A Short-Term Mission Trip Reflection

by Stephanie Hartmann

Out of sight, out of mind.  This is one of the most frustrating realities of the human experience.  We dwell within one page of an epic storybook and miss out on the dramatic narrative crafted by the author of authors.

The greatest remedy to my own chronic myopia has been an intentional leap into other pages of God’s story through short-term-mission trips.  There are a million reasons not to go–busyness, fear, stress, cost, the dogs, the kids, the missed work.  There will always be reasons not to go, but oh what joy, peace, and clarity are our prizes when we make the choice to leave our comfort zones, even for a short while.  My husband Danny and I were able to travel with Lynn and Judy Everswick to see what God is up to in Thailand and Cambodia, and we are overwhelmed with what we witnessed.  I cannot possibly relay all of our stories, but here are a few.

During the first leg of the trip, we visited Lakeway Church partners Danny and Kristen, along with their two young kids in Thailand.  They are equipping local Thais to plant churches across the pervasively Buddhist country.  While approaching a hilltop Buddhist temple to pray over the city of Chiang Mai on our first day, we heard screams of terror.  A small open-air public bus was careening backwards down the hill, with the driver desperately running after his terrified passengers.  The bus miraculously slammed into a pole right next to our group—saving the passengers from certain death further down the steep slope.  However, two women were thrown from the bus, one pinned beneath the vehicle.  Our team jumped into action to act as human brakes to allow the passengers to escape their death trap and prevent this poor woman from being crushed to death.  I have never prayed so hard in my life.  The woman was finally extricated from the wheels with leg injuries, but her life intact.  We nursed the injured as well as possible while waiting for the ambulance to arrive and discreetly laid hands on the women to pray for God’s physical and spiritual healing—that He would use this horrible disruption to bring eternal hope to his children looking for hope in empty places.  You can bet our prayer time over the city amidst gargantuan Buddha statues and Buddhist pilgrims was powerful and heartfelt after that!  Please join us in praying for Thais to receive the Good News that Jesus—rather than their own merit and endless reincarnation—has stretched out His hand to save them!  His yoke is easy, and His burden is light!

Cambodia: my goodness, how God is working in a country rocked by the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s, which destroyed Cambodia’s physical and intellectual infrastructure and killed a quarter of the population. But God brings light to dark places.  We visited and prayed over the Cambodian headquarters of Lakeway Church partner, Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC), which brings many to faith through Christian radio and social media content.  Judy and Lynn taught Bible and English for many years to students at Crossroads Ministry in Phnom Penh, which provides hard-to-come-by accommodations to university students in exchange for their attending Bible studies each week.  Prior to the program, some students were forced to sleep in Buddhist temples and were even abused by the monks during the night.  What an amazing first generation of Cambodian believers God raised from these early cohorts that “Grandma” Judy and “Grandpa” Lynn mentored over many years of visits and communication.  Now, one of those early Crossroads students is the pastor of Crossroads Church and is leading new generations of Cambodians to Christ.  I cannot tell you the vicarious joy Danny and I felt seeing so many believers—most of whom encounter persecution from their Buddhist families and friends—celebrate the return of “Grandma” and “Grandpa.”  It truly felt like we were in a new biblical chapter of Acts.  These former Crossroads students are bearing much fruit, many of them working for NGOs that provide Christian counseling, support, and job training to girls and boys mired in sex trafficking, as well as helping to place abandoned children in loving foster care.  One precious member of Crossroads Church shared a moving testimony of attending Sunday School as a child at a Korean church that opened in her village along the Vietnamese border. She went with a friend for the food and fun but didn’t believe in the message at first. Over time, she understood the gospel and described the peace that she felt enter her heart. As a teenager, she finally told her parents that she was a Christian. She described how difficult and scary this was, but that if Jesus suffered and died for us, we should be willing to suffer for him. Her mom was very upset and assigned her extra chores on Sundays so she wouldn’t have time to go to church. She just got up extra early to complete the chores before church so that she could obey her parents while still honoring Jesus by going to church. The social and cultural pressures of leaving Buddhism are potent, especially in the countryside, but her mom eventually accepted her daughter’s earnest faith and even allowed her to have a Christian rather than Buddhist-style wedding.

The obedience of these first-generation Cambodians is inspirational.  They take their faith seriously—there are few “lukewarm” Christians in an environment that culturally persecutes those who abandon Buddhism.  They understand that faith is not meant to stay contained within one church, but that Jesus calls us to share His good news with all people!  So these Crossroads college students started a ministry to a minority group in the provinces years ago, and Lynn and Judy were able to visit the burgeoning village church there.  The mustard seed of faith is flourishing!

I am a planner who loves a well-organized itinerary.  With all the planning in the world, I could not have imagined the heights and depths of these experiences prior to my trip.  Yes, this was a physical adventure, but in a much deeper sense, it was a spiritual adventure.  Our faith grows through use, not through the safety of stagnation.  The unity of believers grows by seeing and knowing the joys and struggles of our neighbors—locally, regionally, and globally.  I am just an ordinary person, but this trip awakened extraordinary insight and faith in my soul.

What spiritual adventure might God have in store for you?