The lovely Joye Kiester moved to the Santa Ynez Valley in February of 2004 from Arizona.  Joye, who grew up in Colorado and Chicago, was raised in a Christian home with her younger sister, who is now married and raising up her six month old son.  Joye’s mother home-schooled her daughters, which Joye laughs was a full-time job, and she remains a gifted artist with water-colors and acrylics.  Her dad worked as a substation electrician before attending Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute and becoming a pastor when Joye was 18 years old. 

Joye earned her MA degree last year and is attending post-grad school at UCSB in the field of linguistics.   The opportunity to live at the Flying Flags RV Park brought her to live in the Santa Ynez Valley while she completes her education.  She is thankful for her home and the really great neighbors which the Lord has provided.

Joye is also thankful for her church family.  She tells a funny story of the Lord leading her to Community Church of the Santa Ynez Valley.  Joye had researched local churches from the phone book and made a list of several evangelical fellowships which looked promising.  Calvary Chapel came before Community Church in the phone book, so she made a plan to visit on her first Sunday here.  Both had addresses on Highway 246 but she didn’t see Calvary’s sign right away.  She did, however, notice Community Church’s sign on the board by Burger King and thought “Oh well, I’ll just go there today!”  Dennis and Carol McBride were the first people she met and they introduced her to Blain and Sherrie – she never went anywhere else!  Joye comments, “It always seems that when you attend a new church, you either get great teaching and the people are cold, or you get poor teaching with loving people.  Here I’ve found solid teaching with a warm friendly environment.  I feel like I have a family here – it’s been a huge blessing in my life.” 

 Joye spends a great deal of time with her church family and is praying that the Lord will help her in the coming year to redeem the time that she spends working on her dissertation so that she may be more involved in the lives of her church family.  She loves youth ministry game nights, singing with the worship team, and developing relationships and deeper friendships.  When this busy young saint needs a new challenge, she loves to hike and go rock-climbing.

 Joye came to the Lord at the young age of 4.  She had been talking to her mom about Jesus, telling her that she really wanted to invite Jesus into her heart but her Mom hesitated because she was so young.  One night, when her mom was making dinner, Joye came out of her room and said, “Mommy I just invited Jesus into my heart and he came in!”  Joye’s mom and dad took the time to explore her confession of faith and to explain to her what it means to receive Jesus as her personal savior.  Her confession was indeed genuine. 

 “My mom and dad taught us that God had a plan for our lives,” remembers Joye.  At age 11, I began praying about what God wanted to do with my life.  I started learning French and found that I loved languages.  When I was 15, I heard about Wycliffe and realized that my love for language and my desire to be a missionary could go hand in hand.  I knew God wanted me to be a missionary and when God puts something in your heart, He doesn’t let it rest – He keeps it coming!” 

 If the Lord is willing, Joye will work in the mission field as a Linguist/Bible Translator with Wycliffe Bible Translators.  She has been doing pre-field work in the area of Northern Veracruz, Mexico since December of 2002.  This summer, she will go for 2 ½ months to continue to study and minister to the “Otomi”, an indigenous people group who historically warred against Mayans, which consists of 12,000 people with no access to a bible in their native language.  Joye is currently the only missionary assigned to their region and she is praying that someone will join the team, “so we can get this thing done!”

A verse which has guided Joye’s walk with Christ can be found in Colossians 2:6-7, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”  Joye laughs, “This verse always reminds me that I need to be overflowing with gratitude, when I often am not!” 

Let us be mindful to pray for Joye as the Lord sends her out to fulfill the great commission, that He would allow us to come alongside her in support and fellowship as she prepares for the work that lies ahead, and that we would rise to the challenge of allowing the Lord to use our lives for His great purpose.

*Interview by Anjie Park