Productive? Successful? Fun?

Five days home from Guatamala,
these are the common questions people have asked about my mission trip experience...

Was it productive? Successful? Fun?

And occassionaly, "How was the weather?"

And I answer...

Productive? 

God's productivity isn't measured in our terms, but He always accomplishs His purposes.  One of our hopes for our time in Guatemala was to bless those who we would encounter.  We wanted to enter their world and bring some hope.  We wanted to encourage the missionaries, the Radford family, and be community for them.  The truth is that instead of being the givers of blessing, we were the receivers.  We'll never know if we blessed anyone, but we now know that God had a specific personal purpose and blessing for each of us who travelled there.   

Successful? 

The Lord calls us to love one another earnestly from a pure heart. (1 Peter 1:22). And so we went to Guatemala to love. To experience it, to show it and to be it. Each afternoon, as we entered into the tiny, dark shanty homes of single mothers living in extreme poverty, we loved. We listened, we smiled, we played with kids, we offered rice and beans, and we prayed. Though we didn't change the living conditions for these fatherless families, we trust that they felt the Father's love. 

Fun?
Measured in smiles, giggles, hugs, and eyes wide with fascination, our science camp was indeed fun. Given the opportunity to teach science at a local school, our suitcases were filled with materials for hands-on learning.  Huddled in small groups, we watched kids marvel at chemical reactions and be amazed at the power of magnets.   And when they wondered if it was all magic, we reminded them that, "It is He who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens." (Jeremiah 51:15)

And the weather? 

Rainy, but beautiful. 

 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God,
and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 
1 John 4:7