MILTON — At first, Craig Wheeland was a bit intimidated about the prospect of driving a pickup truck through Mexico. However, he believes the experience is just one way in which God worked to prepare him for an even greater mission to Pakistan.
On Friday, Wheeland, who lives in Milton, and his friend John Horstmann, of Watsontown, left on a 10-day motorcycle ride across the 48 contiguous states. The two are riding with the goal of raising $60,000 to build a school for indentured servant children in Pakistan.
According to Wheeland, it will cost $23,200 to purchase the land on which to build the school, and approximately $35,000 to construct the building.
After retiring from working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2017, Wheeland ventured solo into the mission field. He had previously started traveling on mission trips to Guatemala in 2011.
After retiring, his mission work included three separate trips to Guatemala. On those trips, he drove pickup trucks through Mexico to deliver to Guatemalan pastors, to assist with their work.
“When I went to Guatemala, with the first truck, my crossing into Mexico was very intimidating,” Wheeland recalled. “People said ‘what about the cartels? They steal from you.’
“The first border crossing into Mexico with the pickup truck was huge.”
After his trips to Guatemala, Wheeland started traveling on mission trips to India.
“India was the same thing (as Mexico)… it’s a persecuted country,” Wheeland said.
His trips to India were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Wheeland has remained mission minded.
Walk through fear
Working with Missionary Ventures International and the Christian Motorcycle Association, Wheeland helped to purchase and/or deliver motorcycles to various countries. The motorcycles are used by Christian pastors to deliver the gospel to hard-to-reach areas.
As part of Wheeland’s efforts, the following number of motorcycles have been delivered: 14 to India; 14 to Tanzania; six to Mozambique; six to Columbia; one to Panama; and five to Pakistan.
When he arrived in Pakistan to deliver motorcycles there, Wheeland realized his work in the country was something God had been preparing him to do.
“God built me for this, 26 years working in the prison,” he said. “I have learned to walk through the fear. There is some intimidation. There’s some things to be concerned about.
“Going to Pakistan was intimidating… I learned to walk through the fear.”
According to Wheeland, he’s working with various ministry denominations in Pakistan, including a Presbyterian pastor, a Catholic and five Pentecostals.
While working with those individuals in Pakistan, Wheeland visited brick kiln communities. The visits opened his eyes to what takes place in the areas around the nation’s brick kilns.
“We go to these brick kilns, the families are indentured servants, they’re slaves,” Wheeland said
According to Wheeland, brick kilns are a major business in Pakistan. In the state of Punjab, where he visited, there are 20,000 kilns.
Even the youngest children in the indentured servant families are put to work in the kilns.
“I’ve seen kids out there that can’t be much more than 6, 7 years old,” Wheeland said. “The older kids, the 8, 9 year olds, might go out and run a hoe. They’ll mix the mud for the bricks. The little younger ones, they’ll spread the sand.”
He was particularly taken by what he witnessed of the families at a church service one of the more moderate kiln operators allowed the ministry team Wheeland works with to conduct.
“The little kids are sitting up. You see the brightness in their eyes, their hope,” Wheeland recounted. “You look at the teenagers, they still smile. They seem to have brightness.
“You get to the parents, they are tired, worn out,” he continued. “The grandparents are sitting in the back. It seems like they’re waiting to die.”
Through this experience, Wheeland said he was led by God to start a school for the children of brick kiln families.
“If I can teach them to read their Bible, they can share hope with their family,” he said. “If it turns into something where they can get some job training, learn another skill, great.
“If we get nothing else, we give them the ability to read God’s word.”
Little time to stop
Unsure of whether the families would even allow their children to attend the school, Wheeland started his project by having classes offered in a 20-foot-by-30-foot room in a church on-site.
The children who attend are taught Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, as well as English. They also learn math, and have some biblical teachings.
“I have 43 kids, two teachers, a male and a female,” Wheeland said, of the school. “The idea is to take that one-room school, and be able to separate the kids… and include (children from) the other nine brick kilns (in the area).”
It was while riding his motorcycle to visit his daughter in Florida that Wheeland came up with the idea to hold a ride to raise funds to purchase land to build a school in Pakistan.
“I did… 1,000 miles in 24 hours,” Wheeland said, of his trip to Florida. “I said, ‘This isn’t that bad.’ On the way home, I said, ‘I wish I could figure out a way to do this for missions.’”
He then came up with the idea to ride his motorcycle across 48 states, in 10 days, to raise awareness of his efforts.
His friend John Horstmann, a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association, agreed to join him on the ride.
“Our goal is to make this in 10 days,” Wheeland reiterated. “It’s not so much trying to find people along the way (to speak to about the project). It’s our community, our local churches that can come together and try to raise this $60,000.”
Wheeland and Horstmann will have little time for stopping along their ride.
“We plan on sleeping by the road, church parking lots,” Wheeland said.
“This is bigger than me,” he continued. “There’s no way I can do this without the Lord’s help… If we all come together, we can do this.”
For information on contributing to the cause, visit Wheeland’s Facebook page, AIM4CHRIST.
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