My Summer Abroad in a Third World Country

I’ve been back in America for a little over three weeks. If you did not know I spent the previous 2 and ½ months overseas in two Asian countries. As I’ve reflected the past few weeks on my summer and what I experienced I felt like I should share a few things on here.

I can’t go into specifics of exactly where I was for the safety of the national believers and workers that are there. But I want to give a little overview of the culture I was in.

I was in a country where I couldn’t walk more then a block and a half without seeing a mosque.

I was in a country where I couldn’t walk more then a block without seeing a beggar.

I was in a country where I couldn’t walk more then a block without seeing a building half built and just left there.

I was in a country where less then 1% of the population follows Jesus.

Thank you to everyone who generously supported my trip and enabled me to go this summer. It is only because of the grace of God that I was able to go these unreached villages and cities bearing the only Good News that can possibly bring life into their dying souls.

For 3 days a week, my friend and I would travel with two national brothers to many villages that had not only never seen white people, but had never heard the Good News. The lies of Islam and Hinduism have been running rampant in these villages for hundreds and in some cases thousands of years and we were able to sow seeds in these places for the first time. Although we did not see salvations personally in these villages, it was absolutely amazing to be able to share Bible stories and then give them parts of the Bible and tracts. Small seeds were planted in thousands of men and women's hearts that only God is able to grow!

 

Now, I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you how hard and uncomfortable it was to be constantly stared at and touched by hundreds of curious people wherever we went.

Oh and I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you that some days it took all of my strength to get out of bed and tons of strength from the Lord to leave my apartment to encounter the culture.

And, I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you about how it was difficult for me to eat the many things put in front of me that I had no idea what it was I was eating.

And yeah, I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you about the moment of vomiting in the bathroom or laying in bed with a fever that I longed for my bed back in America and a nice big juicy bacon cheeseburger from Red Robin.

 

But, the one thing I’d be lying to you the most about is if I told you it’s been easy for me to come back to America and re-engage with culture.

God definitely in my time grew in me a greater gratefulness for my upbringing and the fact that he saved me. But my heart has been forever broken and changed after encountering millions upon millions of people that not only are poor and dying in the physical sense. But that are poor and dying in their sin.The millions of people that I walked by and interacted with that if they don't repent and turn from their sins will spend eternity in hell.

Romans 1:19-20 says, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

I’ve always had a conviction off of this verse that there are millions if not billions of people out there in the world who are dying without ever hearing the gospel. But it took on a whole new meaning when I actually saw it with my own eyes. I lived this summer in a region of the world where every 2 seconds someone is dying and being damned to hell for eternity. It's one thing to talk about, it's another thing to see with your eyes.

Something else I learned in a more personal way this summer was that there is nothing in me that can get another person to change or make another person give their life to the Lord. It’s not about me seeing people being saved, although that is the goal of us sharing the Word of the Lord with them. But, it's primarily about me being faithful to the command and commission of God and going to these places and giving them the only Word that will be able to save their souls. As you do this, God will be faithful to His Word and many will come to know Jesus!

John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go…”

If you are a believer, God not only chose you as his disciple. But He has appointed you and commissioned you as his disciple to go and make more disciples.

You don’t have to go across the world or to a third world country to make disciples. But I urge you to consider it. I urge you to ask the Lord if that’s what He wants you to do. I urge you to pray tonight, “Lord, I come before you with all my plans for my future pushed aside, lead me where YOU want me. I’m ready to go wherever YOU call me.”

If you know me personally, you know that my heart beats for the nations and missions. If you haven’t interacted with me since I’ve been back. Know this, my heart has grown ten times bigger this summer for the nations and I’d love to share with you more of what God has done! Feel free to email, call, text or even set up a time to get together with me for a cup of coffee. I’d love to tell you more personal stories from this summer.