AFM missionaries aren’t typically the kind of people who make a big splash, but they do make a lot of ripples (see p. 24).
One of the hard things about mission work is that you often don’t get to see the results of your efforts. All you can do is trust in the promise of Isiah 55:11—“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void . . .”
Take the Smith family for example (p. 12). They put years of hard work into translating several books by Ellen White into Turkish with the goal of distributing them for free. When their main distribution channel was suddenly closed, they began stealthily leaving books at bus stops all over town. Like small pebbles, each book fell out of sight into the sea of humanity in that large Turkish city, leaving only a spreading ripple of influence. Who knows how far those ripples will go? God does.
A continent away among the Great River people, the Church family are making ripples of their own as they distribute 60 audio Bibles to people who cannot read, and all their friends gather around to listen (p. 32).
In some rare cases, perhaps decades later, you might catch a glimpse of what the Holy Spirit has done with your ripples. In Cambodia, Arnold and Diane Hooker recently witnessed the baptism of a young man whose father Arnold led to Christ in 1997 (p. 34).
Today, on the shore of the ocean of unreached souls, I encourage you to take the pebble of your resources, your prayers, your life, and throw it in the direction God is pointing. You might not make a big splash, but you can entrust Him to do amazing things with the ripples.
