Short-Term Investment with Long Term Gains!

By Jill Marbach

As a junior in college, I saw a friend come back from a summer mission trip to the Soviet Union changed. I couldn't exactly explain the change. She was already spiritually mature for her age, but God had changed her and I longed for that transformation in my life too. I knew he wasn't limited to doing that in Russia, but when she decided to lead a team to Russia the next summer, I was the first one to sign up! It was a summer I'll never recover from.

I'd traveled overseas before, but this was the first time I'd gone as God's ambassador ~ to meet and interact with other college students about their spiritual lives. Since we were traveling to a "closed" country, we had to be discrete ~ meeting students in buses, walking onto our target campus and trying to find English speakers, and trying to find where students hung out during the summertime.

We had prayed to fly through Moscow for at least a day, just because we wanted to see it. While we were there, we met a gal named Natasha in a café. She had thick auburn hair, darker skin and exotic features. Our group of four gals connected with her immediately. We spent the day with her and shared the gospel with her. Although we were barely in the country, she was so spiritually hungry, we decided to give her one of our few Bibles and encouraged her to start reading the gospel of John. We made plans to meet her on our way back through Moscow at another café three weeks later, but we had no way to contact her in between.

In St. Petersburg, where we spent the rest of our time, we met many other students and told them about the great God that we know and who has saved us through Jesus. We encountered spiritual battles like we had never seen before ~ violent nightmares and a woman who seemed to be possessed. We had to pray and seek God each day for who to spend time with, for which new friends seemed to demonstrate the most spiritual interest. We had to walk by faith in new and deeper ways each moment of each day. That changed us.

This summer Central had the opportunity to send many middle school, high school, and college students on summer mission trips. My prayer was that they too would have a summer that they would never recover from. And from what I have heard ~ they have! They took steps of faith, they had new adventures, they met people they never expected to meet, and they saw God use them in his kingdom work in incredible ways. Their lives are changed forever.

Some might argue that the money for these trips would be better spent if we just sent it to missionaries working in these areas. Certainly God asks us to give generously and to pray fervently. But there aren't missionaries in all of these areas. Some short term trips go in to pioneer new areas, like my trip to Russia. Some help us to see God's character and heart in a new way. Some help fill a specific need or goal at the location, like building a home or leading a VBS. God could choose another way to reach people around the world, but amazingly, he calls us his ambassadors and he empowers us to "go and make disciples." He invites us to join him in finding his lost sheep and bringing them home to the flock. What a privilege!

P.S. Unbelievably, we did reconnect with Natasha and she had read the gospel of John and more! She was ready to trust Christ and became a leader in the campus ministry in Moscow. She went on to lead many to Christ and disciple many others in his kingdom. Her life was greatly transformed by him that summer as well. One short encounter led to an eternal change!

See also:

• Missions at Central Presbyterian
• NV: Short Term Missions (2002 summer trips)
• NV: Pawley's Island Mission Trip
• God's Grace For Every Race
• Sermon: God's Grace For Every Race