Did you know that you can go on a mission trip without ever leaving your living room?
During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, e3 developed virtual mission trips to continue ministering to the lost even when travel was not an option. Those virtual trips continue to be an asset in reaching places that are physically difficult to travel to due to war, civil unrest, natural disasters, and hostile governments.
We work with our national partners and long-term missionaries (Strategy Coordinators) that are on the field in these areas to meet with indigenous people in their homes through Zoom. And, as you’ll read in Christie*’s story below, God continues to change lives even through a computer screen.
Christie is currently participating in a virtual mission trip to South Asia. She logs into Zoom every night to minister to a small group of people there who are hosted by e3 missionaries, sharing the Gospel and praying with them. On the first night, one man accepted Christ as his Savior, and others shared prayer requests and prayed for one another.
“On the second night, we did a lookback to see if anyone had any testimonies and to see how they were doing since we prayed for them,” Christie said. “We had prayed for a lady who has a tumor on her chest. The tumor was still there, but the pain was little. The next woman we had prayed for had a fungal infection on her arm and leg and around her eye. The infection was now gone. Then a gentleman – a new brother in Christ as of yesterday – had been suffering from abdominal pain and headaches for eight months. We prayed for him the day before, and now he doesn’t have stomach pain or a headache.”
In addition to the healing, Christie also witnessed other answers to prayer among the people in her group. One woman in South Asia asked for prayer for her husband who is in the army. They have two young children together, and he has been away from home and unable to communicate with his family at all.
“After we met on Zoom the first day, her husband called her and they were able to talk,” Christie said. “She is so happy now. Praise Jesus!”
At the end of the night, the man who owns one of the homes the South Asian people were meeting in shared his testimony. He and his wife have never been educated, but God miraculously has given him the ability to read and understand the Bible.
“I was blown away,” Christie said. “God can truly do more than we can ask, think, or imagine. When we pray and these things happen, it’s not because any one person prayed; everybody in the group in that home prayed as well. It was the power of God falling on these people. That’s what brought these healings and miracles. I just thank the Lord. God is so good.”
Anna*, one of our Strategy Coordinators in Asia, was encouraged by Christie’s story and grateful for the technology available that allows us to still minister to the lost digitally.
“To see a North American so excited about the power of prayer and to be able to understand everything that is going on virtually is a gift from God,” Anna said. “She was able to build a relationship with the people in the home … via Zoom! Lord, thank you for Zoom. Praise the Lord!”
*Names have been changed to ensure safety and anonymity.