Missionaries

We find ourselves on the road yet again for the second round of fundraising. So, please forgive me once again for my posts being a little scattered. Living on the road does not give as much time for writing as I would like. Upon the completion of round two of fundraising, are hoping to have enough funds to get to Liberia come August or September of this year. We have had some precious opportunities to spend with family, friends and even fellow missionaries on the field. Our most recent adventure was to Tijuana, Mexico. We spent about 5 days with two beautiful missionary families. We rejoiced with them as they shared their many God directed moments and connected with them as they openly shared their struggles and challenges of being on the mission field. Missionary life is not easy no matter what part of the world you are in. 

Missionary calling
Did you know that we are each called to a life of missions? Scripture tells us to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19). It never tells us where, it just says go. That “going” could mean the grocery store, our workplace, our neighborhood, and even our closest friends and family. There are no clear boundaries given to that word “go.” You don’t even need to find yourself on foreign soil in order to fulfill this word, but you do need to “go.” But because the word “go” is an action word, we must physically be doing something in order to fulfill the scripture. We must take some kind of action to see disciples coming into the kingdom. They will not just magically appear because we want them to. We are required to put in some blood, sweat, and often times many many tears rooted in prayer in order for that scripture to come to fruition. When we do our part, the Lord will always make good on His word. So, no matter where you are at, you are called to be a missionary for Christ!

I wanted to share with you some of our experiences on the mission field of Tijuana, Mexico in hopes that you may be encouraged to reach out to those in your own community who are in need of the love of Jesus Christ.  I realize that some of these experiences may be extreme cases but look around you. There are hurting people everywhere. They don’t all look the same from the outside, but their hearts still need Jesus just the same. 

A local orphanage

What a tremendous heart-tugging experience it was to visit an orphanage in Tijuana. This particular orphanage is currently housing 64 children. They provide housing, meals, schooling, clothing much-needed love and support to all of these precious children. You could not help but want to take these kids home with you. Are there any orphaned individuals in your community? People who have been written off as unwanted, unneeded or unloved? What are some things you can do to show them the love of Christ?

The city dump
This was by far the most gut-wrenching thing to see during our stay in Tijuana. These people had literally built shelters in at the city dump. They spent their days picking through dump truck loads of trash that were disposed of on a daily basis. We passed out more than 100 sandwiches and snacks to individuals and even had the opportunity to pray for several of them. It truly breaks your heart to see people with so little when we are blessed with so much. We were told by one of the native people that these individuals flee to the dump often times to escape the police. They know that the police will leave them alone if they are there. There is a lot of drug abuse and a dump is a place that the police do not want to go. Who are the people around you who find themselves in a hopeless situation, a situation they don’t know how to get themselves out of? How can you show Jesus to those who are down and out, heavy-hearted, or just simply running away from their past? 

There are people who find themselves in these types of situations in every walk of life. The situations may disguise themselves in different masks, but as I said earlier, they still all need Jesus.

Father, open our eyes that we may see those around us in need of you. Help us to seek out the broken hearted so we can bring them to your feet so you can bind up their wounds. We know that there are broken people everywhere. We do not have to go to the orphanage or the city dump to find them, they are in our workplaces, our neighborhoods, and sometimes even in our own homes. Help us to see people through your eyes. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.