In the eighth grade I went on my first mission trip with my youth group to Brownsville, which is a border town on the southern most tip of Texas. I'm not sure as a youth that I fully understood what it was that we were doing there. At the time it was more about getting the chance to go somewhere cool with my friends from church than it was really about making a lasting impact. Being in eight grade at the time, I'm not sure it was to be expected. Though I do feel that in many ways this first trip lead me to where I am today. It was this trip where I crossed into the border town of Matamoros, Mexico for the first time, and entered what seem to be a whole new world. All I could think is how can a place that is so close to home, seem so far away. I didn't know what to think or how to respond, but I knew that I would never forget what I saw that day.
I remember walking door to door in a neighborhood near Matamoros, along with a couple of other students, a leader, and a translator, all of us standing awkwardly outside various peoples doorways with the intentions of sharing the Gospel. It often would start with everyone from our group saying “hola, come esta usted?” Meanwhile the ones who came to the door would have a puzzled looked on their face as if to say, “why are all these gringos at my house and what do they want?” The people that we talked to would politely listen as the translator took them through “the Roman road”, while the rest of our group stood by smiling.
I'm honestly not sure how effective those type of encounters are, I am not sure how I would respond if the roles were reversed. If a group of students from Mexico came to my door along with an English translator, I would probably be weary of opening the door to a group of six or so people I have never met.
I find building relationships with people and sharing life together is often the most effective way to make a lasting impact. Yet I know that is not the only way, and I hope to take the experiences I have on the World Race and stretch myself, to let the Spirit guide me in to things that might not make sense or feel comfortable. It is some of the greatest challenges and moments of uncertainty, that have changed my life and opened my eyes to something greater than myself. I expect no less from this journey.
