Dear Friends, Many of you know that last week, I was buried in cinnamon rolls. Well, almost. I baked more than seventy dozen of them as a fundraiser for my daughters’ mission trips to Panama and Peru this summer. As college students, they have little extra time to fundraise, so my husband and I are doing what we can to help. You could say that missions runs in our family. That’s why I want to make sure to send you to “No More Chicken,” my article in this month’s issue of Book Fun Magazine (the link will open to the magazine cover; then just click on my photo or the article title to read. But there’s lots of other great stuff there, too!). If you’ve served with me a on a mission trip, you’ll see some photos and read some stories from places you recognize. I hope you enjoy this behind-the-scenes glimpse. And even if you haven’t served with me, you’ll have the opportunity to see how God transformed me from a stay-home chicken to a go-anywhere-He-sends missionary. Have you serve in short- or long-term missions? I’d love to have your comments or prayer requests here or on other social media.   For His glory,  ...

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve posted excerpts from my unpublished article, “Here Am I. Send Me? Courage in Costa Rica.” If you missed any of the other excerpts, you can find them by clicking these links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. You’ll want to make sure to read those before you read the final section, posted below along with a sidebar that offers some fundraising tips. Send Me? The courage all these student missionaries displayed came from the same source as the prophet Isaiah’s: a living, loving relationship with a God who wants to draw people of all nations to Himself. Is your courage stuck on Empty? Do you make excuses instead of stepping up and stepping out? Check with your heavenly Father. He has grace for all, on the mission field and at home. No matter the situation, He’ll provide the courage you need to say along with Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!” [Sidebar: Courage to Fundraise] Do you suffer from EWS, Empty Wallet Syndrome? Not to fear. The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills can provide moo-lah for missions. Check out these fun ideas from some of our Costa Rica missionaries: KaytLyn: “My mom and I had a dessert business. We sold chocolate strawberries, chocolate pretzels, cake pops and caramel corn. For two years, all the money we raised went toward my trip!” Stephanie: “I had people sponsor beaded bracelets I made to give to children in Costa Rica. I asked for $5 apiece, but some people gave much more. Felicia: “My sister and I had buckets at the front of our church, each with a picture of someone’s face attached. The person whose bucket ended up with the most money got a pie in the face!” Felicia (part 2): “We also forked people’s yards [placing hundreds of plastic forks tine-down]. People had to pay $15 for us to remove them or $20 to fork someone else’s yard.” Have you served God in international missions, or would you like to? Is God giving you the courage to connect? I’d love to receive your questions and comments below, on social media, or through the email link at the top of this page. If you have other fundraising ideas, feel free to add those as well. My husband and I hope to join Never the Same in Ecuador June 29-July 12, 2015. Teen guys and girls as well as adults are welcome and needed to make a difference. Will you be the next one to say, “Here am I. Send me”?...

So far, I’ve shared two installments of my missions story from last year’s Never the Same Missions trip to Costa Rica and four stories of courageous people. You should know that I always have more stories than will fit in the word count limit the magazine gives me, so if you want a few more stories, check back to last summer’s blog (try here and here for examples). But I love the stories reserved for Part 3, and I hope you will, too!   Courage to Speak: Sammie Unlike John, “I’m a worship leader,” Sammie says. “Not a speaker.” That’s what she tried to tell God one morning as her team prepared for ministry. Her head team leader, Rob Kirkpatrick, needed someone to share the gospel after the second drama of the day. “Who’s gonna do it?” he asked. No one volunteered. “It felt like God was pressing his hands on my shoulders,” Sammie confesses. “I knew He was saying, ‘You do it.’” So she did. So well, in fact, that the crowd in the noisy street market had no idea she was anything but an experienced speaker. So well that God used her to help others receive His message of salvation. So well that she kept sharing with anyone who would listen. Watch out. When you follow God in obedience, He’ll give you courage to speak, too.   Courage to Connect: Yemi                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Yemi, another Faith in the Wait entrant, was the contest runner-up. But when it comes to courage, she’s a big winner. She shared her story before one of the group’s supercharged evening worship services, called FUAGNEM (Fired up and Going Nuts Every Minute). Yemi’s unusual background—adopted from Ethiopia at age 10—helped prepare her for the missions trip in ways she never expected. On their first day of ministry, her team spent time at a home for abused girls ages 12-18. Leah, one of the head team leaders, asked Yemi to share her testimony. “I forgot she was adopted,” Leah says. But God didn’t. As Yemi spoke, she didn’t know...

The other day, I posted Part I of an article that, because of the cessation of Sisterhood Magazine, never hit print. Since I still want others to read the great things God did through the Never the Same missions team in Costa Rica, I’m posting the story in installments on my blog. Enjoy the stories of two more courageous missionaries in Part II of “Here I Am: Send Me? Courage in Costa Rica.”   Courage to Care: Kohlie Kohlie also traveled to Costa Rica, but on a free ride. Her winning entry in Sisterhood’s Faith in the Wait contest covered the cost. Not only was this her first missions trip, but the journey from home to Florida was also her first flight. “My mom and dad were nervous,” she confessed during training. “But I want to be the hands and feet of Jesus, I’m excited to learn about the culture—and I want to be brave in my faith and stepping out.” As the trip progressed, God brought opportunities to do just that. “Lord, use me today,” Kohlie prayed one morning. Never the Same teams use a pantomime drama, “Spellbound” to share the gospel. Her team performed that day on a dirt road in one of San Jose’s poorest areas. Afterwards, “I turned around and saw a little girl who looked dead,” Kohlie explains. “Her friend was carrying her like a rag doll. I didn’t know what to do.” But Kohlie remembered her prayer. “I went over to check on her, then ran to get Chris,” she says. The medical clinic, a new ministry on this year’s trip, was operating alongside Kohlie’s team that day. Two doctors, several nurses, other medical professionals and students took turns meeting basic health care needs. When Kohlie called, Chris, a pediatric nurse practitioner, went into instant action. “The little girl really did look dead,” Chris explains. “But when I checked her, I realized she had passed out from dehydration and lack of food. We gave her some water, and soon, she was running around again.” Since the team also operated a feeding station alongside the clinic, this little girl and many of her neighbors received a full lunch. “It broke my heart,” says Kohlie. “I realized how selfish I can be when I don’t get what I want at a restaurant, and here’s a little girl who doesn’t have enough to eat and drink.” For this first-time missionary, Faith in the Wait meant courage to care.     Courage to Share: John John’s Costa Rica courage also began with a morning prayer. “I asked for the language barrier not to be an issue,” he says. A short time later, his team arrived at its...

Dear Friends, I don’t keep my love for missions a secret. Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of serving the Lord in six different countries (two of them twice) on mission trips. For the past five years, I’ve traveled with Never the Same Missions and first SUSIE¸ then Sisterhood Magazine as the writer for their annual missions trip. In 1996, author and speaker Susie Shellenberger, then of Focus on the Family and Brio Magazine, first partnered with Steve Goley of Big World Ventures on an international mission trip. The goal, as Susie says, was to produce a trip that gave teens the combined experience of “missions, youth camp, and an old-fashioned revival.” Over the years, Never the Same has refined the trip, taken thousands of students and adult chaperones overseas, and seen tens of thousands come to know Christ as a result. This past year, my husband and I served with NTS in Costa Rica, our first mission trip together. My article about the trip was scheduled as the cover story for Sisterhood’s January issue. But near the end of 2014, the publishing house that produced the magazine closed temporarily and shut down Sisterhood permanently. That’s a loss not only for me but for the thousands of teen girls who need and want a positive, Christ-centered print magazine. Rather than waste my article, I’ve received permission to share it. You’ll find it in four parts, posted in this blog both this week and next. If you have any interest in missions, I hope you’ll read, share, and visit the links above for more information. Here I am, Send Me? Courage in Costa Rica by Marti Pieper Think you’ve got excuses to avoid the mission field? Check out these beauties: I’m not qualified. I’ve got a lot going on. I’m needed at home. I’m in mourning. I’m unworthy. Meet a man who could have used all these excuses and more. In fact, if we matched him up to a checklist of qualifications, our missionary candidate would score a perfect zero. Except in one area. When God called Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, he responded not with excuses but faith-filled courage: “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa. 6:8). And so did the nearly 200 Never the Same summer missionaries to Costa Rica. When I spent two weeks with them this past July, I saw courage in action—over and over again. Courage to Ask: Jordyn Join me on a journey (co-sponsored by Big World Ventures and Susie Shellenberger Ministries) that began long before our training time in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. For a soccer-playing girl named Jordyn, it started last summer on the Never the Same trip to Peru. There,...

It’s no secret: we’ve raised a family of missionaries. Over the years, all five of our children—plus Tom and me—have taken multiple mission trips. In 2014 alone, five of us have served in East Asia (Karissa, five months); Slovenia (Andrew, one week); New York City (Tom, five days); Nicaragua (Melanie, five weeks); Panama (Karissa, five weeks); and Costa Rica (Tom and Marti, ten days). Because Tom and I just returned from Costa Rica on July 20 and our girls also returned from Central America on July 25, there’s a whole lot of readjusting going on at the Pieper home. I present this list as both a humorous and serious look at the aftermath of short-term missions service. And no, I won’t identify who is exhibiting which sign. You know you’ve just returned from a short-term mission trip when. . . 10. The house fills with the smell of unwashed (or less-than-well-washed) socks and sweaty T-shirts. 9. That salad/milkshake/hamburger/Starbucks/Chipotle/Chick-fil-A/other Western food you missed most tastes really good. 8. You begin every other sentence with, “One time in (insert name of international city or village).” 7. You go to your neighborhood grocery store and all you can think about are the children you met who lived on rice and beans—if their parents could afford them.                                                                                                                                                                                                             6.  You open one of your 27 Bibles and remember the people who were so eager to receive their first one. 5. You can’t forget the looks on the faces of those who received Christ. Or the tears on yours for those who didn’t. 4. You missed your family while you were gone, but now that you’re home, you miss your fellow missionaries more. 3. You realize that the same God who works in power overseas cares just as much for the people at home. 2. You can’t listen to comments about how wonderful you are for going to the mission field because you’ve met the real heroes who serve there every day. 1. You’re not sure you should unpack your suitcase. After all, you know God will call you to go again soon....