I am guilty as well as almost anyone I know who has romanticize a mission trip. Now what that means is that we all might have the idea in our head that we are going to go on a trip and change the world and yes that could happen but it is such a hard truth that it does not just happen like that. The truth is and I am especially finding out by doing the World Race is I am here to do little things for the Kingdom that will help in the long run. I had a lot running through my head before I left about how short term missions can be more harmful than good and I still see how that can be so but by basically doing short term missions for a year I have found that you can make it work for the good of the kingdom.
As we are in ending month three I have had to take a lot of things to the Lord in the sense of just being ok with all the ministries that we have been working with. And what that means is in Nepal I had a very hard time going to the slums, mainly because I don’t ever want a child to have a savior complex on us or even just think that we are there to save them because that is not what we are there for, we are there to love on everyone that we come in contact with and reassure them that the Father loves them more than they can imagine. I am pretty sure that I will always struggle with the work that we do for 11 short months but it makes me feel better that when we leave knowing the people here are still working hard for the Lord and it makes me feel comforted that we are not just leaving them with no one because the ministries we have worked with work hard all year and we are just there to give them more encouragement and drive to keep up the great work being done.
Now I am going to talk about this month and why it has made me realize that mission work is not glamorous and it should not be glorifying to myself in any way. This month we are working in a small fishing village and we are alone as a team for the first time. When we got here we soon realized how much we would all have to adjust to a lot of things, like first when we got here and finally sat down with the pastor about what we can and can not do he simply told us how we are not even aloud to walk around the neighborhood because it draws to much attention. That was a hard one to hear as we are all adults and we have given up so much from home to be told we cant even go for a run or just wander. So that was how we all started this month thinking we were basically trapped and honestly I think it all bothered us a lot more then we made known. We all found out very fast that being here with the Pastor and his church family has been a great blessing. We have been given the privilege of getting to teach the adults as well as the kids english and it has been a crazy funny time! We have long days starting at 5:30 am which is us getting to head over to church just rolling out of bed to listen to them sing and pray in vietnamese and try our bests to follow along. We then get to head home and rest for a few hours and just get ready then we go teach english for a few hours, then lunch, then a break and then more english teaching. We really have enjoyed teaching them but then we sometimes think about what it is that we are doing for the kingdom while working in a church and then we realize it is our job here to fill them up. We are here to not just go out and save all these children and just have them love the Lord in a matter of hours or in a few days but we are here for the longer effects of when we leave. We are here to show them the love Jesus has for them and why it is so important that we love them so that they know how He loves them.
I still struggle somedays with is just teaching english to them enough? Or am I actually doing work for the Lord? And of course the answer is always yes. I have found peace in knowing that I may not be saving the world but I am making the world a better place just by loving people and doing work for Him. So I have come to a realization that work for the Lord can simply mean being nice to everyone you meet as well as being willing to do the small things that will keep the kingdom growing stronger for the Lord!
