Is Two Weeks Worth It?

Fully funded on the day we leave the country, my husband and I raised $8,600 for just two weeks in East Asia*. Is two weeks even worth the money to go share the gospel? Why not devote a whole summer, a year, or a lifetime? How can just 14 days make that big of an impact?

If I had two weeks left to live, would those two weeks be worth telling just one more person about Jesus? Of course! I can’t deny anyone their eternity. But why raise money to go halfway around the world when you could use those two weeks right where you live?

The Lord told me to go. He specifically placed this specific country in my heart. On a mission the previous summer to North Myrtle Beach, I was in this country's group for an exercise and my discipler had been on a mission there. Since I was eight years old, I have wanted to adopt a little girl from this country, but I have never been as interested in the culture as much as my obsession with the Hispanic culture. But slowly and surely, I was getting more excited about the culture, the language, and the people.

When Forrest and I had gotten back from our aforementioned previous summer mission, my now father-in-law asked if we had ever considered going to this country. Coincidence? No, that’s God. In the fall, a friend of ours told us about a two-week trip a friend was leading from Bismarck to East Asia. I told him right then and there, “Yeah, I think that will be the mission we go on next summer.” When we went to CRU Winter Conference in January, it “just-so-happened” that the people leading the trip were having a meeting for those interested in joining. We attended the gathering, of course. Soon after on the bus ride home, I applied for the trip immediately.

Forrest and I decided to start fundraising after our wedding in February for the trip in May, so it was a short time limit for a large amount. Last summer, we raised separately for our mission to NMB. This time it was together. We sent out over 300 support letters and didn’t see a lot of results. We discussed only one of us traveling and concluded that we were willing to follow God in that way. We needed to depend on God first, our spouse second. That option was seeming like a reality as it came to the last week, and we arrived at the exact halfway point of funding. But then, the friend of ours who had first told us about the mission donated more money from what he had over-funded for his trip. Forrest and I were shocked and began wondering if we were supposed to both go.

There was another student on our trip who needed the same amount to fully fund her trip as what had just been given towards Forrest going. We were faced with the decision of giving her that money so that only I would go to East Asia. After prayer, Forrest felt like it was one of those things that could go either way, and we would learn from God in both situations. He wanted to put the ball in God’s court, so Forrest said if $1,000 came in that day, we would both go. Even if we only raised $1,000, we could pay for the rest of the trip out of our honeymoon fund.

Well, guess what God did? Oh yeah, He brought in more than $1,000 in that one day! Guess who was bouncing and screaming all over the apartment as she called a bunch of people and told them? Oh yeah, this girl. And to make it even better, God gave us back our honeymoon fund. As we drove the last three hours to Chicago to the airport, our leader called to say that the other students had over-funded and were willing to donate to us the EXACT amount we needed to be fully funded. THAT right there is God. That is Him telling us, this trip is worth it.

Within the first couple of days in the country, someone accepted Christ. And not even someone we could have planned for. The design for the mission was to be on campus meeting students to share with, but this person worked at the gym that two of our guys went to a couple of times. The Holy Spirit moved the two friends, they shared, and the unlikely accepted. For that one person, the trip was worth it. Over the course of the mission, five people came to Christ, and the gospel was shared 17 times. Five people have now experienced God’s love and had their eternity changed! Not only that, but a lot of the 17 people were interested in what we shared and some even downloaded a bible app. God isn’t done working in their lives! The five brothers and sisters we have now will go and share and they can do more than we ever could in their home country.

The featured picture at the top of this article is at a cemetery where a few missionaries and their families came to East Asia from England in the 1800s. They sacrificed everything, and many of their children died as infants. There were only a few missionaries, but over the hillside, thousands of native people came to Christ because of them. Shown in the picture is just one view of some of the thousands of believers buried in this cemetery.

Another thing that was shared is how Americans are very popular in the country, but it is extremely difficult for us to be missionaries in the Middle East. But the country we shared with is popular in the Middle East! The more people we equip there, the more people can go reach areas that we can’t reach. God is moving, and He is showing that He loves these people. He loves all of us. Jesus died for our sins and then rose again to life so that we also could have eternal life with God in heaven. If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, then we will be saved. Continue to confess. Continue to tell people. At home or in a different country. It is absolutely worth it for one person to hear how God loves them.