In the months leading up to this trip I was asked many times "why do you need to go to another country to help people when there are so many people here in the U.S. who need your help?" The reality was that I could never come up with a good answer. I began questioning that myself "Is it selfish to want to travel all this distance just to help people?" Then the answer came to me as a I read a book one evening. The name of the book was called Radical, it mentioned how one of Jesus last messages to the disciples before departing the earth the second time was to "GO TELL ALL NATIONS". That scripture stuck with me throughout this trip.
The second day of my trip we were visiting 3 orphanages. The first was a rather new and nicely built orphanage, you could tell the kids there were happy and felt safe. The 2nd orphanage had a dark feeling to it, the minute we exited the truck the children were screaming "No photo", their was a feeling of opression. I remember saying along with the other guys "somethings not right".While we were there we passed out mangos to the children, you could tell it was their first meal of the day. These kids did not smile like all the other children we encountered on this trip. While I was holding one of the 2 year olds he grabbed my newly opened bottle of water and guzzled down the entire 16 oz. bottle in a few seconds. My jaw dropped to the floor because I had never seen someone so thirsty.
After leaving to head to the 3rd orphanage I couldn't help but feel upset. I became quiet and filled with sadness, I wanted to help these children but I felt like my hands were tied. The missionary who was stationed in Haiti said he had never seen it like that before "usually the children are happy and full of joy" he mentioned. Well we pulled up to the last orphanage of the day and I couldn't help but feel low. I walked in and couldn't muster up the strength to smile. Children ran up happy to see us, hugging anyone they could get their hands on, I didn't want the children to see me down so I walked to a corner of the orphanage and sat on the porch. A little girl named Michelle walked up to me and put her arm around me. She could tell I was feeling upset about something, I tried to smile at her but it was pathetic. She took one more look at me and squeezed tighter, then she said something that I will never forget "God Bless You". I remember the sense of love that overwhelmed me as I asked her to repeat what she said, "God Bless You". She then hugged me again and looked up at me with a smile "Thank you for coming"
It hit me in that moment that we are called to Go Tell All Nations to share Christ love, not to just send money because money cannot show love. People need to feel love. "Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew28:19. As I showed powerpoints to my middle school classrooms I remember telling the children that there was only 1 adult to care for 80 orphans at one of the places we visited, only then did I understand why so many of the orphans wanted to be picked up and hugged, they needed to feel Gods love.
It's a basic need in life, it's one thing to send money or donate clothes but people need to feel loved. Michelle knew I was feeling down and she needed to show me Gods love at the very moment. I understand now that it wasn't just important for me to go share Gods love but that we allow other people the opportunity to share it as well. That little girl was ministering to me that day. As she stood in the gravel driveway with no shoes or socks she hugged me as if she were my long lost friend and lifted me up with blessing. The words "Thank you for coming" was all I needed to hear to understand why I had to get all these shots, raise money and travel to another country, we need to share Gods love. If your a Christian it is what Jesus commands us to do "Go tell all nations.", don't just send money, physically go see my people, my children and share the good news that Christ is real and that this life, their suffering, is temporary.
Now i'm not telling you that every time you feel the urge to help someone you have to go on a mission trip, I believe that is a calling. I had a 90 year old lady ask me why I had to go to Haiti to help people, "our country needs help too". I told her she is right and that is why I work in a helping profession, I'm involved with six non profits, assist with countless fundraisers and volunteer weekly. The reality is many of the people who ask that question don't understand the Bible or Gods love. I had a friend post on facebook about all the danger and help needed in our local neighborhood, to which someone commented "So what are you doing?" That response is right, it's easy to tell others to go fix things or acknowledge that we are a broken society but what are we personally doing to fix it? Are we hoping government programs help mentor those teens who are lost and wreaking havoc or are we signing up for after school programs, doing our part to change the world? Do we complain about drug addicts and the homeless population or are we out there helping them? We all have skills and talents and I urge you to share yours with the people in our community who need it the most. Don't be another bystandard in our screwed up world. If we all did our part, if we took action to fix the problems we complain about, our world would be a different place, a better place!
The second day of my trip we were visiting 3 orphanages. The first was a rather new and nicely built orphanage, you could tell the kids there were happy and felt safe. The 2nd orphanage had a dark feeling to it, the minute we exited the truck the children were screaming "No photo", their was a feeling of opression. I remember saying along with the other guys "somethings not right".While we were there we passed out mangos to the children, you could tell it was their first meal of the day. These kids did not smile like all the other children we encountered on this trip. While I was holding one of the 2 year olds he grabbed my newly opened bottle of water and guzzled down the entire 16 oz. bottle in a few seconds. My jaw dropped to the floor because I had never seen someone so thirsty.
After leaving to head to the 3rd orphanage I couldn't help but feel upset. I became quiet and filled with sadness, I wanted to help these children but I felt like my hands were tied. The missionary who was stationed in Haiti said he had never seen it like that before "usually the children are happy and full of joy" he mentioned. Well we pulled up to the last orphanage of the day and I couldn't help but feel low. I walked in and couldn't muster up the strength to smile. Children ran up happy to see us, hugging anyone they could get their hands on, I didn't want the children to see me down so I walked to a corner of the orphanage and sat on the porch. A little girl named Michelle walked up to me and put her arm around me. She could tell I was feeling upset about something, I tried to smile at her but it was pathetic. She took one more look at me and squeezed tighter, then she said something that I will never forget "God Bless You". I remember the sense of love that overwhelmed me as I asked her to repeat what she said, "God Bless You". She then hugged me again and looked up at me with a smile "Thank you for coming"
 |
| Michelle |
It hit me in that moment that we are called to Go Tell All Nations to share Christ love, not to just send money because money cannot show love. People need to feel love. "Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew28:19. As I showed powerpoints to my middle school classrooms I remember telling the children that there was only 1 adult to care for 80 orphans at one of the places we visited, only then did I understand why so many of the orphans wanted to be picked up and hugged, they needed to feel Gods love.
It's a basic need in life, it's one thing to send money or donate clothes but people need to feel loved. Michelle knew I was feeling down and she needed to show me Gods love at the very moment. I understand now that it wasn't just important for me to go share Gods love but that we allow other people the opportunity to share it as well. That little girl was ministering to me that day. As she stood in the gravel driveway with no shoes or socks she hugged me as if she were my long lost friend and lifted me up with blessing. The words "Thank you for coming" was all I needed to hear to understand why I had to get all these shots, raise money and travel to another country, we need to share Gods love. If your a Christian it is what Jesus commands us to do "Go tell all nations.", don't just send money, physically go see my people, my children and share the good news that Christ is real and that this life, their suffering, is temporary.
Now i'm not telling you that every time you feel the urge to help someone you have to go on a mission trip, I believe that is a calling. I had a 90 year old lady ask me why I had to go to Haiti to help people, "our country needs help too". I told her she is right and that is why I work in a helping profession, I'm involved with six non profits, assist with countless fundraisers and volunteer weekly. The reality is many of the people who ask that question don't understand the Bible or Gods love. I had a friend post on facebook about all the danger and help needed in our local neighborhood, to which someone commented "So what are you doing?" That response is right, it's easy to tell others to go fix things or acknowledge that we are a broken society but what are we personally doing to fix it? Are we hoping government programs help mentor those teens who are lost and wreaking havoc or are we signing up for after school programs, doing our part to change the world? Do we complain about drug addicts and the homeless population or are we out there helping them? We all have skills and talents and I urge you to share yours with the people in our community who need it the most. Don't be another bystandard in our screwed up world. If we all did our part, if we took action to fix the problems we complain about, our world would be a different place, a better place!
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