Margaret Farnsworth

Margaret Farnsworth’s missionary journey spans over thirty years of service in both Kenya and Kazakhstan. She says that she was called at a young age to medical missions but was hesitant to serve: “Because of the fear this created in my heart, I chose to go into teaching.”

However, after her husband’s sudden death in 1980, Marg saw that there was a void in her life, so she gave her life to the Lord: “Christ filled that void in February 1981. He filled my heart with His love and gave me a purpose to go on living.”

This aligns with what Marg says is her life-verse, Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (ESV)

Although her path wasn’t always easy, God had a vision for Marg that was greater than she could ask or imagine.

The Lord began to prepare her for a life in missions, and in 1988, she left with her two daughters for Tenwek Hospital in Kenya. While there, she worked as the office manager in the Tenwek Hospital School of Community Nursing and soon moved on to work in the office of Evangelism Explosion in Nairobi.

Marg felt called to Kazakhstan a few years later, and in 1998 she left for the city of Karaganda to become the director of the Small Business Training Center and Private Educational Training Center. “We taught Russian, English and Kazakh as second languages,” Marg says concerning her work in the country. “For the first years of my time in Kazakhstan, we had a micro-loan program which we eventually closed.” Fifteen years later, Marg returned to Kenya to become the country’s Field Treasurer, serving there for five years until her retirement in 2019.

Marg favorite part of her work has always been about the people she lived and worked with: “The Kenyans who were friends were very hospitable and good friends. The Kazakhstani people were a bit more difficult to get to know, but when relations were formed, they were very deep.”

In retirement, she plans on moving to Florida, but Marg knows that her work isn’t done yet: “God is always faithful, always watching over me, and always leading,” she reflects. “Prayer is vital, and it is vital that I remain faithful to Him as well.” No matter her physical location, Marg will continue to serve and respond to the Christian mission, because her life has always been, and always will be, about trusting God and loving others.