Spring Break Mission

So, I just returned from spending a week in Memphis, TN working with S.O.S. (service over self) ministries. This trip followed in a pattern I expect to continue for as long as I continue to travel to various places helping the less fortunate and sharing God's word; I was impacted more than the people I went to help. On this trip God really worked with me about being open and willing to share my life with others. God showed me that part of sharing him with others is allowing myself to be vulnerable and to constantly step out of my comfort zone as I share what He has done in my own life. WOW, is that a hard thing to do. The first step I took in taking on this challenge was to get to know the family we were working with. It was only through God that I found the courage to knock on their door every morning along with one or two other people in my group and just sit and build a relationship with the family. I am a naturally shy person and it was definitely a challenge to carry on a conversation with the family. But, by turning the situation over to God, I found peace and comfort in the situation. The family shared so much of their history with us and showed us pictures that dated back to over 50 years before I was born. It was a blessing to get to know them and to watch God slowly but deliberately chip away my apprehension at getting to know new people and sharing with them.
I'm sure many of you reading this will want to know what I did on this mission and I will try to post that at a later date, but in my opinion what I did, is much less important than what I learned and the relationships I built. Don't misunderstand me, the work my team did while we were in Memphis is extremely important, but I don't want to down play the other side of missions work.
Remember faith without works is dead -James 2:17  But what good are your works if you aren't demonstrating true compassion to those you are helping?

Thank YOU

A huge thank you to everyone who has and will support my missions. Without you all, these trips to spread the word of God and help those God has charged us to help would not be possible. I am currently raising support to go on a mission to Memphis, TN over my spring break. If you would like to support me please feel free to send me an email at wilkin17@illinois.edu . Again thank everyone soooo much, it is truly a blessing to have your support.

Honduras post 2

There are 5 billion people in the world today, and of those 5 billion, 1 billion live in extreme poverty. These 1 billion people are daily close to the edge of starvation, have no water to drink, and are plagued by a low life expectancy, illiteracy, and a lack of educated citizens in their country over all as the people who are fortunate enough to receive an education leave in search for something better. This information was presented to me in a sermon the week after I returned from Honduras. During that message, the pastor said something that really made me think, "Do not be a compassion tourist." These words pushed me to understand that the purpose of missions work is not to boast and show pictures of poor degenerate people as if to say "look what I have done for these people."  Missions work is about making your boast in God alone, and helping others because He has commanded us to do so. Before taking part in this mission, I would hear stories of the great things missionaries did in other countries and think to myself "wow, what a great person." Now it is may prayer that when I share my mission experiences with others, they realize that what I have done is not something that is worthy of praise, or even something amazing, what I have done is simply the work God has charged us to do as His people. I entered into the mission to Honduras with the intention of helping others, but also knowing that I would be greatly impacted.  I was right, but I was not prepared for how great of an impact the people would have on me. Though the people there had so little we were invited to come in and sit down in each and every home we visited while evangelizing, and at the homes that were to small to accommodate us, the people found whatever items could be used as seats and brought them out for us. Here in the United States people most likely would decline to invite a group of people doing door to door evangelism to come in and sit and discuss the gospel. It truly touched me to see people who had so little be so generous. It made me re-evaluate who I am and who I want to be, and where God is leading me in my life both short term and long term.

After thoughts

So, I'm back home from my first ever mission trip and wow did I learn alot. God is doing amazing things in Choluteca, Honduras and I was humbled to have been blessed to have been apart of the amazing works that are happening there. Our first day in Honduras we went to the home of a family of eleven whihch was living in unfrtunate conditions. The mother  (age 43) had a stroke 2 years ago resulting in the left side of he body being paralyzed, her 23 year old daughter, Doña, has epilipsy,  and her ten year old daughter, Lillian, has severe malnutrition and is constantly in and out of the hospital. Dona has an 18 month old son named Oniel who also suffers from severe malnutrition, although Oniel is 18 months old he is not able to hold his own head up, let alone walk or babble. The family told us they only have money to feed the baby juice once a day and he doesn't even get that on a daily basis. The family's home, a shack made of whatever the family was able to scrounge up flooded in the rainy season leaving everyone inside soaking wet and more vulnerable to illness than their conditions already rendered them. We worked extensively with this family throughout the week, building them a new home, taking them on their frist ever trip to a super market, and praying with them.
      Although Honduras is a "third world country" (I thought all the countries together made one world), and full of poverty, I did not feel sorry for the people I encountered and I do not believe that they felt sorry for themselves. I did not feel the urge to cry out and ask God how he could allow his precious creations live under such hardship and in such unspeakable poverty, as others on my team expressed they wished to do. Though I did not share these sentiments, I was still deeply affected by what I wittnessed. Deutronomy 15:11 says "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded towards  your brothers and towards the poor and needy in your land." I realized from this experience that no matter what we do, there will always be people who will live in extreme poverty in this world. Because we live in a fallen world in which we have been seperated form the good and flawless plan that God originally created for us to live out, bad things are inevitable. It is not our job as Christians and Followers of Christ to save the world, God already sent His one and only Son to do that, but it is our job to show our fellow man the love of Christ however God charges us to do that. Read my next blog to hear the rest of my thoughts and to find out what else I did on my first ever mission trip. Glory, Honor and Power be to God!