Ministry lures teacher, nurse, children
- By Scott Kirk Special to the Reporter-News
- Posted May 21, 2011
Wayne Hester teaches algebra at Anson High School. Hester is leaving his job to intern with the ministry team of Samaritan's Purse in Cambodia, a position he hopes will lead to further missionary opportunities.
Photos by Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News Wayne and Tricia Hester and their children (from left) Reece, Micah and Kyler, are selling most of their possessions and moving to Cambodia. The Hesters will intern at Samaritan's Purse, a nondenominational evangelic Christian organization.
Wayne Hester teaches algebra at Anson High School. Hester is leaving his job to intern with the ministry team of Samaritan's Purse in Cambodia, which he hopes will lead to further missionary opportunities.
If you believe that life is a series of unconnected, random events, you don’t want to hear the story of Tricia and Wayne Hester.
If everything goes according to plan, the Hesters, along with their three sons, will be moving to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at the end of July. And, after everything that’s happened to them since the beginning of April, they have no reason to believe things won’t go right.
The Hesters will be taking an internship with Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational Christian organization that works in Third World countries. Although the internship lasts through Christmas, the Hesters really don’t have an exit strategy because they are literally selling everything and hoping to remain in Cambodia.
“We have the rest of our lives to collect things,” said Tricia Hester, a nurse at Hendrick Medical Center. “The chance for this adventure may not happen again.”
The process so far seems rather adventurous. In January, the family contacted Samaritan’s Purse, which is based in North Carolina.
“We didn’t hear anything back for a long time, so we figured it was dead in the water,” said Wayne Hester, an algebra teacher at Anson High School.
In early April, the Hesters were told they had been accepted as interns, but then the executive director put the assignment on hold because no family had ever been chosen as interns. By the end of April, they were told they would be sent to Cambodia.
That became the first of many coincidences, which is not how the Hesters refer to the events. The family’s dream had always been to go as missionaries to Cambodia, but Samaritan’s Purse wasn’t honoring a request.
“They could have sent us anywhere,” Tricia said. “South America, Africa. It was a miracle.”
As a mom, Tricia was especially concerned about a school for their sons — Micah, 10; Reece, 6; and Kyler, 5. No problem. It turned out there was a private school, Hope International School, a couple of blocks from the building in which they’ll live.
There was another hitch. The school had spots for the two older boys, but not for Kyler.
“But just when we had to make a decision about whether we would go, we get a call that Kyler was accepted, too,” Wayne said.
With all those things working out, the Hesters said they have no doubt they’ll raise the $10,000 they need by June 15 to make their dream a reality.
On June 25, the Hesters will have an estate sale to divest themselves of everything they can’t fit into about a half-dozen cases. That includes antiques they’ve acquired during their marriage as well as the antiques they have in the business they run.
When the Hesters say this has been a dream for years, it isn’t an idle statement. For much of their married life, they have worked to help send others on mission trips and to develop relationships with people in the mission fields.
Then they decided that if they wanted to become missionaries themselves, it needed to be now, before their sons got any older.
“We asked God if he wanted us to remain helping others go or go ourselves,” Wayne said.
His apparent answer was a
whirlwind.
“If you knew us, you would know that we’re both anal-retentive people,” Wayne said. “We plan everything. We know everything we’re doing is going against the book about how you’re supposed to prepare for a mission trip.”
The first few weeks, the Hesters dealt with logistical issues, such as insurance, banking and other mundane things. Now, they are in full packing mode as they wind up school years and jobs. They said they are so busy that they often don’t think about the move itself.
Phnom Penh is a city of 2 million, which will be a cultural change for Wayne, who hails from Rochester in Haskell County (Tricia has a bit more of an urban pedigree, coming from the Dallas-Fort Worth area).
Cambodia’s population is young, poor and more than 90 percent Buddhist. However, Wayne said Christianity is making great inroads among young people there, who see evangelical churches as the organizations that have done the most for the country.
Tricia will work with child nutrition programs and HIV/AIDS education in churches while Wayne, who has trained as a pastor, will work with a ministry team to add a spiritual aspect to Samaritan’s Purse’s development projects.
“It’s almost a liaison role,” he said.
When family members arrive in Cambodia in late July, they will find few vestiges of the West. You can get Dr Pepper — “for a price,” Tricia said — and there’s a McDonald’s in Phnom Penh, “but I’m not sure they have beef,” she said.
“Beef is so expensive there. Everything is chicken or fish.”
As excited as they are to move, the Hesters admit to being on a “roller coaster” of emotions as they prepare to leave family and friends, whom they say have been supportive even as they questioned the wisdom of the trip. And there are things from West Texas they’ll miss, such as Harold’s barbecue sauce.
“If anyone wants to send a care package, that would be great,” Tricia said.
They said they have every reason to believe the promise that God will provide almost certainly includes Texas barbecue.
If everything goes according to plan, the Hesters, along with their three sons, will be moving to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at the end of July. And, after everything that’s happened to them since the beginning of April, they have no reason to believe things won’t go right.
The Hesters will be taking an internship with Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational Christian organization that works in Third World countries. Although the internship lasts through Christmas, the Hesters really don’t have an exit strategy because they are literally selling everything and hoping to remain in Cambodia.
“We have the rest of our lives to collect things,” said Tricia Hester, a nurse at Hendrick Medical Center. “The chance for this adventure may not happen again.”
The process so far seems rather adventurous. In January, the family contacted Samaritan’s Purse, which is based in North Carolina.
“We didn’t hear anything back for a long time, so we figured it was dead in the water,” said Wayne Hester, an algebra teacher at Anson High School.
In early April, the Hesters were told they had been accepted as interns, but then the executive director put the assignment on hold because no family had ever been chosen as interns. By the end of April, they were told they would be sent to Cambodia.
That became the first of many coincidences, which is not how the Hesters refer to the events. The family’s dream had always been to go as missionaries to Cambodia, but Samaritan’s Purse wasn’t honoring a request.
“They could have sent us anywhere,” Tricia said. “South America, Africa. It was a miracle.”
As a mom, Tricia was especially concerned about a school for their sons — Micah, 10; Reece, 6; and Kyler, 5. No problem. It turned out there was a private school, Hope International School, a couple of blocks from the building in which they’ll live.
There was another hitch. The school had spots for the two older boys, but not for Kyler.
“But just when we had to make a decision about whether we would go, we get a call that Kyler was accepted, too,” Wayne said.
With all those things working out, the Hesters said they have no doubt they’ll raise the $10,000 they need by June 15 to make their dream a reality.
On June 25, the Hesters will have an estate sale to divest themselves of everything they can’t fit into about a half-dozen cases. That includes antiques they’ve acquired during their marriage as well as the antiques they have in the business they run.
When the Hesters say this has been a dream for years, it isn’t an idle statement. For much of their married life, they have worked to help send others on mission trips and to develop relationships with people in the mission fields.
Then they decided that if they wanted to become missionaries themselves, it needed to be now, before their sons got any older.
“We asked God if he wanted us to remain helping others go or go ourselves,” Wayne said.
His apparent answer was a
whirlwind.
“If you knew us, you would know that we’re both anal-retentive people,” Wayne said. “We plan everything. We know everything we’re doing is going against the book about how you’re supposed to prepare for a mission trip.”
The first few weeks, the Hesters dealt with logistical issues, such as insurance, banking and other mundane things. Now, they are in full packing mode as they wind up school years and jobs. They said they are so busy that they often don’t think about the move itself.
Phnom Penh is a city of 2 million, which will be a cultural change for Wayne, who hails from Rochester in Haskell County (Tricia has a bit more of an urban pedigree, coming from the Dallas-Fort Worth area).
Cambodia’s population is young, poor and more than 90 percent Buddhist. However, Wayne said Christianity is making great inroads among young people there, who see evangelical churches as the organizations that have done the most for the country.
Tricia will work with child nutrition programs and HIV/AIDS education in churches while Wayne, who has trained as a pastor, will work with a ministry team to add a spiritual aspect to Samaritan’s Purse’s development projects.
“It’s almost a liaison role,” he said.
When family members arrive in Cambodia in late July, they will find few vestiges of the West. You can get Dr Pepper — “for a price,” Tricia said — and there’s a McDonald’s in Phnom Penh, “but I’m not sure they have beef,” she said.
“Beef is so expensive there. Everything is chicken or fish.”
As excited as they are to move, the Hesters admit to being on a “roller coaster” of emotions as they prepare to leave family and friends, whom they say have been supportive even as they questioned the wisdom of the trip. And there are things from West Texas they’ll miss, such as Harold’s barbecue sauce.
“If anyone wants to send a care package, that would be great,” Tricia said.
They said they have every reason to believe the promise that God will provide almost certainly includes Texas barbecue.
3 comments:
When I see this kind of story, it just makes me want to puke. They use Care package as a bait.
I think, religion aside,this a positive contribution to Cambodia. Cambodia is predominantly Buddhist, but when we are too poor we must readily accept aid and assistance from anywhere, including from non-Buddhist faith. The Hesters are doing a great job. I commend them for giving up everything to help poor Cambodians.
Doing it with the most sincere is one thing and underlying and ulterior motive is another. The Hesters are the latter. So please.......
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