East Asia: The Unreached

We made our trip to East Asia, and I haven't had time to process much.  A friend's question today prompted me to start putting some of my thoughts together, so I'll probably be posting snippets as thoughts come to me.

On our first trip out to one of the villages, we met this 84-year-old man on the left:

He was so excited to meet us, bring us into his home...

...and walk us up a mountain where we had a birds-eye view of his village.

We stopped walking hiking climbing and our team prayed over the village.  One of the things to hit me the hardest was the fact that there is an entire people group that hasn't even heard of Jesus and his saving grace.  NEVER HEARD.  Not like here in the States where everyone has at least heard the name Jesus or knows of a Christian and simply chooses not to believe.  Everyone living in the small houses dotting the valley were completely lost and didn't even know it.  And then it hit me how much God loves these people.

"For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"

~ Romans 10:13-14 ~

And so the reality of the term "unreached" burrowed into my heart and set my perspective for the rest of our time in East Asia.