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Meet our missionaries
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Jon & Evelyn Siebert
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Growing up in Christian farm families, Jon and Evelyn Siebert had much
in common. Both learned early about God's love and the need for His
mercy; about the value of hard work, responsibility and caring for others.
They learned about missions from the many missionaries who visited their
churches and homes. Both are grateful for their parents' training and
example.
"At about seven years of age, I became concerned about my soul's
welfare," remembers Jon, who soon after trusted the Lord for salvation.
Evelyn admits she was often under conviction in her pre-teen years. During
a period of sickness at 13 -- and fearing death -- Evelyn surrendered
her life to the Lord. A hunger for God's Word and a desire to please Him
saw her through her struggles and doubts during her teen years.
Jon's desire to be an obedient witness led him to memorize Scripture
on the long bus rides to school. Missionary books and conferences resulted
in a burden to pray for persecuted Christians. He became active in a high
school Bible club and children's work on an Indian Reserve.
At Prairie Bible Institute, Jon joined the North American Native prayer
group. During his last year at PBI God used a visit from NCEMer Bud Elford
as a turning point. "He spoke of God's faithfulness to provide,"
says Jon, "and I started to look for a mission (to join)." When Jon's
father called one day with an invitation to join him in business, Jon
replied, "Dad, that's not my niche in life." Jon was already
familiar with NCEM with his parents supporting two NCEM missionaries.
Evelyn first heard of NCEM at Prairie High School and asked about the
NMTC summer program. "I was devastated to find out I needed one year of
Bible school first!" she recalls. But with a growing burden for Native
people, Evelyn went on to PBI and took NMTC. "Though there were
difficult times that summer, God [showed] me He wanted me in missions to
Native people," says Evelyn. Graduating in 1983, she joined NCEM the
following year and God brought Jon into her life. They attended "MDP"
training that fall, were married the next spring, and assigned to the
Sturgeon Lake (AB) Reserve.
"I joined NCEM because they had ministry to kids," explains Jon, "and our ministry (initially) was almost exclusively in camps and Sunday
school." Then in 1992 the Sieberts and their three children moved to
Key-Way-Tin Bible Institute to teach adults -- a ministry far from their
minds when they first joined the Mission.
Jon says 1 Timothy 3:1 ("If anyone sets his heart on being an
overseer, he desires a noble task") impacted him as a teen and is now
being fulfilled as Assistant Director of KBI.
Click here to meet more of our
missionaries
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