Many of you are aware of the recent trip Eric (Youth/Worship Minister at Mechanicsville Church of Christ) and I made to Ensenada, Mexico. It was an incredible experience! I have a passion for Mexico missions in general and have been to Monterrey, Mexico with Back2Back Ministries now 3 times. But this was a completely different part of Mexico and with YUGO Ministries; and I love Mexico! Every time I come back I have a renewed fire to learn Spanish before I go back!! (Maybe one of these days I will!)
YUGO partners with local pastors to build houses in low income villages around Ensenada. We were able to visit two villages and see where they were working, the homes they were in the process of building and what the finished product would look like. They host many groups and build hundreds of houses every year. They also do VBS in the villages as well as operate a Children’s Home just north of their main campus. When we went to the children’s home I broke! YUGO is doing some incredible things truly caring for the orphan child in Mexico! They are working to get these children into homes with families, either through adoption or foster care. Keep in mind, Mexico has no foster care system the way we do. There are no benefits attached. They are simply revealing the need to the local churches and reminding them of God’s heart for His children and trying to find them good homes.
For those who have never been on a mission’s trip, I HIGHLY recommend it! I have been multiple times and each one is different. Each place is different. Each group is different. However, everyone shares some commonalities.
I am blessed.
More than anything, the first thought that goes through my mind, and those in the group who experience this for the first time, is how extremely blessed we are. We are incredibly blessed in so many ways we take for granted every day. Electricity is a blessing. Clean clothes and multiple sets of clothes are also a blessing. Clean water is a HUGE blessing! A house with four walls and a proper roof is an incredible blessing!
They are blessed.
It is amazing how joyful they are about life! Even though we see them as poor, they have a joy many of us only dream of! Part of this is an unrealistic expectation we have of the poor. We think because they are poor, they are sad and depressed. That is simply not true! Especially in other parts of the world, poverty does not equate to depression. When we were in Haiti we helped with a revival lasting four nights. It was the most incredible time of worship I’ve ever experienced in my entire life! The ground shook! Not from the music, but from the dancing!! After a couple hours of worship, whoever was speaking got up and most the dancing stopped; except for this one lady. There was one older lady with a cane and a huge stomach. We were told later that she had an infection in her stomach and needed a surgery costing $2000. That was far outside of her ability and this would eventually kill her. Nevertheless, even as the pastor was preaching, she was moving and dancing with a joy I will never forget!
Time and time again, trip after trip, I see a joy in those we would label as “poor”. A joy many of us only dream of having.
Christianity is so much bigger.
We tend to have a narrow view of Christianity here in America. I may not attend your Church, yet if I visit, I have a good idea of what to expect. The core truths of Christianity never change. They never have and they never will; regardless of your culture. But Christianity looks different in other parts of the world and it is beautiful! There are similarities, sure. But Christianity is so much bigger than we are. Bigger even than our American Church. I highly recommend going to a Church service in another country. (One started and ran by the people of that country, not by American Missionaries.) To experience worship in another culture is amazing!
People are people.
There is always someone in every group that expresses how surprised they are about how much we have in common. Many are terrified of interacting with people in other countries because they don’t know the language and fear they won’t be able to relate. Truth is, people are people. You may not know their spoken language, but you know the language of fun! Everyone across the world can kick a soccer ball. Every child in the world likes to do jump rope! Everyone loves running and having fun! Fun and laughter is certainly a universal language.
In my opinion, every Christian needs to experience missions in some way at some point. Please prayerfully consider taking a mission’s trip somewhere and experience God in a new way! I promise you won’t regret it!