Cheri Bunch's Mission Perspective

Cheri Bunch has had the opportunity to travel on several missions trips and she graciously agreed to be interviewed for today's radio show. These are highlights from the interview.
Cheri spoke about mission trips being a time that people are taken far outside their own comfort zones. She shared that one Bible verse in particular was encouraging to her when she was traveling in countries where personal safety was an issue.
Habakkuk 3:19 (Amplified version)
The Lord God is my strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk (not stand still in terror, but to walk and make spiritual) progress upon my high places (of trouble, suffering, or responsibility)!

I can definitely see myself taking comfort in the thought of God himself being so protective! Cheri spoke of the discomfort of knowing the government was in a state of unrest, in the country she traveled; she spoke of physical discomfort of illness from exposure to foreign germs. She also shared about the joy of seeing Christ change lives in dramatic ways.
One person Cheri met in particular who made a big impact on her was Valle. Valle's story begins in a slum- dirty and hopeless. Women from a church decided to go to the slum and share Christ with the people there even though they would be going into a dangerous area. Because of those women's obedience Valle's life was changed.
The ripple effect was something Cheri got to see firsthand. Cheri's eyes light up as she speaks into the radio microphone to tell of her first encounter with this vibrant believer, "she came to me and said, 'You know Jesus!?' with the biggest smile. I'll never forget that." Valle began sharing Christ with those around her in the slum. Because of her faith and the incredible difference Jesus made in her life, many came to accept Christ as their personal savior. The change was not just internal, not just spiritual. Many of those who surrendered to Christ have had opportunity to move out of the slum and work to have a better life now because of the faith of a few women who were not afraid to share Christ.
Cheri was adamant about expressing a key thought, as important as the things are that we can take to the mission field to share with those less fortunate, "the best thing to take is the Gospel. That will be lasting!"