Spring Break Mission Trip 2015 - Final Blog

This morning’s events gave us historical and cultural overview of Mexico, followed by a short team debrief, and preparations for our first program.

The following evening, when we arrived at the venue to perform our first program we discovered that the area was preoccupied by a volleyball team, and a soccer game and Zumba routine nearby. While initially this situation seemed daunting, the activity seemed to help attract a variety of people in the end – mostly children to watch our program. As we performed alongside the practicing teams, we seemed to merge together as one community, bringing the place to life with the whole area exploding with energy. All in all, we all benefited from the situation.

One of my favourite experiences there was connecting with the children. Knowing just a little Spanish, it was a reward to see them understand my simple verbal directions and inquiries.

One of my main memories was at the end of the wordless bookmark. A boy sat down to my right, whom I had met earlier during our pre-program game time. Also, a girl I hadn’t met, joined him and started asking me simple questions, such as "What is your name?" and "What is her name?" It was great to be able to understand and answer [most of] their questions.

At the same time on my left were two younger boys, Louis and David, age 7 and 8, who had missed the bookmark activity and were very distressed. As our translator Jorge talked with them, the boys hung on to every word – going from distressed to absorbed in what Jorge was saying, to finally praying with bowed heads and eyes closed. I was struck by their urgency to be a part of the activity, obviously feeling as though they were missing something important (which was God moving in their hearts). Later, during clean up, the boys and the girl came back to talk to me, saying their goodbyes. It was sad to leave them there.

God used the program, games, activities, and even clean-up time, as an example of how a small task can become a big thing – one small piece of the puzzle, becomes the bigger picture that God had planned.

For me, it served as a personal reminder that whatever we do for God, whether big or small, it’s the doing that matters, because no matter how small our task may be, sometimes there's more to it than we can imagine.