Did missions change you?

LittleDaughter

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I've been curious about the mission field for as long as I can remember. I know that I love hearing stories about people's experiences there and that it always brings tears to my eyes when I hear of whole villages being saved, or even just one person walking from the fear that they used to walk in, but know I'm curious.
How does the mission field affect those who enter it, what affect has it left on you?
 

JoeyArnold

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I've been on three official mission trips: first one was for eight days when I was fifteen years old in 2000. As a youth group (from my Baptist church), we drove from Oregon to Idaho & did maintenance at a local church, etc. The missionaries there were in the Ivory Coast until their infant twin daughters were getting sick & they needed the care of American doctors.

The second mission trip was for ten days in Quebec when I was 21 in 2006. As a second-year New York Word of Life Bible Institute (non-denominational) student, we were all required to go on a trip to a different country & I picked the least expensive one.

In 2007 I joined Revolution Hawaii (which is sponsored by The Salvation Army) for nine months where we reached out to the homeless, children, less fortunate, with food, prayers, ears, hearts, open arms, games, etc.

In conclusion, ultimately speaking, Christ does the transforming in people's lives when they are following Him through an active relationship with Him (God's Word, prayer, fellowship, discipleship, accountability) & an active attempt at reaching out to people who really need the love of Christ.

Of course transformation can occur anywhere since missions is everywhere (because sharing our faith is not just non-domestic duty) but unfortunately it seems like people are less likely to allow Christ to get a hold of their agenda until they go to a third-world country where they can get a wake up call that sounds the alarm of how vital it is to really share the gospel with the lost & less fortunate & marginalized.

When I was about eight years old, I drew a picture of me on a platform with wheels & balloons. The platform symbolized my desire to share the gospel with others. The wheels symbolized mobility which I later started thinking about church planting or becoming a Bible translator. The balloons symbolized visibility so that people can see me from far off & come if they're interested. Ultimately only the Holy Spirit does the convicting in people's hearts.

So missions didn't exactly change me because I was already being changed but missions did & does help in my journey. This comment here serves as an introduction into who I am but I apologize if I'm being too general with everything I'm saying. I am excited that I was the first to respond to this thread.

I've been curious about the mission field for as long as I can remember. I know that I love hearing stories about people's experiences there and that it always brings tears to my eyes when I hear of whole villages being saved, or even just one person walking from the fear that they used to walk in, but know I'm curious.

How does the mission field affect those who enter it, what affect has it left on you?
It usually reawakens our hearts to Christ & our helping hands to each others. Some people try their best just to preach to the lost which can work but the more important thing is often not in our words but in our lives of sharing the faith, of helping others, reaching out, demonstrating love through action.
 
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gideon123

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Missions made a HUGE change to my life.
I would not trade it for the whole world.

My missions trips were hard.
We sweated. We hauled lots of heavy bags to really distant places.
We drove over rough roads.
We ate a lot of pretty strange food - fun though !!
And we met some absolutely poor people ... who were incredibly inspiring.
I can only hope that i left them some small amount of hope and encouragement - that was nearly as much as they gave me.

Missions teaches you that most of the things that you think are important in America ... you don't really need.
Missions shows you that God really does love the lost and the hopeless in this world.


I hope you go out there and have a blast!

Gideon123
 
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rossignol

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I went on a mission when I was young to Uganda Africa and Mexico. It changed my view on life and also left me empty when I returned. Working for one thing so hard for so long and then having no direction when i came home was hard.

I pulled pieces of body parts out of the river for burial during the Rwandan genocide, taught schools and shared my relationship with God, painted bridges and buildings, shared my experience and life with people but nothing compares to what they gave me.

I saw people who lived in a way that makes us look like robots. There family value and relationship with God and others made me jealous. I knew I needed to come back home and share a piece of that with others.

A story that people have when they've been in Africa is.... Insects fall into your food all the time. At first when this happens you throw your food out and dish out seconds. A little more time you are there, you just spoon out the insect from your food. Eventually you just eat them with your meal.

Another experience is when I lived in Calgary and hadn't gone to church for a while, I was invited to go to a missionary church from Jamaica. They were amazing and North America needs more missionaries.
 
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Our missions changed us and changed everyone around us. We've been across the world's continents, and our missions have shown us how even the most cautious, resistant communities can open up to us when we lead by example and become involved with the community. Most of us came from a sleepy stretch on the Florida panhandle and the neighboring states, and our missions were our first trip abroad, but so see how much good we were doing and how much we were bringing to aid the bodies and the spirits of the people across the world, is something that stays with us every day. It also became clear how much even diverse communities could come together over the message in the Gospels. We were first in West Africa, in Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Niger and Morocco, but we fanned out from there into portions of the Americas, finally becoming part of the group that's been settling and ministering in Europe. Vastly different histories, societies and cultures but all united by the same message of love and respect.
 
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Christian12

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I went on a mission to Ukraine just after the fall of the USSR , it was a real great experience , it was only 2 weeks , but it was very much worth the experience , I saw Gods hand work in ways I never had seen before , and lots of witnessing opps .

I would love to do it more but it takes time and money and getting those two together is hard enough .

I highly recommend it to anyone that has a desire for the lost and needy.
 
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BloodBoughtChad

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I've been curious about the mission field for as long as I can remember. I know that I love hearing stories about people's experiences there and that it always brings tears to my eyes when I hear of whole villages being saved, or even just one person walking from the fear that they used to walk in, but know I'm curious.
How does the mission field affect those who enter it, what affect has it left on you?

I've been to Cambodia a couple of times and yes, it radically changed me. Mostly it culture shocked me and showed me how rich we Americans are. Child sex trafficking, extreme poverty, lack of clean drinking water and disease is everywhere in Cambodia.
We are truly spoiled in America.
 
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Everyday is a challenge to everyone and it has a purpose, it's a part of God's plan so that everyday is a part of improvement. And being a missionary, I know that it's not easy, you will experience discouragements and disappointments, you will feel giving up in your passion in spreading God's word but God allow it to teach you also even you're already a teacher of his word. You will learn how to be gentle, faithful, kind and patient and all the sufferings you are facing for spreading his word has a great reward. He will touch the heart of people and it'll make you feel overwhelmed in their testimonies when they accepted Jesus Christ. :bigeye:
 
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Sitting at my laptop reading through this thread and I am thinking I have no idea how much I will be challenged in the next two weeks.
DH and I are heading to Thailand and Cambodia, one week in each country, for a short term missions awareness trip through Destiny Rescue. We are a part of a eleven person team from our church and nine of us have never been overseas before.
 
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trentlogain2

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i haven't been on as many mission trips as some of the other people here, but i did want to chime in and say that noone goes on a spirit-filled mission trip where God does a lot of things without coming away either closer to the Lord or further away.

the more God does in your own personal life, the more the enemy will try to take away and not let those things take root. (the parable of the seed and sower, matthew 13)
 
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