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EVERYONE HAS A STORY - THIS IS MINE!
Pamela Wieler ~ CB I ‘98, CB II ‘00
~ Missionary to UGANDA
Everyone has a story that is personal and special. Some are shy in telling their story; others are bold. Finding our place in missions can
be scary, but it can also be faith-strengthening. My story gets written each day, and I am thankful for the Lord’s Leading.

I surrendered to full time Christian service at sixteen. After attending the International Conference on World Evangelism in 1993, the
Lord stirred my heart for foreign missions. I was able to go to Costa Rica in 1994 on my first mission’s trip. While passing out tracts there
and seeing people stop to read them, the Lord kept giving me the thought, “You can do this full time!” It was a blessing to see that there
were some people interested in God’s gift, Jesus Christ.

I went to college and studied elementary education and missions. This was a miracle in my story as I had told the Lord I would never be
a teacher—it was what my grandmother, mother and sister were—I wanted to do my own thing. The Lord had other plans and gave
me a love for teaching!
During CAMP BIMI I in 1998, we watched BIMI presentations about different fields of service. The one about Uganda grabbed my heart.

The Lord began working! The work in Soroti, Uganda, was just beginning—just a plan to build a church and boarding school for orphans.

Africa, Lord?
In 1999, I went on my second mission’s trip, this time to Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, to help the Bob Mach family. While there, the Lord
placed a desire on my heart to get more Bible teaching. I truly did not want to get a Master’s degree, but it was the Lord writing my story.

Graduation came in 2000, and I attended CAMP BIMI II. Africa was certainly on my mind and in my heart! However, I knew I needed
teaching experience before going overseas. I taught at Pensacola Christian Academy for four years, which allowed me to work on my
Master’s degree in Bible Exposition.

During those four years, I had the opportunity to assist at CAMP BIMI two times in between graduate classes. I was happy and
content. Life was good. But in the back of my mind was the burning desire for foreign mission work.

I needed to step out in faith to pursue the rest of my story. In 2004, I moved back home and immediately went to Ecuador to help a
missionary family for a few weeks. I saw the struggle the wife had in not having time to invest in the ladies of their work like she wanted
to. I could teach the children which would allow the missionary wife to do ministry. Bad idea? No. Wrong desire? No. But, it wasn’t the
story God was writing for me.

I came home and concentrated on my new third graders. Two months later, I received a CAMP BIMI prayer loop email with a ministry
need for Uganda. I delayed responding about this opportunity because I thought it would never be something I could do—a year
in Africa by myself?
After two weeks, I had peace to contact Mrs. Baughman, and she got me in touch with the missionaries. One year replacing a furloughing
missionary in the same ministry that had broken my heart back in 1998, could this be my story?
By February 2005, I knew it was. I thought this would be a good test to see if I could live overseas, if I could handle African life, and if
I would find my fit in foreign service.

The Lord worked amazingly, and I raised enough support for one year in just three weeks! I finished teaching in early June, attended
Candidate School, and arrived in Uganda on July 4 th !
This was my fit—my place in missions—my story was going to be written from Uganda and I’ve never looked back!
The rest of my story is unlike most missionary stories as far as deputation and furloughs, but life in Uganda has kept me busy. The
opportunities abound!
• On Saturdays I hold a Bible club in a strong Muslim
area. Many children have accepted Christ as Lord
and Savior!
• Sundays allows work in a village church plant 40
minutes away. Some of my faithful children have
now grown up and are helping me teach Sunday
School! I then teach Bible at a local private school
after church.

• Monday through Friday, I am the principal and one
of the teachers at Independent Baptist School, our
orphan boarding school. I will never completely
understand the hardships the orphans have gone
through. Being closely involved in their lives is a
blessing. I am glad this is part of my story.

Each field is different. Talents and gifts are unique.

There’s one puzzle, millions of pieces. What is
your story? Have you found your place in missions?
Wonderful! Continue to be faithful. Still searching?
Great! Do not back down, because the Lord is
writing your story, and it is one of a kind!
18 CAMP BIMI



OUTSIDE THE BOX
Clint and Miranda Tackett – CB I ‘16b, CB II ‘17, SM ‘18
CLAIM Missionaries on deputation
Our story is not similar to many we have met in missionary circles. Not raised
in a Christian home, my parents divorced early in my life, and I witnessed and was
involved in substance abuse. I never heard the Gospel until I was 21 years old when
I met Miranda and began attending her church. One Sunday after the morning
service, the assistant pastor invited me into his office and led me to the Lord!
Miranda was raised in a Christian home and
saved at an early age, but had gotten away from
the Lord in her late teens and early twenties,
also falling into substance abuse. We married in
2009 and began to grow in our relationship with
Christ. We started attending church faithfully,
joined the choir, taught classes in Master Club,
had a bus route and went soul winning every
week. Miranda worked in nursery, taught
Sunday School, headed a meal-provider
program and Junior VBS. I was privileged to
serve as a trustee and then as a deacon. We
thank the Lord and our pastor for giving us
these opportunities to serve, learn, and grow.

After serving overseas in the Army following high school, I landed a great job
at a power plant. Assuming I would retire from there one day, after ten years of
employment, I was devastated to learn that the plant was closing! The Lord began
to impress on my heart the idea of entrepreneurship. With a wife and 3 children to
provide for, I opened a small home repair company that became successful after a
short time. However, the Lord began to show us that this was not all He had for
us. We were convicted about the superficiality of working only for personal,
worldly gain. We also knew the Lord had given me a gift of working with my
hands and that we wanted to use that skill for Him. We began to pursue ideas
of opening a non-profit organization to provide free home repairs for veterans,
widows, and the elderly. But the Lord never opened any of those doors, so we
continued to pray and seek the Lord’s Will for our future.

Bro. Gerry Baughman visited our church and presented the CLAIM ministry
to our congregation. The following week, Chris and Molly Heyne, CAMP BIMI
alumni and new missionaries with CLAIM, stopped by our church and shared
more information. CLAIM seemed to be exactly what we had been searching
for! We attended CB I in 2016 where God called me to full-time ministry. We
surrendered our lives to the Lord that following Sunday at our home church.

No, we didn’t have the typical background or credentials most missionaries
have, but we firmly believe the Lord prepared us specifically to serve with
CLAIM. We have three children: Lillyanna 9, Levi 8 and Luke 6 and were
approved by BIMI December 2017. In addition to homeschooling, we started our
Bible college courses. Deputation began in March 2018. We are excited to use the
gifts the Lord has given us for His glory and to encourage others to do the same!
I Peter 4:10 is the verse we’ve chosen for our ministry. It says, “As every man
hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God.” The Lord has given everyone a gift, and, as Christians,
we are called to use that gift for the Lord. No matter how small or unimportant
we think our contribution is, the Bible says our gift is a necessary and vital part
within the body of Christ! We praise the Lord for His Calling upon our lives, and
we are humbled by the opportunity to serve the King of Kings each day! Truly
blessed, we stepped outside of the box! Will you?
From the South
to the Far North
Influencing the Next Generation
Kelli Reese ~ CB I ‘99, SM ‘00 ~ Missionary
to Newfoundland and Labrador
It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost twenty
years since I attended CAMP BIMI in 1999 and
participated in the SMART trip to Iceland in 2000.

Both of those times helped prepare me to serve
God in the Canadian province of Newfoundland
and Labrador. Meeting other missionaries and
receiving practical training from those who had
been there helped me solidify that missions was
truly God’s Plan for me. God directed my steps to
Newfoundland to help church planters and to reach
children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Every summer, I help with vacation Bible schools
in independent Baptist churches in Newfoundland
and Labrador. I also had a ministry going into many
smaller communities to hold week-long Bible clubs.

We were able to use either a local school, playground,
or community center in over thirty five different
communities across the island and in Labrador.

Most have very little or no Gospel witness. Many
children were saved in these Bible clubs. Young
people from the ministry in Carbonear assisted.

Two young boys that attended my Sunday school
classes and often accompanied me on Bible clubs
graduated from Bible College, even attended
CAMP BIMI I, and are now serving the Lord in
their local churches.

The past few years, it has been difficult to continue
this type of ministry for a number or reasons. Due
to health issues, I am not able to travel as much as I
did before and to hold multiple Bible clubs the same
week. It has been more difficult to secure locations
due to insurance restrictions. So I began focusing on
the area around St. John’s, trying to reach children
that we can continue to minister to through our
local church year round. I’ve continued to travel to
Labrador the past few summers to help with a week
of Bible school there. The past nine years, I have
been privileged to teach at a Christian school here
on the island. We have seen God use this ministry
in the lives of students and families.

I am thankful for the truth,
“Faithful is He that calleth
you who also will do it.” It
is truly God that does the
work. I have been blessed
to be a small part of the
ministry here in this beautiful
province. CAMP BIMI
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