This past week, our family was able to take our second missions trip to Grenada, West Indies, with a group from our church. This was an evangelistic trip that included doing VBS during the mornings, and street preaching and evangelism at night. It was an amazing nine-day experience that we will not soon forget.
Among the many things that God taught us this past week, we were reminded of some important things – things that as Christians we sometimes all too easily forget (or at least I do). Here are a few of them:
God Provides
It’s amazing to think that we have been working towards making this trip a reality for the past 8 months. In that time we have seen God provide in wonderful ways through the generosity of friends and family and through a lot of good old-fashioned hard work. We’ve seen that ‘teamwork makes the dream work’ as a family. With nearly $10k to raise, we’ve been reminded that with God’s help and some determination, you can make things happen financially if you really want to in a short amount of time. We experienced what Dave Ramsey refers to as “gazelle intensity” ;). Through it all, we’ve been reminded more than anything that we serve a God who provides.
God’s Mercies are New Every Morning
One of the biggest parts of a missions trip is being involved in missions work. The VBS we conducted was an amazing opportunity to influence hundreds of Grenadian children with the love of Christ and the Gospel. From starting on the first day with 96 kids, and having a high of 222, in a church building not much bigger than the size of an average church classroom in America, there were times when it stretched our team to new limits mentally, physically, and spiritually. But we learned that as the VBS grew, so did we, and our faith in God was increased.
We are Spoiled in America
I asked my family what some of their big takeaways were from the week, and here were some of their responses:
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From my teenagers – “Learn to enjoy the simple things of life. Don’t get bogged down with all the stuff.”
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From my 12-year-old – “We think we don’t have a lot, but they look at us and think we are the richest people in the world.”
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From my wife – “We are overly blessed in America. People in Grenada have so much less but are so much happier than the average American. We are so spoiled.”
As we handed out toys and gifts to the children each day, the smiles on their faces were priceless. Interestingly, we that learned that while they celebrate Christmas in Grenada, they don’t get any presents, nor do they think that they are supposed to. That’s a far cry from the entitlement mentality of most children in America.
Jesus Saves
One of the things that multiple of our family members noticed was the radical commitment level of the Grenadian Christians to reaching people with the Gospel. They are bold, unintimidated, and unashamed of Jesus. They are not easily swayed by culture or convenience, but simply driven by the truth of the power of the Gospel of Christ to change lives (Romans 1:16). Their personal testimonies of God’s saving grace in their own lives was moving.
Thankfully, through our combined efforts with the believers there, we were able to see 40 precious souls come to Christ through VBS and our evangelistic efforts and many more seeds were planted. It was a wonderful reminder that the gospel is not confined to any country or culture. Jesus Saves, and the gospel is for the world!
While we could expound further on each of these, and we could certainly list more things that we learned, these were a few of our biggest takeaways as a family. If you ever have the chance to go on a mission’s trip as a family, do it! I hope that these reminders are a blessing. Maybe one of them was meant just for you.
