a civil war, an Ebola crisis, and malaria while having a life expectancy of 40 years and losing one in every five children before the age of 5, and yet, they still get up in the morning with positive spirits praising God for their blessings.

• Tolerant: Christians, Sunnis, and Shiites live peacefully and cooperate with one another. Much of the rest of the world could learn from the relationship they’ve built.

• Poor: Christians are mostly subsistence farmers living in one of the poorest nations in the world, with 158 doctors serving 4 million people fighting a variety of diseases. Many go hungry, especially in the dry season of January through April.

• Industrious: They get up before dawn to cook for the day, then work in the fields, doingwar and Ebola crisis began within the country, she returned to serve her people after receiving an education in the U.S. While briefly interning at Simpson United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, she felt called to “push back the darkness” and gave up everything to live in her village on $2,000 a month, which she is using to feed 500 children daily, build a school, create housing for work teams, and start a church.

During my most recent visit, I had the privilege of speaking at the dedication and chartering of that church, Baiwala United Methodist, where 40 people declared their commitment to membership and 12 were baptized.

Missions are primarily about people—seeing old friends and making new ones. It’s people like Judith who make it all worthwhile and who remind