NORMAN — It’s not the normal life most 20-somethings have, but it’s a life that Julianna and Brandon Jones can’t fathom giving up.
In February, the couple packed up from their Norman lives. Julianna sold a beloved coffee maker, Brandon traded in his car and the couple quit their jobs.
Brandon worked at The University of Oklahoma. Julianna worked at The Norman Transcript. Leaving family and friends behind, the couple moved to Cape Town, South Africa, to take part in a church planting experience with NGO All Nations.
For the past six months the couple has been in a training program for All Nations.
“The training program is a period of time that we like to compare to church planting bootcamp. It gets everyone who is considering joining All Nations or considering doing a mission in Africa on the same page on methodology, ideology and philosophies,” Brandon said.
The Joneses returned to Oklahoma July 13. Visiting family and friends, not to mention drinking all the great coffee Julianna can handle, the couple are back in the States for two months to continue fundraising for the work they are doing in South Africa.
The couple are in South Africa on volunteer visas, meaning they are not allowed to seek employment while in the country. The money raised by All Nation’s basically is money to keep the lights on, so the organization can’t pay its volunteers’ salaries.
“We are here raising our salaries, raising prayer and support. We cant’ do this without the prayers of the people around us,” Brandon said.
The couple didn’t have very many expectations before going into their training, Julianna said, but it definitely opened their eyes.
“I think it was more challenging than I expected. I kinda thought I had things figured out. And then I went through training and I thought, ‘Oh, that is not a very good way to interact with people,’” Julianna said. “I wanted to empower people and not control them. I got some really good tools. We both really learned a lot.”
During the training portion of their missionary work, Brandon and Julianna lived in a large house with several other people from All Nations.
“Another expectation we didn’t think we would have was the experience of living with people from other cultures. We lived with people from native South Africa, Zimbabwe, India and other places throughout the world,” Brandon said. “We got to experience the different cultures up close and personal.”
Julianna said that, during their first six months in Cape Town, they spent a large portion of their time in the communities, seeing what they will be doing in the long term.
“We formed relationships that were real relationships. We were able to have real experiences with people there who God connected us with. We did something that launched the movement of God in their lives,” Julianna said.
One of those lives changed was a 16-year-old girl who Julianna refers to as “Nancy.”
Julianna said Nancy joined a Bible study group that she and another member of All Nations started. Nancy didn’t talk much until about six weeks into the study. She told Julianna that she had “a horrible secret.”
“She said, ‘I think I’m pregnant,’” Julianna said.
Nancy knew she didn’t want an abortion, but felt that she didn’t have any other options. She was an orphan, living with an aunt who was taking care of eight children.
Julianna said Nancy’s sister had gotten pregnant a few years before and the aunt kicked her out. Nancy also had no way of contacting the baby’s father.
“It was just a horrible situation,” Juilanna said. “We told her she had other options; this wasn’t a hopeless situation. We told her we believe that God does miracles. We believe that God can do what you need Him to do in order for you to feel like you have choices. She (Nancy) said that her miracle was that her aunt would let her live with her.”
After praying with Nancy and telling everyone in the States to pray for her, too, “We told her whatever she decided, God is still going to love you,” Juilanna said.
The next day when they went to see Nancy again, she was smiling.
“She had hope,” Juilanna said. “God just kept doing miracles for this girl. I went with her when she told her aunt. Her aunt said, ‘Fine, I can’t do anything about it.’”
A few days later, Julianna found out that the girl’s boyfriend came back and was going to help with the baby, too, something that is rare in South Africa.
“She was so full of despair before. I didn’t do anything, I was just there for her. The Lord just put us together. She made her choices, but she needed someone to tell her it’s OK to make the choices you need to make,” Julianna said.
Brandon had a similar experience with a man who had a drinking problem. The man didn’t have a job, was homeless and was considered the black sheep of the family.
“He said, ‘I drink all the time and I’m always drunk and I don’t want to be. Can you pray for me?’ And we said that we would pray for him. When we got done praying he said, ‘Would you come back to where I live so you can visit with me next week?”
When the group Brandon was with came back the following week, they found their friend, drunk again, but willing to talk.
“He starts telling us that when he was little his grandmother would take him to church and he knows Jesus from that, but he wondered far, far away from that and he wanted to get his life right again, and he felt that Jesus was at the heart of that,” Brandon said.
“We finally got around to telling him that we loved him and that Jesus loved him. He was loved so much — that we came from thousands and thousands of miles away to find him and tell him that. We started praying again. He told us he never had anyone in his life tell him he was loved,” Brandon said.
The next week, when the group visited him he was sober, Brandon said. The week after, that the man had found a job. A week later, he was playing soccer in the street with some kids and having the joy he’d never had.
A month later, another man approached the group.
“He points at our friend and points back to us and says, ‘This man has completely changed over the past couple of months. He is not the same guy he was. I want what he has. I drink all the time and I don’t want to be that guy any more. How do I change?’ I’ve never been a part of something like that in my life. Just seeing the tangible change in his life and the livelihood of those around him was just amazing,” Brandon said.
But the experience also has changed Julianna and Brandon’s way of life.
“I feel so different. Especially coming in as an American, we are so task-driven and I had this agenda. I was going to go and help these people. And the Lord quickly stripped me of that’s not really the way to deal with people and that is not what Africa needs. Africa needs African leaders changing Africa,” Julianna said. “Our job is to love the people there and help them any way that God needs us to so they can be empowered to help themselves and the people about them.”
The Joneses will return to South Africa in September. When they return they will be on staff with All Nations. Brandon will be director of technology and Julianna will be director of communications.
The couple also has blogged about their experiences on their website, www.branandjuli.com.
To give tax deductible donations to support the Joneses at All Nations, send contributions to All Nations, c/o Walsh Washburn LLC, 5360 College Blvd., Suite 100, Overland Park, KS, 66211.
The couple ask that a note be written to indicate that funds be preferred for Brandon and Julianna Jones.
Shana Adkisson 366-3544 sadkisson@normantran-script.com
