I believe God chose me for this specific trip. Yes, I could have gone on another trip to a different country and have met different people with different stories. But he placed me on this day and age, to go out and help. I believe he brought me to Mexico at the age of 16 to show me just how much I love to serve people, to show me how much I love to travel, and to show me how important it is to create new relationships. Every single person has put in your life for a reason, whether they are meant to teach you a lesson or leave a good impact on you. All of the Mexicans that I encountered on my trip each taught me something new.
There was this young girl named Liz. She was telling us how she has never seen the snow and how she wants to drive in the snow as well. Evan said, “It’s very dangerous to drive in the snow. There are a lot of accidents.” Liz said, “Well I have Jesus in my heart so if I die, I died seeing more of the world that God has created.” After she said that, the song ‘Live Like You Were Dying’ came into my head. If you knew you were going to die wouldn’t you do more things that made you feel more alive? Fear puts limits on what we can and can’t do. The verse ‘fear not’ is written in the Bible 365 times. That is a daily reminder to live life fearlessly. You were placed at this moment. You were meant to breathe this air. You are more than what you think of yourself. God didn’t create you to be average, he created you to go above and beyond. God created you to be you, if he wanted you to be someone else he wouldn’t have crafted you limb by limb to be divers from everyone else. God placed you on this earth for a reason. You have a purpose. Trust in that.
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Every day my team would have a devotional in the morning before our day got started. Each morning a different team member would speak to the group on any topic they wanted that could help us in our time in Mexico. This morning I did it. I came down here without a topic because I didn’t want to talk if front of the group. I was very shy and I hated any sort of attention. I knew God wanted me to do a devotional for the team and he put me in this spot for a reason. So, I talked about being mindful of what we say, especially around the children. They don’t know a lot of English, but they can understand bits and pieces. Sue told us that you can be saying something and the look on their face tells you they are clueless but they understand every word.
We went to the church after breakfast for our second day of VBS. The weather was sunny and warm. We had a turnout of 20 plus kids today. We started off with games in the field. We didn’t have even teams so I had to join in on some of the games. After the games we went to crafts. There the kids colored pictures of Jesus and glued little pictures of children on it to signify Jesus loves all the children in this world. The girls would try to copy exactly what the example picture looks like and the boys raced each other to see who could get done first. After VBS we went home and ate lunch, then hosted a volleyball tournament. My team only lost one game out of the six we played. We went to Wednesday night service that night where Evan, our team leader, preached and it brought me to tears. Evan explained how every single person has changed his life dramatically and how he can’t wait to bring his family down again to meet all the Mexicans. After speaking on relationships not only with people, but with God, pastor Edgar came up and gave Evan a hug. Once that was initiated, everyone in the service was coming up to us and giving us hugs good-bye. I was told many times by the elders of the church that my smile was beautiful and to never lose it. To close the service we sang one last song. There was this young girl standing next to me that I have never seen. This young girl had a beautiful voice and she was dancing to every song the band sang. After worship, we began to pray and she grabbed my hand, it caught me off guard. The only time I’ve held someone’s hand during prayer was when I was younger during bible study. Then it clicked, she had a childlike faith. That’s what I’ve heard, have a faith that a child would have. When children are young they trust very easily and love their parents. First thing learned, I needed to start loving God and trusting him because he is looking out for me. Today was the first day of Vacation Bible School, which is hosted at the local church. The weather was a little chilly with pouring rain. As we waited at the church for kids to show up the hour became near and no kids came. We instantly went into prayer circles to pray for the kids to come the rest of the week. Since no kids showed up and we had many workers at the church we decided to make it a work day. The men helped with lifting and moving stuff out of the church. The women washed and wiped down the chairs that are used three times a week for services. It doesn’t matter if you are good at anything there is always somewhere where help is needed.
After the work was done, a game of soccer was started. Let me just say the Mexicans are very good at soccer, but they do not usually play in the grass, they play on concrete. It was obviously much harder than here in the United States. They play soccer on their free time, like a hobby, rather than us playing it as a sport. After the game we went back to the house we were staying at and there was a family there that was willing to cook us a homemade meal just because they wanted to. The family made us homemade tacos, some with potatoes in the middle and others with meat. We ended the night by playing card games. Today I worked at the Victory Center. The Victory Center is a school that my church is partnered with. The school takes in local kids around the neighborhood and gives them and education throughout the year. My missions group went down in July and obviously they were on summer break. In the summer they have a week per month where the kids come in for an art and craft, math games, and painting for the kids. This is just a little thing to get the kids out of the house and make it able to get to see other classmates they might not see.
Sue Leak, the missionary that we were staying with, asked the team to bring or buy a backpack because many of the children did not have anything to carry their books in during the school year. My whole team brought a variety of backpacks: Nike, exotic prints, that varied in size. A bag might not mean anything to us because many of us have plenty of them to carry our belongs in. This situation spelled out not only do they not have a bag but. the children must not have a lot of possessions. This opened my eyes to how much we have that we do not even think of. A pencil to write with every single day, a piece of paper that came from a 45 cent notebook, and a bag to carry these things around with us. It was so amazing to watch these children’s faces light up when a craft they can keep with them forever, is presented in front of them. They start with a few materials to start that will all come together to do something that brings joy. With a little help, the children made bunnies out of socks, rice, and rubber bands. We all have the material to create something, but we just need a little help. I have the things I need to build a relationship with God: bible, church, and family, but I am just missing God to connect it all together. Nothing is better than seeing true love. I met a girl named Zianya and she told me the story of how she and her husband met. It was perfect every single way they encountered each other. Every time she said his name she smiled and she would often look at him to find words to explain how she felt. She told me the best relationship advice she was ever given was to marry your best friend. Another topic I found insight on was my gifts, the gifts that God has given to me. I used to sing at church when I was younger, but now I am shy and don’t find it to be “my thing” anymore. She said, “I’m going to tell you what my father told me. I stopped singing like you and he came to me and asked ‘When you get to heaven and God asks you what you did with the gifts He gave you what are you going to say? Are you going to say you were shy? Embrace the God given talent you possess!’” This opened my heart and lead to the realization of what God wants from me. The Bible verse Colossians 3:23 spoke out to me that night, which states, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as you are working for the Lord.” With a hug and a kiss my heart was opened, not only to normal love, but to earthly love. I arrived to a four bedroom home in Morelia, Mexico to serve for the Lord. With the Hispanic faith, everything they did was with a passion. They never left a piece of their heart out of what they believed or felt, they went wholeheartedly into everything they persuaded. Everyone was so kind to complete strangers. It didn’t matter what my background was, what I looked like, or how I acted; they loved me, they showed me kindness. I took a look around the room when I first arrived, with many different and new faces, their hearts were open to love on us. Love didn’t come naturally to me before my trip. I didn’t like hugging or even touching people, but with them the least friendliest thing they could do was give a hug. I didn’t just open my eyes, but I also opened my heart. Imagine having seven complete strangers, come into your country to bond with you… kind of weird right. In American society we are quick to jump to conclusions about people. We have trust issues that’s simply it. I surely wouldn’t trust random people coming from across the country because they just want to sit down with me and get to know me. But that is exactly what my mission was, it was to build relationships with as many Mexicans as I could.
They wanted to know everything about everything. They never have seen snow, they never have gone sledding, or never have had a snowball fight. It is so bizarre how reversed their lives are compared to ours. Things that seem normal to us, they have never experienced. They wanted to branch out and wanted us to teach them words in English they didn’t know. They also taught us things too. They taught me new games to play, they taught me a song in Spanish, and they exposed me to new foods. Connecting with people through the love of God is the best way to build a relationship. My heart was so overwhelmed with love for the community and the people I met the first day. This shows that God’s love can conquer any area, far and wide. |
About The AuthorName: Kassidy Moffitt |