That was Pepper's exhortation to us at the end of encouragement time. What a sweet time. We all said wonderful things to each other. It was great to speak life to each other and have a team mate do the same. People said things to me that I would've never thought they noticed. Full heart!
Last night we had our last debrief. Like I said in the last quick post we talked about the four areas of missions. Each area we talked about we had a chance to share. I am going to try and recap some answers so that you have a tiiiiiiiiny glimpse of how we are coming back.
First of all I need to interrupt this message to say I'm on the plane right now and one of the dudes next to me just farted. Gross.
Serve:
Pepper- we are not the ones loving these kids. It's God's love through us that is loving these kids.
Good service is invisible. Ryan said this during this area of missions. He explained that when a person is served well they just have everything they need and are not in want. Like a good waiter at a restaurant. It needs no prompting or praise.
There was a cook at the church. They made breakfast and lunch everyday for us. Claudia was trying to help her on the first day and she refused her help. She told Claudia that all she wanted was to serve us. These people were full of that mindset. It touched our hearts because of course we wanted to serve them.
A connection to that story comes from Lia. She went to the kitchen to say thank you to the cook. I think she may have been the only kid to do so. This woman was endlessly thankful and moved by Lia's grateful ness.
For some reason this reminded me of the story of the ten lepors. Only one went back to Jesus to say thank you.
One of Noah's realizations was that service can be fun it doesn't always have to be getting his mom a glass of water.
We shared difficult moments that were hard to serve.
Jason mentioned that some times kids would be messy and snotty and they would ask for hugs. That was a struggle.
Lynn got peed on.
Sometimes the kids would ask for something and we couldn't give it to them bc there were too many of them.
JD had this problem with his Smarties and the kite.
Vicky mentioned taking little girls to the bathroom to do #2 was tough. I remember passing her as I was going into the bathroom and she just shook her head and told me to hold my breath.
We were clearly exhausted on this trip. Noah confessed that there was a moment when a kid ask him for water he sent them to Rodrigo instead bc he couldn't muster the energy.
Another comment he made was that he feels like this is the missions trip that he feels he was served the most on.
Learn:
This could've been anything about the people about the culture about the place.
Rodrigo said he learned that those kids there weren't afraid if failure. They would just pick up and try again. I thought that would be a great way to live. Just trying my best. Win some lose some as long as I learn from my failure and don't let it ruin me or place my identity in my success as we often do.
Jason learned how to pursue people. There were kids that on the first day didn't want to talk and he just kept after them until they eventually warmed up.
Ryan in talking to some if the locals found out that one of the guys there has to spend time away from his family to go to Lima to make ends meet.
The same guy mentioned that tourists in Mancora can smoke weed and be obnoxious in the streets but if a local does that the police have no problem going after them. That double standard hurts.
What Victoria noticed was that these people we were serving live 7 mins from the town circle and never go hang out there. They were admiring our henna tattoos and hair decorations that we got. They thought it was so cool! They've never done it for themselves. I remember last year that we took a kid to the beach for the first time. Mancora IS a beach town. How is that possible? It's a walk away. The contrast between tourist and local is stark.
The first tuk tuk came to Mancora in 1998! I was 8 or 9. Just a fun fact Ryan shared.
Grow:
Jason said he found a heart for the lost.
Jonathan encouraged the team to find ways to use what they've been given. Speaking of their gifts.
Fia was sad to leave the people but came to the conclusion that they left God there with them and that's what makes it all good.
Rodrigo shared some of the future plans that God was stirring in his heart. Most of it was about skateboarding. He says that skateboarding brought him to Jesus.
Being served helped Cane understand serving better. I thought that was insightful. There were moments when the people there would do things for us and it brought them delight to do so. That was awesome.
Carla got to talk a little too. Carla is wonderful. She has been going to Mancora since she was 14. She is now going to be a junior in college. The only year she didn't go was last year. I remember talking to her before we left last year. I asked her why she wasn't going and she told me she thought it was time for her to make way for others.
Carla came this year to do just that! She doesn't know where God is going to lead her in the future but she needed to come back to know that she wasn't needed anymore and that it was okay to let go. She reproduced and left a legacy. I am impressed.
Continue:
I'm sure we mentioned this too that night but I don't remember what stories went with it. I do know that today we gave each teammate a sheet of paper to write a letter to themselves. They should write down what God did in their heart and in their lives. In a month they'll get it back.
My hope and my prayer is that those of them that came on this trip to explore new depths with their relationship with God would make provisions and changes to keep going deeper. For our other teammates I pray that their love for God's people follow them wherever they go. I pray they keep making disciples and following God's voice to serve.
I'm done for now. It has been a pleasure to share with you guys our stories. In the book of Nehemiah when he goes to build the wall it says that he tells the people what God did and that strengthened the people to do the good work (Neh 2:18). I hope and pray you are encouraged today.
Thank you for you support, love and mostly prayer.
-Esther
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