(Photo courtesy of Operation Mobilization)

Europe (OM) — “Be willing to die to yourself,” says Mpumi Maweni, Operation Mobilization leader of the Transit Challenge (TC) program, “and be willing to live in a small van. Then you are ready to go.”

The eleventh Transit Team recently headed to Ireland to start a five-month journey of spreading the Gospel in Europe, a trip that includes cultural exposure, team work and adventure on the road. Their first stops are Ireland, Montenegro, and Austria.

“The cool thing is,” Mpumi explains, “you see God doing something within the teams and through the teams.” The participants grow because they have to depend on one another.

“God told me to jump off the cliff,” a girl, who had joined TC, said. “And I had to learn that He catches me.”

Jenny Wei, Addie Moore, TaeHee Son and JongKoo* recently left the OM Lifehope base in Halesowen, UK, to start their journey of embracing 1 Corinthians: Learning to suffer with one another and growing together as a family in Christ, Mpumi explains.

“I expect to be taken out of my comfort zone, but also to grow so much, seeing God burn away the ugly parts in me,” says Addie.

“I expect God to work in my relationship with Him and with my teammates,” Jenny and TaeHee add.

Sent onto the road after two weeks of training at the OM Lifehope base, the team supports other OM teams, like-minded ministries or field workers as they travel throughout Europe.

“They have to do a lot of things by faith,” Mpumi says, “but they also will get encouragement from us, and we pause them on the road for training and rest.”

Conflicts of all kinds that come up in the team will be dealt with, and as JongKoo voices, “It might also be difficult to work together as a team at times.”

Each participant has a story, and each story carries the footprint of God.

“When my grandmother died, I started to look for mission opportunities,” shares Jenny, from Taiwan. Moving forward, she ran against many closed doors. Visas for Taiwanese people turn out to be hard to get. Not giving up, she turned another direction that lead to OM.

The individual stories of the participants share a common theme: God is sovereign.

Yet in His sovereignty, He is personal, confirms TaeHee: “When I was in the US for language training, I heard that I couldn’t do the [OM short-term] program. I was severely discouraged, but the manager prayed for me this one sentence that really touched me: ‘Being a missionary is not so much about planning,’ he said, ‘but being challenged every day to live the best way possible in Christ.’”

In TC, small teams of people from different nations work together and are transformed together. Change is viewed as something good, and God doesn’t fail to teach the team members in humorous ways.

When Jenny arrived in the UK, her luggage didn’t arrive with her. She shared that that is not amusing for a 20-year-old girl, and her first reaction was tears. “But then,” she continues with excitement, “God gave me peace. He even took my homesickness away and told me to be brave.”

She smiles as she concludes the story: “My luggage was really heavy, and now I didn’t even have to carry it because eventually they delivered it to me.”

Packing their travel bags into the van the night before they leave, the team gathered together for their last meeting before venturing into the unknown. The unknown might seem scary, but really, they know it brings blessings: God can become their security. So, they head out and leave their securities behind.

Please pray for the Transit Challenge team over the next five months as they travel around Europe supporting OM ministries and bringing the Gospel to those they meet.

*Full name not included for security reasons

John Lowrey with Christian Resources International says the school was attacked with precisely that intention.

"Muslims came in and specifically targeted the library at the seminary and burnt them out," explains Lowrey. "Their plan was that without those books, they knew that they could not hang onto their accreditation, and that the government would come in and shut down the school."

Congo is by no means a Muslim nation, but stripping accreditation of a seminary is certainly still a blow to the Christian community. If the school loses its accreditation, it will be a long, arduous, legal process to get it back. Their certification is further in jeopardy every day that the library goes un-replenished .

The only way to get the seminary away from this ever nearing edge is to restock its library as soon as possible. That's where CRI comes in.

"We're going to do a cross country road trip. So from Michigan, we will be heading out across the northern states all the way out to Washington and back, collecting books, and Bibles, and bucks as we go," reports Lowrey. "The end result of that road trip will be to try to reestablish the library in the Congo at the seminary."

CRI will make numerous "pit stops" throughout the month of June with their large bus. They'll stop at churches and various ministries to collect as many commentaries, Bibles, Bible handbooks, concordances and other resources as possible.

Of course, that's only stage one. The bulk of the dangers of this endeavor await CRI in Africa. Congo is a notoriously difficult country in which to bring Christian resources, and risk is especially high with the same group of extremists on the loose who burned the library in the first place. CRI will have to go in a "back door" entrance to get resources into the country, crossing at least two international borders and praying that nothing will be attacked.

As a result of such maneuvering, shipping costs will also shoot up. Shipping will cost more initially, Lowrey notes, but in the end it will be cheaper than if CRI tried to barge right into the country and got stopped by government officials or extremists.

The needs here are extreme. If the library does not get restocked, the school will lose its accreditation or even be shut down completely. Any assistance anyone can provide is most welcome.

Send CRI any extra materials you have that may benefit pastors, or call 1-888-CRI-WORD to see if they will be near you during the road trip. Be sure to pack in a few extra dollars to support shipping costs, and if you mail it, designate it for Congo. Materials unsuited for a seminary will still be accepted and distributed elsewhere. Most seminary students speak wonderful English, but any French materials are most welcome as well.

"The Christian population there is very small, so the work is tremendous," John Lowrey of Christian Resources International says about the country. "There is just so much to be done–so much evangelism to be done, so much pastor training to be done."

Pastor Reuben Rai does his own ministry in Kathmandu, Nepal while also working full time. Because of his limited resources, Rai began to search the web. When he stumbled upon CRI, he immediately contacted them. CRI was amazed by all Rai had been doing on his own.

"[Rai] takes his materials all over Nepal," says Lowrey. "Some of the stuff he literally packs up on mule-back and goes up into the mountains to some very remote villages and sets up training programs for pastors and does things to help churches and does evangelism and youth ministry. So he's doing a great work for the Lord with practically no resources or financial help."

In an effort to help, CRI has decided to put their next Road Trip project toward Rai's ministry. The three-stop Road Trip will be in Bellevue, Michigan, Marshall, Michigan and Goshen, Indiana on February 17, 18, and 19 respectively.

The Road Trip works like this: CRI travels to three "pit stops." While they are there, people in the area bring their used Christian books and Bibles, each with one dollar and a personal note inside, to the CRI trailer. Once CRI finishes the Road Trip, they send all of the collected resources to Kathmandu, Nepal, along with some tracts in the native languages. Then materials are distributed through Rai and those helping him, believers are encouraged, non-believers hear the Gospel, and many are saved.

Of course this is an abbreviated version of the process, but that is more or less how it works. For this particular Road Trip, CRI would love to have any last-minute hosts to add one more pit-stop in February to provide maximum resources for the people of Kathmandu.

If you do not live near one of these pit-stops but would still like to participate, just send your Christian books, Bibles, bucks and notes to CRI directly. Click here or call 888-CRI-WORD to donate or send books.

If you would like to host a pit-stop now or in the future, e-mail John Lowrey directly at john@cribooks.org.

The result of CRI’s first “Road Trip” ministry was
1,024 pounds of favorite books and $1,024 to cover shipping costs. Believers
were challenged to give away their favorite Christian resource, $1 for
shipping, and a personal note to the book’s recipient. These gifts were
intended for believers in flood-ravaged Philippines; missionaries and pastors
will use the resources to encourage and educate their flocks.

“This is very helpful for the pastors and Bible
students!” said one Filipino woman who received books from CRI. “We
are very thankful to God that He gave another chance for us to do our mission
to others, open their eyes and read and learn about our wonderful God.”

With natural disasters constantly assaulting the country’s
economy, many people in the Philippines live below the poverty line. Despite
this fact, many people speak English, and the country has a 93% literacy rate.

Within the last 2 weeks, a CRI trailer stopped at eleven locations throughout
Michigan and Ohio to collect donations, traveling a total of 769 miles. Donated literature included books about
Christian growth, church life, devotionals, inspirational, discipleship, and
Scriptures. CRI staff plan to travel with the “Road Trip” trailer
several times throughout the year to collect favorite books, making it more convenient for people to
help equip Christians around the world.

You can pray for the safe arrival of these materials in the
Philippines, and pray that books will impact believers who receive them.

Learn more about CRI’s Road Trip program by clicking
here.

Christian Resources International is hitting the road with a trailer this week in search of Christian books and Bibles to send to the Philippines.

"The need is great; the flooding is just incredible over there. Many of the libraries have been lost, churches have been flooded, and it's a mess," says CRI's Fred Palmerton. While many organizations are helping to provide for immediate physical needs, CRI recognizes that if pastors are to lead the way through this disaster, they need to have the resources to do it.

"We're sending a container [of books] this week to the Philippines. We hope to put a second one out within the next few weeks," says Palmerton. "Of course, when we send 30,000 books over to the Philippines, it depletes our stock. So we need more books, and we hope that this [road trip] generates those books."

The road trip will travel through Michigan and Ohio, stopping at different locations along the way to collect used Christian books and Bibles. "We don't have enough books. So we thought, 'Well, maybe if we take our trailer and hit the road, we can get our cause in front of some new people and give them an opportunity to help facilitate the needs across the world," explains Palmerton.

CRI is looking for any Christian books that have impacted you, including Bibles, discipleship books, Christian living books and devotionals. To host a stop or to get a list of pit stop locations, click here. If you are not near any of these or you cannot make it this week, please send your used Christian books and Bibles to CRI directly. Click here for contact information.