01/24/06 :: Goodbye comfort zone
La Paz, Bolivia >> Kristen Boyd (Sovereign Grace Church, Titusville, FL) went to La Paz in the summer of 2005 with a team of young people from Sovereign Grace churches in Florida. Her trip was part of a project called Mission:X, a group of short-term service/evangelism teams that traveled to cities in Florida and in other countries. As she served Iglesia en La Paz (The Church in La Paz) and shared the gospel in that city, Kristen found out what really matters on a missions trip. Here's her story.
What picture comes to your mind when someone says "mission trip"? If you're anything like me, you would picture roughing it for a couple months, eating and drinking things you would never eat otherwise, unpleasant smells, bugs, and hot sticky weather. Sounds kind of like a camping trip gone wrong? That was the picture running through my mind before going to Bolivia. That picture changed. When I went to Bolivia I knew there would be some struggles through the trip but mainly I expected to see other people's lives changed. What I didn't expect was for my life to change. I didn't expect to become so close to my team members and the people in La Paz. I didn't expect to have to step out in faith, which was something I never really understood until this trip. My life has been changed.
We were there to encourage the local church, attend youth meetings and events, help with children's ministry, evangelize at a local school, visit a men's home, visit a women's home, and help at a children's ministry outreach. We also performed skits throughout the city and surrounding villages; which served to evangelize and invite people to the local church.
The part that affected me the most on this trip was getting to pray for the people. Several times we would go out into the squares or busy areas of the city and we would perform our skits. Then Daryn Kinney, a pastor from the St. Petersburg church and our team leader, would explain the gospel to all who had gathered around. We were instructed to break up into small groups of three or four, go into the crowd and answer any questions about the gospel, pray for them, and invite them to the church.
Well, I can only imagine what my face looked like when my group leader looked at me and told me that he wanted me to find someone in the crowd to talk and pray with. All I could think was, "Are you crazy?! I can't even pray out loud in care group or around friends and you want me to walk up to a perfect stranger and ask him if I can pray for him!" Well, at this point I remembered a friend who had encouraged me to step out in faith earlier that day and I was convicted: where was my faith that God would give me the words I needed? So I prayed and asked for God's help as I walked up to a man sitting on a bench.
When my group reached the man, all fear left my body and I was able to pray with him about some struggles he was facing in his walk with Christ and invite him to church that night. God was pulling me out of my comfort zone, and I had to look my "fear of man" right in the face. It was not fun, but the overwhelming joy that pours over you after stepping out and praying with people was well worth it. It was like I was in a rushing river, yet I was still holding on to the shore and God was telling me to let go and trust him so I could see and feel His power and all that He could do.
When we first arrived in La Paz I was struck by the overwhelming poverty. This changed as the trip had drawn to an end. For some reason, instead of seeing how poor they were, I would find myself looking into their eyes; wealth didn't matter, and it was like looking a lost child in the eyes.
Throughout the trip I think that my view slowly went from, "I came here to serve," to one of, "I have come with a gift to share." The gift is God's son, Jesus, whom He gave to die on the cross in my place, and in your place, for the sins we have committed against Him. It's the gospel. God freely gives it to us in his awesome grace and mercy. And it is this gift that I can share with others because God has freely given it to me.
So now, when someone says "mission trip," I see hundreds of faces of lost children, faces of people who need to hear the truth of the gospel. It's not about the circumstances that we go through; it's about the people, it's about spreading the gospel. Going on this trip has been such a means of grace in my life, and I can't wait to go again.
Photos: (Top) Johnny Dueri, senior pastor of Iglesia en La Paz, and Daryn Kinney, a pastor at Gulf Coast Community Church (St. Petersburg, FL), with a friend in La Paz. (Bottom) Julia Knowles, Sarah Lippy, Julie VanLue, and Sarah Rodriguez in Bolivia with their friends.