[SPEAKER_00]: A friend of mine was afraid of flying, so he took a boat and a plane fell on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for joining us today.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're listening to Lafagan with Phil Kelley.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the most memorable sights of my childhood growing up at Prairie Bible College was of a skit, which a student was wheeled around in a little red wagon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her name was Eleanor Young.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her body had been profoundly weakened by polio, yet you could hear her laughter from a long ways away.
[SPEAKER_00]: She'd come to prepare to be a missionary, though it seemed an impossible dream.
[SPEAKER_00]: At the age of twelve, Eleanor listened as the speaker gave an invitation to serve God in missions.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, using crutches and braces, Eleanor walked down the aisle.
[SPEAKER_00]: A man told the speaker, I'm so sorry the only person who responded to serve God as a missionary was a little crippled girl who could never do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The wise speaker said, whom the Lord calls he will use.
[SPEAKER_00]: In time, Eleanor found herself of great use in one of the most rugged spots on Earth, the eastern Highlands of Papua Indonesia.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her deep limp announced to the Kim Yao people that she was ill-equipped for the terrain.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her assignment, learned the language and culture and translate the Bible so they could read it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Eleanor's easy smile and warm laugh endeared her to these mountain people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sunday, she taught the children Bible stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: Weekdays, she visited villages, connected by steep mountain trails where one misstep could send you over the edge.
[SPEAKER_00]: My legs could not walk the goat trails, she said.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I rode in my mountain transport system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two poles with a net bag and a board that acted as a seat.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was carried by up to eight men, depending on the steepness of the trail.
[SPEAKER_00]: She paid them, but noticed they weren't doing it for the money.
[SPEAKER_00]: They took pride in carrying all four feet, seven inches of me, she recalls.
[SPEAKER_00]: And one day a carrier told her, you and us, we're small on the outside, but big on the inside.
[SPEAKER_00]: They named her bad legs, but God was good to Eleanor.
[SPEAKER_00]: The church grew and many came to love Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: One day Eleanor said to the pastor, I know I have bad legs, but what is the real reason for my name?
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, people with good legs have come here for a short time and left.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know about bad legs, our own people with bad legs can't get out of this valley, but God brought you, even with your weak legs all the way up here and kept you here, so you could give us his word.
[SPEAKER_00]: He did that because he loves us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before she could finish her assignment, severe post-polio syndrome forced Eleanor to leave the people she loved.
[SPEAKER_00]: But others laughed as well and were educated, then formed a committee to continue Eleanor's work.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with the guidance of a former missionary, finished translating the New Testament, so the people would forever have the good news in their language.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kim Yao, young people, leave the mountains now to live, learn, and work, and they love to tell their friends about Eleanor on social media.
[SPEAKER_00]: One wrote, the people happily carried Eleanor Young as she needed to go from church to church and teach the children.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must do as she did, and carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another wrote, Eleanor, hello, mum.
[SPEAKER_00]: We lived in darkness in our place among the peaks of the mountains, but you brought the words of the source of light.
[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Eleanor is my friend today.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's a living example of perseverance and joy in life's challenges.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's a reminder that God is not limited by my limitations.
[SPEAKER_00]: As she likes to say, God's power shows up loudly in the disabled.
[SPEAKER_00]: As they've done for many generations, the Kimmy Al people sit around fires in their huts now, passing down their history to the next generation through stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those stories now include the tale of bad legs woman whose weakness has become a symbol of God's powerful love for them.