Short term
mission trip with Way of The Cross
Matamoros Mexico January 2003
A
group of us from Christian Community Church went on a mission
trip to Mexico with Way of The Cross (WOTC). During that week
we lived together; we worshiped, studied, and prayed together;
we worked together building a church building, and we shared our
faith with the lost together. For that week, at least to me, it
felt like we were living our lives like the Christians described
in the New Testament lived. It was a great experience and I miss
it!
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My
son Daniel and I introduce Alberto to his new friend, Ernie.
Alberto blessed me more than I can put into words when he
came up with a huge smile, hugged me and said, "thank
you for building our house".
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My
good friend Ken and me working on the the building. For
some reason all the pictures just show me standing around
like this or eating. Hmmm.....
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Each
morning we rose early for some time alone with God, and one morning
I wrote the following in my notes while reflecting on what was
happening around me:
Wow, I feel like I need much more of this in my life. I want
to serve God full-time. If I can't see my way to do that through
full-time missions, I want to be much better about serving Him
at work, at home in Murray, and by taking more short term missions
trips. I also want to stay in touch with and support those who
have been sent out to the field.
God
has opened my eyes. This trip has been yet another step in God
changing me through the awakening that started last summer.
His sanctification of me has escalated as a result of His grace
in showing me areas in my life where I had not offered Him Lordship,
in fact I was holding back. Namely in the areas of the stewardship
of my time and money, and my lack of desire to fellowship with,
and truly love my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Lord,
I repent of my lukewarmness in these areas. I want to make You
Lord of all. Show me the way to walk, to live, and to serve
you dear Jesus. Show me how I can have an impact for Your Kingdom.
Lord God, help me to hold back nothing from you, but to give
you my best, and my all.
On
our last day of ministry in Matamoros we visited the squatters
camp. Here we played with the children. I was so blessed by these
little ones. They are full of joy in spite of having so little
compared with how we live here. They wanted ride after ride on
my shoulders, and seemed to have an endless desire to be lifted
up to reach and hang from a bar that comprised the soccer goal,
the sole piece of equipment they had to play on.
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I'll
never forget the fun I had with these precious children
of the squatters camp.
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Toward
the end of the afternoon we held a service on the side of
the bus.
First
we sang worship songs in Spanish and presented a puppet
show.
Then
several from our church shared testimonies and offered an
invitation to accept Christ. Seven adults raised there hands
and prayed to accept our precious Lord and Savior.
We
handed out Bibles to the new believers and many others as
well.
A local
pastor who received training from WOTC stressed the importance
of fellowship for the new believer and gave them an invitation
to come to his church (one of three built by WOTC lead groups
in this area.
Afterward
we prayed for special needs for several of those gathered.
Translators helped us to understand the needs we were praying
for.
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After
prayer we handed out rice and beans, which we had packaged
earlier at the WOTC warehouse. Also candy for the kids.
Many
more people were gathered than we expected, but most received
something. The needs in this area are great, the people
are very poor, and yet they were well clothed and seemed
well fed for the most part.
We
all wished we had brought much more food to give out.
Next time we will bring more.
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So
dear readers, I find myself here in Murray wondering how to be
a full-time missionary while also keeping all the plates spinning
with my work and family. I think the key is to develop a missionary
mindset, whether we are in the mission field or the work place,
in or our homes and communities or in deepest Africa. God's work
is wherever we are if we will just open our eyes.
I
think that short term mission trips like this one are a great
way to discover this missionary mindset, or to renew one. Through
God's grace I plan make many more of these trips and make them
a priority in my life. I'm also committed to finding more ways
to help with missions while I'm at home, and to doing more here
with a missionary mind set. I also think the close daily contact
with my fellow Christians was a big factor on the trip, and what
I brought home from it, so I'm hoping to make that a part of life
here somehow too.
Click
the here for the
CCC WOTC Missions site ,with lots more pictures of the trip.
