Missionaries and Stories from the Field
If you were to read the story of a trip to Africa in 1996 listed below, you would find a comment about missionaries not always cooperating with one another. That caused me to decide to not produce a video I had gone there to do. It was a difficult decision, costing time and money and causing some doubts about my own rationale. This is a "follow-up" on that decision.
Most of you know we don't charge for our time, but do recover our expenses. The "share" of expenses for the video I didn't produce was $700 and pocket change. The day I arrived home from the trip, I went to be the week's missionary at a youth camp. The last day, a collection was taken, and our ministry received $700 and change, almost to the penny what the decision cost. I will admit I felt vindicated, although not completely.
About a year went by. One Sunday as I left church, I looked in my mailbox and found a missionary publication. In it was an article about a couple that I had met during the three fateful days I considered a waste. It seems they had broken ties with the ministry I had chosen to ignore, and were moving to a ministry I had supported while there. I was happy for them.
Two days later I got a call from Ghana, ordering more video copies. I asked about the situation and was told the couple in question were in the states. That evening I called. Heather answered and was clearly overjoyed to hear from me. We talked at length, and finally she asked what I had done with the video I had shot. When I told here it was still on the shelf, she asked if it could be used to help them.
Patrick and Heather Cline spent a few days with us while I edited for them. We became friends. They were completely broke and we didn't charge them even for our costs. They ordered 20 tapes, then 35, then 50 and finally 35 just prior to going back to Ghana. With payment for that order, they gave us the largest donation we had ever received, crediting the videos for some of the success they had in fund-raising.
Just last week we got tapes from Ghana about the construction going on at Ghana Christian College. There was Patrick, helping direct construction (besides preaching, he is a construction engineer.) I took it as a lesson in patience, realizing that God had a purpose for the frustrating three days that I had "wasted." Patrick and Heather have come full circle. So has the video we shot. God has them where they are needed, and we have another set of friends. Cool.
You can review other stories in our archives.
The Caribbean Christian Orphanage
Our first trip (Part one of our ministry.)
The second part about our ministry
Report on the Ghana trip, June/July 1996
Nicaragua/Honduras Trip Report, August 1996
Sweet Pea to the Rescue, Honduras 1994
How one person's inability to communicate was an advantage, Honduras, 1996
How the "third world" is positioning for successful foreign ministry.