Upendo Ministries

We arrived home two weeks ago today. Since I have been sick, it has given me much time of reflection on our trip. If you know me, you know that I love people, and let me tell you, Pakistani people are some of the most hospitable people I have ever met. The times they went out of their way to make sure we felt comfortable and had beyond what we needed. Some examples include Bro. Shahzad’s family traveling early every morning to get me goat milk to drink through the day, a man and his wife, whom we had never met, heard I was sick and made me chicken broth, Bro. Haroon heard that I was out of goat milk on our last day and went and found a goat and milked it and brought me a big tin full. Those are just a few of the many stories.

When I returned home, Pakistan has stayed with me. I wear my dupatta often, I have dried flowers from the trip, and I have many, many photos that are now displayed in my room. An hour doesn’t go by without me thinking about my brothers and sisters in Asia. Yesterday I just completed a book about Asia Bibi. She lived in Pakistan and was accused of blasphemy against Islam, all because she drank water out of the same cup as Muslim women. (She was released after close to ten years and fled the country and is not allowed to return.) In Pakistan, as a Christian, you don’t have to do anything wrong, you don’t even have to speak. If someone doesn’t like you, all they have to do is say that you have said something negative against Prophet Muhammad or the Quran and find two people to say that they were witnesses, and you can be sentenced to death. That is what is means to be a Christian in Pakistan: risking your life, your family, everything, all for the cause of Christ. May we never forget these beautiful people in our prayers, as they deal with some kind of persecution daily. I am so grateful that God opened the way for me to go to Pakistan. I pray that people will be eternally and not just temporally impacted. They are in my constant prayers.

Many thanks to the people in the United States, Germany, Nigeria, Malawi, Qatar, Kenya, Pakistan and others, for the heartfelt prayers they have prayed for my health. The texts and cards mean so much to me. The love that has been shown to me through this time has been a great comfort to me and helps me to keep going. I know that God is in control and everything is in the hands of the Almighty. May God bless you all.

Below is a video I made of the trip to Pakistan. I have shared it with the Pakistani team, and it brought back many good memories! Until the next international mission, may we daily work in the mission field right around us.

-Vanessa Smith (aka Beti Venizah according to Bro. Shahzad!!)