Missions: Testing Your Mettle

Set your affections on things above; not on the things on the earth.

Colossians 3:2

Part Three: Bend or Break

Every veteran missionary will tell you that the key to surviving missions work is flexibility.  When you commit yourself to missions (whether career or short-term), God often chooses to take you in a direction that you never expected.  A willingness to defer to His plans, rather than yours, can make all the difference in the world.

For example, last year my husband, Alan, was invited to lead a week-long evangelistic crusade in Belarus.  During the week, we would immerse ourselves in the community; inviting everyone we met to attend the crusade.  At night, Alan would preach and I would serve as a counselor for women who came down to receive Christ.  We purchased our airline tickets and renewed our passports (which would be expiring in a few months).

Since Belarus requires a visa, we prepared our paperwork and, about a month before we were due to leave, we sent our passports and documents to the Belarus embassy in Washington, DC.  When two weeks passed without word, Alan called the embassy to get an update.  He was told that our passports and paperwork had been mailed back the day before because the necessary documents from our Belarusian contact had not arrived!

Alan called the Belarusian pastor who had issued the invitation and he told us that there had been a delay at his end and that the paperwork was on its way to the Belarus embassy.  We were to overnight our passports and documents as soon as we received them.  The next day, the materials were returned to us and we immediately sent them back.  They would arrive at the embassy sometime on Friday- a mere 11 days before our flight.

Since the embassy was closed on weekends, we called first thing on Monday morning, only to find out that it was closed because of a Belarusian holiday.  By Tuesday morning, our anxiety level was starting to spike.  We began calling as soon as they opened.  We were shocked to be told that they had not received our materials.

Another frantic call (this time to the postal service), revealed that major power outages in Washington DC (due to deadly storms in the area) had caused significant problems in mail delivery.  According to their records, we were told, the package had been delivered.  Fortunately, God placed a wonderful postal worker at the other end of the phone line.  He promised to personally find out what had happened to the package and get back to us.

In the meantime, Alan and I looked at our options.  Even if the package was located and delivered to the Belarus embassy the next day, we had been told that there was not enough time to process the visa and get it to us before our flight. It seemed evident that our trip to Belarus was not going to happen.  Our flight was non-refundable and, being of Scottish descent, I couldn't stand the idea of letting all that money go to waste.  The one silver lining in all this dark cloud was that (to save money) we had not chosen a direct flight to Belarus, but found a deal that required a stopover in Warsaw, Poland. A quick search on the internet showed that a visa was not required in order to visit Poland. 

"Looks like we're doing a mission trip to Poland," I said.

"If our passports get back in time," Alan reminded me. "Besides, what are we gonna do when we get there?"

"If nothing else, we'll stand on a street corner and tell people about Jesus or prayer walk through the communities."

"Sounds like a plan!"

On the off chance that we might find a ministry to plug into, Alan contacted the International Mission Board and relayed the our dilemma to them; asking if he could contact missionaries in Warsaw and find out if there was anything we could do to assist them.  They promised to pass our information along and, hopefully, a missionary would contact us.

On Thursday, the man from the postal service called to say that our package had been located.  It had been placed in one of the two mail bins belonging to the embassy.  The embassy worker who came to pick up the mail had only taken one of the bins.  Our packet was still in the bin at the post office. What did we want done with it?  Our reply was prompt and decisive: Send it back.

We began researching Poland and trying to decide what to pack, since we had no idea what we might be doing there. On Monday, we gave a sigh of relief to find our passports in the mailbox.  We were definitely going to Poland. On Tuesday morning, we headed to the Atlanta airport, with no idea what we were going to do, but determined to find some way to serve.

Thirty minutes before boarding, Alan's cell phone rang.  It was a missionary from Poland calling.  He had gotten our message. He was on the coast of Poland leading a camp for families interested in practicing their English skills with native English speakers.  The topics included were issues that fostered discussion about faith and beliefs, allowing the leaders to share their faith with the group.  While the adults were in their groups, the children attended a VBS-style camp at the site. 

The missionary was surprised at the timing of our message because one of the American couples who were volunteering for the camp had just received word of a death in the family and were having to fly back.  Did Alan feel comfortable stepping in as a discussion leader and would I be willing to work with the children?

By the time we boarded the plane, most of the details had been settled.  God had closed the door on our work in Belarus, but He opened up another wonderful window of opportunity for us in Poland.  A chance to minister that might have been missed if we had not been flexible.

Admittedly, this was an extreme example of how plans can go awry on a mission trip.  However, if you see that God can work through what seems to be a catastrophe, you can be sure that He can help overcome the other problems that often arise on mission trips.  If your luggage goes astray, God can provide clothes to wear- even if they aren't your first choice in fashion.  If a flight is delayed, look around to see who God wants you to witness to at the airport. 

There is nothing like a mission trip to test your mettle and to help you to see how strong your faith really is.  When difficulties come, will you bend or will you break?