My Mission Experiences

I am sitting here in my office thinking over the different mission experiences I have had in my life. I was raised in, and now work in a denomination with "missionary" in its name and DNA.  (Christian and Missionary Alliance).  Missions has always been close to my heart.  So the opportunities that I have had to go on different mission experiences, and even lead these experiences, have been amazing for me!

I know that each person who follows Christ is called to be a missionary.  Where and how we do that varies vastly.  For some, it is a lifetime commitment to move their families to other countries to serve God.  For others, it is to be an example and witness for Christ in their workplace and neighborhoods.  Neither is more important, both are needed!  I have had the opportunity to serve Christ here in my neighborhood as well as in other countries.  Here are some of the mission experiences I have had.

Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation - Dunseith, ND - Turtle Mountain Alliance Church 
When I was in Junior High, I was able to go on my first mission trip to Dunseith, ND.  My first youth pastor, Mike Palkie, led this trip.  Our main purpose for this trip was to do clown and puppet ministry for the Children at the church and in the neighborhood.  It was a great stretching opportunity for me, and the rest of the team.
On this trip is where I first learned that things doing usually go as planned when you go on a mission trip.  We had so many problems on this trip!  We had the trailer separate from the van and crash into the ditch (breaking our puppet stage before our first show, damaging the sound equipment and scattering puppets throughout the ditch.  So there we are, in our clown outfits walking through the ditch picking up puppets.  It was so strange, that one truck pulled up and said the man inside said "I am headed home from the bar and I had to come back and make sure I really did see clowns in the ditch."  yeah.... that's my strongest memory haha) we also had a boat break down on a HUGE lake.  Ask Mike Palkie about the trip, and he might start twitching.
It was a great trip though.  It was were I first saw the importance of missions.  It is also interesting that I am now friends with the youth pastor at the church.  God is still working there!

Piedras Negras, Mexico - Repairers of Broken Walls 
The summer I graduated from high school, I was able to go on another mission trip.  This time, I got to leave the country!  Even if it was just a few miles across the boarder.  My second youth pastor, Matt Drietz, was our leader for this trip.  We teamed up with Repairers of Broken Walls for this trip.  RBW is a mission organization who helps churches go on short term trips.  It was the beginning of a great relationship between myself and Carol and Enrique Acosta (RBW Missions).
On this trip, I experienced HEAT!  I remember working hard in the extreme heat!  I remember mixing cement by hand, and putting in a decorative driveway at the mission we were staying at.  I remember attending a church service that was conducted in a different language for the first time.  This trip opened my eyes to the rest of the world.  I saw poverty in ways I didn't even really know existed.  
We did service projects at the mission, visited an orphanage, and hosted a Vacation Bible School.  We were able to see young people give their life to Christ through our time there.  I remember coming away from this trip thinking, THIS WILL NOT BY MY LAST MISSION TRIP.  Thankfully it wasn't!


Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico - Orphanage - (version 1)


After graduating from Crown College, and becoming the youth pastor at Sebeka and Menahga United Methodist Churches, I was able to team up again with RBW to lead a trip to an orphanage in Mexico.  This was exciting for me because I got to work again with RBW and because instead of being a student on a mission trip, I was now the youth pastor bringing students along!  
On this trip we worked at the orphanage, visited churches, and hosted a VBS.  Again, we were able to see young people come to Christ through our work there.  We were also able to help the orphanage as they were just beginning.  We painted and did whatever other work was needed around the orphanage.  
My favorite memory of this trip was seeing our students grow closer to God through their service.  These students saw more of the world that they had ever seen before.  For some, it was like a light bulb went off in their head.  I will never forget the trip we took to hand out clothing in a poor neighborhood.  We had car troubles and things didn't go as planned (all part of the mission experience).  That night when we were debriefing, one student said "All I wanted to do was run out and give the people clothes, but then I realized, if we don't give them Jesus too, they are no better off then before we gave them clothes."  Still one of my favorite mission trip moments.
I also was able to see our students come up with $500.00 to give to a church that was wanting to build a new building!  That 500 bucks came from their extra money that they had with them.  AMAZING!  We came back to church, told our congregation about the need, they responded with almost $1000.00 to help build a new church!  It was amazing!  All spearheaded not by me, but my the students!


Tanzania, Africa - 
I have always wanted to go to Africa for a mission trip.  I don't know if it was because growing up, my aunt and uncle were missionaries there, or because we always here about Africa when talking about missions.  Whatever the case, I have always had a desire to go there.  
So when the opportunity came for me to go, I TOOK IT!  It was different from any other mission trip I have ever been on.  I went with two older ladies from the church I was working in.  Our purpose for going was to work with an organization who put in water wells and taught hygiene and sanitation.   We were able to provide clean water while talking about the LIVING water!  It was a great experience.  I was also able to preach in one of the churches that we visited (through an interpreter).  I was able to assist in repairing wells, as well as work at the beginning of a new well project for a Masai Tribe.  I was able to go on a safari and see animals I had only seen in zoos and books.  I was able to talk with a group of young seminary students about the importance of youth ministry, and give them a few resources (donated by Simply Youth Ministry).  This was a great trip! 
The thing that I walked away with from this trip was one though.  In Africa (and I am sure, in other parts of the world) people are Christians because they need it to survive, but in America we are Christian because we don't want to go to Hell when we die.  I realized that my faith was small... 


Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico - Orphanage - (version 2)
Fast forward a few years from the last trip to Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico.  I am now the youth pastor at Alliance Church of the Valley.  I again was able to team up with RBW to go back to Sabinas, this time leading different students, from a different church, even a different state!  It was great to be able to go back and see how God has been working in the orphanage. 
The orphanage was almost 3 times larger!  It was so great to see more young people living there!  We were able to help with painting, and other projects around the grounds.  The orphanage facilities are much better now!  
We again were able to host a VBS and again see young people come to know Christ.  One little girl in particular was amazing.  She was visiting her grandmother and happened to come to VBS.  She was actually from Texas.  We were able to talk with her in English!  So cool!  We traveled all the way to Mexico to share the Gospel with a young person in English.  
My favorite moment of this trip was the night before we left.  We got in a circle and prayed for the  children and workers of the orphanage.  As we were praying, it was amazing to our students with tears in their eyes as they prayed for these children.  Their hearts were breaking for them!  
It was also amazing to go back to that church that needed money to build a new church building (so they could stop meeting in the pastor's home).  The Church is now built!  In fact, the pastor remembered me, and thanked me fore the gift the students made, as well as the $1000.00 the church raised!  I didn't remember what the totals were, but he did.  So cool!
Another GREAT EXPERIENCE!


I could write many blog posts on each of these trips (in fact, this blog started because of the Africa trip.  If you go back in the archives you can read my blog posts from Africa.  Each of them has changed my life to some degree.  Each of them taught me something different and new about who I am, about who God is, and about missions and my role in it.  


So... what's next?  Well, right now I am currently planning a trip to South East Asia along with other youth pastors from our district.  You will hear more about the trip on this blog in the near future, and for sure while I am there.  But for now, just be praying for myself and the team as we prepare for this trip.  Fundraising is always a daunting task.  We will be gone October 18-19, 2010!  We will be traveling to Taiwan, Cambodia and Thailand!  I am excited to see what God will teach me though this trip.  I am also excited that it might lead to more trips to one of the countries!  


Stay tune fore more!