Can God Provide for Missionary Kids with Special Needs?
The education of children on the mission field is a major concern. This is especially true when they have special needs. God loves missionary kids and knows how to provide for them. Their destiny matters to God as much as it does to us, their parents.
This is the story of Josh, told by his mother. She and her family served in frontier regions of Central Asia for many years.
An Unusual Interest
“Josh was a happy-go-lucky toddler though he was slow in learning to speak. He also was extremely shy. When we returned to the UK to attend a family wedding, our son had just had his second birthday.”
“One day, we were watching an orchestral concert on TV. The cameras suddenly focused on the cello section.”
“Josh ran across the room to the TV, pointed at the cellos and looked at me with a real sense of urgency. I asked him if that was what he wanted to learn when he was a ‘big boy.’ He nodded and had such a look of relief on his face.”
“I play the violin so I thought that he liked it because it looked like my instrument. Fast forward two years later, a few weeks before his fourth birthday.”
“We were at a friend’s wedding. During the meal, a string quartet played. Josh suddenly put down his spoon and toddled off. I followed and found him sitting on the floor gazing up at the cellist. This time it had been the sound of the instrument which had attracted him.”
How Would He Learn?
“We were living in Central Asia. You are unlikely to see western classical instruments apart from the piano there. I was homeschooling Josh and his siblings. Josh didn’t show any particular musical ability, so I wasn’t in a hurry to find a cello for him.”
“I am a music teacher. My main instrument is the organ. I also have a piano teaching diploma and grade 8 violin certification.”
Look What’s At Our Door!
“When Josh turned six, he was still in the early stages of learning to read. I wasn’t yet thinking about getting a cello. God had other ideas. He knows how to nurture the destiny He has placed on a missionary kid’s life! God cares about missionary children with special needs.”
“Due to a misunderstanding, a local musician turned up at our door with a half-size cello. Surprised, I looked at Josh and asked him if he still wanted to learn to play this instrument. His little eyes opened wide at the sight of the cello and we bought it for him for $75.”
“I rang my mum up in the UK. ‘Could you send some beginner’s music and a set of cello strings?'” I inquired.
“While we waited, I wrote out music for him. He was so engaged. This was a child who had an attention span of about 1½ seconds for learning to read words. He was a completely different child on the cello.”
Rapid Progress
“About 4 months later we had to leave the country we were in. We spent a year in the UK. I found him a cello teacher who turned out to be the best teacher in the area for young kids. She also had experience teaching gifted children. God had provided the right person.”
“Within just three months, Josh progressed several levels. I was in a state of shock at his rapid progress.”
A Difficult Choice
“We made a commitment to go to a new country in Central Asia to carry on the work. I knew there wouldn’t be any cello teachers in this land. Should we go back to Central Asia when we had a gifted child? By the following summer, he was playing grade 5 pieces. This was beyond the standard I could teach cello effectively. What should we do? We prayed, and we were in no doubt that God wanted us to return to C. Asia.”
“Josh was now nearly 8 years old. He could already play things like Boccherini’s Minuet (a quite complicated piece). I did my best teaching him and he started piano too.”
“After two years he was getting very frustrated with my level of teaching. He was already trying grade six and seven pieces when he was ten years old. Sadly, I didn’t know how to teach the technique at this level.”
How Would God Provide?
“We stayed in that country for 3½ years. A year before we left, Josh broke his arm. Then, we had to be evacuated due to fighting in the city. He didn’t play his cello for four months.”
“When he went back to it, his heart wasn’t in it anymore. I wasn’t worried; we had decided to go back to the UK in a few months. I was sure that back there he would take it up again when he had a proper cello teacher again.”
“When we got back to the UK, Josh, now eleven, announced that he wasn’t a cellist anymore. He refused to play or to go to lessons.”
“I was heart-broken! Here was a child with a God-given gift. I cried out to the Lord, but for more than a year, he didn’t play.”
A “Chance” Meeting
“Just before we returned to Central Asia we visited a mission base in the UK. At lunchtime, we sat next to a couple who were
“This was unusual in the UK. I told them that my most difficult subject to homeschool was my own subject – music. They pricked up their ears. The husband was a cellist and had played in some top orchestras and the wife was a violin/viola teacher.”
“I thought to myself – they could be useful on the field – at a boarding school for Christian missionary kids like where our kids were going!”
“Before we returned to Central Asia, I had a conversation with Josh about homeschooling. I told him I wanted him to study some music again. He was now twelve. Josh reluctantly agreed to take his cello. Then the next ‘miracle happened.”
A New Teacher
“We were in the Istanbul airport at 2 am getting on the bus to the plane. When I got on the bus, right in front of me was a young man with a cello. It turned out he had just done a master’s degree at the Julliard Conservatory in NY. This is one of the best music schools in the world! He was coming to our city to teach cello for a year.”
“When I introduced Josh, he immediately offered to teach him. It didn’t take long before my son was totally back into playing cello with this cool young man.”
Another Obstacle Overcome
“Soon it was time for Josh to move to another school in India to finish high school. There wasn’t a cello teacher there, only a violin teacher. I was disappointed. How would God provide? Or was this the end of Josh’s musical development?”
“Then there was another surprising twist.”
“In talking with a music examiner, I asked for advice about Josh. When she heard his story, she suggested Skype lessons! She had a friend who was teaching at one of the specialist Music schools in the UK. Josh started fortnightly cello lessons by Skype with this teacher in February of 2015.”
“This instructor also ran a 2-week summer school at the music school. Josh was invited and had eight face to face lessons with this teacher there.”
“That first summer course was a real game-changer for him. It was his first experience of elite music and his first solo performance in this atmosphere. Josh realized that he enjoyed performing and that he could do it.”
“A year after his grade 8, Josh took a first level diploma (ATCL) and got a distinction. I was surprised when his teacher suggested he take the next level diploma (LTCL) only one year later at 17. He passed! He was now at the level required to get into a top conservatoire (music school).”
Final Year Provision
“The following school year, the musician couple whom I had met at the base applied for a job at Josh’s school. For his final year, he had two cello teachers!”
“In the UK the conservatoire auditions take place in November, but Josh was at school in India. We had to ask for special auditions in January. Both of his cello teachers knew the Head of Strings at all the top colleges in the UK. He went for auditions in Glasgow, Manchester and at the prestigious Royal Academy in London.”
“I honestly didn’t think that Josh would have a chance there. After all, he’d only had three years of specialist teaching, and that by Skype. But he impressed the panel that heard him play.”
“Josh decided to enter the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. God had made a way for him.”
“The Lord was the one who had given him this gift. He also knew of the special calling on our lives for Central Asia. God placed Josh in our lives and His musical gift within our son. Step by step we’d seen His unique provision.”
Do you have a missionary kid with special needs on the field? Unusual giftings or disabilities? The Lord is able to make a way for them. He certainly did for Josh! Let me know in the comments how God has provided for you and your children on the mission field. Or join the Missionary Life Insiders group on Facebook and share with us there.