of out-of-body cloud opening call. No, it's absolutely, you know, it was the last words we have of Jesus, right? And his revealed word, uh, that to go and make disciples, you know, to the ends of the earth. And um, yeah, the mission is for everyone, not just a certain group or a clique. No, it's for every follower of Jesus, yeah, regardless of color, education, uh, economic background, is for every follower.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

That's awesome. All right, so when you think of home, like the the farm you grew up in on in Hartensburg, what picture comes to mind first?

SPEAKER_03 39:18

Yeah, I would say here in Owensboro, I consider home now in Utica and Sutherland area. And um, you know, for me it's just being on the farm. Uh, you know, to be able to sit on my porch and watch the corn grow. On my deck, you know, sit there and see the corn and see the activities of the tractors coming and going or the big trucks hauling grain that that is home.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

That's nice. All right, and then the last question I have for you is uh okay, so you you've been home a good bit. So like have you had the chance, like have you had a chance to get on the farm or or anything like that? Like, what's been your favorite? And I know you traveled a lot, I've seen it on Facebook. Sure. Uh, but what's been your favorite memory so far this this time home? Gosh, you mean here locally or it could just be whatever vacation locally, like just something that you're like, man, like that was a very that was a very fun memory.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

Yeah, for for this time back in the US. So when I'm in the US, I get to you do US vacation type activities. And so um my bestie, uh who's also a missionary, um uh we got to go to Alaska and just to be out in nature.

SPEAKER_02 40:25

Yeah, that was really cool.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

Yeah, just to be in nature, but then also to see grizzly bears up close, probably too close. And yeah, uh that that was that was really a bucket list trip. And uh, you know, we said all of this in heaven too.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:42

That we get to do this size attorney, yes.

Final Charge To Love The Hurting

SPEAKER_02 40:44

That's really cool. Well, those were great. Uh well, there's not that you get graded, but you passed, so good job, Miss Judy. Uh but really just kind of and I like to ask this to every single person that comes on.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

And that is, you know, you're they're listening to the entire podcast, and there's this one moment where you're just like, if you didn't hear anything else, this one. Encouraging, challenging, inspiring. What is one thing you like to leave with our audience?

SPEAKER_03 41:07

Um we are surrounded by hurting and broken people, and and that goes for us too. And um, we need to be able to share the love of Jesus, to reach out to the hurting, to the broken, to say that there is a God that you are made in his image, and he is holy and perfect. And for us to have access to that holy and perfect God, we have to have an intermediary, we have to have a savior to be able to have access to him, and that's Jesus. We do have to turn away from our old life and turn and follow God through Jesus only, and he forgives our sin, and we have access to this holy and perfect God. And so eternity starts this side of our death and goes until after our death. You know, Jesus said to Martha, uh, you will live even though you will live even though you die. And so I think the take home is um I just want to point people to that perfect Savior who will meet us in our muck and mire. But he loves us so much he's not gonna leave us there.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:18

And so um that's what we call uh moving towards we churchy term is you know sanctification, but that process of becoming more like our holy and perfect God. Not that works save us, not at all. Nothing like that. But uh come to him and and find true acceptance and grace and community, forgiveness.

Closing Thanks And Share Requests

SPEAKER_02 42:39

That's awesome. Well, Judy, that was a great way to end uh this podcast. Again, if you listened to this episode, uh I hope you enjoyed it. I have. I've enjoyed every episode, but just even like the the moments of silence. It was good just to sit in about what Miss Judy was saying and um and how God's really worked in her life and and others around her on her adventures around the world. And so uh yeah, if you're thinking about that, you know, reach out to me. I'll I'll talk to you about that. If you're like, hey, I'm thinking about being a a missionary overseas or elsewhere or a church planner, or maybe you're just listening to this, you're thinking, man, I need a relationship with that that holy and perfect God. I do this podcast because I want to get out in the community and meet people, people like you, people like others who are listening, and there's a reason why I do this. And you know, I have an opportunity to share the gospel and get to meet people and get to see that life change, is what I I do all this for. So thanks again, Mr. for being on. Uh, it's been it was a great episode. I've really enjoyed it. Again, share this episode, tell your friends about it. Have a good week, Owensboro, and we'll see you next. Thanks for tuning in to All Things Owensboro, where we celebrate the stories, people, and places that make our city special. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who loves this town as much as you do. Until next time, Owensboro, keep loving local. Supporting one another and making Owensboro a place we're all proud to call home.