About Us

Joel was the 8th child born into a Christian family in northern Burma.  Only 1 of the first 7 siblings survived childhood.  Joel was actually stillborn in a rice field. But because  his parents had already lost so many children, Joel's father lifted the baby up and cried out to God to give the child breath and promised to dedicate the baby to serve God always.  The baby breathed and the family was later blessed with 2 more boys.

It was obvious from an early age that Joel was a gifted Christian leader - he led worship songs, started a youth choir, taught Sunday School, and memorized many Bible verses.  He attended Bible School in Putao, Burma for two years.   At age 19 he moved to Chiangmai Thailand to study the Bible.

His desire was to become a native missionary and preacher.  He finished school in 1973 and joined the North Burma Christian Mission as an evangelist.  He traveled from village to village in northern Thailand sharing the Gospel with the Lisu tribes.  During that time he joined with others to update, revise and add commentary to the old translation of the Lisu Old and New Testaments.

Joel comes from the Mongolian Anung tribe.  The Anung had migrated to Tibet and finally to areas in China,  northern Burma and Thailand.  They would move into existing villages of the Rawang, Lisu and Tibetan people and eventually essentially lost their tribal language and identity.  Only the very old held onto their language and tribal customs.  Joel felt compelled to  rekindle that lost identity.  There had been no written language for the Anung so Joel began work on developing a written language using the standard English alphabet to make it easier to type and therefore more reasonably priced to print.  Joel studied linguistics and worked with a prominent linguist to create an appropriate alphabet and tone marks.   Right away he wrote a primer for the Anung language to teach them HOW to read.  Since then he has also developed a picture dictionary to teach younger children, hymn books and most recently the New and Old Testaments.  

Joel married Marilyn Morse in January 1979.  Marilyn comes from the Morse family whose grandparents, J. Russell and Gertrude Morse,  were missionaries in Tibet in 1921 and had worked in China, Burma and Thailand.  Her parents, siblings, aunts and uncles are still missionaries in Thailand.  Joel and Marilyn enrolled in Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO in the fall of 1979.  Due to lack of funds, they returned 1 year later to Thailand to work in the mission field.In 1984 they were able to return to Ozark to finish his degree and to raise support for their mission work.  After graduating in 1987 (and three childrenlater) they returned to Thailand where Joel taught leadership training among the tribal people for 8 years.  All the while, Joel was working on the Anung translations.

Since the creation of  the Anung script in 1977, more than 70% of the Anung people can read and write in their own language.  It is rewarding to know that Joel's people are now recognized as a separate ethnic group who have their own language and are not just outsiders absorbed into other tribes.  Most importantly, his people are able to read God's Word, the Living Word, and sing hymns of praise in their own language!

In 1999, Joel and Jesse Yangmi started the Lisu bible Institute (LBI), with a campus located in ChiangDao, Thailand.  Joel helped supervise the construction of the buildings and handled the finances.  Joel taught in the school, was Dean of Students, and Administer and Financial Manager there.  He also coached the soccer team that competed with other Thai schools and village teams.  After 5 years of working with LBI, Joel resigned in 2006 to start a new work with the Red Lahu group in Thailand.  He has conducted leadership training classes for three years.  These leaders then go out into other villages to teach and preach.  Many new believers have been added through their evangelism efforts.

Property has been purchased to start a Bible teaching school for the Lahu People  - the Lahu Bible School.  At this time, temporary bamboo houses are used for classrooms and living quarters.  Work on a concrete structure has begun which will be used as a multi-purpose building.  However, due to a financial shortage, it is not yet completed.  That building along with dorms for boys and girls, bathrooms, showers and kitchen will be built once funds are available.  Then the 4-year Bible School for the Red Lahu tribe will be ready.  In the meantime, Joel is writing study books on different bible topics for use in the school and in seminars.  Teachers of Bible, English and music are needed when the school starts.