God is writing stories of hope through e3’s short-term mission teams around the world. And behind every one of those stories is someone who said yes – someone who prayed, someone who went, someone who gave so that others might hear the Gospel.
The stories you’re about to read – of Ginny, Sarah, and Mike – are about ordinary believers who discovered that when you make yourself available to God, He can use your life in extraordinary ways. But they’re also your stories. Because behind every transformed heart, every new believer, every moment where someone encounters Jesus for the first time is someone like you who faithfully supports this ministry.
When you give, pray, or encourage someone to go, you step into the story and become part of the mission field with them. These stories are proof that God multiplies every offering and uses it to change lives – across the world and in the hearts of those who go.
When Going is in Your DNA: Ginny’s Story
When Ginny talks about missions, she doesn’t start with travel tips. She starts with calling.
“If you follow Christ, you’re always on mission no matter where you are,” she said. “It’s a part of who you are. It’s your DNA.”
Ginny first felt called to missions at 15, but her life took a different shape – serving faithfully in her church, raising a family, and hoping one day to retire and travel the country with her husband. But when her husband passed away unexpectedly, God opened a new door.
“That’s when I started with e3 in 2005.”
Since then, she’s been on more than 50 short-term mission trips with e3 all over the world.
“They’re going to train you to share the Gospel. You’ll be prayed for as you go. And then when you leave, with a full heart, you’ll recognize the job is not done – that there will be follow up and a handoff to Indigenous ministry partners. With e3, a mission trip is not a one and done,” Ginny said.
This was evidenced in a story Ginny told about a woman she met earlier this year on a medical mission trip to North Africa. The woman came weeping to the medical clinic Ginny and her team had set up.
Her husband was abusive. She had a disabled daughter. Her adult son blamed his sister for ruining his chances at marriage. Her health was fragile, and her heart was broken.
“She came for medical issues and she had medical issues, but that was not why she was there, really,” Ginny said. “She came for that reason, but God had an appointment for her.”
When Ginny listened to the woman’s story and asked if she had a faith, the woman said she believed good works would send her to heaven. Ginny gently shared the Gospel with her, focusing not on works, but grace.
“She prayed to receive Christ as her Savior, and you could see the peace in her eyes,” Ginny said. “There was a visible change in her countenance. There was no more crying or wringing her hands. And now the local church will reach out to her and support her.”
Her medical concerns mattered. But that day, her deepest need was Jesus – and He met her there through Ginny and the e3 mission team.
How A Nursing Student’s First Mission Trip Changed Everything: Sarah’s Story
When Sarah boarded a plane for her first short-term mission trip with e3, she didn’t know what to expect. She didn’t even know anything about e3. What she did know was that her nursing program required every student to serve internationally – and she’d been placed on a trip to Europe to help with a medical clinic among refugees.
Stepping into a bustling medical clinic filled with people from over 30 different countries was overwhelming and eye-opening. But even more transformative were the spiritual conversations God guided her through.
“I got to share the Gospel, which I’ve never really done in my life,” Sarah said. “That was life-changing for me. God felt very real, very powerful. And that made me want more of that – not just on trips, but in my day-to-day life.”
On her first day of the trip, Sarah prayed that God would give her “one meaningful encounter.” Then, the next morning at the clinic, Sarah felt a prompting to pray over the space.
“I just felt very powerfully that I needed to pray over a specific table, so I stopped and prayed out loud while everybody was still running around,” Sarah said.
She didn’t think about it again until the final patient of the day came in: a widowed refugee mother who was malnourished, exhausted, and raising three-year-old twins alone in a country where she didn’t speak the language.
Sarah listened to her story, walked with her through the clinic stations, and finally sat with her at the final table where a team member shared the Gospel with the patients.
“I felt the Holy Spirit ask me to step in,” Sarah said. “I didn’t want to, but it was so strong.”
So she interrupted gently.
“I finished sharing the 3 Circles and connected it with my testimony, and she just broke down in tears,” Sarah said. “You could feel the Holy Spirit at that table. She accepted Christ right there.”
Later, Sarah reflected on the day and the woman she could now call a sister in Christ.
“I realized: that was the very table I prayed over that morning,” Sarah said. “God had just put it on my heart to pray in that area. God was moving through prayers and my obedience!”
Now, missions will always be a part of Sarah’s life, especially because she knows the impact of these trips lasts long after she returns home.
“It’s not like you just go and then those people you talk to are just left to their own devices,” Sarah said. “You’re partnering with Indigenous ministry partners and other [e3] missionaries there … they’re following up and connecting them with a local church. So what you do on a short-term trip makes a long-term difference.”
“And that difference isn’t just for those you encounter on the trip,” Sarah said. “It can change your life and grow your faith too, and who knows what it can do in other people’s lives because you said yes.”
Sharing the Greatest Love Story Ever Written: Mike’s Story
When Mike first boarded a plane for Colombia in 2003, he was 61 years old and had never been on a mission trip before. That year, God would begin rewriting the entire trajectory of his life, one that would eventually include 64 e3 mission trips, 57 of them to Colombia.
But long before he was a seasoned missionary, Mike was simply someone trying to be obedient. While reading a Christian book, he reached a chapter that said, “If you haven’t been on a mission trip, go.”
“I had been successful in my business career, but I was laying up the savings on earth, not laying up the savings in heaven,” Mike said. “And the only thing we can send to heaven is the impact we have on people. I was 61 years old and I hadn’t been on a short-term mission trip. And so I committed to God that I would go.”
That commitment set in motion a two-decades-long journey of watching the Holy Spirit transform lives right in front of him – including his own.
While Mike got plenty of training on how to share the Gospel beforehand, his first trip to Colombia was still outside his comfort zone.
“I remember being absolutely petrified,” he said.
On the very first day, he and his translator shared the Gospel with 13 people, and all 13 prayed to receive Christ. Instead of feeling triumphant, Mike’s analytical side kicked in.
“My skepticism arose and I said, ‘That’s too easy. Is this for real?’”
The next day, God answered his question. The first person they approached brushed them off. The second family listened carefully but did not respond. Looking back, he said those two experiences amounted to one of the best lessons he’s ever learned in ministry.
“Nothing happens unless the Holy Spirit’s there,” Mike said. “If the Holy Spirit hasn’t gone beforehand, it ain’t working.”
That realization reshaped the way he sees everything that happens on a mission trip. It’s not about his words, his performance, or his confidence.
“I was getting the privilege, even though I didn’t deserve it, of representing God and watching the Holy Spirit,” he said.
Over the years, Mike has seen just how far ahead of him God is willing to work.
One woman shared that she had dreamed of walking toward a beautiful light, then suddenly falling into a deep pit.
“Right before I hit the bottom,” she told them, “a hand reached down and pulled me out.”
Later, when Mike offered her his hand as a symbol of Jesus offering eternal life, she responded with tears and gave her life to Christ.
Mike said he goes on four short-term mission trips a year, and what keeps him going back is knowing he is contributing to a bigger picture of ministry.
“With e3, it’s not a hit-and-run ministry,” he said. “We partner with local churches that are going to be responsible for followup.”
For Mike, that’s crucial. Knowing that the people he helped lead to Christ will be connected with a local body of believers and continue to grow in their faith makes every trip worth it.
“Going on short-term mission trips is the greatest privilege I’ve ever had in my life,” Mike said. “It is the single most distinct privilege I’ve ever had that I know that God has used me to make a difference.”
Mike said he continually asks God to let him keep going on short-term mission trips as long as he is able.
“How can you have a better way to close out your life,” he asked, “than being able to tell people about the greatest love story ever written?”
How Their Story is Your Story
The lives changed in these stories – women who found hope, refugees who met Jesus, communities strengthened, and believers emboldened – didn’t just happen because someone stepped on a plane. They happened because a whole community of supporters made it possible for the Gospel to be carried into places that desperately needed it.
That includes you.
Every prayer, every dollar given, every encouraging word, every moment spent championing the mission … God is using it. You are woven into the testimonies you just read, standing behind every new believer and every transformed life. And as long as there are people still waiting to hear the Good News, there will be more stories like Ginny’s, Sarah’s, and Mike’s – stories you helped make possible.
Would you prayerfully consider making a special year-end gift today?
Your generosity ensures that the mission continues and that even more stories of transformation will be written in the year to come.