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| Sherlynn and me on top of a mountain overlooking Tegucigalpa at our second brigade site |
Going to Honduras was actually something that I did not expect, but it was definitely an answered prayer. God has been gradually growing my heart for missions since sophomore year of college, and last year, I decided I wanted to go on a short-term missions trip in the summer. I'd originally planned to go to China with my home church, Berean, for two weeks, but for one reason or another, God closed that door to me. My parents were not at all comfortable with sending me to China, and so, after talking it over with my discipler, I decided to just pray for an opportunity. China was still my first choice, but by then, it didn't matter where God would send me. I just wanted to go. And at that particular point in my faith, it was crucial that I shared my faith outside the comforts and familiarity of home and Irvine.
A couple of weeks later, two friends of mine announced at our college campus fellowship that they were going to Honduras with a group of people from Grace on Campus (GOC) in UCLA. They took sign-ups for an information session that the leader of the LA team was holding -- and if enough people from Irvine signed up, he would actually drive down to Irvine to hold a separate meeting for us. Without thinking much of it, I signed up. I have a really bad habit of acting out of impulse without really putting much thought into what I decide to do, but God is kind enough to work all those out for His own glory and my good. And sure enough, God worked Honduras out for His glory and my good. :)
Going to the meeting, I sort of felt left out because then, I was the only person who didn't major in anything science-related and I wasn't exactly planning on taking the healthcare route after college either. But, again, for some reason, God tugged at my heart after Enrique (the LA team leader) made his presentation about his experience in Honduras the previous year, so I signed up to go. But I was still worried about what my parents would say, as they are pretty over-protective. The Sunday of that weekend, I told my parents and they said yes. I was taken aback. WHAT? Really?? My dad signed all the required papers and offered to go with me to the Honduran Consulate so that I could apply for my three-month visa into the country. God planned everything! But as excited as I was at that moment, God showed me just how little faith I had in Him.
Five weeks before Honduras, I felt very disheartened at the results of my fundraising and overall financial support. That, coupled with probably the most I struggled in my spiritual walk, left room for the enemy to play into my insecurities. I truly doubted if God could use me -- someone who struggled to be faithful and obedient to the God who saved my soul -- when He had 62 other people so willing to serve Him, and probably far better equipped than I was. I also didn't think that I would be able to raise all my support, or even just enough support, by the time we flew to Honduras, so I told myself I would email our overall team leader, Amos, to distribute all my funds to the rest of the team if I still did not raise enough funds by a certain date. Not to mention, I worried about whether my application for a visa would get approved as consulates typically require a lot of information from the applicant and take at least 2-3 days to process a visa application. But as ready as I was to give up, God showed me that His will is accomplished in His perfect time. The weekend I decided I would email Amos, my parents' church kindly wrote me a check of a hefty amount to support me to Honduras, which not only met my financial need, but actually overfunded me! I also received my visa after just three hours at the consulate! Praise the Lord, right? (Seriously, praise Him!) But still I struggled with my insecurities of how God could use me.
The faith I lacked, God used to humble me and show me that I am and can do nothing apart from Him. My week in Honduras was filled with evidences of His grace each and every single day. He used our team's physical service of medical provision to not only show the Honduran people we served a picture of Christ's love, but to also show our team that although these physical treatments were great, they were but temporary; nothing we did physically for these people could ever address their more urgent need for Christ. Only the gospel could open their eyes to see their wretchedness before a Divine and Holy God. And only the gospel could show them the forgiving and redeeming love of God through Christ in full.
While in Honduras, our entire team was very-well taken care of by World Gospel Outreach, the organization that we partnered with for our missions trip. We were provided with comfortable beds to sleep in, delicious food to eat for each meal, and water to wash ourselves with (provided water was a scarce resource so we had to be conscious in using it). We seriously had no reason to complain. And it is the same with our lives here in the States - we live in luxury compared to the Hondurans that we served, yet why is it so easy to complain and forgo joyfulness and gratitude? And even greater than the physical comfort that I live in here in the States is the work that Jesus Christ did on the cross that guarantees me eternal life. I have been given everything in Him.
The Irvine sub-team enjoyed Sunday service and fellowship at Prince of Peach Church, which was also the church we served with for the first two days of our medical brigades. Before the LA and Irvine sub-teams went to our respective churches, Amos told us to keep in mind that the pastors did not have a seminary background, despite their great desire to undergo formal Biblical training, because such a resource was not easily accessible to them. That caught me off-guard since it's uncommon for a pastor in the States to become a pastor without formal seminary training. And so, I went to church not really expecting much. But God used this local body to rebuke me, humble me, and encourage me. I was definitely not accustomed to their style of praise and worship, but it was humbling to see them worship God so passionately. And when the pastor spoke on God's Word, it felt like God was directly standing in front of me, commanding me in the same way Jesus commanded His disciples in Mark 6:37a (which was the passage he preached on).
"You give them something to eat." (emphasis mine)At that point, the responsibility that lay on me -- on each of us as we were in Honduras in obedience to the Great Commission -- became real. God did not save me so that I could keep quiet about my faith and enjoy it on my own. My salvation is God's act of restoring my sinful self to Him by redeeming me from my sins and justifying me through Jesus Christ. And He has charged me to go and make disciples. To go, not on my own strength, but as the Holy Spirit leads and enables. Each of us were God's hands and feet in Honduras. And there was - there is - no greater privilege than to be an effective tool in the Redeemer's hands.
We had four medical brigade days wherein we provided these services to the Hondurans: dental, optometry, general medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy (only for the LA team), concrete, children's ministry, and evangelism. Each of us were able to choose which areas we wanted to serve in, and I was able to serve once each in dental, optometry, and general medicine; thrice in children's ministry; and thrice in evangelism. In dental, I worked with a Honduran dentist and watched her go through the process of extracting teeth. I even got to extract some teeth (which was very cool, but I felt very queasy). I also learned how to take vitals by being a general medicine assist, and how to use the auto-refractor in optometry. What amazed me as I helped out in these medical areas was the willingness of the doctors to serve. A lot of them had full-time jobs outside of the brigades, but they voluntarily served at the brigades and selflessly gave their time to help those in need. Some of them even worked at these brigades full-time instead of opening their own respective practices! They served these people because they understood what Jesus Christ had done for them on Calvary's cross, and it was seriously immensely humbling to have worked with them because they took care of every patient they saw and reflected the love of Christ.
As for children's ministry, what I loved most was the joy I witnessed after we washed each child's hair. For most of the kids, they had to deal with lice and the treatment we gave them was very much temporary, as they still went home to the same shared bed and same shared pillow each night. The temporariness of the treatment alone would have left me complaining, but I saw no trace of complaints in any of these children. Their eyes sparkled and their smiles spoke greater volumes of joy, gratitude, and contentment than words could ever communicate. Their joy was a simple manifestation of the greater joy we have been given in the gospel: we who were once sinners and hopelessly separated from God, by God's grace and through faith in Jesus Christ have been washed clean and completely forgiven of all our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross, now stand justified before the Father as the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us, and are guaranteed eternity with Him in heaven. By grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). While we washed them physically, only Jesus Christ could make them clean spiritually.
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| All ready for hairstyling in children's ministry! :) |
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| Us pollos fritos with our amazing CM translators, Karen and Stefany! |
In his letter to the Romans, Apostle Paul writes:
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (ch. 1, v. 16; emphasis mine)I'd read this passage multiple times in the past, but it's something I truly struggled to believe despite my own testimony of God's saving power in my life. Prior to Honduras, I struggled with sharing the gospel with people on campus and with my unsaved friends and family members. As I mentioned earlier, God had been faithfully growing my heart for missions, but for some reason, I never equated being a student at UCI or just being a Christian in general as being a missionary in a missions field. This past year (my junior year), God provided numerous avenues for me to share the gospel with people on campus and with my friends, but I shied away from all these opportunities because I feared man. I feared the persecution that could (and would) come; I feared the awkward moments; and in my great pride, I feared not being able to convince these people of their need for Christ, and thus, I thought, my evangelizing would have been all for nothing. But nestled in between all that was the doubt that God would, or that God could, save these people.
In Honduras, I served three half-day shifts in evangelism and I felt ill-prepared each time. It was truly a humbling experience because God brought to light all my doubts and all my inadequacies as I sat and shared with each person. With every presentation of the gospel, I was challenged to really evaluate if I believed that Jesus Christ alone can save and that He is more than powerful enough to save lost souls. I had to believe that God can save souls despite my inarticulateness and even despite the little eloquence I have with words. More often than not, I found myself stuck and at a loss for words, neither knowing how else to continue the conversations nor how to ease into the gospel. But I praise God because, truly His grace is sufficient, and His power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)! Whatever I could not communicate to the person I was evangelizing to, God communicated to them through my translators. I praise Him for the translators because, even though they would have done a far better job in sharing the gospel to the people we saw, they still willingly and patiently translated for us. It was during my shifts in evangelism that I truly saw how much of a broken vessel I am. And it was during my shifts in evangelism that I saw the power of God to save. Only the Holy Spirit convicted those who came to genuine faith of their sinfulness; only the Holy Spirit broke them to see their need for Christ. How gracious is this God to have used a broken vessel like me to speak His truth! How gracious is He to have allowed me to see the Holy Spirit soften their hearts, and in turn, break my unbelief! All praise be to Him alone!
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| My translator for my first evangelism shift: Roberto |
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| My translator for my 2nd evangelism shift: Daniela |
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| My translator for my third shift: Belkis |
I am humbled and amazed that this mighty God, the Creator of the universe, so willingly used inadequate and fragile jars of clay to preach His gospel that those whom He has called might hear and be restored to Him. And as I sit here, I am challenged to think of how I can truly serve others this coming school year. I've come to pride myself in physically serving people, but how God has broken me and shown me that physical service should be but an avenue to show His love. And if I act not because of His love, my service is done in vain. But there is still a greater way to show love and serve others than physical giving -- and that is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray that this coming year would truly be used and exhausted to share the love of Christ, regardless of my own temporary discomfort or persecution. I may forget the events that took place during this one week, but I pray that my convictions might remain, that I would live with the same sense of urgency, and that the lessons God taught me might never be forgotten.
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." [Titus 2:11-14]
There is still so much more to be shared, and I dearly long to share more specific stories of God's goodness and faithfulness, so please don't hesitate to ask me. :)
Soli Deo Gloria!
**Photos not mine (except for pictures with translators)**
So blessed to read how God used you and grew you through this trip :)) What an encouragement for us to pursue the lost and to actively work for God's kingdom!!
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