To start, I jut returned home from a week-long mission trip to Guatemala in which the team and I served the majority of the time at Prince of Peace Home for Girls in San Cristobal. The experience was incredible, and I loved being able to experience a new culture and country. However, this post is not going to be about my clash with another culture. Maybe another post down the road will be, but this one is going to be about the beautiful and incredible girls I met at Prince of Peace.
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself
unstained from the world" James 1:27
This verse was our theme verse coming into the mission trip, as we were doing just that: visiting orphans in their trouble, and doing our best to minister to them. However, God gave me so much more than I ever expected before the trip, and it was all due to a single revelation God gave to me when I was there in Guatemala: I was not just serving these girls, but I was serving with them. The incredible group of girls at Prince of Peace aren't some short-term mission project so I could have a new experience, but they are a true God-given gift and they served me every bit as much, if not more, than I served them.
Looking back, this fact was clear starting at the very beginning of the mission trip, because of how much hope could be felt in the home; and this was not because the super-holy American missionaries had come to the rescue. No. It was because God had already done, and was still doing, so much work in the life of each one of those girls.
I know that God did not send my team there, nor any mission team for that matter, to find or bring new hope to the people we meet and serve. I, and every member of my team, was sent there to show those beautiful little girls the hope that had already been provided by Christ. That hope was there long before we showed up last week, in the laughs and smiles of all of the girls, in the incredible sacrifice and love of the people who help to run the home every day, and in so many other places.
My team went in to the trip desiring to serve and love until we couldn't anymore, and God definitely gave us the strength to do that. Yet, God used those girls to serve and love us just as much. There wasn't a "big moment" that everybody hopes for in a mission trip, confusing any emotional experience for life change. It was just the everyday things that those girls did, painting a beautiful canvas of God's love every time I saw one of them. I saw God's unconditional and uncontrollable love through a 9- year old named Luisa, who showed me more love after one day than any person has shown me my whole life. I saw God's passion for His children through the way those girls brought out uncontrollable joy in me (I mean, they even got me to learn a dance to a Justin Bieber song). Finally, I saw God's strength and power through the courage and bravery of every single one of the girls at the home. They have experienced more loss and heartbreak than I can even imagine, whether it was through sexual or physical abuse, neglect, or flat out just not being wanted by their families, and they can still show true love to complete strangers and have the strength and courage to let us in their hearts. These girls are a testament to how God can restore broken people, and howcontagious the joy and love He brings can be.
I definitely plan to go back again, if anything just to let those girls know once again how incredibly special they are, and how much they taught me. God sent me for a reason, and the more I think and reflect, that reason becomes more obvious. Those girls have lived much of their life feeling like they aren't wanted or needed by people. Well, this past week revealed to me that I needed them. My team needed them. We needed to experience their unconditional love, and their God-given beauty inside and out. We weren't called to Guatemala and to Prince of Peace for the girls to see they needed another group of people to rely on. We were called so those girls could see that this group of well-off in every worldly sense of the word American people who didn't seem to need anything needed them. I pray that they saw this week and will continue to see how full of worth they are in God's eyes and in the eyes of His people. Those beautiful, incredible, amazingly valuable girls at Prince of Peace are truly a gift from God in my life and so many others and I hope they always remember that.
If you're reading this, please check out the site for Prince of Peace below and think about how you could serve them. They offer a sponsorship program, as well as an email address if you want to organize a team to go and minister there. Even if those aren't viable options for you, please just look at the list of girls at the home and pray for them. They've been through a lot, but I know God has huge plans for them.
http://www.princeofpeacegt.com
Thank you, and please share this with anyone who has a heart for missions and/or Latin America!
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