Celebrating International Women's Day

This International Women’s Day, we want to honor some influential women in Avant’s history. They have loved God and others well, sacrificed much, and served many as a result of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. These are just a few of the women who have had an eternal impact. We thank God for all the women who have gone before and continue to serve today.

Maude Cary joined Avant and left her small Kansas town to pioneer missions in Morocco at 18 years old. After 40 years of challenging ministry and intense persecution, two men finally began to follow Jesus. She founded a Bible institute to train them, and those who would come after them, to be missionaries to their own people. Maude Cary’s faithfulness left a legacy in Morocco that continues today.  Read more of her story in the book, “Miss Terri” by Evelyn Stenbock. 

From a young age, Barbara was committed to following Jesus anywhere. She married like-minded Roger Youderian, and they left Minnesota to minister in the jungle of Ecuador in 1953. Only three years later, Roger and his four teammates were speared to death by the tribe they were trying to reach. Barbara stayed on the field as a single mother for 19 years, resolved to bring them the gospel. Barbara Youderian’s resolve led to multitudes of people turning to Jesus, and her example encouraged many to persevere so that others might come to know him, too.

At 22, Julia Woodward left her Iowa hometown to be the first missionary to the Quichuas, a mountain tribe in Ecuador. For 51 years, Julia taught this tribe to read and write, while also translating the New Testament into their language. When she retired at 73, there were very few Quichuas that she was sure to see in Heaven. After she left, though, a church was quickly planted and nearly the entire tribe came to know Jesus. Because Julia lived devoted to God’s mission, the Quichuas are no longer unreached with the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

May these women’s lives encourage us to live faithful to the mission so that people from every nation would know Jesus as Lord!