As their time on Guam comes to a close, Isaac and Asa Koech discuss their experience on the island with Pastor Walton. Listen to their story of faith this week.
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Transcript
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is Pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church, interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We have two services at Harvest every week, the first at 08:45AM, the second at 10:45AM Sunday. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service, and that’s also when we livestream at hbcguam.org, hbcguam.org.
This week, it’s the third message in our four part series, First Things First, The Grace of Giving from First Corinthians sixteen one through four. Let’s begin today’s arvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, Pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey, hafa adai, Chris. Yeah. You know, every Sunday when our church gathers together, the central focus of what we’re doing is worship of God and then teaching of his word. And we’re just trying to take God’s word and read it, practically look at exactly what it’s saying, and then apply it to the situations of our lives. So if you come, at any time to Harvest, I think that’s what you’d find.
And, you know, Chris mentioned we’re in this series, we’re just walking through the teaching of Paul to the Corinthian church that comes at the end of the letter to the church at Corinth. So, first Corinthians chapter 16. And at the end of this book, Paul gives them some instructions about being generous towards the needs of Christians in Jerusalem that were going through a very difficult time. And so we’re just walking through it, seeing what the Word has to say about principles, of our stewardship, of our giving and generosity. And it’s been fascinating.
I’ve been so encouraged by our church family’s response to just the very we’re really trying to be just very clear teaching of the Word and what it means for us in the stewardship of our finances. So we’d love to invite you to come, hear the Word, and see God continue to shape you and to be what He wants you to be in His plan for your life. I’ve been looking forward to our interview today. It’s really good to have Isaac and Asa Koech with us. First of all, welcome to Harvest Time.
Isaac Koech: Thank you, Pastor.
Asa Keoch: Thank you.
Gary Walton: So good to have you guys. Isaac and Asa are special people to Faith and me and really to our church. Isaac’s in the military, Air Force.
Isaac Koech: Yes, sir.
Gary Walton: And specific job, Isaac, what do you do there?
Isaac Koech: Yes. Thank you, Pastor. Yeah, so I’m stationed here in Anderson Air Force Base. I’m a dental assistant, and so I help the dentist, treat our patients, but I’m also trained to clean people’s teeth. Uh-huh.
Yes, so kind of like an hygienist, so I assist dentists to take care of our patients with fillings and cavities and also help with the cleanings as well.
Gary Walton: Okay, awesome. And Asa from Okinawa, and I want to ask you about that in a minute, but you and Isaac have a daughter. Tell us about your daughter, how old she is.
Asa Keoch: Yes, we have a daughter. She is 13 old now. So Elina means bright light and hope in Greek language. And God answered our prayer in Hebrews. So she is our special.
It’s a gift from God.
Gary Walton: Amen. Amen. God answered your prayer and others as we prayed alongside you guys. Isaac and Asa have been at Harvest for four years and, in God’s planning in his providence. They’re getting ready to ship out and heading to, the next base, next mission.
But we wanted to get a chance to talk with you here and have you share your testimony and God’s work in your life. So I’m really glad that this worked out. We’re really at the very end of your stay here. Everybody’s sad about that, but we’re looking forward to God’s plan for your life. You know, Harvest Time is conversations with our Harvest family about life and their relationship with God.
And I’m glad to be able to have this conversation with you before you go.
Isaac Koech: Thank you, Pastor. Thank you for having us today.
Gary Walton: Yeah, yeah. Let’s just begin in your background. Tell us about where you’re from. Isaac, we’ll start with you and your family growing up.
Isaac Koech: Yes, Pastor, yeah. So I’m originally from Kenya. I was born and raised in Kenya, Mombasa, Kenya. That’s on the East Coast Of Africa. My family and I moved to Columbus, Ohio in 2015.
I was 13 years old. I have two other brothers and we’re all in the military. We’re all serving the air force. My older brother, he’s a manpower analyst. He’s currently stationed in Germany, but he’ll be moving to Texas as well.
My little brother, he’s he’s stationed at Luke. He does he works in finance, and that’s where my parents live as well. Yes. Yes. So born and raised in Kenya.
I came and moved to Ohio when I was 13, and then, went to high I went to junior high, high school. I went to, a Christian college there down in Circleville called Ohio Christian University. I got recruited to play college soccer. So I played there for one season, and then I decided to join the military. And then ever since then, it’s been fifteen years in the military.
Gary Walton: Okay, great. I want to ask you about that and sort of, you know, at the end, maybe some long term plans as God’s leading you.
Isaac Koech: Yes, sir.
Gary Walton: Asa, what about you? Tell me about your family growing up in Okinawa.
Asa Keoch: Yes. Hi, my name is Asa from Okinawa. Growing up with a big family and I’m a youngest of five sisters. And I’m the youngest of five, but I am the tallest of all. And I was very, very shy when I was, little and always try to hide myself behind my sisters, but everyone could have seen me.
Gary Walton: You were taller.
Asa Keoch: And, my grandpa was in wheelchair when I was young and he had a hard time living in a small Japanese home with unsafety and inaccessible for wheelchair. So I went to college in San Francisco learning about barrier design. Yeah. Design for special needs and interior design. And after graduate, I had opportunity to work as a interior designer in LA and Ashley Furniture Store in North Carolina.
And I came back to Okinawa and met Isaac in 2016.
Gary Walton: Which is all part of your story, right? God’s leading in your life. Tell us about that. Asa, let me start with you. Tell us about meeting Isaac and then Isaac will ask you about your part of that.
Isaac Koech: Yes, sir.
Gary Walton: Isaac, you want to go ahead?
Isaac Koech: Okay, I’ll go first.
Gary Walton: Yeah, yeah.
Isaac Koech: So I met Asa at a friend’s new years party in 2016. And so when I met her, what attracted me to her was she knew my language. You know? She knew how to speak some Swahili words.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Isaac Koech: So I was very amazed by that, you know? And I was like, how do we have an Okinawan girl here who speaks my language? You know? So I was very intrigued with that. And she also had a kind heart and so we just started talking to each other and went on dates and then led into engagement and then into marriage.
Gary Walton: Wants to hear the romance story, but Asa, how do you know a little bit of Swahili?
Asa Keoch: So I went to college, San Francisco State University in San Francisco, and there’s so many students from different countries. Then I had friends from Kenya, and then I learned some Swahili from them. And then I didn’t know that there’s a Swahili person in Okinawa. So I, yeah.
Gary Walton: It’s so fantastic. Know, God just made you guys for each other. It’s a beautiful picture, of course, from very different parts of the world.
Isaac Koech: Yes, sir.
Gary Walton: God brought you together and then in the unity of your marriage, God’s given you guys just such sweet gifts and we’ll talk about that before we’re done. But Isaac and Asa love people, really care about relationships, and God has used them really powerfully at Harvest in our church and for the kingdom on Guam. So I’m so thankful for that. Just care about people, have lots of friends, invite people virtually every week to church. And they come with you.
I don’t know how many people are at Harvest because Isaac and Asa have invited them just to come to church with me and hear about God and we just have many people across the church. And then others that you’re part of the welcome team and so even if you didn’t invite them, when they showed up, you just made them feel at home and ended up having lunch with them afterwards. It’s just really a sweet testimony, I think, of the gifts that God’s given you.
Isaac Koech: Yes. So blessed.
Gary Walton: Let’s talk about your spiritual story. Isaac, tell us about that.
Isaac Koech: Yes, so I grew up, I was blessed to grow up, growing up with a Christian family. My parents are Christians, so they raised up in a Christian household. And so growing up, I think I remember I got baptized when I was seven. When I was little, I was seven, but then I was rededicated and when I moved to Ohio during my freshman year in high school, when I finally understood about the gospel. And so, yeah, was very blessed.
I was very blessed to be, you know, be a part of a Christian home.
Gary Walton: Mhmm. That’s great. Yes. So your story’s a little bit different. Right?
Tell us about how you met Jesus. Mhmm.
Asa Keoch: So I was growing up with a family, with traditional Okinawan culture, with ancestor worships. I’ve never been to church, read Bible, and didn’t know who Jesus is until I met Isaac. And Isaac taught me who Jesus is. And I had a struggle with my pain and fear, anger, depression because of growing up with a family with verbally and physically abused, especially I especially couldn’t forgive my father who was not faithful to mother. So I couldn’t trust it was really hard.
I couldn’t trust people. I was always angry and lost and looking for home where I can feel true love and peace. And when I met Isaac, I talked to him all about my struggle with pain and he listened and said, Each one of us has a hole inside of our hearts, but only God can fill our hearts with his love. Amen. And he prayed for me and we went to church together and I started reading Bible and Jesus was talking about forgiveness, love, and he died for my sin.
And it took me for long, long time to fully, truly surrender to Him. But through those years, He showed me His love, mercy, hope, grace, forgiveness.
Gary Walton: Wow. That’s really beautiful, Asa. What was the biggest obstacles or fears for you, you know, in that time as you were learning about Jesus and His Word and understanding what it meant to surrender to Him?
Asa Keoch: So I’ve so these, I’ve back these four years here in Guam, we’ve experienced the most difficult times. It was hard for me to forgive my father and family, but Jesus gave me his heart and love to forgive them. And I had two miscarriages before Elena and depression after giving birth. Elena, I really thought my life is
end, but God showed His love and mercy and miracle. He is, wow, He healed me and our church family supported us.
I might not be here if I didn’t meet Jesus, Isaac and our church family. And there are many the word of God helped me overcome, if it’s okay to share.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah.
Asa Keoch: So Ecclesiastes 3:11-14, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity in their hearts except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it that that man should fear before him.
It is gift from God. And Joshua 1:9, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And Luke 1:37, for with God, nothing will be impossible.
Gary Walton: Asa, that’s so beautiful. Thank you for being willing to share some of those hard parts of your testimony and how God was with you through those times and, supported you and brought just the right people alongside. It’s really beautiful to see the way God’s brought this healing to you guys together and we’re so thankful for that. Isaac, these have been some challenging times, you know, for you. How do you navigate all of that?
Isaac Koech: Yes, yes. So one of the challenging times is when I had to, after Elena’s daughter was born an Asa was experiencing, you know, those challenges after birth. So I had to send them to Okinawa, and I had to stay here by myself almost three months. So that was challenging. The challenging part is just being away from each other, you know, going to work, coming home to an empty house and stuff.
And so that was that was challenging, but, I thank God for, putting, you know, all my brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, I was able to join, the young pros. The young pros was pastor Jake, and, they were willing to just, pray for me and encourage me as well. I attended some of them bible studies that they had at a offered at Bayview on Friday nights over there as well. And then we have our community group.
So you guys are very such a blessing to pray for us and support us daily. So, we’re very blessed even though we went through the struggles, but God always provides an opportunity and, you know, a a group of, you know, family that always supports us. So we’re very thankful.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. You guys think about sort of growing in your faith, and I know these years have been a big part of that, so maybe some of it we’ve already answered a little bit, but what has changed in your everyday life as a family or personally? Priorities, habits, the way you see your future?
How is God changing that for you? Isaac?
Isaac Koech: Yes, yes. So right now we have Elena. So having a baby in the midst of a family, that’s very challenging in in itself. You know, she’s always trying to be like us, trying to imitate us. And so it’s it’s challenging physically, and but it’s it’s it’s it’s we’re very blessed.
This is a prayer that has been answered, and this is a seven, for seven years has been answered, so, we thank God for that. So right now, we’re just, very just focusing of taking care of each other as a family, but also growing closer to Christ. That’s the main goal.
Gary Walton: Anything you want to add to that, Asa?
Asa Keoch: Same as Isaac. He said, you know, watching Elena, doing some housework and other stuff at the same time, It’s challenging and there’s a lot of unexpected happen every single day, but we put God first. That’s what Isaac always tell me and we pray together.
Gary Walton: Mhmm. Yeah. That’s great. We maybe skipped over this a little bit. Let’s back up to this.
How did you come to Harvest? I mean
Isaac Koech: Yes, so how we came to Harvest? So we got here in May 2022 and as we were staying in a hotel downtown, we went to the USO in Tumon. We walked in there because we didn’t have a car, we just walked there and see what’s going on. And we met this beautiful lady called Ms. Barbara Moyer I’m sure you guys are familiar with her, Of course.
And so I was just talking to her and she brought up something about, you know, our faith. And then I was like, yes, we’re looking for a church. And so she recommended for us to check out Bayview and also check out Harvest and, we just felt whenever we came to Harvest, we just felt at home. Mhmm. Yeah.
Gary Walton: I mean, I think God connected your hearts
Isaac Koech: Yes.
Gary Walton: You know, so so quickly and it great to see that. So what has the church meant to you over these four years?
Asa Keoch: Wow, it’s everything. We’ve grown and learned a lot from Harvest Church and through our church family. We thank God and our church family. And thank you, Pastor Gary, for teaching us and helping us grow and get closer to God.
Gary Walton: Thank you. Isaac, anything to add to that?
Isaac Koech: Yes, yes. You know, we’re really gonna miss The most thing we’re gonna miss about this island is just the Harvest family here and just having just a beautiful church that supports and reaches out reaches out to everyone, no matter your background, where you come from. You just go to church there. You feel welcome. You feel loved.
It’s a bible teaching church, you know, and we have we thank God for pastor Gary as well, just having a faithful servant to lead the people. So, just pray for us as we transition to Texas, San Angelo, Texas. If anybody knows of any churches out there that is a bible teaching church, disciple making church as well, please reach out to us. We’ll be appreciated.
Gary Walton: I love hearing that part actually, you know, just the clarity, Isaac, that you’re able to say now, Hey, when we go, we’re looking for a Bible teaching, disciple making church. Just your ability to communicate those core values is very encouraging. I think of just the growth that God’s had in your life. I mentioned this earlier, but the last four years you two have been very involved. I I mentioned you invite people to church, part of the welcome team, you’re very involved in a community group.
What have those things meant for you? Isaac, actually both of you, I know you both invite people to church and it’s so easy for you. Why is that so easy for you?
Isaac Koech: Yes. So, we are very blessed. God has given us a gift of, connection. Yeah. And, we’ve been using it for his glory always.
No matter who we meet, we always try to listen to them first and look at them as humans and see what they’re saying and but not just listen to what they’re saying and also, think about how can I, encourage them, how can I, you know, make their their day better? And so, when people come to, patients come to my office, they usually look around and they see scriptures. I have some scriptures in my office and they’re like, oh, okay. That’s that’s a beautiful scripture. And so that’s usually it’s a sign for me to put an invite there, you know, like, are you looking for a church?
Please come on to Harvest Church. And so that’s that’s just really the tool that God has been using, you know, using for using through me to invite people to church as well. And also through, you know, soccer whenever I play soccer in town, in the community, I usually, invite my, teammates as well to come. So really a blessing.
Gary Walton: Yeah, was thinking, we’ve got to get another insider in the dentist’s office at the Air Force because that has been very fruitful. Asa, I know you the same. I mean, you’re just very easy to invite people. Actually, what Isaac just said I thought is so critical is you do genuinely care about people.
Isaac Koech: Yes.
Gary Walton: You want to know how you can help them, which I think then becomes the soil on which they’re willing to listen to your invitation. Asa, I know you invite a lot of people to church too and tell them about Jesus.
Asa Keoch: Yes. Because Jesus and our church family helped me a lot and changed myself, and I see a lot of, lots of hope and I’ve seen a lot of love and grace. And I I I really would love to share. Mhmm. You know? That’s why we love to invite people and we we love people.
We love we we are not perfect, but, yeah, that’s that’s that’s a blessing and gift from God.
Gary Walton: Yes. Well, it’s evident, you know, in so many ways. You both mentioned your community group. I don’t ask this because we’re part of the same community group. We do love that.
But just in general, what you has that part of being a part of the church meant for you over these years?
Isaac Koech: Yeah. So being stationed in Guam in the military, it’s a very challenging assignment. And I’m sure a lot of people know that. And so and even with the location itself, we’re very isolated from, you know, very far. And so you need to belong to, like, a group of community, a group of people that will pray for you and will support you and will love you.
And so, I think it’s very critical and I usually tell my friends, you know, my coworkers, find a group find a group of people that, you know, who you can rely on when things don’t go right, you know, whenever you have a challenge, you can go to them and they can offer, you know, encouragement and prayers. So community groups on the island, especially the community groups at Harvest Church, it’s we don’t take it for granted. We’re very blessed
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Isaac Koech: To be a part part of them.
Gary Walton: Asa, what else would you say?
Asa Keoch: Yes. We are so blessed because we’ve never attended any kinds of community group before. We just go to church and go back home. Mhmm. But the community go we spend a lot of sweet times, fellowship, pray together, especially when we had a difficult time.
Everybody, our brothers and sisters, Christ, they’re be being being there for us. So, yeah, we thank we thank them. Yeah.
Isaac Koech: And they got to come to our house as well. They kinda, you know, during the time, the tough times, they were able to sacrifice their times, the special time, and come to our homes. So we’re very blessed for that.
Asa Keoch: Yes.
Gary Walton: Well, told you this time would go fast. And it does, you and I, along with Faith, we’ve had so many sweet conversations about, you know, just normal stuff, soccer and life and parenting and just the stuff of life. But then we truly have had a relationship built on Jesus and his love for us. And we, Faith and I personally, are thankful for the privilege of walking this season of your life together with you. And our church has been blessed.
And we’re praying that as God has sent you on to Texas now that, know, God will just go with you. We know He’s going to do that.
Asa Keoch: Yes.
Gary Walton: That a little part or maybe even a big part of the Harvest Heart, will be then transplanted to the church that God connects you with there, that you continue to grow in your faith.
Isaac Koech: Yes.
Gary Walton: And, you know, potentially, you know, maybe God would draw you back to this part of the world. I don’t know about Guam, but you’re burdened for Okinawa. Right?
Isaac Koech: Yes. Yes. That’s the mission. Keep praying for us. We really wanna get into evangelism, and so maybe there might be a connection between, you know, Harvest and us over there whenever we settle down in Okinawa.
So just keep praying for that.
Gary Walton: Thanks you guys for coming and, sharing a little bit
of God’s work in your life here on the radio. We love you.
Isaac Koech: Yes. Thank you, pastor.
Asa Keoch: Thank you so much.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you again to Harvest Baptist Church. We have two services every Sunday, 08:45AM and 10:45AM. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service. You can hear that service live on 88.1 and khmg.org.
We hope to see you this Sunday. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.