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Want to See God Work? Then Take a Few Risks!

Many people who are considering short-term missions for the first time do so with no small degree of trepidation. After all, it’s never easy to leave your comfortable, predictable life and step into a strange, new place where life is anything but predictable. People will talk differently there. They’ll think differently. They’ll drive differently. And there will likely be bugs everywhere.

True enough, but as Don and Ann Krause of Coquitlam, BC learned during a three-month missions trip to Bali last summer, the rewards definitely outweigh the risks. “Of course there are many unknowns, as in other situations in life,” Don says. “But we don’t see the hand of God unless we step out and take a few risks. And the rewards are incredible.”

Seeing God at Work
Don and Ann had many opportunities to see God’s hand at work during their trip, most notably on their way to Bali. The Krauses’s journey began far away from Bali with a visit to their son, who works as a teacher in Latvia. They also made a side-trip to St. Petersburg, Russia. However, when they tried to get back into Latvia, the Krauses discovered that their visas had expired. Turned away from the border by a surly guard at 3 a.m., the Krauses found themselves stuck outside in the cold two hours away from the city and totally unprepared for the weather. With Ann still weak from a recent illness, they stood and shivered while praying for direction.  

Someone must have heard the Krause’s prayers, because when they got back to the Russian authorities, a woman who worked there totally accommodated them, to the point of lining up a driver and directing them to a hotel right next to the Latvian embassy so they could renew their visas in the morning.

Message From God
The Krauses’s adventures continued as they proceeded to Bali via Hong Kong. Stuck in the airport on a layover, Ann tried to catch some sleep on the floor, there being nowhere else to lie down. After lying there for a while, Ann distinctly heard God tell her to sit up. When she looked up, she saw her carry-on bag was open and her wallet, their passports and their boarding passes were lying exposed. Ann shudders to think of what might have happened had those items disappeared.

When the Krauses finally arrived in Bali, where they served as a pastoral couple in a church that catered mainly to ex-patriots, one of the things they enjoyed most was hearing stories from their friends and parishioners about what God was doing all over the world.

Says Don, “I had the idea that the major things were happening here in North America, but I found out that God was at work everywhere. We heard about movements of God in Norway, German, and other places. That was so stimulating for me, spiritually.”

The Krauses left Bali ten days before the bomb blast that killed an estimated 500 people in the Sari nightclub last October. Although the tragedy cast a shadow over their fond memories of the island paradise, the Krauses are still considering a second term, even though they may hit a few bumps along the way.

“There are always blessings that come with such upsets,” Don says. “They’re faith-stretchers all right. But if we take them one at a time and see how God is faithful, we learn things we might never have learned had we stayed at home.”

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Kevin Miller is a freelance writer, editor, and educator from Abbotsford, BC, Canada. Over the past several years, he has written, co-written and contributed to 26 books, both fiction and non-fiction. He has also written dozens of articles for web sites, magazines and newspapers, includingFaith Today,BC Christian News andMaranatha News. Learn more about Kevin by clicking here to visit his website.