"YOU WOZNIAK, COME HERE!  ...WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOU?  THERE'S A LIGHT IN YOUR EYES THAT'S NOT BEEN THERE BEFORE."

The words rang out across the hall the first day of school her senior year.  At seventeen, Kathy had recently come through a dramatic and personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.  As the realization of what Christ had done for her settled inside, she surrendered herself to Him for use as He saw fit.  Little did she realize that the decision she'd made would be used to touch the lives of family and friends; nor that it was the beginning of God's design to touch lives in the far away places of India, Nepal and wherever the Holy Spirit would lead ... through one surrendered life.

The next several years of Kathy 's life prepared her for what is now her ministry in the mission field.  She earned a Music Education degree from Baylor University and returned to Wharton where she taught school for five years.  At the invitation of a friend, she attended an Aglow meeting.  During the "altar call" the last night of meetings, Kathy went forward to receive a "fresh impartation of the Holy Spirit."  From this point there would be no turning back.  It was the first of many important steps that God would use to bring her into the work for which she had been created and would satisfy her soul.  The second major step was considerably harder:  She left her country and moved to Australia for the next two years while she completed her theological training at Calvary Bible College, accepting a call to serve as a missionary in two countries before she returned to America.  Upon returning, she taught school in Oklahoma so that she could serve in a new church as music minister and teaching elder.  The next event came in 1996.  Kathy had moved to a new teaching post in Washington State.  She had only been there 3 weeks when a call went out through Harvest of Jubilee Missions asking for missionaries to go to the Philippines.  She asked for and received a sabbatical for her first "third world" mission trip.  Upon her return she entered into full time missionary work, leaving for India in January 1997 and joining the Harvest group shortly after her return.

It's important that American Christians understand that Christianity in places like India, China and the Pacific Rim are very much like the New Testament experience:  faith abounds among the Christian believers.  They experience healing of physical afflictions, deliverance from demonic, mental, and emotional bondages, supply for everyday needs in miraculous ways, and the dead raised back to life.  They experience the Holy Ghost in ways that we have never seen.  They also battle evil in a very literal sense.  The occult and witchcraft are prevalent.  Finally, Christians struggle against the governments in that part of the world who do not want Christianity in their culture, and therefore persecute believers unmercifully.  Kathy experienced some of this in the India she visited in 1997 and following years.

"India was both a wonderful and a difficult experience," Kathy admits.  It was difficult in the fact that she came up against false apostles, black magic, witchcraft, and demonic possession.  There, this sort of behavior is not locked behind asylum doors or done in secret; it is out in the open and everyone's life is touched by it.  She had numerous attempts made on her life, particularly by one false prophet when the people started seeing the true Gospel and broke away from his influence to follow Jesus.  The India experience was also "wonderful because it was common to see the power of the Living God I believe in and serve:  blind eyes were opened, deaf healed, crippled people got up and walked, demoniacs were set free and placed in a right mind, etc.:  the faith level was very high."  As Kathy explains "we don't see this in the United States because we do not need God to be God; we rely on ourselves: our intellect and technology.  In India they know the reality of the spiritual realm.  Their only lasting hope is through saving faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

She related one of the many experiences to me.  "A woman came to ask for healing and upon receiving her own release from crippling arthritis, asked if her God could heal her husband's blindness.  To which Kathy replied, 'Of course He can.'  The man was led forward and prayed for:  he was healed!  Crying and shouting aloud he asked 'Can your God heal my knees, too?'  "Of course He can," Kathy again answered.  They prayed and he was healed.  As he was walking away, the Holy Spirit led her to ask if this man wanted to be saved.  She hesitated since the meeting was being held in a private home for the pastors and their 'flock,' she thought.  However, as Holy Spirit pressed her, she pushed through the crowd to catch up with him and apologetically said 'Sir, I do not mean to offend you, but I have to ask ... are you a Christian?'  'Oh no,' he said:  'we are Hindu.'  'Would you like to be a Christian and be saved?' Kathy asked.  To which he responded:  'Oh yes!  Our gods cannot do this.  Your God ... He is the only Living God.'  He gave his heart to the Lord and walked back to his village born again and whole:  spiritually as well as physically.  As a result of seeing his healing, his entire village came to Christ."

Kathy has been in the States since 2002.  During this "newest faith step," she has established in her own ministry "Shofar Sounding."  With the business now in place, she is ready to go back to the people she calls "my family" in India; but first, she's stopping in Nepal, adding new faces to the "family picture."

Nepal is a monarchy which practices Hinduism; yet it is also the birthplace of the founder of Buddhism.  Although there are a few government-sanctioned Christian churches, Christianity has no real footing in the area.  There are some new house churches which have sprung up in Katmandu where Kathy will be going.  Proselytizing is not recommended in public; however missionaries do come into these groups and work with them in their public endeavors.  They will minister to the orphans, doing humanitarian work during the day and in the evenings will lead and conduct worship seminars.

Although primarily a Hindu country, India is a democracy and therefore, must allow freedom of religion on the surface.  Missionaries are tolerated by the government; however, in reality, they are treated as an undesirable element.  The acceptance of Holy Spirit filled and led Christianity by the working and lower classes is becoming a recognized problem to the officials, as people leave the practice of idolatry and the financial base it upholds becomes threatened.  Established Christian churches are quite common in South India, with a style varying from 1900 Lutheranism to modern day Assembly of God.  However, the northern regions have resisted the Church's influence.  This is the part of India that Kathy is now venturing into:  although quite scenic, it is non-Christian, impoverished and backwards.  Christians have not been welcome.

"The message we are taking is two-fold:  we are a Body where each person needs to function and provide what has been God-given; and a warning not be led astray to fables, as Paul warned against in the book of Acts" said Rev. Wozniak.  "Fables, myths, and superstitions are the underpinnings of false religions, which are rampant in that part of the world.  One of the ways false religions attempt to destroy the faith of Christian believers is by telling them that disasters, such as the recent Tsunami, earthquakes, and plagues, have occurred because they left the 'true gods' and converted to Christianity."  This group of missionaries is hoping to strengthen and encourage the hearts of these young Believers to stand strong, do the work of sharing the Gospel to their neighbors, endure hardship and persecution, and keep 'The Faith.'

Kathy is looking forward to seeing the pastors she has met on previous journeys who will be attending the seminars.  Most of these men and women have no formal training; many have had personal experiences with the resurrected Christ similar to the Damascus Road experience of the Apostle Paul, recorded in the book of Acts, and share in constant hardships in order to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Many of these same pastors do not even have a Bible:  they must rely on Holy Spirit to provide the teaching and training they need. Shofar Sounding was established for the purpose of reaching out to help meet that need.  It may be the only time a missionary will come to the villages of this region, or it may be another three years before the next visit; no one knows for certain.  However, this team is grateful to know, we are going.

This has been a very big faith step for Kathy.  For the first time, she is solely responsible for raising the finances for the ministry projects they have outlined to accomplish.  She admits the cost is somewhat "staggering."  "My ministry needs to provide for the food, lodging, and security for the pastors and the 500+ people they are bringing for the five day 'training seminars' we are leading."  There will be three such seminars, followed by traveling to the pastors' villages in the Himalayas to reach out to their non-Christian neighbors with humanitarian efforts.  "We will be taking non-prescription medical supplies, clothing, shoes, etc., for the various people groups.  This portion of the endeavor comes in at a whopping cost of $12,000.00 U.S."  Her team members must raise their own finances for their round-trip airfare, travel, food, and lodging:  approximately $2000.00 to $2500.00 U.S.  In her experience, there have always been additional "fees" tacked on when trying to depart; therefore, Kathy has tried to figure those costs into her budget.  These funds need to be raised before their scheduled departure date set for April 17.  Currently, Kathy is fundraising to secure those needs.

When asked, she admitted "This is a very difficult journey.  Many of the village pastors we will be seeing have been beaten; some of their fellow workers have been killed.  As missionaries, we know this may be a one-way trip.  So I've told my team to have all their business in order before they leave.  If we come back, it is a gift."  She also said that as she has prayed, Father God has told her they are coming back.

While in the United States, Kathy has a music ministry and a new worship CD, Kathy's Call, through which she helps fund the work.  She also has a very powerful youth prison ministry and teaches Bible study.  It is obvious to all who know her that she is a powerful servant of the Lord who accepts the responsibility given for all Christian Believers in the Great Commission:  "Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all the commands I have given you.  And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.