This month I am welcoming Megan Gabrielse Oliphant, who participated in the 2018 World Race—an 11-month, multi-country, missions outreach. Thank you, Megan, for agreeing to share your story with Living Letters readers.

My name is Megan Oliphant and I'm so honored to have the opportunity to share a bit of my story with you. God has so immensely blessed me and I can only pray that what I share with you in these words would dig deep into your heart and that you would see and feel the love Jesus has for you and all of His children. 

I grew up in a loving, Christian home. But where there are humans, there is brokenness. As in any family, we had our problems too (and still do). Yet despite those problems and that brokenness, God was and has been so good to us. I am so incredibly thankful for the parents and siblings He gave me and the blessing I have in them.

I'm also so incredibly thankful for my husband (as of December 5, 2020) who is such an encouragement and Godly example in my life. As I pondered sharing some of my story as a guest on Susan's blog, he excitedly pushed me toward doing so. I praise God every day for the sweet gift of marriage I have with him. 

I'll start my story from just a few years ago in late 2017. I was pretty lost, and although I was a Christian and loved Jesus, not much in my life was showing my faith or my walk with the Lord. I talked the talk but definitely wasn't walking in a way that was pleasing to the Father. I was entering into a relationship that would prove to be anything but healthy. It was impure, sinful, selfish, and manipulative. I was so blinded at the time that I tried to convince everyone around me that it was okay. But I won't put all the blame on the other participant because I was also making these decisions for myself. By the grace of God, He protected me and pulled me out. 

Around that time, I had heard about a mission trip called the World Race. A few years prior I had a friend who did this mission trip, and so I actually went through the application process and was accepted—only to be told that I couldn't go at that time. I was devastated and didn't understand. I look back now and know that the Lord was keeping me back to do some refining and expectation crushing. 

The World Race (WR) https://www.worldrace.org/ is an 11-month mission trip to 11 different countries through the organization Adventures in Missions based out of the Atlanta, Georgia area. Groups of 25-50 young adults leave their lives in the comfort of North America to go and follow a call from the Lord to minister to and serve people groups in all parts of the world. You see, I only wanted to do the WR back in 2015 because of the traveling. I wanted to check off another 11 countries and add them to my list; my main goal was not to serve or spread the Gospel, it was solely for selfish reasons. 

But then, in November of 2017, as I was entering into that sinful and unhealthy relationship, the Lord truly called me to do the WR. This time, it wasn't for me, it wasn't because of selfish reasons and desires. Although I was in a very unhealthy place in my life, my true desire was to spread the Gospel and serve people of all nations. 

And so, in October of 2018, I left on this journey that would change my life forever. I got the wonderful privilege of serving with 24 other young adults in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, India, Nepal, Armenia, Georgia, Romania, and Spain and God BLEW MY MIND with the things that He did in and around me! Shortly before my departure, I broke off the relationship I had been in and prayed for freedom from the emotional attachment, sinful desires, and bondage that came from it. 

Just before my departure, I felt pretty discouraged about fundraising, as this was a very large part of this trip even being possible. We each had to raise somewhere in the ballpark of $19,000 for the 11 months that would cover all of our expenses. I envied my teammates who were already fully funded and didn't have to think about how to raise the remaining funds while we were on the field. But yet again, God showed up. It's like He gives me these little kisses that so sweetly remind me that He hasn't abandoned me, that I'm not alone. The week before my departure, a large monetary gift was made that left me fully funded and then some!

But not only was I fully funded before my departure, I also got the opportunity to connect and partner with the organization Digital Bible Society in Conroe, Texas. They were so excited about what I was about to do that they generously gave me two audio Bibles and a USB of “treasures” in the main language of each country I would be serving in! I was excited for these “treasures” but to be completely honest, I wasn't sure I'd find people to give them to. I would soon find out how wrong I was.  

We departed from the states and arrived at Medellin, Colombia in the middle of the night on October 9th, 2018. We soon met our hosts, Mama Cristina and Pastor Willy—the most wonderful humans ever. These two people believed in us, like REALLY believed in what we could do. Pastor Willy found out that I spoke Spanish and decided he wanted me to spend my time there translating. I had planned on doing that for my team of six, but he wanted me to translate sermons and prayers and well, just about anything you can think of. My brain hurt. I was mentally exhausted for the first two weeks but God used that to grow and humble me. 

We did children's ministry, evangelism, praying over the sick, evangelism, worship, did I mention evangelism? It was such a blast! And get this, just one week after arriving, my host “mama” told me about an elderly couple who could not read. Immediately, I knew that God was opening a way to bless this couple with one of the New Testament Audio Bibles! I was so excited! They wept as I explained to them that this tiny little, solar powered machine would read the Gospel to them in their native tongue, and that they no longer had to wait for Sunday morning to hear the word of God (For a more detailed story, visit https://megangabrielse.theworldrace.org/post/eyes-to-see-ears-to-hear). My doubts of “finding” people to give these “treasures” to was gone. God would find them for me, I needed only to be still, listen, and follow.

One very memorable month occurred in Ecuador with my team, Fiercely Loved. The six of us, all women, were assigned our ministry for the month in Quito. MANUAL LABOR. Yup, we were going to help build a cinderblock wall around a property that would eventually house young girls who were rescued from the trafficking industry. We worked long days, climbing up and down the mountain (literally) at over 11,000 feet in elevation, often carrying cement bags, shovels, cinderblocks, and our wheelbarrows. It was a hard month; we were exhausted, always hungry, and often irritable, but it was a month of blessing. We met some of the young girls that would find refuge within these walls, and that made it all worthwhile. It gave us the patience to keep going and the strength to keep working day after day. We learned what sacrificial love looked like, and learned that love doesn't just manifest itself in one or two ways, but in a multitude of ways. There were about ten girls who were in the home, and although we didn't get much time with them, we were able to do some fun things with them. I couldn't choose just one to give a Bible to, so I passed on one of the Bibles to the couple who would be overseeing the home. The second Bible I gave to our host whom we lived with. He later told me that he passed the audio Bible on to one of his ministry partners who often works in the jungle areas of Ecuador. This month showed me that we often don't see the fruits of our labor for the Kingdom. Oftentimes we have to pass on the blessing to someone else, and simply trust and pray that the Lord will do what He does, and through His Spirit, bring souls into the Kingdom. 

Bolivia was another month that was hard, exhausting, and sweaty, but oh, so worth it. It was another example of trusting the Lord with the resources He had given me and having faith that He would do what He does, even though my part was done. I was able to personally give two Spanish audio Bibles to our host that he would later give to two deserving families. We were serving with the ministry Samaritans Purse, and lived on The Ruth Bell—a small medical missions boat on a tributary of the Amazon in the Amazon basin. It was steamy, hot, and mosquito-y. We slept in our tiny bunkers with as little clothing as possible while still being somewhat modest (thankfully it was just us!) and would sweat all night long. Occasionally a pesky mosquito would get into the room and there would be no sleeping until he was dead!  (You never knew if they carried malaria, let alone the dozens of bites you'd have in the morning from that one little guy.) We even slept in our tents on the roof of the boat a few times because there was a tiny breeze up there. I remember one time, we woke up in the morning and there were over 70 mosquitoes perched on the mesh of my tent, waiting for me to emerge. But enough about the mosquitoes, let's talk about the ministry! 

We walked the backroads by the river, invited children to the “VBS” activities we would put on, we did skits, sang songs, acted silly, and loved on a ton of people. We cleaned the boat to prepare it for its next medical mission and even descended into the bat infested hull to clear out the mud and debris that lay there. Some days it felt as if we were doing nothing for the Kingdom. It only felt sweaty and uncomfortable. But then, a month later, after we were gone, I got a message from our host. The Ruth Bell had gone on another medical mission, all spiffy clean, and the audio Bibles we brought were delivered to two families in the middle-of-nowhere, Bolivia. One of the women who received the first Bible could not read and was blind in her right eye. I was told that she believed that because she couldn't read, she could not be a Christian. Our host who delivered the Bible to her was able to share the Gospel with her, and also give her the good news that Jesus is for EVERYONE, no matter the circumstance!! Knowing that the good news of Jesus was in the hands of more hungry souls was well worth all the sweaty nights, dirty days, and mosquito bites. 

It was an extra special month because I walked into freedom from my past and the aforementioned relationship I had been in. I heard the Lord's audible voice while sitting with Him at sunrise on the roof of the boat, I cherished moments with my team, I turned 26, we watched pink dolphins break the surface of the water of the Amazon at sunrise, and we jumped off the roof of the boat into the dirty Amazon water. But best of all, we shared the love of Jesus to more broken people.

These families weren't the only ones I saw impacted by these little Bibles. Throughout the 11 months, I was able to share these Bibles with people from all different cultures and languages. Another time that greatly impacted me was while trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal. My team got the incredible opportunity to take a short three-day trekking trip to a remote village in the mountains. The endless sky and vast mountain range screamed the glory of the Father and I just knew that someone in these mountains would be blessed by another one of these Bibles. We arrived at a tiny mountain town with our host and went to visit a couple who had recently converted from Buddhism to Christianity. They were experiencing great persecution from family and friends for their conversion and were greatly troubled. Unfortunately, the wife was unable to read but would listen to her husband as he read the Scripture before bed each night. Although he was able to read, he was slowly losing his sight, and in the darkness of their little hut, it was an even greater difficulty to read the Bible. We were able to give them one of the audio Bibles and explain to them what this little treasure would do for them. I was updated a few days later, after returning from the trek, that the first night this couple had their new Bible, they laid in bed, clung to each other and listened to the word of God. What a powerful picture of God's goodness this was to me. He truly takes care of each of His children and cares deeply about each of us. 

Other countries, such as Armenia and Georgia, were more difficult to find direct recipients for the little treasures due to the specific ministries we were a part of. Thankfully, we had ministry hosts who were able to use these resources for their ministry or to give out to another ministry partner to bless someone they knew. It's an understatement to say that these Bibles were a gift to those who received them. Even the ministry partners who were going to give them out for us were blown away by the sweet gift this was. And although I may never know who received the Bibles I had the privilege of passing out, I know they are in the Father's care. He knows who has them and He loves each person deeply. 

I thought this mission trip would be an opportunity for me to help others around the world; and although that's true and that did happen, God used those 11 months to bless and change me, as well. It has been almost two years since arriving back in the States, and my life will be forever changed. The memory of these moments and so many more are forever engraved in my mind and on my heart. I'm blown away every day by the Lord's goodness and faithfulness over my life, and I pray that over each of you as well. If you would like to read more about my journey on the World Race, I have over 100 blog posts from that year going into detail on specific memories, God-moments, and testimonies of His faithfulness at http://megangabrielse.theworldrace.org/.  

Be sure to read Living Letters blog on June 20 to learn more about the Digital Bible Society.