Counting Down the Days - Tim Brown

Today marks the “single-digit” countdown for our departure on our mission trip to San Francisco. But part of me is also counting down until the day we return. Read on and I will explain. I have been doing a lot of contemplating about the upcoming trip. Each trip impacts each one of us in a different way. I cannot wait to see God’s plan unfold on this trip and see Him working in each one of us, the people we come into contact with, and our friends and family back home. I have seen the effects of these trips in myself, my wife, our youth, their families, and even some of our friends. It goes without saying that God is working in the lives of those we come into contact with on the trip, but we may never see the fruit that God produces from the tiny seeds we plant while we are on these trips. We will never know why it was us who came into contact with a specific person on this trip, at this particular moment. We simply have faith that He will use these situations for His glory. I want to take a moment to dismantle this idea a bit.

In John 13, Jesus is washing His disciples’ feet, much the way that we will all have our feet washed at the end of this week-long trip. He says to his disciples, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”

We may not understand the “why” in the things that happen in this world, but this verse teaches us to wait on the Lord’s time to reveal all of these things to us—and in the meantime, we must patiently submit to His will.

Patiently submitting to His will is what our youth are doing on this trip, whether they realize it or not. There is a lot we don’t fully understand. Why are the 15 of us the ones going on this trip together? Why San Francisco? Why the service sites that are selected for us? Why the groups that we are placed in? But God has brought us together for this time together, and while one short week may seem like a drop in the bucket that is our lives, I think we may underestimate how powerful and life-changing these moments in time can be that we are about to experience (and share with YOU through this blog!). Taking a step back, yes, I believe any moment in your everyday life can be just as powerful, but for some reason, this trip is happening, and I don’t want to underestimate what can happen.

So what’s the point of all of this? Our youth will come back and the experience will have had an impact, and there WILL be some who are deeply impacted. Sara often describes the different trips by saying [insert name of youth here]’s trip—where at least one person experienced God being revealed to them in a BIG way.

Youthworks is the organization that we partner with for these trips. They set up the locations, the place we stay, the service sites we visit, the food, the devotion time and more. As part of this, they have a lot of tools to help students, leaders and parents prepare for the trip. But preparing to go is only half of it. We also must prepare to return. In a recent blog post, a Youthworks staff member discussed this. Part of the post was a letter, written as if it was from a student returning from a mission trip to those who they are returning home to.

While the letter below may not resonate with each student fully, I can say, as a participant in four prior trips, this is pretty spot on.

Dear Friends and Family,

I need to warn you: I just returned from a meaningful missions experience. I met some people who were very different than me, I served those who have far less than me, and I got to see what life in another context looks like. I left my schedule, my community and my comfort zone to try something new. I did things I didn’t know I could and was stretched in ways I didn’t expect. And it was really amazing… but coming home… well… it’s harder than I thought it would be.

When I first showed up in the community I visited, I didn’t expect that just a short time later I would feel so torn about leaving. There were people who it was hard to say goodbye to, and I wonder if I’ll ever see them again. I know there’s a possibility I won’t… which is sad to think about.

Don’t get me wrong. I was pretty exhausted upon coming home and there sure is something nice about being back – nice in a long-nap-and-warm-shower kind of way. But things are different. I’m noticing things I didn’t see before… like that I have a bed and shower and food in the fridge and a place to come home to. Not everyone I met on my mission trip had those things… but they had other things like warm smiles and creativity and joy that wasn’t reliant on owning stuff. It makes me feel a little guilty – even gross – about owning so much. I might even be considering packing up half my clothes and donating them. We’ll see.

Something else I am noticing back home is – to be a little blunt – you spend money on stupid things… and to be honest, it almost makes me angry because it’s like you don’t understand that your money could be used to get clothes or food or school supplies for kids who don’t have those things and for parents who wish they could buy them. You could be sending money to a service organization to help them love people better or to a struggling church so they could improve their building. It makes me kinda anxious and annoyed and angry that you aren’t thinking more about that.

I’m also thinking about what I should do now that I’m back. There were some needs that I saw that just weren’t being met and some things I didn’t know about before that I want to do something about. Part of me feels like those needs are too big for little me to do something about… and part of me thinks that maybe I could do something. I’m still thinking about it.

I guess I’m also a little nervous that this is just another mountaintop experience. In a few weeks, everyday life will set in again, and I’m worried this experience will fade. It feels like the easy way out – to go back to normal. But part of me really doesn’t want to let my closet fill up with clothes I don’t need or to stop being angry about stupid spending or to stop wanting to do something to help others. Part of me doesn’t want to get comfortable again. But maybe it’s inevitable… I don’t know.

Here’s the hardest thing though: No one really wants to hear about this experience. I mean, people have asked, “How was it?” And then they do a really good job listening… for about 30 seconds. Then they ask what I’m doing next week and no one talks about my missions experience again. But there are a million questions I could answer for hours. Questions like, “Who was one person you will always remember?” or “What did God open your eyes to?” or “What was the hardest thing you did?” Those would probably be good questions to start… but no one asks. No one realizes that this trip was a really big deal to me… maybe even life-changing…

I guess if there’s only one thing you did after reading this letter, it would be to just give me some time. Ask me some questions. Really listen. And I might not open up right away. Sometimes it’s hard to trust that another person really wants to hear what I’m thinking. And I might need some time to find the right words and the energy to share them. But I think talking about it might be good, so keep asking. Maybe by just talking about it I could know more about what I should do next or how I should feel or how my relationship with God fits into all this. Maybe by talking about it, the mission trip could be more than a mountaintop experience and something I bring home with me.

From Me after Missions

 

Without a doubt in my mind, the youth coming back from this trip will be experiencing many, if not most of these feelings. As the letter states, at the end of the week of serving, many find it hard to break away and say “goodbye” to those they have built relationships with in such a short time. I believe that it is only by the grace of God that such a bond can be formed in such a short period. Sara and her crew still talk about a woman they met on the trip to San Diego back in 2011.

At the end of this week, the youth will have participated in a foot washing ceremony. The adult leader’s will have their feet washed by the Youthworks staff and they will pray for us. Then us adult leaders will wash the feet of the youth and pray for them. We thank God for them, we pray His will to be revealed in their lives and we pray blessings over them. For many, this is a very emotional experience, and truly sums up the week. Jesus humbled himself, and took on the role of the lowliest of servants. You see, Jesus came not as a conquering King, but as a servant. One of my favorite verses is Mark 10:45 (which also happens to be our 30 Mile Mission theme verse), “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He even took on the punishment that you and I deserved when He was nailed to that cross.

You see, if we are to “be like Jesus” as it says in John 13:15 (“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”) then we must be willing to humble ourselves and take on the lowliest of jobs. Through all of this, in an intense week seeking Him, this becomes a little more real, and God is reveled to us more and more through the Holy Spirit. The foot washing drives this home in the sense that it is PERSONAL—Jesus humbled himself for Grant, Emma, Lucas, Britney, Kian and all of the other youth. He knows us all personally and calls us by name to follow Him, and He has a plan for us, as he tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

I relate a lot to music, and my worship and prayer lately has been through a few different songs, but one stands out in particular. It is called “Holy Spirit” by Francesca Battastelli. In the song, it says,

“Holy Spirit, You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your presence, Lord”

and toward the end of the song, it says,

“Let us become more aware of Your presence
Let us experience the glory of Your goodness”

This is my prayer for the trip. I pray that, through our youth, the blog, the return trip, the photos and more that YOU all back home will also experience His presence in the world. This week will be intense for the youth. Count down the days until we leave along with us. Pray with us. Pray for those we will encounter. But don’t forget to count down the days until we return. Don’t underestimate what  can  will happen, and be prepared for the return home.