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. . . Respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed (Romans 13:7, ESV).
There’s something about a short-term mission trip that changes your life.
Change experts describe moments of “deep impression” that have such an impact that our lives are changed. Often, these moments of considerable change can happen in just a few days. I’ve led dozens of short-term mission trips, and invariably, most on the trip will say, “My life will never be the same.”
I experienced this on my first mission trip to Russia. I love routine, hot meals, and showers, along with adequate sleep in a comfortable bed — all of which are suspect on most mission trips.
Getting off a bus, having just arrived in Russia for my first mission trip, I remember Pastor Rick Ives (who I barely knew at the time) saying, “Sleep when you can, eat when you can, and go to the bathroom when you can.”
I was distressed during that trip; my routines shattered, and I lost 10 pounds. But my life was different. I learned faith, living with inconvenience, and getting along with people I had just met in close quarters — like the entire team sleeping on church pews in an old Russian church the first night in Russia.
Knowing how trips to Russia can make a difference, I took my two daughters with me to Russia. It gave them a different perspective too, seeing a persecuted church, and staying with believers in their Russian flats with little to nothing of American conveniences.
My youngest daughter loved it so much that she raised money to return several times. My oldest daughter became a missionary in Germany for two years and then in Afghanistan for four years.
A moment to confess my father’s pride!
I’ve just completed eight days with my three grandsons in the Philippines. My sister runs a school in General Santos City for about 700 children, most of whom live in extreme poverty. My two daughters, recognizing how their lives changed when I took them to Russia, wanted my grandsons to experience life in the Philippines at Naomi’s Heart Mission.
They played basketball, distributed food, and made friends with children their same age but geographically and culturally thousands of miles distant. At the end of their stay, my grandson Colin said, “I wish we could stay the summer.”
A moment to confess my grandfather-pride!
I’ve attached two links: one of my grandsons and daughters (and a few friends) traveling to a mountainous community near my sister’s mission compound to deliver rice to impoverished villagers (Click this photo).
While sharing my grandchildren’s life-changing experiences, I would also like to share a link (click photo) about the new school building that my sister’s mission is building.
Thanks for praying for my family, me, and our whole team while we are in the Philippines. This upcoming weekend, my wife and I, along with Pastor Rick Ives and his wife Heather, will lead a discipling conference with 90 to 100 Filipino church leaders.
A moment to confess my pride in a God of great glory!