My Story

Childhood begins

My story with Japan Reach began as a young child. I grew up going to church and hearing a lot of missionaries share some really cool stories of all the amazing things God was doing around the world. Through hearing their stories God began to ever so gently captivate my attention and my heart. These missionaries soon became my heroes.

One particular missionary became very close to our family. My parents adopted a baby girl through his ministry in India. I also became close to him through babysitting his grandchildren. Sometimes during the summer I would spend a few hours listening to him share his heart about Calcutta. It truly amazed me how much he could love a people group. Nearly every breath was a prayer for these beautiful people who God placed on his heart. I strongly desired to have what he had.

Hearing the Call to Go

As a young teenager God began to speak to my heart about dedicating my life completely to full time missions. At first I thought it would be to India since we had a connection with the missionary from India. While I waited I went on a few short term mission trips to New Orleans during Madi Gras, Jamaica, and Peru.

Meeting My Husband

Then I met my husband, Larry Vaughn, who had a Russian Area studies degree. Oh!! Now God must be calling me to go to Russia. Larry’s plan was to be a spy, but I thought I could quickly change that into being a missionary. Haha!

Starting a Family

God also placed a love in my heart for children. Every summer I would spend my time babysitting from the time I was twelve. Sooooo, when I got married I was going to have a bunch of kids!! I wanted at least a dozen and Larry wanted none, so we compromised with having six. Now the grandchildren are coming at a nice steady rate. We have two with the third on the way.

Waiting on God’s Timing

Even though God placed missions on my heart as a young child it took nearly 50 years for His timing to show me where. I got to the point of being content wherever I was needed, so I took a position at my church as the nursery director.

Then…..

As I was serving as the nursery director at my church one of my volunteers, Martin Holman, was unable to come to his serving position. He was doing some Japanese interpreting at the hospital for a mom whose daughter was involved in a terrible car accident. Martin has had a love for Japan for a long time. He lived there for several years, taught Japanese in the US, and performed traditional Japanese puppetry known as Bunraku Bay.

The next time Martin was in the nursery he began to tell me about this mom at the hospital with her daughter. She came all the way from Japan to be with her daughter who was struggling to survive. I could not imagine the pain she must of been feeling. As moms when our children are hurting, it hurts us deeply too.

Building a Relationship

I went to the hospital with my mom and we prayed for this mom and her daughter. It turned out to be more than just a one time visit. I continued to visit this mom and a relationship began to form. As a result of this one hospital visit God started placing a love in my heart for the Japanese people.

This is my story of how Japan Reach started. God can use a simple ordinary person who is willing say yes and go. He can place a love in our hearts for a culture that is different than our own. More than anything else Japan Reach does, I want us to share the greatest joy, peace, and love anyone will ever experience, Jesus. It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship with God himself.

Blessings,

Tina