“YOU Are an Answer to Prayer.” – UNSUNG HEROES

Are short-term mission trips worth it? Are you really able to make an impact in a month? Why don’t you just send the money?

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We landed in Phnom Phen and our setup sheet essentially said “Go to Overflow Guesthouse in Siem Reap, stay there, and find new ministry partners for future teams.” It’s called Unsung Heroes Month (UH) on the World Race. Instead of having a full time ministry host, we are given the freedom to research ministries in the area and develop relationships with potential hosts for future teams to serve alongside.

I was naturally excited because this is essentially what I did in my previous career – Expansion. Researching potential partners, crafting an inviting email to grab coffee, meeting new people, learning about their story, discussing how a partnership could be mutually beneficial – every aspect of the development process gives me life!

Our Unsung Heroes Coordinator, Calli, lead us in a training and shared resources from previous teams that were UH in Siem Reap. One of the resources she shared was the “AIM’s Friend List”. This is a list of ministries that Adventures in Missions currently has relationships with in some way. The list had 163 ministries listed for Cambodia, 30 in Siem Reap alone. Siem Reap has an Adventures long-term missions base so they are very well networked. The goal the setup sheet had set for us was to find 5 potential ministry hosts in 2 weeks. That seemed easy to me at first – now I wasn’t so sure.

Our team kept a positive attitude and dug in. We set a high goal of contacting 40 new potential ministry hosts.

Searching online led to emails which led to replies which led to coffee meetings. One of the first churches I reached out to responded in just a couple of hours. The pastor sounded friendly and said he and his wife would love to grab some coffee and share about their ministry. We decided on one of my favorite coffee spots for the meeting and set the plan.

My friend Bry and I got to the coffee shop early to grab a table. As soon as they walked through the door, we could tell they were a perfect match to be a future host. We spent the first 30 minutes of the meeting learning all about them, their ministry, and how they got to Siem Reap.

Eventually the pastor said, “What about you? Why are you here in Siem Reap?”

I hadn’t mentioned what we were specifically doing in my email so I explained that we were on an 11 month mission trip called “The World Race” where we serve alongside long-term missionaries to help bring added lift and energy to their hard work.

His face was shocked.

“You’re from the World Race?”, he asked.

“Yes, have you heard of it?”, I responded not knowing what the emotions were behind his shocked look.

Then pastor then shared with us:

“When my wife and I first came to Siem Reap, we heard about these groups of fired up young people that served asking nothing in return and were helpful to so many ministries in the city. We actually started praying together that the Lord would lead us into partnership with these young people. We have been praying that for a year now. A couple of weeks ago we even considered trying to figure out how to reach out to the World Race to see how to host a team. But now we are here having coffee with you! You found us! I can’t believe it!”

Then he said something that hit me like an arrow directly in the heart.

“YOU are an answer to prayer.”

Bry and I? Just us? An answer to your prayers?

The thought that us, just being willing to go, and to be in Siem Reap, at that time, was an answer to this couple’s prayer blew my heart up. Not a random check, not donating hand-me-downs, not anything other than our willingness and obedience to go where the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Couldn’t you just send a check instead of taking the time and money to go all the way over there? I’d say no. Donations help keep ministries moving and there are absolutely people who are called to be “senders” financially. But often times ministries need love. They need people who care as much as they do. They need friends to bring lift and energy to their kingdom dream. I’m honored to be one of those friends.