By Tony Wee
Last summer my wife and I, along with our three kids, traveled to a country in Southeast Asia where missionary activity is restricted. We were there in partnership with Unto®, Cru’s humanitarian ministry, with a goal of setting up vision clinics and performing eye exams in local churches while Cru missionary staff from that country would translate and share the gospel with each individual. All in all, we fitted 1,215 people with eyeglasses and saw 351 people pray to receive Christ!
On the second day, I was assigned a new intern as my translator. She was visibly tentative, so she asked me to demonstrate how to do the eye exam and share the gospel. I had one day of experience, so … why not? A young woman was our first recipient seeking help for near-sightedness. After the exam I asked her to read a laminated card that had three Bible verses, each with progressively smaller font, as a final eye test. Reading through those verses was an excellent transition into the gospel.
I shared a rudimentary gospel presentation that this intern translated. She asked the woman if she’d ever heard this before. The woman admitted she hadn’t, but also expressed, “I never knew God loved me so much.” She prayed with me to receive Jesus and left so happy. I’m ashamed to say I was shocked that such a rote presentation would net such a response. It’s a tremendous reminder that the gospel of Jesus is just that powerful.
The intern, visibly relieved, felt confident to take over the sharing. The next five people prayed to receive Christ! I found myself becoming tired because so many people were coming to Christ; what a surreal feeling.
Our family processed our trip over dinner once we’d returned home by stating our highs and lows from the trip. Kara, our eight-year-old, said her greatest high was introducing so many people to Jesus! I nearly fell out of my chair.
There are many more stories we could tell. For now, I’m just hoping to bring even more families with us on our next mission trip. Pray that we can motivate families to go on trips like this to grow closer as a family and be on mission together. Our goal is to send 200+ families in 2024 all over the world!
Editor’s note: If you’d like to learn more about FamilyLife mission trips, visit https://www.familylife.com/missions/home/.
