Saturday and Sunday
During the flights, I began reading a book called Revolution in World Missions by J.P. Yohannan, which has been remarkably thought provoking as I investigate what it means to be a missionary. I had recently taken a thorough examination of the path of my life--my choices, opportunities, and passions--and prayerfully decided to do mission work as God opens up opportunities for me. I still don't know what that looks like and I have a lot of questions, but I stand firm knowing that "the One who calls you is faithful" (1 Thes. 5:24). With this resolution fresh in my mind, I wanted to keep my heart open to what God wanted to teach me through this short-term mission trip.
A short-term mission trip. God, why am I here? You know I don't like these trips! Teams come and go, hardly building relationships and gaining more from the trip than they can give!
Well, I came to understand that God has His own schedule and a purpose in everything.
When we arrived Saturday night at our church Iglesia Gran Comisión, so many questions raced through my head. I found it difficult for me to reconcile the thousands of dollars that were spent so we could come here for a week with seeing people living in shanty houses made of branches and tarps whose lives could be completely changed with that money. I wondered if there was a stigma of "wealthy, successful Americans coming to help Honduras" which set la iglesia at a point of inferiority, and I wondered why we Americans weren't supporting and training local Christians to share the Gospel instead of coming to serve for only weeks at a time.
The GCLA church, Iglesia Gran Comisión
I brought up some of my questions the next day to my dear friend Michelle. She told me to trust that God has a plan for our trip and that the people of la iglesia truly appreciated our help. I still had my suspicions, but I didn't want a stubborn heart to keep me from serving throughout the week.
Mi Familia
Something I love about mission trips with the Rock Church is that we spend the week in the homes of families in the church rather than renting out a hotel. My friend Xiaozhen and I even stayed with a family I knew from the summer. They are so hospitable. In fact, Hondurans are in general extremely hospitable, offering food and at times their only chairs to visitors they may not even know.
Speaking with our family was quite a blessing. From the very first night, the parents Luis and Toyita referred to us as their daughters. On Monday, Luis unfortunately tore a ligament in his leg, which required him to wear a cast from his ankle to mid-thigh and stay home for a month to recuperate (he was climbing over a fence near a mountain...and since he's a pretty big guy, it took 10 guys to carry him down and to the car for a trip to the hospital). I got the chance to talk to him the next day, and it was one of the longest Spanish conversations I've had. God is so good to me to open up my ears to understand. Love is patient, even though I was probably harder to understand than a 4 year old.
Our first project: Painting a fence
La iglesia has built a community near Choluteca called Casa Hogar Vida with homes for those who had none, a brick and a coffee factory for those who need jobs, a shop of handcrafts made by women of the community, an orphanage of kids who have died of AIDS, and their new project, a missionary hotel.
Some homes at Casa Hogar Vida
The purpose of the hotel is missionary teams financially support that community rather than going to some other business. Now, this hotel is probably the nicest building I've ever seen in Honduras, with brightly colored walls and beautiful black pila in the courtyard. It's hard to explain, and I'll try to get pictures of it up soon. Our job was to paint the fence around the hotel.
A few of the unfinished hotel in June
The purpose of the hotel is missionary teams financially support that community rather than going to some other business. Now, this hotel is probably the nicest building I've ever seen in Honduras, with brightly colored walls and beautiful black pila in the courtyard. It's hard to explain, and I'll try to get pictures of it up soon. Our job was to paint the fence around the hotel.
Our lunch inside one of the rooms in the hotel
I'm carrying the paint we used. Behind me are two members of our team and one of the translators, Alejandro.
The before...
Myself with members Kaitlyn and Nathan
Painting the fence. The guys are Ben and Nathan.
Yay! The completed fence!
The painting was fine, but we did have a few difficulties: It was 90 degrees, the ditches were hard to maneuver around, and there were hormigas! (that is, innocent-looking ants that bite your feet until you kill them).
It took us two days to paint the fence, and during the first, I am so grateful to have had the chance to speak with Lilian, my friend and role model who worked with me in Limón over the summer. We talked about our families, our difficulties while serving in ministry, and the lessons we've learned from singleness. Lilian has taught me so much, and I was reminded that "a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (Prov. 17:17).
At the end of our work, a woman of the community I didn't know approached me. She expressed her thankfulness for our work, that we would leave our homes and comforts to work on the hotel in order to help their community. It was then I that realized it didn't matter whether or not I was right about the ineffectiveness and possible selfishness of one-week mission trips.
I learned what mattered most was that our work be done sacrificially to the benefit of those we served.
Mission work isn't about performing great deeds with efficiency and perfection. As Mother Teresa put it, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."
Notes:
- I can get you a free copy of Revolution in World Missions if you're interested.
- The website for Great Commission Latin America, where you can find more about the church in Choluteca is http://www.greatcommissionla.com.
- Information about the Rock, our sending church can be found at http://www.columbiarock.com.
- Check out more photos on my Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/sarah.liz.emerick.
Loving the pictures and the book. I read Revolution in World Missions a few years ago. Definitely gave me some renewed perspective on missions.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the Lord's showing you the bigger pictures of missions-- it's not about the projects, but about the people. And every dollar spent to get there can be worth it and more for those precious relationships.
Carlos Gomez shared with me one time that money can do a lot of things to help, but it can't hold children, offer a shoulder to cry on and elicit a smile upon impact. I thought that insight was powerful coming from a guy who runs GCLA and could easily use the 1500+ dollars of every missionary in other ways for projects. But he's pretty committed to seeing the life change in the missionaries themselves as a result of what God does in & through them on the trips.
Thanks for sharing! Keep it coming. There's a whole world that's begging for people like you to keep being the hands & feet of Christ.