Missionary Minds is a series of ten questions with missionaries around the world.

Nico Van Zyl, his wife Roxanne and their son Nicolas, are serving as missionaries in Thailand with Timothy Two Project International. They focus their evangelism, church planting, and leadership training among the Thai people.

Pray for the strenuous process of language learning, that they would persevere until they can speak fluently and teach in Thai and find joy in the process. Also pray for their spiritual growth, their Timothy Two projects in Thailand, India, and Myanmar and for their new church plant, Sovereign Grace Fellowship, constituted in August 2025 with ten members. 

1. Finish the sentence: Do not become a missionary if…

You think you are going to learn a new language and master it in a year or two. You are in it for the long haul. Think about learning a new language as getting a degree or an advanced degree. If we want to do missions effectively, we need to put in time to learn the heart language of the people. This is by far the most difficult thing to do for me and probably one of the most rewarding, I believe, in the end. 

We need to focus on investing time in the local language so we can make the gospel understandable and make sure the locals understand the gospel is not only for Westerners and that they don’t need to learn English to worship God effectively and truly.

That is also why Protestants believed and believe in translating the Bible into local languages. This has escalated since the Reformation and especially since William Carey went to India in 1792.

2. Who or what played the greatest role in your call to missions?

Both God and Scripture played the greatest role. If I want to draw it to a specific time, when I was converted in 1996 from atheism and New Age confusion and realised what God did for me in Christ, I was convinced by Scripture, many passages and sermons from many preachers at mission conferences that God’s plan is to reach every ethnic group with the gospel, and many are largely unreached.

If I need to identify a specific period or resource, I would highlight the sermon series “Let the Nations Be Glad” and the corresponding book by John Piper. Also Patrick Johnstone’s book, “The future of the local church”. But there are many other missionaries and pastors, and mission conferences since 1996 that also ignited a passion. So I have to conclude it is God and Scripture.

3. What are the most common errors that missionaries make?

The most common error that missionaries make is leaving the field too quickly. One common mistake is not dedicating enough time to thoroughly learn the local language. Not making enough local friends and starting to live in a foreigner bubble, where most of your good friends and acquaintances are other missionaries. 

Comparing yourself with other missionaries and their success. God has called us to be faithful, not successful. The Holy Spirit through the gospel converts people; our job is to sow the imperishable seed of the gospel (1 Peter 1:23-25) and to adorn the gospel with godly living and persevering prayer. 

I also believe missionaries may make a mistake by not focusing on training future church leaders and existing pastors from the get-go. I believe church planting and evangelism should be done simultaneously with training leaders (pastors). We never know when our situation may change or we have to leave a field because of family or health reasons. So, investing in and training existing church leaders, I believe, should remain a priority, even if we use, in some contexts, existing translators.

4. What Scripture passage(s) is most comforting to you amidst the difficulties in missionary life?

2 Corinthians 1:3-7; 2 Corinthians 12:1-12; Romans 8:31-39; Psalm 23; Romans 8:28; Acts 14:22; John 10:27-30; John 6:35-40; 1 Cor 15:58; Isaiah 55:10,11

5. What adventurous tale in your current context can you tell us?

My trips with APC were much more adventurous than my current one. So I’ll relate a story with Newton Chilingulo. 

In 2017 I was on a conference run (APC is a ministry providing training to pastors in Africa). Newton and I were speakers, and our first stop was in Mzimba. So, we used Newton’s minibus (it was quite old). So, the roads are not that good in Malawi, many without tar, especially in small towns. So, we stayed with friends of Newton (might have been the pastor), but the snag was the house was very far downhill in the valley and the road was very windy and rugged with many sudden ups and downs in the road. So as we got to a certain part in the road, there was a giant ditch (a sharp incline down and up again) about three metres deep, but the road suddenly went down three metres and then up again. 

When I saw it, I thought, ‘We won’t make it down and up; we will become stuck.’ So, seeing this “ditch,” we eventually decided, after some deliberation, to go as fast as possible, and bang! We made it! We got through it, but it was give or take, with a few bumps! 

However, in the morning when we came back the same road, we were not so fortunate. As we drove through midway through the same ditch, we got stuck, and our wheels were hanging in the air! We couldn’t move forward or backwards. We didn’t know what to do. But within two minutes or less, there were about 15 people surrounding us and pushing and helping us to get out. 

It was amazing to see how helpful the Malawians were. And in no time we were out after we unloaded the minibus and reloaded it with the books we carried.

6. What kind of dangers do missionaries face that other ministers do not?

Isolation. Culture shock. Getting kicked out of the country, visas being revoked. Also there might not be good medical care and hospitals nearby, so if there is a huge health problem or complications with a pregnancy, e.g. a lot of travel needs to take place, which makes expenses increase. 

Because of particular theological persuasions, we can feel we are alone, with no one like us. We should attempt to make friends with other missionaries and local pastors who may be near us theologically but not similar, or confessionally not exactly the same, or as near as possible without compromising our essential convictions. 

Our children can become ostracised and feel they don’t belong in the foreign culture, and when at home, they feel they don’t belong in their home culture either. It may be difficult for them to adjust in any culture. 

Expenses for missionaries, I think, are more than for the normal pastor and his family, depending on the field of service, because the family needs to stay connected to the home church and sponsors, and that requires not only regular feedback via newsletters but also in-person feedback, maybe biyearly or every three years. 

The pressure also exists when some donors detract their funds; new sponsors need to be found, which results in more fundraising and trips to the home country or elsewhere. I think this creates an extra pressure on the missionary, although when he trusts in God, there shouldn’t be anxiety about the future. I also think the thought about parents getting older and weaker and not being there for them, like your other siblings are, can sometimes create a sense of guilt. Going to the field when your parents are more advanced in years communicates that we won’t be there for them when they were there for us when we were young, weak and helpless. So, the burden in a way is shifted to other brothers and sisters to care for them. 

These things should be talked about with parents and siblings so no resentment or guilt festers. Regular communication via phone can bridge this gap. This can be exacerbated if your siblings, or one of them, are not believers and don’t understand your calling to serve God on the mission field.

7. The most comical mistake I ever made is when…

I don’t know if you can call this a mistake, but I want to tell you a story that happened to me in July 2019, when I was doing a conference run in Uganda with Pastor Raphael Banda. It was our last conference in Uganda, and after the first day, we went to a restaurant and ate delicious pizza. There was some left over the next morning, but my stomach was telling me there was something that wasn’t right. 

But in any case, we went to our venue early to prepare for the day. But at some point before we started I felt my stomach was cramping and got a sudden urge to go to the toilet to relieve myself. But to my consternation, the toilet next to the church was extremely dirty; when I opened it, the smell was unbearable. It was one of those pit toilets (a hole in the ground), but not only that, but there must have been 200 little flies, or so, swarming around the hole. I couldn’t get myself to use that toilet. 

But the thing is I could hold no longer; I was desperate, so in my alarm I asked around where the nearest toilet was. Someone told me there was a school around the corner. There was no time to waste, so I started to jog. The jog developed into a run and the run into a sprint as I felt I might have a huge accident. 

As I entered the primary school premises, in utter desperation, I ran as quickly as possible to the nearest classroom and shouted, ‘Where is the toilet?’ The teacher and students, as I recall, pointed to a building in disbelief, probably wondering who this crazy foreigner was. I dashed along at lighting speed. To my utter relief, I made it in time. A major accident was averted, and I thanked God and prayed He would help me navigate through the day. 

As I walked back to the church, I hoped that history wouldn’t repeat itself that day. We finished the day with no running back and forth, to my relief. My embarrassment was thankfully short-lived.

8. What is the best book you’ve read on missions?

Let the nations be glad. — John Piper; The future of the global church — Patrick Johnstone; 21 Servants of sovereign jo – John Piper; The Greatest Century of Missions — Peter Hammond; 2000 years of Christ’s power  — Nick Needam 

9. Who is on your Mt. Rushmore of missionaries?

Jesus Christ, this is obvious. If we only think of sinful redeemed humans, the apostle Paul; William Carey, Adoniram Judson, and David Livingstone

10. What do you know now that you wish you had known when you first arrived?

I’ve only stayed in Thailand for a year and a half now; I cannot tell yet, although I will tell you something of my mission experience in Africa. One of my first mission trips as a student in Southern Africa was when I was 21 years old, as a young Christian in 1998. 

We were a team of about 24 students going to do evangelism in Malawi. Besides the fact the trip took place in December, which meant it was sweltering hot in Malawi, and besides the fact that we decided to sleep in the open field, with mosquitoes swarming over us, which made it very difficult to sleep (not a good idea either). I counted; I got about 300 mosquito bites on my body. 

This was not the worst. Nobody told me not to drink water from the wells and taps. Massive mistake. When you travel in Africa, anywhere, maybe besides big cities like Joburg and Pretoria, do not drink tap water. I drank water from the wells, and lots of it. On my trip back to South Africa I got intense diarrhoea. I couldn’t hold food in for days. I got dehydrated and had a parasite in my stomach. To this day I’m not sure if it was cholera or bilharzia or a similar thing. The doctors told me I had a parasite. I ended with massive stomach cramps, ones that make you groan and wail, like women giving birth. These caused me to end up in a hospital in Mosselbaai in South Africa for three days. I was put on a drip and eventually recovered. But in the process probably lost 12 kilograms. 

Some people sadly have not been so fortunate. I have heard of students who go on mission trips to Africa and die from waterborne diseases. So, when you travel in Africa, and I would say in Asia as well, only drink bottled water. In Thailand we only drink bottled water, and also, it is recommended that you get you and your family on a good medical insurance plan in case you need help and assistance. It could save your life or the life of a family member. 

All my subsequent mission trips in Africa, of which there have been over 40, in Africa, I haven’t had a problem with water, because I only drink bottled water. Not to say that you cannot contract a bug with foreign food, of course. That is another story altogether. Another option is to boil water for at least one minute, cool it down, store it and drink it.