Though I had traveled to dozens of countries to report on mission activities—some of them in challenging if not dangerous environments—I had never personally participated on a short-term mission trip. That first opportunity came in the early 2000s. I was petrified. This was a new and different kind of challenge. But being nervous was actually good because I’d have to rely upon God and not myself!

My wife, Lynda, and I were attending a church in Raleigh, North Carolina, and one Sunday morning one of its members shared about his ministry to orphans and other youth in Ukraine, Latvia and Belarus. Greg brought along one of his young Ukrainian staff members and her life story touched our hearts. So much so, we believed God led us to join a 12-person team to travel to Ukraine with New Life Ministries (https://www.nlminfo.org) and help Greg launch an outreach at a new orphanage as well as minister to youth attending a separate Bible camp along the Black Sea.

For months, our team prayed, planned, prepared and practiced. As we left New York City for Kiev, we trusted that God would be glorified and that He would guide our steps so that these children—forgotten and neglected within post-Soviet society—would sense God’s special love for them and that they’d begin to trust Him for their lives.

Each day we played games, enjoyed crafts and taught a Bible story. We shared our testimonies of how we had committed our lives to Christ—for me it was in 1973 after two years of futility and peril with drugs and alcohol at the University of Tennessee. Familiar with only crayons, the orphans especially loved the crafts, creating things with their hands. We took their individual pictures and then framed each one with the Bible verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Tears welled in our eyes as we saw their reaction of joy to receive that simple gift.

During the youth camp, the kids listened attentively and took copious notes. They soaked up the Bible lessons on how to build their lives upon the foundational truths taught in the Scriptures. They’d go back home eager to walk with Jesus and to tell their family and friends about Him.

God was there with us. I’m thankful that grace overcame fear and that we witnessed His overflowing love! My wife and I have remained connected with New Life Ministries as they evangelize, disciple and develop new spiritual leaders…as well as provide winter coats and boots, medical supplies and kitchen equipment that the state-run orphanages desperately need. They also help older orphans to find jobs and live independently once they leave the orphanage at the age of 18.

There’s a wonderful ballet dancer in Montreal, Canada, whose life was forever changed in 1994 through New Life Ministries. Anya, then 12, boarded a train in Kharkov, Ukraine, with a dozen other young people, and began an 18-hour journey to Crimea for summer youth camp—similar to the one our missions team took part in.

“This camp put my life on a completely different path,” Anya told Greg. “I was introduced to God and learned how to talk to Him. With all my heart, I can say that at the camp I received life lessons that have stayed with me forever. The most important part for me was that I wanted to go and share with people what I had learned.”

Once home, Anya launched a prayer group and Bible study and invited her friends in her apartment complex to come. Seven of her friends studied the Bible every week with Anya. Through the years, she’s remained faithful to Christ!

Today, Anya is a featured soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. She’s also married and is a mother!

And she continues to be burdened for others to come to know Jesus. She wanted her niece Alisa to one day experience in her life what she herself experienced. Anya prayed fervently and witnessed faithfully. Alisa’s opportunity to attend a New Life Bible Camp came in August 2016. Greg said she prayed to receive Christ and then grew through the daily Bible lessons, small group and times of worship and prayer. Since then, Alisa has been ministering with the Ukrainian Orphanage Ministry Team. She made a lasting difference in the life of a family friend, Yulia, who then joined Alisa in traveling monthly to the orphanages for ministry.

That’s the Great Commission in action: Anya reaching others, including her niece Alisa, who then impacts Yulia. That’s so cool!

I thank God for the privilege to participate in that first short-term missions trip. Since then, I’ve been able to go to Panama with fellow believers from South Carolina to help build a new church—a totally different kind of outreach. And, Lord willing, I trust that God will open the doors for me to join an evangelism team to Cambodia this October…again, a new focus.

ACTION STEP: How about you, my friend? If you long to help make an impact for Christ, consider a short-term missions trip with your church or through a Christian organization that you trust. Seek Him, explore what’s possible and see how He might lead. You just never know what God will do with a willing and submissive heart!