My whole life I never thought, I would be going on a mission trip. I grew up viewing missionaries as people traveling to force others to believe in God. Even though I admired and respected their courage and dedication but didn’t think that traveling for that was necessary at that time. For some of them, they will have to leave all behind like good paying job, family or loved ones, life, etc…; and I thought this was too extreme if you had asked me. Little to know that decades after, I will be in that same position for little more than a week. Talking about how God works right! 🙂

I will be breaking into three parts my whole mission trip experiences so you won’t be overwhelmed with too much reading.

• The first part will consist of how this trip came about, why I decided to go, and the preparation time.
• In the second part, I will be talking about the trip, my experience being a missionary.
• Finally, the third part will consist of what I realized, how the trip changed me, and what will be next.

What is a Missionary or a Disciple?

So, one may ask this question and if you are not the one then bless your heart. I broke down the word missionary into two words: 1. Mission + 2. Ary (short for Itinerary). Then, how do I define it? Missionary is a disciple on a mission to make others on his/her itinerary or route a disciple. Jesus is says:

… If you hold to My teaching, you are really my disciples. (John 8:31)

And John on the other hand, described Disciple as everyone who

…love Jesus, and keep His commandments. (John 14:15)

So, loving Jesus and embracing His laws = Disciple. If you love Jesus and work in accordance to His commandments, then you are one. John says to keep His commandments, How do you keep or embrace Jesus’ commandments? Simply, by believing in Him and seeking Him through His Word, continually obeying His teachings and living in accordance to them. For we are all called to be His disciples [to teach the gospel to others]. That’s where we sometimes fall short. Why?, because we call ourselves Christians, yet cannot bow our heads and pray before we eat in a public place; we can’t share a word with someone at our place of work, school, or other public place; and so forth.. May God help us in that area, Amen!

Okay, as Jesus commission the Eleven according to the book of Matthew,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:19)

He is also commissioning you, today and now, to do the same. my question to you is this: Are you fulfilling that great commission? It’s not because you think, you go to Church only on Sundays, during major holidays, or when you are happy, feel better will be enough; NO, it won’t cut it. For you need to be devoted to God. You have to follow Him in good and bad times, every day, minute, and second. Go out and share the gospel as Jesus instructed you to. We need to realize that being a disciple or Discipleship it’s not a casual task but a full-time work for every Christian. Another question I will ask you is this: Are you a part-time or full-time believer? God tells us in Revelation,

So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:16)

I am sure we don’t want God to spit us out, don’t we?. Therefore, let’s do some about it. All of the above are some truths I want you to consider as I go through the topic of this post which is my First Mission’s trip, Part 1. I will be talking about how this trip came about, why I decided to go, and the preparation time.

How this trip came about?

Here we go… My Church , Calvary Temple Int’l in Wayne, NJ (CTI) announced at the beginning of this year the next mission trip, coming up in May 2018 in Guadalajara, Mexico. At first Hum…, I disregarded the announcement until my sister in Christ, friend, colleague asked me if I was going? Not really too sure, I said yes on these following conditions:

1. We go together,
2. The level of involvement will be low (what am I saying by this: any type of work or contribution like going out of my comfort zone praying for people I don’t know [who was I fooling 🙂 here?]; on top of it I don’t speak Spanish so…)
3. The estimated out of pocket cost will also be low.

Those were my three conditions to go to Mexico. When she gave me some insights regarding the last time she went on her mission trip with the Church, it made me feel more comfortable and thinking that this not as hard as I thought. Oh boy! how was I wrong when I found out all the conditions [requirements] after signing up for the mission trip 🙁. Before signing up, I was so excited thinking this trip to Mexico would be fun and would also be one thing off of my bucket list as a Christian that I never knew existed.

It’s only during the trip meetings that I came to know about all the conditions which were stringent than what my sister in Christ had shared with me: the initial cost of the trip was more than the price I was told (which is normal because it is never the same price every year and depends on the number of people and other external factors). The fundraising were not as fun as I thought; we all had to put some work into it (in order to eat, you need to or someone has to cook right?). Also, we not only had to fast for a month prior to the trip which wasn’t a problem for me, but we had to memorize 18 verses times 2 from two different Books (Colossians & Philippians) in about a month as well. Adding all of that into my daily work, church activities, and personal tasks, I was like Woo.!

Why I decided to go and the preparation time?

All these conditions were overwhelming to me that I thought to myself: “this wasn’t what I signed up for!“; and made me feel reluctant about my decision to go on this trip. Forgetting that discipleship is not something we sign up for, it’s part of us once we accept Christ. As being a Christian, we don’t need to sign up to do God’s work it is our responsibility. Would it be that, I just had my priority in wrong things all this while? – talking about “signing up”! May God forgive me, forgive us. For some time, we do thing without realizing it.

As far as my sister in Christ goes, I came to understand with the help of the Spirit, that God just used her to make me sign up for this trip. First, she ended up not going for some reason and secondly, the little information she gave me, boosted me up to sign up for it. God knows me and knows you also so well, that He can use anyone and anything around us to make us fulfill His will. Why am I saying this? In my case, knowing me, I would have never signed up if I had known all the conditions for this mission trip; trust me. Yep indeed, God had different plans for me.

Let’s look at what God is telling us about knowing us so well in the book of Isaiah.

“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel; Fear not [Do not fear], for I have redeemed you; I have called [summoned] you by your name; You are Mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)

In that same token, let’s also look at God says in Jeremiah,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jer. 1:5)

As you can see from these 2 verses, how, no matter what you are going through, God knows you by name, He handpicked you, and you are not a mistake. He is calling you not to be afraid for He knows you well enough to turn things around. So don’t think your situation is too impossible for God to do. As He created you, it makes Him the Maker of your life, He will make a way. If He has to refurbish, rebuild, restore you, or tear you apart to make the impossible possible or make use of you for His purpose, only He can do. How? Because, He knew you before you were conceived in your mother’s womb and has chosen you to be prophet [disciple] to the nations. Read again the last part of Jer.1:5 again, it is deep.

Before you were born, He set you apart and made you a disciple. You see how your life is not a mistake?  how you are meant for something greater? how you ought to be a disciple? how He knows you well enough to change your life around? My question to you now after reading this is: Are you that disciple God has selected from the start? Can you imagine how today would be like if the Apostles didn’t disciple others who themselves disciple others after them, and so forth? It all started with Jesus [who was send by God, who is God], then His Apostles, those in between, and now us. So, I urge you not to break the chain, and be that disciple you were called to be. In order that tomorrow, your children can be disciples for the next generation to come. Amen!

Going back to my trip experience. Because of all the trip requirements, in many cases, I wanted to cancel it. But from one reason or the other, the Spirit kept preventing me. What I did at one point was just to give up the fight and decided to just follow along. And during one of our meetings, the Pastor leading the trip, told us to be opened, and recommended us to take the fasting and this preparation time very seriously for God may start working on us even before we reach Mexico. I didn’t really get it at that time.

My Encounter During Preparation Time

Talking about encounter before the trip. A month before the missionary trip in April, I attended a Woman of Virtue (WOV) Retreat organized by Pastor Horine Oluwole. from Father’s House Int’l Worship Center (FHIWC) in Houston, Texas.

And there, God delivered me from a long fight I have been battling for years was discouraged. During this retreat, I was still fasting for my missionary trip. And on the first day, everyone was asked to randomly pick a verse from a bucket. Each verse was numbered and mine was number 14, Isaiah 64:8.

My scripture says:

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You are the potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. (Isaiah 64:8 NKJV) Alleluia!

and the biblical meaning of the number #14 is generational promises, deliverance.

It’s only then, that I saw the connection with Flavor and Semah Song (titled Most High) that kept coming in my Spirit couple days to the retreat. The lyrics were God talking to me saying He is the:

Most High, I need to Hallow His name, for He told me not to worry. That all will be OK; He is the Father to the fatherless, the Miracle working God. He makes the blind man to see, the cripple man to walk. He is the Lilly of [Galilee] the valley and make the impossible possible.

In other words, He was assuring me that I need to open my eyes and see what He is currently doing, for deliverance is a process not a next day thing. He will make a way and make me walk, lift me up where I wasn’t. He will break the evil circle, bring light & beauty in my life; He will mold me by giving me a new life and making possible what my enemies has set to be impossible; I will see my deliverance and His promises will manifest. Amen! I am grateful, and Thank You Papa God!

With the retreat being powerful, going so well, and receiving my deliverance, I asked myself: what was the point, of going to this mission trip again, if I already have my encounter with God? I was thinking about cancelling the trip again but, the Spirit convicted me not to do so. Isn’t it crazy how selfish we are when it comes to God, after receiving what we asked for?  I pray this will not be your portion in Jesus name. May God have mercy on us.

For we need to realized, it’s not because God answered our prayers that we need to stop praying, or stop doing, thriving for Godly things. In the contrary, we need to pray more. This retreat just confirmed what my pastor said regarding how we can have an encounter with God during our preparation time.

(to be continued…)

In couple of days, I will be posting Part 2 of My first Mission Trip. Stay tuned, share and Subscribe (check your email for subscription confirmation otherwise, your subscription will not be completed).

 

Let’s pray:

Father in Jesus name, help us to hold to Your teachings and embrace your laws; As we seek you through your Words, may Your Spirit help us to understand the deep meaning and message you have for us and hear from you. As You know us by our name and formed us, Oh Lord, we ask You to come into our life, set us apart and make us that disciple you have call us to be in Jesus Mighty name, we have prayed. Amen!

Stay Blessed and highly favored!