A year ago today, we woke up in the morning and that is exactly what we said, "We're leaving to go to another country". After almost 5 months of prepping our team for a mission trip to Guatemala and
preparing them for the very few things you can be prepared for when traveling abroad, we stood together a year ago today in our church office in a circle, praying together as a team one last time before leaving the U.S., asking God to do "great and mighty things".
Then, while everyone else we knew were still sleeping, we boarded a bus, then later boarded several planes...
landed in Guatemala later that afternoon only to take another four hour journey over the winding mountains to our destination.
This blog post will begin to unfold a recap of our journey for you, but also what God has been allowing our church to be a part of throughout the last year in Guatemala. It may help to read our other previous posts about 'The Village Project' to better understand how this project works and where God led us. You can read those HERE, where a video link is included, and HERE.
I can remember it like yesterday, the excitement that had built within our team as we met together for training sessions each month and got to know each other, weighed our supply bags to make sure they weren't overweight...
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| Yes, this is how we weighed many of our bags- don't judge! |
only to have it culminate in this very moment- leaving the U.S. and heading to another country to serve a people we did not yet know;
all the while knowing that the 22 people leaving the church office that night would not return the same. Mission trips have a way of doing that. God puts together a group that otherwise would most likely never get together to serve. As teams get to know one another and begin to share very personal experiences, they begin to share spiritual highs and lows in ways that only happen when serving in this type of context.
THIS is what I absolutely love about mission trips and global ministry. You cannot return the same- it's impossible. You can fight it and try oh so hard to pretend as though what you are seeing and experiencing isn't affecting you, but it does and it grips your heart in ways that some people find uncomfortable, ways they want to ignore, only hoping that the feeling deep down inside will just go away- but it doesn't. God created this passion for people deep inside of us and as Jeremiah says in the book of Lamentations, "My eye has affected my heart." Much like Jeremiah wept over what he saw in the city, we often leave a mission trip with much the same experience, with a heart broken over what we experienced "in the city".
It may sound odd, but this is also what I love to watch happen for the first time in those who have never experienced an international mission trip. It is truly beautiful to watch some individuals, who serve overseas for the first time, go from a shy, nervous caterpillar only to emerge into a beautiful butterfly spreading wings that they didn't even realize they had. To see someone work through the frustrations of a language barrier and yet somehow share the gospel in ways without words, yet still piercing the heart. To see the joy in someone's eyes...
when they know they have met a tangible, physical, or spiritual need of another individual living in another part of world...
To see an introvert suddenly become the star in a game of soccer against children whose shoeless feet run across the rocky ground...
To see someone's life transformed by the gospel, when they've never heard the name of Jesus before...
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| Village Leader-Rosario |
Maybe you've never been overseas to serve or maybe you've been afraid to go because you just aren't sure what will happen to you. You are afraid of what "life change" it might stir in your heart or what your eyes might see. Well, it might not be what you want to hear, but.....
This- IS my story.
THIS- was OUR story.
Mission trips WILL change you.
There are some moments you won't forget in life and your first mission trip is one of them. My trip to Guatemala wouldn't have likely occurred had it not been for my first mission trip to India. You will always hear me go back and talk about that trip more than any other trip I've taken to date. Though Guatemala in some small ways had moments reminiscent of my first trip to India, India rocked my world and shaped my worldview in ways that no other trip around the world has done. Serving in the 10/40 window, driving through a leper colony (and yes, they do still exist), holding the hands of lepers, seeing over 600 orphans singing out to the top of their lungs, watching children eat out of metal pans with their hands...
...walking through dirty villages as people peeked out of their homes to see "the pale faces" for the first time, experiencing a culture 180 degrees different from my own, seeing a martyr board on the wall of a church...I still remember coming back and taking months to adjust to all that I had seen and experienced there. It was all I could think about and talk about.
I am so very grateful that God has given me the privilege of doing ministry on almost every continent and in a number of countries around the world. This allowed me to see the world we live in through a different set of lenses; therefore, changing my view of the world forever. I must admit my experiences overseas still drive a passion in me to see the world changed and to encourage others to take a trip at least one time somewhere- knowing God will change their hearts in ways that won't occur here in the states.
This also became a part of OUR story. God used a mission trip we were able to lead to China, to give us a greater heart for not only those who have never heard the name of Christ, but to give us a heart for the orphan. To see that these children were more than a "statistic we read about in articles" or just "a file I work with" at my job at an international adoption agency; rather, these are children we have held in our arms, bounced in our laps, played games with outside, or fed a bottle to. A mission trip is what fueled our desire to adopt from China and led us to where we are today, a point where a child will one day be transformed from an orphan and become "a daughter" in our family. David Platt says it well in his book 'Radical':
"...We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms, but once you do everything changes."
THAT..... was a piece of our story. Looking back at other mission trips in our past and excited about what God had in store, on January 11, 2013 God took our team to Guatemala for the first time. We knew this was going to be a long term project and commitment to our "adopted" village, but we had no idea what He would do or how He would transform us that week--but He did. We began to challenge this first team and every team since with the thought, "What do you want God to do TO you and what do you want God to do THROUGH you?" It's a sobering question to ask, but slowly we began to see God do things to and through our team that week.
Leading up to our trip departure, many of our team had fought illnesses and unfortunately, on the field it was no different. Satan was at work as usual, hoping to discourage our team, weaken our team, knock down our leaders, and prevent us from doing what God had planned for that week. Like never before, we had to rely on Him to see us through the difficult moments as we set out each day to serve in our church's adopted village of Curva del Pino.
In the beginning of the week, everyone in the village was just a wee bit suspicious of these crazy Americans invading their space...
What we didn't know at the time, was that by the end of the week we would see the leader of the village come to know Christ as her Savior. (pictured earlier) How amazing that God would see fit to allow it to start first with a leader and village decision maker. What a blessing that Rosario came to know the Lord and in the months that followed, as other teams went down later that summer, we started seeing this leader thirsty to learn more and to have her very own study Bible, even asking another small team that went down to have a women's Bible study while there.
Though there were many things God did during our January trip, we'll highlight just a few memorable moments...
We watched God get all of our supplies through customs without having any bags checked or questioned. However, that didn't negate the fact that the Guatemalan custom agents still chose me to search as well as our friend who is a chiropractor who was also on the trip and had his portable chiropractic table with him. (I guess all that cardboard and tape looked suspicious!) So of all people, they pulled us to search. It became the early joke of the trip.
We watched our luggage get tied to the roof of a vehicle only to travel four hours over mountain roads, and miraculously didn't lose one piece!
We watched God provide a small amount of oil and food coloring in the middle of a remote village, when we decided it would be helpful for an object lesson later that afternoon.
This was nothing short of a miracle in and of itself that God would have our team walk past a home that had a small kitchen where they baked cakes and we were able to find this "rare commodity" pretty much in the middle of nowhere!
Only God.
We watched God allow one of our team members to be unable to share his testimony at a village church that Sunday due to sickness, only to realize later that his "replacement" shared his testimony that morning which pierced the heart of one of the translators we had that week and allowed him to begin questioning more about salvation since his own life story mirrored that of our team member who shared that morning.
Only God.
We watched some team members who were the most afraid about going on this trip blossom when given the chance to minister and serve.
We watched a man healed in an amazing way through chiropractic work that week
alongside prayers from both the doctor and the team.
Only God.
During this trip we all fell in love with the people of Curva del Pino. What else did we do while we were in Guatemala? We ministered and fed hungry families who live in the dump...
and watched barefooted children leave with their food sacks, walk back into the smoke where the smell of burning trash envelopes the area...
and where broken glass that many children collect daily to earn a dollar, covers the ground they walk upon.
It was in these moments, that many of our team members felt helpless, asked God "why?" and could do nothing but pray.
We served children and mother's through a VBS program...
where Play-doh became the instant ice breaker- that is of course once we showed the children what to do with it...
We learned that many of the children were malnourished due to parasites they had acquired from unclean water in the village...
We shared Christ with women while some of their children were at VBS...
We began building a home for the Village Leader, Rosario, who had recently lost her home...
battled the heat and took breaks from hard work when we needed to...
Learned a lot about construction from the local villagers...
Painted the home once construction was completed...
and at the end of the week- dedicated this one room home we built Rosario's family ...
We loved on children, including those with special needs...
...and learned the story of our little buddy, Diego (who took a liking to Nate) who was found abandoned in a cardboard box at the dump and rescued and brought to the baby rescue center where they were able to provide nourishment and care.
Our team had the privilege of providing, packing and distributing several hundred bags of food from US Aid to families in our village...each bag providing rice, beans, and other supplements to help provide around 100 meals to a family per bag.
As pictured above, we learned that many of the children were coming to our "program", as they called it, dressed in their best clothing since they considered us their special guests from the United States. This was the first time a team had ever gone into this village, shared a VBS or any programs, given out school supplies, sports equipment, or shared the gospel in any way.
We also had opportunities to minister to the elderly and hold a service with the residents of the senior home...
This man shared with us that this was the only outfit he owned and how thankful he was that our team had come to visit him and his friends at the senior center.
We were given so many different opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ while serving in Guatemala.
There was so much we learned from each and every team member we served alongside. We love that our sweet friend, Rich, showed us all that ANYONE can go on a mission trip and serve the Lord, regardless of age or physical limitations.
We are excited that God allowed two additional teams to follow us later in August and September of 2013, to continue the work that was started in January. God has blessed us by seeing 47 people answer the call to take a "short term" mission trip through our church.
Since January God has:
- Brought a church planter to our village & allowed us to support his work
- Allowed our church to provide discipleship materials for the pastor to use with his leaders
- Given us the ability, through donations, to purchase multi-media equipment designed for use in rural areas overseas without electricity. Through this we have been able to show to the Jesus Film in Spanish for the first time in our village and several came to know the Lord that night. We were also able to use it for showing several other programs for children
- Allowed us to see lives changed and come to know the Lord
- Enabled us to provide clean water for our village
- Equipped two more teams to come down and run VBS programs
- Given us the opportunity to host two pre-natal clinics and one medical clinic
- Allowed us to paint the school until it can be rebuilt
- Allowed two additional teams to plant fruit trees which will provide both food and financial support for families in our village
- Allowed us to prayer walk our village numerous times
- Provided food bags twice for our village
- Allowed teams to distribute clothing to our village
- Given us the opportunity to distribute Christmas boxes, that our church collected, to the children in our village
As we head into 2014 we are excited to see how God will begin using this year's June 7-14 team and our October team. As we start off this new year, you may want to ask yourself, "Is God leading me to consider going on a short term mission trip?" I promise it will be life-changing if you answer the call to go.
Oswald Chambers said it best "God's command is "now" not later. We try to find excuses. When God spoke to Abraham- he obeyed. Don't confer with your own thoughts, insights, understanding...Abraham didn't get to choose what his "sacrifice" would be. Don't delay or protest, but obey."
Have you ever been on an overseas mission trip and if so, what did God show you through your trip? In what new ways might God be calling you to serve locally as well as globally in 2014?
