Lisa Barry: Can you think of a memorable trip you took a long time ago? The one I remember best is going to Scandinavia with my family when I was six years old. With so much beautiful scenery there, you'd think I'd have rolls and rolls of picturesque photos to show for it. But instead, I came home with two rolls of slide film full of seagulls. The moral of the story is don't give a camera to a six-year-old on vacation.

Well, Elisabeth Elliot did a much better job on her travels overseas. All this week we've been hearing bits and pieces of journeys Elisabeth Elliot has taken with her husband, Lars Gren. Incredible journeys to far-away places most of us will never see. So far, we've been to India, an unidentified country, and Mongolia. Today our travels take us to Taiwan. So get comfortable and get ready to take another trip vicariously through the journal writings of Elisabeth Elliot. Let's get started.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, continuing my talks today on journeys with God.

We were talking yesterday about our time in Mongolia. At the end of the program, I was musing on the marvel-the unimagined ways of God. As a child, I had always visualized myself in a thatched hut somewhere doing what missionaries do. Was I going to be a nurse? Perhaps a doctor or a surgeon. Well, I didn't turn out to be any of those things. God sent me to Ecuador to do linguistic work and many of you know the story of my 11 years in jungle missionary work.

But if it had not been for the strange set of circumstances that God had allowed to happen-the death of five American missionaries-I would certainly not have been in Mongolia or in the place that I'm going to be talking about today. It was because I was precipitated into the writing field that the word somehow seemed to get around that if a person can write a book, then they can also talk. So I get asked to speak. This is how these journeys came about. I had invitations to go to these distant lands.

Constantly I'm aware of the amazing grace of God. I often say to young people who are anticipating missionary work, "The will of God is going to be very different from what you expect. It's going to be a whole lot harder. It's going to be a whole lot bigger. But it is also going to be infinitely more glorious. Trust Him."

Why do we worry? "It is His will that I should cast my cares on Him each day. He also tells me not to cast my confidence away. But oh, how foolishly we act when taken unawares! We cast away our confidence and carry all our cares."

Does that describe you sometimes? Maybe now? Don't do it. Don't cast away your confidence. Don't carry all your cares. Remember the verse in Proverbs 3:5,6: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

The next trip that my husband and I were invited to go on was to Taiwan. Well, it's very confusing when there is an international date line between where you live and where you want to go. On the Saturday that we were to leave Boston, Lars talked to our man in Taiwan-the man who had invited us to come-and discovered that we were expected in Taiwan on that same day.

Well, then I had to think about the hymn that says, "Trust in the Lord, O troubled soul. Rest in the arms of His care. Whatever my lot, it mattereth not, for nothing can trouble thee there." Here we had made a mistake in the booking of the flight to Taiwan. We did not realize that there was an international date line. Actually, it was partly the fault of our travel agent, who had put that information in a very obscure place where it just hadn't been noticed.

So before we get to Taiwan, I want to read you an amazing little story of something that happened on one of our journeys much closer to home. We were in Canada at my granddaughter Elisabeth's graduation from Grenville Christian College, which is a very fine Christian school-a high school, actually-in Ontario.

As we were being driven back to the airport, the car broke down. Now listen to this account of God's providence. Number one, we found a gas station where we could call for a rented car. Number two, the rental place was normally closed on Sunday, but the owner was mowing the lawn and just happened to turn off the mower and heard the phone ring. Providence number two.

Number three, the lady who usually answers the phone on Sundays didn't pick up as fast as he did. She is a half hour away. Number four, he came in ten minutes. Number five, he took us to his station, provided a car and gave us an upgrade. Number six, we got to the airport on time.

It was so reassuring, realizing that if God can take care of car troubles, He can also take care of plane troubles. So a day late, we started for Taiwan. We were on a Northwest 747, seated in the center section. There were four seats. A Japanese young man was next to me. An American was next to him and Lars was on my left on the aisle. You can't see anything, of course, when you're sitting in the middle of the plane.

But during the flight that night, all the shades were drawn against the blazing sun. Lars went back to a tiny window at the back of the plane and rushed to call me to come and look at an astonishing vast scene of volcanoes. Cone after cone after cone, as far as the horizon reached. Muddy rivers running between them. Range upon range of snow-covered peaks and a vast blue sea to the north. We were speechless. We had never seen anything to compare with that amazing number of volcanoes.

On July 3 we were in Taiwan. I was speaking at the annual convention of the missionaries at the Morrison Academy. We stayed in the home of one woman named Karen Neff. We had dinner right across the street from their house with the son of my dear friend, Arlita Winston. Some of you remember hearing Arlita on this program. Her son and his wife are missionaries there in Taiwan, so we had a lovely dinner with them.

On July 3 we were taken up into the mountains to a beautiful area called Sun Moon Lake by the Gardiner family, who had just recently adopted a four-year-old Russian girl who had only tiny flippers instead of arms. She was six years old, a happy, sweet, obedient little child. It was amazing how much English she had learned in just three months since the Gardiners had adopted her. She went along with us. It was very interesting to watch the way she could cope with holding a fork and drinking out of a glass. It was just amazing.

I spoke to a group of international kids and I was amazed to find that six or eight of them had actually been to the Urbana Missionary Convention in 1996. They had been reading my books. One girl wept as she told me that she thought of me as a spiritual mother. Will you who pray for me please ask the Lord to always remind me of the awesome responsibility of being that kind of an example to these kids?

The boys were wearing earrings and weird hair-cuts and baggy T-shirts and pants, etc. You know the look. The girls, without very much femininity, let alone neatness or prettiness. But they had a heart for God. God looks on the heart. We look on the outward appearance, because it's the only thing we can look on, isn't it?

Then there was a time when I was asked to speak to a group in the Evangelical Community Church, where both English and Chinese were spoken. And we had some lovely times with meals with different people. While we were there in Hong Kong, we were absolutely amazed at the size of the city. I almost had the impression that the number of skyscrapers were far more than in New York City. Perhaps I am mistaken about that. But it is a very exciting and brilliant city. Our hotel room looked right across to Hong Kong from the island of Kowloon.

We were told that a four-hundred square foot apartment in Hong Kong can cost $4500 and the cheapest thing that you can buy to live in is called a closet, or a chicken-wire coop-rooms so small that you must put the bed up in order to open the door. Or there are bunk beds surrounded by chicken wire, for which each person in this quote "closet" must pay $150 a month and of course has to keep all his belongings on the bed while he is gone, because it has to be within the chicken wire so that it won't be stolen.

Then because we were unable to get a return flight back to the States because of the handover of Hong Kong by Britain, we had to wait to get a flight. So we went to Hong Kong a week after the handover. It was a very moving sight. Some of you saw it, I'm sure, on your TV-the British governor and his family in tears at that moment when the Union Jack was being lowered.

I just tell you that little bit in order to make you realize how blessed we are in this country. God has poured out His blessings on all of us, especially on Lars and me as we traveled these journeys with God.

Lisa Barry: It's easy to complain in this country about so many little things. But I know my appreciation for the freedoms we have has been heightened. Well, we only have a short time left, but I want to tell you about a booklet that I think is just terrific. It's called TRUST GOD FOR THIS? The title alone speaks volumes, doesn't it? It may be a short reading, but you'll have enough insight to apply for a lifetime. We'd be happy to send you one copy free of charge when you write or call to request it.

If you have an extra minute or two, we'd love to hear from you. Tell us how this program is impacting your life. Are there program topics you'd like to hear discussed? Are there any topics you'd like to hear again soon? These are the things that help us plan for the coming years, because we want to be sure we're always speaking to issues that are relevant to you.

So here's our address, and thanks for sharing your opinion with us: Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or call toll-free: 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. All this week our featured devotional excerpts are from the book ALL THAT WAS EVER OURS. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

We'll conclude this series of programs tomorrow with a story about a lobster boat. Find out what that's all about next time on Gateway To Joy.