So, I’m not quite sure how this happened (as is typical when God gets involved in my life) but I’m going on a missions trip. I have never been. This will be a first. It is interesting to look back on the past few years and see how God gently guided/nudged/prodded/shoved (all of them fit, actually) me through the treacherous course that is ‘life’ to the place I stand now. Chris and I have both grown a lot in our faith over the past few years, and it really has been none of our own doing. A lot of it has been the amazing small group that God has given us in our church. We love those people and through interactions and learning with them and from them Chris and I have definitely grown closer together and much closer to God.

Below is a ‘snippet’ from the letter that we are sending out to family and friends, just to give you a synopsis of what the ‘plan’ is for our trip.

‘On August 12th Ashley and I will be heading to Ensenada, Mexico for seven days with 12 other people from our church family and small group. We will be hosted by an organization called YUGO ministries (Youth Unlimited Gospel Outreach). While in Ensenada we will build a home for a family who is in desperate need for adequate shelter and our prayer is that in working alongside this family we will also have the opportunity to share God’s love and faithfulness with them through our actions and conversations.

Ashley and I have both been praying about this trip and, as this is a ‘first missions trip’ for both of us, have felt a strong urge to be obedient to Christ’s command to us in Mark 16: “Go and bring the good news to all of creation”. We know that God has plans to use us in powerful ways that we cannot even fathom at the moment. We thank you so much for already supporting us in our everyday lives…’

Basically, I believe that I have not been very obedient to God’s command in the past in regards to sharing my faith and caring for those who need it, widows and orphans.  This is my first step in changing that. I had previously turned a blind eye to the need, so that I could continue to live in my naive world. If I can’t see the problems then they don’t exist. Well, they do exist, and at some point in everyone’s life they will be judged for what they have done…or have not done.

It was difficult to write the letter (which I don’t know if you could tell was written by me, even though I weirdly referred to myself in the third person as if Chris wrote it. I decided to write the letter from Chris’ perspective (with his permission and approval, of course), seeing as he’s the man and the head of the household and such.  

Below is a video that will give you a more detailed look at the type of family we will be helping, their needs, and what we will be doing. (ps: I’ve never embedded a video into a blog post before….so sorry if it doesn’t work. I’ll try to post it again later if that is the case).

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’.

– Matthew 25:40