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How awesome it is to see God working in the lives of others from the seeds you planted many years ago. This is what I have seen from the seven PaLM short-term missions trips that I've been on. By making a commitment to the Navajo people, I have truly seen God working in the lives of many of the Navajos and have personally learned much.
Over the years I have seen many of the Navajos grow and mature in the Lord. I also see many of the same kids come to our VBS every year. Some of them I saw when they were too young to go to class and now they are in fourth and fifth grade. I felt challenged this year because I was asked to teach the high school and junior-high school boys. I had never taught kids older than third grade, so I did not know what to expect. Our first day of VBS was somewhat discouraging because my co-teacher and I only had one student. Although it seemed discouraging at first, I was reminded by the fact that this was all in God's plan. Having one student allowed us to talk to him one-on-one and we were able to get to know him better. I think that because both my partner and I were teenagers made our one student feel more at ease talking to us. As the week went on, I became more and more encouraged by the addition of more students. Then, on our last day of VBS, God blessed us with ten students, which made me so happy. All of them have been to our VBS in previous years and most had already accepted Christ. As a result of my experience on this past year's trip, I have learned not to be discouraged by anything, but to be content in all circumstances and use our situation to glorify God.
Since this was my sixth year on this trip, I had very high expectations. I enjoyed each of the previous years because each year was very different from the others. This year was no exception. A big difference in this year's trip was the team. More than half of the team was made up of teenagers, which changed the dynamics of the group. Although the team for each year is different, it had never been a majority of young people. Through this, God showed me that it does not matter how old you are. All that matters is that you have a willing heart to serve God and that it is shown through your hard work. I did feel that this year's team worked well together. We were able to create new relationships as well as continue old ones as we fellowshipped and served together.
Over the past years, I have seen many times the sovereignty of God in our lives. There were times when we were caught in a heavy rainstorm and our vans got stuck in the mud. However, God was watching over us and we were able to get out safely. Another time, during a thunderstorm, I was sleeping near a window. For some reason, I decided to sleep with my feet towards the window, instead of my head (as was my habit). In the middle of the night, the window broke and glass fell in. Because of that incident, I felt reassured that God was definitely with us and that it had been him who told me to change my position. God's control over us during the trips reminds me of the control that He has over my life.
A major part of our AZ missions trip is constant prayer. Praying about almost anything at almost any time is a really powerful experience. Through our times of prayer together I could truly feel God's presence in Arizona. Whether it was prayer with other team members or during my own quiet times, God revealed Himself to me and deepened my understanding of Him as I continue to grow in Him.
I learned all these lessons over the past six trips. However they were also confirmed through this year's trip. I thank God for blessing me with a great team who worked hard to serve the Him. I was encouraged by the team's love for doing God's work and their love for God. This has really impacted me to want to continue to minister to the Navajo people in the coming years.
We have a wonderful Lord! As you know, I participated in PaLM's mission trip to Arizona this summer. I want to share a few thoughts about what I learned from the Lord.
First, it was a privilege to serve on this trip. One of my responsibilities was to team teach (with Henry Moy and Vivien Ngai) an adult class. Although I have been teaching high school for many years, I had some anxious feelings of inadequacy teaching the Bible to adults. I have always believed that teaching from the Bible was special. I was very concerned about not having enough to share. Also, I didn't know the students I was to teach and they were from another culture. The Lord provided support and answered my prayers. We worked together as a team. I was able to try out my lessons with the team for feedback. We met daily for feedback and prayer. We bounced our teaching ideas off of each other and prayed for one another and for our class. During the teaching sessions, the Lord even gave me the right words to speak and the students actually participated. After class, there was time for crafts. This was a time when we were able to just sit and listen to the ladies' concerns. I met Susie, who was a Christian. She shared her desire to have a consistent time and place to worship and learn more about the Lord. Through our sharing I discovered that their concerns were not very different from mine - concerns for their children, family and everyday struggles of life as well as their desires and dreams of education and a better future. We prayed together, giving these needs to the Lord. I learned that God's love transcends all barriers (culture, language or geography).
Another blessing was the privilege of serving with the PaLM team itself. Nowhere else can you assemble 23 strangers together for 10 days with one goal (Eph. 4:11-13) and have them work together in such harmony. Well, it happened. We benefited greatly from PaLM's leadership (Howard, Yan, Fay) and experience. They planned and managed every aspect of this trip. This included the daily schedule with all the essentials of living, eating, shopping, traveling, cooking and cleaning, fellowship, sleeping and of course ministry. All these elements were well balanced with sensitive tough love and discipline. Alongside all the planning, we were able to see the Lord answer prayers and provide protection both physically and from satanic attack. We had a record number of flat tires and other car electrical problems! But the Lord covered us with His presence and some of the guys received lessons on changing flats. VBS attendance was initially low but we saw that with prayer the Lord increased the number coming. We ended up having one of the highest turnouts in the adult classes this year.
This summer's Arizona team consisted of many teens (14 teens out of 23). I was a little concerned. However, to my surprise, I was really blessed by the teens. I saw how we worked together. The teens encouraged one another and the Navajo kids. They used their youthful energy and stamina to play with the kids in the hot Arizona heat (>105 degrees). They cooked, cleaned and served one another. They worked and played, planned and prayed with each other and for the Navajos. It was such a blessing to have experienced this. The Lord taught me to not underestimate His power in and through the lives of our young people, who are on fire for Him.
Finally, the Lord provided a glimpse of how really big His family is of those who belong to Him. Now I know many more specific family members (names and faces of brothers and sisters) and even though we are physically apart, we are all connected as one family in Christ. I continue to pray for each one. We keep in touch. I can see how the Lord is working in lives and they are a blessing to me.
These are just some thoughts about the blessings received from the Lord this summer. As you can see, God has been very generous with His love. He lavished His love on all of us during and after the trip. It makes me want to shout and praise His name. The Lord is so good!!
