A Legacy of
Courage
By Suzannah (Brabon) Jording,
OMS Asia Missionary
Missionary kids are blessed with an
amazing heritage, but each one must
decide what legacy they will leave.
Jeannine Brabon is one MK who
chose to let God write her legacy.
Jeannine recalls attending the an-
nual OMS Conference in Winona Lake:
“It was an exciting time for us MKs to see
all our OMS aunts, uncles, and cousins.”
Through the message of one OMS uncle, Bill
Gillam, God called Jeannine to missions. “I was
only 11 years old,” said Jeannine. “I went home and cried
myself to sleep because I wasn’t brave.”
The daughter of OMS missionaries Harold and Margaret
Brabon, Jeannine grew up in Colombia in the era of the
persecuted church. She knew that being a missionary meant
she had to be willing to die. “I saw seminary students return
to campus from their weekend ministry with their heads split
open by machetes. But I told Jesus, ‘If you call me, I’m will-
ing to go.’”
After graduating from Asbury University in 1971, Jeannine
returned to Colombia. One of the disadvantages of having
grown up in Colombia was being expected to know every-
thing about the field. “It was a struggle,” she recalls, “be-
cause I had been there as a child, not as an adult. MKs are
often expected to know what they don’t know.”
Several years later, while attending the Toronto Institute
of Linguistics, Jeannine connected with other adult MKs
and began to realize the advantages of being an MK. “We
don’t just have an easier understanding of the language,”
said Jeannine, “but we more easily understand the nuanc-
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