I'm going to Mexico! February 11

Well tomorrow is the big day where we load up the vans and begin our grand adventure to El Papalote, Mexico! I really appreciate being able to take our ‘Perspective in Missions’ class prior to our trip, I believe it really opened all of our eyes to what we are really getting into. Our Prof, Tim Stabell, is very educated and experienced in missions and was able to pass on a lot of his knowledge onto us as we prepare for our own missions trips. He brought to surface the many dangers that are involved with short term missions (STM) and the common mistakes or misunderstandings that North Americans have in STM. There was definitely a strong emphasis on all of the negative effects that STM potentially possess which makes me a little worried. However there is no question whether STM can be a good thing, they can, as long as we are fully aware of the dangers and prepare ourselves accordingly. Being able to take this class beforehand means that we can take what we learned and apply it right away, the timing of this class could not have been any better.

I am really excited to be able to partake in another mission’s trip! The organization that we are partnering with seems to already be doing some really powerful work already; hopefully we can be a blessing as we join them.  Oddly enough I don’t feel nervous about the trip at all. It feels like I should have numerous concerns about travelling, the language barrier, the work we’re going to do, health, etc. Ultimately I’m just excited to go and serve the ministry by working alongside people from another culture. I am really excited about the different opportunities that we have while we are down there. We get to be involved with children’s ministry, youth ministry and church ministry, as well as music and physical labor. I am super excited about the group that we have going down. I know that we are all going to work well together and our gifts are very complimentary to each other.

It is undeniable that there will be challenges and hardships throughout our trip. Our first “test” will be our brutal trip down there. Between driving and flying it will be approximately a 24hour trip with little opportunity to sleep. It’s a rough way to start the trip but it won’t be the first time this group has been crammed together for extended periods of time. I feel like we all know each other well enough by this point that we know how to avoid getting on one another’s nerves and there will be little quarreling. The only other part that I’m a little worried about is sharing a short message for the Mexican youth. I have a hard enough time doing this for people in my own culture. I know it will be a stretching time for me but I know that it will help me grow and that God can use whatever I give him.