“This is going to be impossible,” I whispered into my husband’s ear, anxiously squeezing his hand and unsuccessfully trying to hold back my tears. “It will take us a lifetime to raise that amount of money!” The sound of the treasurer’s door closing behind us felt like a brutal wake-up call to face the insurmountable mountain standing in our way: fundraising. It was just the beginning of our journey with AFM, and we already felt overwhelmed by the huge responsibility of gathering a team of supporters.

“You’ll get there. Everybody does.” “It’s all God’s work!” “It will turn out to be one of the most incredible experiences of your life.” “Trust God’s timing. All the funds will come when you need them.” All these pieces of well-intended encouragement couldn’t keep my heart from sinking with anxiety. Yes, but we don’t speak English like natives. Yes, but we are introverts. Yes, but we hate asking people for money!

Despite our doubts and uncertainty, not even a week passed before God sent us a sign of His providence in the form of a thousand-dollar check from a sweet grandma who had decided she should donate the money to mission instead of buying a new carpet. I felt so humbled by her generosity. And suddenly, for the first time, I felt hopeful. You know, it’s just the first week and we haven’t even started fundraising yet. Maybe this is going to work after all!

The month of December found me less hopeful and our funds still nowhere near the 10 percent we had hoped to reach by that time. A few days after Christmas, I found my husband in the living room grinning at his phone. “You want to see this,” he said.

Curious, I took a look, but at first I was unable to comprehend what I was seeing. “What’s this?” I asked in disbelief.

“We are over 10 percent on our monthly pledges!” he answered, hardly containing his joy.

Little did he know that I had prayed for this to happen before the New Year, though I considered it an impossible challenge to give to God. But God had answered with time to spare, and this was the biggest monthly pledge we had yet received. That was the moment when I really started to understand what “God’s work” meant. It is actually God’s work, not ours. From that day on, during the next two years, our fundraising journey took us to places we never expected and taught us unforgettable lessons.

We had the joy and honor to meet people of God everywhere. Families praying to find missionaries to support. Churches eager to adopt our project. Couples battling cancer and still supporting our mission. People in retirement homes, and young people like us sacrificing their resources and time. People praying for us every day. Pastors and church members who opened their homes for us multiple times. Strangers who became close friends and shared holidays, weddings and anniversaries with us. In the meantime, we developed the habit of watching the fundraising graphs on the website and enjoying every little change as the bars got greener bit by bit. I tried numerous times, without success, to imagine those bars showing our funds complete. Would that day ever come?

When we finally started AFM training this summer, our launching goal was still far from being reached, and my faith was still far from being strong. One morning during worship I had a revelation. I was limiting God’s power by not praying big. I was used to praying for reasonable things, as if God would be offended if I asked too much. With doubts in my heart, I started to pray that God would help us reach our launching goal by the end of the summer. We had $55,000 left to raise.

I smile when I imagine God’s reaction to my prayer: “Oh, is that all? I can do better! Just watch.” The next week, as we were all enjoying a gathering with our training group, Cristian received a phone call. He returned with a strange look on his face. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard him say, “We just got a $50,000 donation!” Everyone kept asking if they had heard him right, and he patiently repeated the number of zeros. I just stood there speechless. God was so amazing again! Not only was our goal reached before the end of the summer, but mid-training! Not only were we completely funded, but actually the project had a surplus as donations kept coming in throughout the summer. I couldn’t help but think of Luke 6:38, which says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.”

A few days later, as I was again looking at the green bars on the website—this time full and marked “Complete, thank you,” my heart was also full. Everyone was right after all. This has been an amazing experience, we are indeed done, and God’s timing is always best. But more than anything, I now know that we serve the God of the impossible. If He could move this mountain for us, He can move any other mountain we will ever face. What a wonderful assurance before we go to the field! Thank you, God, for expecting us to pray unreasonably big.

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