Join Cherri Campbell as she recounts her incredible 12-year journey spreading the word of God across 19 countries. From the bustling cities of India to the remote villages of the South Pacific, experience the challenges and triumphs witnessed on the mission field. Discover how Cherri navigated diverse cultures and faced potential dangers, all while witnessing God’s protection and provision in each step of her journey.
00:00:00 Introduction and Missionary Journey Overview
Good morning. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherri Campbell. This morning I want to begin sharing with you some of the testimonies of the adventures that I had on the mission field for 12 years. I traveled to 19 different countries going city to city and country to country, teaching in Bible schools, pastor’s conferences, church conferences, women’s conferences, youth conferences, and in church services, etc. I’ve been in the South Pacific and Mid-Pacific Islands. I’ve been in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Nepal, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and I’ve gone places by jumbo jets and by small airplanes. I’ve gone by ship and by ferry and by small boat. I’ve gone by train, a 13-hour train ride across India. By jeepney and by auto rickshaw. By pickup truck and by motorcycle and tricycle. Tricycle, both pedaled tricycles and motor tricycles. And even walking by foot. And I want to mention that when I say by pickup, you know, it’s not probably what you think. When I say by pickup, yes, once in a while I would sit in the cab of the truck. But what you probably don’t know is that in other countries, many times and in many places, a pickup truck is public transportation. So when I say pickup truck, it’s riding in the back of the pickup truck, not in the cab. And riding in the back of the truck as a public transportation ride, like a bus, and it’s crowded with people. And in the open air, in the sun, in the rain, sometimes for an hour ride, many times for for an hour ride, standing beside the road to even catch a ride, watching one pickup truck pass and it’s already full. And you wait another hour to find another pickup truck pass and it’s full. You wait again another half hour and then another pickup truck comes by and there’s room in the back and you climb in the back and ride for an hour in the sun or rain, either one, to the city. And so that’s what I mean by pickup truck. It’s riding in the back of the truck in the open with other people you don’t know. It is public transportation. And so I’ve gone in all these different ways. And the Lord was so very faithful as I went by faith, traveling alone as a single woman. And I say, even though I traveled alone in the natural, I traveled with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and a host of angels. And their help was constant and great. And I want to share with you some testimonies about God’s supernatural protection while traveling. I want to share with you several stories. In 2005, I was in the Philippines. And again, I was in the southern part of the Philippines, Mindanao. Mindanao has a large Muslim population, and there is also terrorism in that area. And I was invited to preach in Iligan, and I Also, another city that is called an Islamic city. As a matter of fact, their sign at the entrance of their city calls it the Islamic city. And I was invited to preach there by a pastor and actually a group of leaders. And I’ll talk about that a little bit more in just a minute. But these cities were a seven and eight hour drive from the city where I was. And so I went with the pastor and the family and the church leaders. to that city. Now that drive itself was also a supernatural trip with the protection of God. Shortly after we left, the brake pads on the vehicle completely wore away and we could hear the sound of metal grinding on metal every time the driver applied the brakes. Thankfully, the driver was also a pastor and knew how to use faith instead of working in fear because fear will also bring harm to you. But he knew how to use his faith and we were using our faith and we were going through the mountains. So we were going uphill, downhill and around mountain curves. The pastor drove extremely slow and. as we were going up and down the mountain curves. And when we went downhill, he shifted into the lowest gear and sometimes had to use the emergency parking brake. He also would use the brakes a little bit, even though they were grinding. So this made our seven-hour trip turn into a nine-hour trip. And we were all very grateful to God when we arrived safely without any problems as the Lord protected us. Hallelujah. Now, in that, I want to take a side trip and mention another similar story. In 2011, I was up in the northeastern Himalayan region again of India. in Sikkim. And I was going from Gangtok to Yangon. And to get to Yangon, it was in the central part of the province, in the mountains, Himalayan mountains. And of course, in the Himalayan mountains, everywhere is up or down. And it was in another remote village. We drove three hours to get there. where I was to preach for three days. Now, the road to Yangon was even the worst yet. It was a dirt road much of the way, but it had been raining a lot. So the road was muddy and had deep ruts. And the pastor’s small car nearly got stuck more than once. As the wheels spun in the mud and the curvy mountain road was narrow and there were no guardrails to keep cars from going over the edge. So as our wheels spun, I prayed for the Lord and the pastor prayed for the Lord to keep our car on the road because I knew that even a spin or a jerk of the car in the mud could throw us over the edge of the cliff. But praise God for his constant protection and his angels that guarded us. We made it safely to Yangon and had a powerful three-day meeting and returned to Gangtok again. But back in the Philippines in 2005, I want to finish this story. First of all, again, sharing about the grace of God helped me so many times that when we arrived in Iligan that night, we went directly to the pastor’s house who was hosting us. And they didn’t have any beds for us. So we all slept on a hard tile floor, a hard tile floor. And when I saw it, I thought, oh, Lord, how can I sleep on a tile floor? I was able to find a sponge mattress that was only one inch thick. And when I folded it in fourths, it was four inches thick and it was just wide enough for my body and long enough to reach from my shoulders to my hips to give me a little padding. And then I also had a couple of pillows. And so I prayed, Lord, give me supernatural rest. I had an unpeaceful five hours of sleep, but the next day I never felt tired. The Lord had given the rest. The next day was Sunday. We drove into the Islamic city. It is a 90% Muslim city. My first experience ever to preach in a Muslim city. And they didn’t tell me ahead of time that we needed to have a police escort riding with us. And so he rode in the front passenger seat as we drove. As we drove through at least 20 checkpoints that are guarded by armed Marines because the terrorists would often kidnap and hijack vehicles and people on that road. And so that road was guarded by the Marines. And I was told that there had been frequent kidnappings and even entire van loads of people would be kidnapped at once, all at once. So about nearly every mile there was a checkpoint. When we arrived, we went directly to the university. And this university is 60% Christian and 40% Muslim. It’s a public state university. And then there were several Christian churches meeting on the campus. And I preached in one service in the morning where we had about 100 young people in attendance. The anointing was powerful. And the students were being freed and delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit. They fell on their knees and came forward to receive healing and ministry from the Holy Spirit. The front of the room was crowded with young people lined up at the front, many of whom were crying and sobbing on their knees on the floor. And it was beautiful to see the work the Lord was doing in these young people’s lives. After that service, we had lunch, drove around the city. And even the police officer in front again later told us he was quite nervous as we were driving around that city to do some sightseeing. Then we went back in the afternoon to the university and had a combined service in the gymnasium of all the Christian churches that met at that university. And there were about 300 to 350 young people in the gymnasium that afternoon. And I taught them about knowing God’s plan for their life. At the end of the service, the front again along the entire length of the gymnasium was packed with young people and even packed down the center aisle lined up for prayer. I don’t even know how many were getting born again for the very first time and many coming back to the Lord and rededicating their lives to the Lord. But once again, the Holy Spirit did a mighty work in that service. meeting in the gymnasium and all over the gymnasium, young people were crying out to God. It was awesome to see how hungry they are for God. And I could see that God was raising them up to be a mighty army. We laid hands on almost all of them, me and the entire pastoral team with me. As we laid hands on almost all of them, it took about an hour to lay hands on all of them, praying for many for healing and different needs. After the service, we got again in the van and drove back to Iligan and the police officer sitting in the front. After dinner, before we left, The police officer told me and the rest of them that many times missionaries and mission organizations had asked them if they could go to Morawi, this city, and preach and do outreaches. The board of directors had always said, no, it is too dangerous. And the church in the city had even sent a group there and they had been kidnapped and He said, I am the first missionary he knew of that was ever allowed to go into that city or that university. And when the pastor with me told them about me, they all, the board unanimously agreed that it was right for me. They had peace in their hearts that it was right for me to go there. Praise the Lord. Even the pastor said he was amazed. He had asked me, But when he asked me and the Holy Spirit stirred in me, I said, definitely, yes, I will go. And even the pastor said that in his eight years, he never saw an outside missionary come except a priest who got kidnapped. And to his knowledge, I may be the only missionary who ever preached there and was not kidnapped. Praise the Lord. God’s protection is on us when we walk in our spiritual authority and know how to exercise it. But if you’re not a born again child of God, you don’t have that spiritual authority over the devil and over the curse of sin and death. If you’re not a born again child of God, you are subject to. to the devil and to the curse of sin and death. And so you need to get born again right now. Just say, Dear Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart. I ask you to forgive me of my sins and I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. And I receive you as my Lord and Savior in Jesus name. Amen. Now you’re a born again child of God. Praise the Lord. And I want you to write to me to let me know. Now join me again tomorrow. And remember, God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
