When I returned from a mission trip to India a couple years
ago, I wrote a blog called “Postcards to People.” I pasted it on my world race
blog a couple months ago.
You can find it in my blog archives if you are interested.
In the midst of our last day of ministry at the orphanage in
Latacunga, Ecuador, I am revisiting this profound revelation.
During these weeks in Ecuador, my team and I have repelled
waterfalls, jumped off a bridge, and visited a beyond-words-beautiful crater lake
in Quilotoa. These excursions were fun and necessary breaks in which I found
rest and joy. But they will have nowhere near the impact on me that names like Javi,
Carlos, Michael, and Daniella will have.
It may be the most important truth behind traveling (and
missions) – that what we previously knew of a place – only as a touristy
postcard – gets replaced by the experience of faces, hearts, and souls; the
anatomy of the Kingdom of God.
Even our “off” day where we repelled waterfalls was hit by
this truth. Our teammate gave a tear-filled testimony as we waited on a bus
that evening. That is the most important and most memorable thing that happened
that day. I’ll always remember jumping off that bridge. But hearing that
testimony is the thing that changed me.
I will always remember the volcanoes and living in the
clouds. But Daniella’s smile, Joffrey’s laugh, Jose’s grunting, reading
Scripture and pointing to animal pictures with Josue, feedback with teammates,
Karina’s waving, Christina’s crying, Jenn’s perspective, Tiff’s encouragement,
dancing with Wilma, praying with Jessica at the doctor’s office; these are the
things that I will carry with me forever and the things that define Ecuador. The
things that have expanded my Kingdom perspective. The new manifestations of
Christ that have encouraged my heart and strengthened my soul.
The world is not a collection of sites and resorts, there
for us to play with. The world is full of beautiful faces, tragic stories,
longing hearts. To experience it is to leave pieces of yourself behind, and to
find more of Christ.
I have loved Ecuador. And not for any item that was on a
bucket list. I love Ecuador for what was unfathomable, unknowable, incomprehensible
to me before I left… the uniquely wonderful cloud of witnesses that Christ has
called into this place. I will miss them. Carrying the memories of them and
telling their stories doesn’t do the justice of being here with them (just like
a photo of the Andes can’t truly capture the beauty of it all). But being with
them has changed me. It has helped clear the voice of God in my heart – I am
hearing from Him more than ever, and I believe it is because the walls have continued
to crumble, the shackles become more untangled under the shadow of this
incredible cloud of witnesses. I have seen God by seeing them. I know God
better by knowing them just a little.
Ecuador is no longer a postcard. It is the Spirit of the
Living God, breathing in the beauty of His children in this community. And
thus, the love I am capable of expands, the knowledge of the heart of God sinks
deeper within me, and the world becomes simultaneously bigger in one sense and
smaller in another. It is a real place, not just a dot on a map. Yet, in
another sense, Ecuador has shrunk, from the size of some mysterious imagined landscape
to the size of… well, home.
I am ready for Peru. Ready to see what faces and hearts,
what stories and experiences transform it from what I perceive Peru to be
(basically, a postcard of Macchu Pichu) into a true and honest glimpse of what
God is doing and who He is in that place.
