Boot Camp for Faith
By Elizabeth Fox, Global Encounters Director of Operations and Team Leader
Do you experience times when you wonder if God is listening or cares - times when everything seems to be going wrong, prayers are unanswered, and disaster is imminent?That's the way the summer started. Every single mission trip had one problem or another. While schedule difficulties and uncertainties are a normal part of working across international borders, this was beyond normal! You better believe I was praying and had some faithful friends praying with me.As the trip to Peru drew near, the team leader's work schedule was unavoidably changed, preventing him from leading the team. We were short on guys for the team. It looked like we would have to cancel. Then everything began to change. Steven Curry had already been praying about going to Peru when I called and asked him to go as the leader. Not only that, he had a couple of friends who wanted to join him, putting enough guys on the team and making the trip possible. God had faithfully provided! We had an incredible time of ministry in the Amazon.
God even answered prayers we didn't know we should be praying. No one knew that Adrian would have an allergic reaction to a strange Peruvian pepper and go into anaphylactic shock. No one but God. He knew we would need a medic and epi pens and provided Gene (who is an EMT) and Kat (who had two epi pens in her purse).When swine flu swept across Argentina less than a month before our trip, the country shut down and canceled our scheduled ministry. I was about to cancel the trip when God brought to mind the Terrells, a missionary family in Chiapas. It couldn't hurt to ask if they would like a mission team to show up on their doorstep in... well... two weeks. I sent an email expecting a response like, "Are you crazy?!" Instead, they confirmed that they could host the team and
there was lots of ministry to do. Then the ticket problem hit: tickets that would ordinarily cost $700 were running over $1,000. I called Nathan Terrell back to say, "Better pray about this. I'm not sure if it's going to work." He suggested an alternate airport, the price was much better, and we had tickets booked within a couple of hours.The list of miracles, big and small, could go on and on - scholarships that were exactly the amount of money needed, a doctor in Peru who spoke English, spiritual encouragement for the team just when it was needed most, problems that led to opportunities to share the Gospel. What started as a summer filled with obstacles turned into a summer of seeing God do amazing things.
If your faith is in need of a good work out, I highly recommend getting involved in missions! There's nothing like seeing God do the impossible to strengthen your faith and renew your confidence that there is indeed a personal, loving, compassionate, faithful God intimately involved in the details of our lives.
For more details of the summer 2009 mission trips, check out their blogs!
