This is why...

This is why we do these mission trips. We had a wonderful mission trip debriefing time this evening at the beach. "You don't learn from experience. You learn from reflecting on experience," Noah, the Field Director for SI here in Guatemala, said back in Magdalena. The true value of a trip like this lies in the 5% life change impact in the students' lives over the next 80 years of their lives, not the short-term measurable things that we can see right away. I absolutely believe the greatest kingdom impact comes in the long-term with small, but significant changes.

Here's a picture of the group at the beach hotel, debriefing all the things that God has taught us in this trip.

I'd like to post a few comments from students, things that they learned through this trip. These comments were spoken in the setting pictured above, after they went between six separate stations for about 15 minutes at each station, journaling their responses to specific debrief questions, then verbally sharing with one another.

Here are some of their comments:

• Max shared the site leader wasn’t trying to change the system, but there was a lack in the system – they’re not changing a system, but changing hearts
• Ethan White – God shapes us and molds us in the process of trials; not about completion, but the process
• Scott said Raquel helped him not identify himself by his shortcomings, but by the things he could see God do through him
• Carlie said I’ve never seen a culture that had so little but gives so much
• money can buy happiness but only a cross can purchase true joy
• Abby K said that her site leader said: they’re people, not a diagnosis – our prejudice can easily get in the way of how we share with them and perceive them
• John said: “the further you are from comfort, the closer you are to living out what God’s planned for you. There are no good stories about comfortable people.”
• Jonathan said you can be effective in your home country, not necessarily in another culture
• John talked about the home visits and he likes to feel like he’s doing something, but he realized he’s not the Savior; God is
• Adam reminded our group that it’s not about us (through a letter from Esther, nonetheless)

We are truly blessed to have a wonderful God who teaches us and continue to mature and grow us, no matter what stage we are in. None of us have arrived. We all have much to learn. God has been working among the LIFT students through this mission trip. This is why we do this!

-Tyler Nelson

LIFT Associate Director