In the fall of 2010, Hillsdale junior Brianna Walden helped smuggle Bibles into Laos, an Asian country where distributing Christian materials is illegal.
“It really is like Brother Andrew in ‘God’s Smuggler,’ Walden said of the trip. “I felt like part of an action film.”
Her team of 10 had come with Vision Beyond Borders, a Christian relief ministry, to make the organization’s first “cold drops” into the country. In a cold drop, team members bring bundled T-shirts concealing Bibles, pray for friendly people, and “drop” the materials with them.
Because Laos does not allow Christian materials into the country, she said it was harrowing going through security at the airport. If officials had caught them?
“It would have been confiscated,” she said. “We would have been deported, and probably fined.”
After a series of adventures that included narrow escapes from local authorities, encounters with rural villages where the people spoke no English, an elephant ride, and a mountain climb, Walden knew she would be going back on another trip.
“It was incredibly faith-building,” she said. “In another country where you don’t know the language and you can’t do it on your own strength, you have to call out to God.”
When she came to Hillsdale, Walden said she knew she wanted to organize another team to return and bring more Bibles to Asia. She is currently organizing a team of a half a dozen tentative members for a trip from May 19 to 26, one week after graduation.
“It gives everyone a week to recuperate after finals and spend some time in prayer getting our hearts in the right place before heading off to China,” she said.
Sophomore Rachel Zolinski is planning to attend because of her desire to see the Bible spread to every part of the world.
“The Bible says the word will be preached to all nations and then the end will come,” she said.
On Saturday, she mailed about 25 letters requesting financial support. Since VBB requires that attendees raise their own funds, she still has to hear back from those recipients before she knows whether she is going.
“This is the exciting part,” Zolinski said. “It’s either, I’m going or I’m not.”
Zolinski has participated in several previous mission trips, including a recent one to India during spring break of 2012.
In India, she helped distribute medical supplies at a leper colony, played with children at an orphanage, prayed with prostitutes in a red light district, and helped encourage pastors at a conference.
This trip, she said, will be different. VBB does not provide an itinerary.
“It’s literally, you are relying on the Holy Spirit’s voice to tell you ‘Go up to this person, drop the Bibles here.’ It’s going to be a lot harder to know what I’m supposed to do,” she said.
The group going in May will be making treks over the border from Hong Kong into China with their supplies. Depending on how many people attend, they might distribute about 10,000 Bibles.
VBB group leader Mark Drye said college students make great smugglers.
“A lot of what we do is physically stressful,” Drye said. “Typically, the younger crowd comes out better.”
Drye started leading groups with VBB about three years ago, and typically had middle-aged people attend. He started reaching out to college students, and now his group members are mostly in their twenties.
The biggest obstacle for young people is fundraising, but Drye said it is worth the effort. It is an “incredible opportunity,” he said. He added a word of caution, saying Bible-smuggling adventure is more than just a fun trip.
“Definitely pray about it,” he said. “There is a certain amount of risk involved.”
For more information on attending the VBB trip this May to south central Asia, contact Brianna Walden at bwalden@hillsdale.edu.
