Prayer is the language that we use to communicate with God.
It’s also the language that we use to communicate our love for those around us, and indeed all of creation. Have you ever gone to a loved one, grief weighing on your heart over something and had them respond by praying over you (or a heartfelt promise to remember you in prayer)? That kind of love is powerful.
It’s also an integral part of missions, serving as an essential foundation for the success and impact of the work that we do. Missionaries recognize that our work is not merely a human endeavor but something that God calls us to and, through prayer, we seek spiritual strength, discernment, and direction. Maintaining an active prayer life helps us to nurture a deep sense of humility, ever cognizant that we rely on our Heavenly Father for everything we do in service to Him.
God’s wisdom is sought long before trips are set up with our partners, before we announce them on our website, and certainly before any applications are even received. After our team members have been approved, we make it a priority to connect with everyone on a zoom call before we ever meet in person so that we can get to know one another, develop relationships, and begin to pray together.
Guinea
Often, in the course of planning one of our medical mission trips, problems seem to arise. We wrote about that happening during our February 2023 trip to Guinea.
First, we had an issue with housing. There would be no hotel for our team to stay close to the community we would be serving. So our team took it to the Lord in prayer, and God came through for us in a bigger way than we could have ever imagined:
“The team prayed and within one week I was notified that a man who owned a water company had a newly built home where he never stayed. It was available for us. It had 3 large bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with running water, electric and area for our team to relax, eat meals, worship, pray and read the Bible together. This was a modern home in the middle of nowhere!”
– Sheri Postma
Another issue arose when we were informed that our partner in Guinea, Mission Aviation Fellowship, had not been approved to fly inside of Guinea, and it didn’t look good for them to receive that permission before our trip. Once again, our team got down on our knees in prayer and asked God for a miracle.
The Lord did not disappoint.
“On February 3 (one day before our trip), the MAF Country Director had a meeting with the Customs Director to ask for temporary flight permissions for February. MAF Guinea referred me to another airline company that mostly did flights for miners. The cost was $4995 USD for one plane each way and it could not hold our entire team. Hundreds of people started praying!
Finally, we saw our prayers answered and MAF received the temporary permission. We were the 1st passengers flying with MAF Guinea.”
– Sheri Postma
Last we heard, 95% of the patients we treated in Guinea were feeling better. Praise God!
Burundi
This past July, in Burundi, our team was constantly going to the Lord in prayer about all kinds of things: prayer for those who would be hearing the gospel to have hearts that are open, prayer for unity within our team, prayer for healing for our patients, and so much more.
The way that God showed up again and again was astounding and re-affirmed our faith that we serve a God who holds the universe in His hands and who loves each and every one of us.
One example of how we turned to prayer during a hard moment in Burundi was right at the very beginning. We entered the country and immediately all of our medical equipment, medication, and other things that we had brought to give to patients were being held in customs by Burundian officials. Due to strict regulations, they needed close inspection. This meant that we were unable to leave the airport with our things. It felt like a helpless moment, but Sheri knew that God is the God of the impossible and immediately prayed, “God, You’re going to have to work this out for us!”
A few days later, some of the supplies were released to our team, but not everything. However, between medication that had previously been shipped ahead of our arrival and supplies by the Burundian medical professionals who were volunteering with us, we never needed the missing supplies. Much like the story of Jesus and the multiplying of the loaves and fish, we had enough to meet every need.
Another example was later in our Burundi stay, when crowds of people who were desperate for medical care & education began to grow out of control outside of our clinic. Many people started pushing to get to the care providers, leading us to make the difficult decision of closing the clinic for the safety of everyone present. We were devastated to have to close the clinic so early. But God was still in control.
After the clinic closed, our team took some time to debrief and gather ourselves, and suddenly a young evangelist, named Prince, who was volunteering alongside of our team told Sheri to go and pray over the crowd of 150 still gathered by the clinic. Wasting no time, she did just that. Incredibly, this lead to an opportunity for Prince to stand up and begin sharing the gospel!
This led to an incredible moment that our team will never forget: we all began to pray with and over the crowd. A few of our team members, who were so shy they had never prayed out loud before, jumped in and prayed without abandon as the Holy Spirit began to move. We layed hands on the sick and prayed for healing. We may never hear how God continued to move in the lives of those people we were so blessed to be able to pray for, but we know a seed was planted that day and God will be faithful to see it grow to fruition!
Island In the Indian Ocean
We cannot tell you which country we visited in the Indian Ocean in 2019 because it is a nation that is very closed to the gospel. However, we were granted permission to enter the country so that we could bring our gift of free medical care and health education. During this time, we secretly shared the Gospel. One of our translators observed our team members during the outreach, and there was an opportunity to for us to share the gospel with him as well.
This particular man came from a very influential family in the area. His father and grandfather are both Imans (spiritual leaders within the Muslim community). After hearing the gospel, this man gave his life to Christ.
We stayed in touch with him and prayed for him, and when we returned in July 2022 we saw how his life is flourishing. He is now married with 2 kids. His wife is a believer. He has a good job, transportation and a very nice home with running water (these things are very unusual for an inhabitant in this country).
In the year since our last trip, there are now 25 believers (which is incredible for this closed country). They are meeting secretly every week for Bible study and church for fellwoship and discipleship.
Even better? The government of this country is asking when our team will return. We praise God for growth in this closed nation and for the open doors He has given us to share His love.
Benin
In November 2021, our medical mission team traveled to Benin and served the Dassa community. We quickly observed that this group of people, so beloved by God, did not have access to clean drinking water, and our hearts broke for them. Children were walking up to 2 hours each way, every day, to find drinkable water for themselves and their loved ones.
God put it on our hearts to do something about this, so we organized a fundraiser as a team to be able to buy this beautiful community a clean water well. We were anxious about our ability to raise the required $18,000 to do this, but we prayed and we trusted God to provide.
We didn’t have to wait for very long for the Lord to come through for the Dassa people; within a month, our goal was reached! We were able to tell the villagers that they would be receiving a Christmas gift of clean water for their entire community!
As a result, the government agreed to give our partner the land needed to build a church for the Dassa people. Recently, in one month, 25 people gave their lives to Christ.
Burkina Faso
In March of 2019, our medical mission team served in Burkina Faso, which is a land-locked nation in West Africa. As we served the people there, we were also able to share the gospel and we prayed for hearts to be open to accepting the Good News.
On the last day of our medical outreach, we witnessed 100 souls come to Christ. One of the men in this group would go on to be discipled to become a missionary to his own people group. This was the unreached people group that we went to reach with the gospel!
As we prepare for our next medical mission trip to Sierra Leone in March 2024, we are already praying for the people there that we will be serving. We are praying that they will see healing. We are praying for opportunities to share the hope we’ve found in Jesus, and we are praying for the gospel to take root and continue to spread long after we’ve gone.
We are now accepting applications for our next trips to Zimbabwe and Northwest Africa; be part of the work that God is doing in Africa as we seek to bring healthcare and the gospel to underserved communities.
However, if you’re not yet ready to commit to traveling with us, there are other ways to be part of the work we are doing:
- Become a donor. The donations we receive from generous people, like yourself, allow us to commit to this work. Your money will be used to buy medical equipment, medicine, supplements, and help cover the costs of scholarships for medical and dental students to join us and gain practical real-world experience.
- Join our prayer team. We meet once a month over the phone to pray together about our trips and those we’ve served, and shared the gospel with, so that they might continue to grow in faith. Contact us to learn more
- Share the word with your friends and family! Sharing our blog posts or social media posts are a great way to show your support for the work that we do. You never know who might be waiting to learn about an opportunity to get involved with a medical missions organization like Mission Partners For Christ. YOU could be that person to introduce them to us!
