HERE I AM AGAIN, BEING RE-BORN.

From Arlen, in Camanchaj, Guatemala, June 19, 2006.

     Every single time I go on one of these mission trips, I realize again why this is so important, why I choose to keep coming back.  And, it’s not just one particular thing, it’s many….

     The people who have so little are so incredible.  On our very first mission trip, we had that “Oh yeah” moment when we realized that the girl we were feeling sorry for, the one we were calculating a plan to stow her away and take her home with us, was actually the one with the biggest smile among us.  She had God, her family, and her home, and was more than just content with it.  She didn’t need all of our American “conveniences” to be happy.

     The people who seem to be the absolute poorest are also the ones who seem to be willing to live with the least, and to exude happiness and contentment in spite of their poverty.  They know what’s really important.  There is no anger when they learn that we have no medicine for the particular problem that they have, even though they walked 2 hours and sat on the clinic porch for 3 hours waiting to be seen. 

     The people I have met because I’ve gone on these missions have changed my life.  Greg Samano told me that would happen before I ever went the first time. 

     Jim and Nancy Hartsock showed me that they could leave professional lives in the USA and follow that calling to serve others.  From the jungles of Bolivia, I saw missionaries exude so much love and caring that it made me cry just to be a witness to it.  From Peru and Nicaragua, I witnessed, over and over again, mothers holding and loving their babies.  The gentle smile and touch that Rufus Jennings gives to the children of Bongo, Panama, every year has shown me how one person can make a huge difference in so many young lives.  There are so many more…

     The dedication and faithfulness of the folks from United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM), Servants in Faith and Technology (SIFAT), and Missionary Ventures International (MVI) has molded my thinking and my own faith.  When Glen DuBois called and asked me to consider serving on the Board of MV USA, I wasn’t sure I could offer much, but then I know that it’s most important to simply have an open and willing servant heart and mind.  God has a plan; it’s not just about me.

     Our mission team members give their time, money, energy, and compassion to each mission, making each one special.  Whether it was a tearful devotion presentation in the cool morning air in the mountains in Mexico, a back massage for a missioner at the end of a long sweaty day in Honduras, a prayer of thanksgiving for the amazingly sweet pineapple in Panama, or the innovative and “we-can-find-a-way” attitudes that addressed every challenge that came along, each member of each team played a vital role during each mission week.  There are always just enough missioners with just the right skills and knowledge, just the perfect giving attitude, who realize why they are there at that moment.

     The bonds that are created between mission team members are amazing and very unique.  Even 5 years later, when our eyes meet across the courtyard at church, there’s that click, that special feeling that only can happen after some deep mutual experience.  When one sleeps on plywood bunks, stands in line at the outhouse out back, watches a painful, rotting tooth get extracted, observes the compassion of a mother holding her suffering child who has nothing (by American standards), gives that shot of antibiotic for the pneumonia, holds that malnourished baby that seems so starved for love, witnesses the tears of an older man who is so overjoyed to just have been touched by a caring missioner – a simple touch of a hand – well, the world just never quite looks the same.  It’s a feeling so deep that it cannot be fully explained in words to someone who has not experienced it.  It’s not visible, but it is palpable inside one’s body and soul.

     The re-charging, re-invigorating experience and feeling that comes over me every time keeps me coming back.  It’s almost like being re-born, once each summer.

     I’m here for another re-birth.