August 21, 2000

'If you want to serve as a missionary, you must pray'
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DEL RIO--Isabel Montoya walked to the backyard and a "whole flock of little kids followed." She remembered a drawing showing Jesus with children at his feet, and she thought of the verse where Jesus said, "Let the children come to me."
___"I could see Jesus talking to them," said Montoya, a summer missionary with Texas

ISABEL MONTOYA AND MOLLY STONE lead children in a song during an outdoor Vacation Bible School. The two served as River Ministry summer missionaries in the Del Rio-Acuna area along the Rio Grande.

Baptists' River Ministry in Del Rio. Three of the 23 children attending that three-day backyard Vacation Bible School made professions of faith in Christ. She called it an experience "I'll never forget."
___Montoya and Molly Stone spent their summer in the Hispanic world that connects the United States and Mexico at Del Rio and Acuna. Montoya is a member of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Arlington, and she is a student at the University of Texas at Arlington. Stone is a member of Cherokee Baptist Church in Oklahoma City and a student at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
___The two, both bilingual, were among 12 summer missionaries serving through the Baptist General Convention of Texas River Ministry this year. The students worked from May 31 to Aug. 10.
___Montoya and Stone worked with Primera and Nueva Vida Baptist churches in Del Rio. They led several Vacation Bible Schools, worked with teenagers, taught an English as a second language class, did organizational and computer work for churches, led music and took part in a nursing home ministry.
___The experience, Montoya said, "just opened my eyes to appreciate and see how much work it is to be a missionary."
___"If you want to serve as a missionary, you must pray," she said. "That is what will get you through the summer." She learned that lesson from another UTA student serving as a missionary in Laredo, Elia Perez. "She's done missions before. She's the one who told me about prayer."
___It was a summer of "ups and downs," said Stone. Some days were "very frustrating and very discouraging," but others were "awesome."
___The TCU student thought she was going to teach a lot this summer. Instead, God taught her.
___"God has placed all these awesome Christians in my life," she said. "That has really humbled me."
___Stone described herself as a busy person who likes to be "doing a million things at once." She thought life as a missionary would mean getting up at 6 a.m. and "working the fields until midnight." Some days, in fact, turned out like that; but others did not. And in those slower moments, she learned things about herself and about God.
___"I learned to let him plan my day," Stone said. "I learned to depend on the Spirit day by day, not just me making a list of things to be done."
___Jack Calk, director of missions for Del Rio-Uvalde Baptist Association, described Montoya and Stone as gifted young women. "I think they learned a lot this summer. They had been very active in their local churches, but to be able to work together as a team" in an unfamiliar place, they had to "learn to depend on each other."
___The key to being a successful summer missionary is having initiative, Calk said. "If they're a self-starter, they will make it." And both Stone and Montoya exhibited initiative and creativity, he said.
___The need is great for summer missionaries along the Rio Grande, noted Dexton Shores, director of River Ministry. Requests for students exceed the number of applications each year.
___Montoya noticed the presence of other missionaries in the Hispanic communities along the river--Mormons.
___"Everywhere we've gone, we've seen them," she said. "If there only could be more of us, it would be great."
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