On a bright and sunny day in July 2011, (some twelve years ago), I was privileged to accompany 6 other members of my Sunday School class on a short term mission trip to a small orphanage in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, that our church had adopted and supported financially. So, this first week in the New Year 2024, I decided to converge upon my home office computer and put typing strokes to an electronic page and to share with you my experiences on one of the earliest saintly duty-calls our Lord and Savior ‘shackled‘ me with. In my humble attempt to eke out from my limited understanding of what God’s plan was for his people down in Mexico, I will share with you how He used me and my small mission team during those five days of service.

You see, that assignment, all those years ago, reinforced and put pep in my steps because I had always known that international mission work was far more different from ministering to God’s people in your local venue; and have wholeheartedly embraced His call on my life to step out from my comfort zone and to follow the wind. Let me be perfectly clear, that this is not to infer that international mission work is superior to domestic mission assignments, because both tours of duty are necessary to spread the message of salvation to everyone.

The wind was a cool 78 to 85 degrees each day down in San Miguel from the time our plane landed at the Leon Airport on July 22nd until our departure on July 29th. Each night we saw heavy rain clouds and most evenings it did shower. Light jackets and plastic rain slickers became our mode of dress at night. But nothing hindered the active lives of the local residents of this mountainous central region of Mexico.

The assignment given me by the mission leader was to select and coordinate five Bible story lessons for Vacation Bible School for three age groups of children, all Spanish speaking, that would be in attendance. Their ages ranged from three years to twelve years old. This required that all stories be age appropriate and related in a fashion that would include interaction with as many children as possible.

I sought the Lord who guided me to draw stories from the parables (New Testament) rather than the usual Daniel or Noah or Joseph stories (Old Testament). You see, most of these children come from homes heavily steeped in Catholicism where the worship of Mary and other biblical saints as their 'savior' is prevalent. So the Holy Spirit led me to develop the parable of the lost sheep; the parable of the Sower of Seed, the parable of Jesus feeding the 5,000, the parable of the Women at the well and the parable of the Paraplegic as my five-day lesson plan. All of these parables emphasize Jesus' divine authority as Savior and soon coming King. I was blessed to have the Pastor's wife, Sister Janice, of our host city as my Spanish interpreter. I furnished a cache of bible character costumes to outfit the children who were assigned to assist me in retelling the stories.

Reinforcement of the bible parables came during craft time with Sister Gail of the mission team as the instructor. The third hour of VBS was out door games that were supervised by Sister Tiffany. Brothers Morgan and Joe (also known as Big Country) of our team. Each day, the children had a craft to take home, along with a “Jesus” story and memory verse and usually a prize received while participating as a team-player in the games. Lunch and snacks were provided each day for the children as well as gifts and school supplies distributed to our hosts and teen helpers as a token of our appreciation and love.

It was a true blessing to witness the Holy Spirit interacting with the English to Spanish dialogues as the Dallas, Tx. missionaries and San Miguel interpreters labored to express God’s word to the anxiously awaiting ‘ninos‘. What revelation! What joy! What harmony! All I can say is; “To God be the Glory!”

As far as international mission trips go, I have fought the good fight and I have finished God’s course for me. I constantly pray for the next generation of all missionaries and financially support as many as the Lord says so. 

Click below and listen to my prayer in song as conducted by the Richard Smallwood, Hezekiah Walker, Kurt Carr, and others…

Mix – Richard Smallwood – You Are The Source Of My Strength

Click http://www.tgifmasterminds.com every Friday for a new post from the Master’s servant manager…ME!