The road ends long before you even reach Sally’s village in Central Asia. Honestly, you might not even call the last part of it a “road,” more like a two-track bumpy mess. Once it ends, though, it only gets rougher with a footpath down rocky terrain.

This remote mountain valley is inaccessible for months of the year due to weather but today is a good one for the trek. Sally’s heading home for a wedding. She hitched a ride from the city with International Mission Board worker Molly Petry for the big celebration.

Petry knows Sally’s extended family well. They are the first-known believers among this unreached people group of 28,000. Going to those who have never heard the gospel — no matter how isolated or treacherous the road — is what Petry’s team is all about. She believes missionary presence is the best way to proclaim and demonstrate the gospel so for the past five years, she’s hiked every trail in the valley that leads to a village.

Reaching people in hard-to-reach places like this requires more than good hiking skills. It often means using creative platforms to open avenues for evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and leadership development. Petry’s team saw a huge problem in the valley with a plethora of lethal waterborne illnesses. They partnered with Send Relief, the joint compassion ministry of IMB and North American Mission board, to bring clean water to families like Sally’s.