Finding My Place in the Church: My Serve and Learn Trip (Part 2)

Oct 8

Written by Renee Brush, Ph.D.

Last week, I talked about how I found out about my church’s “Serve and Learn Trips” (also called SALTs), which is what my church call mission trips. If you didn’t read last week’s post, I talked about how I attended a service conference to learn about these trips and decided to take a trip to Central America to learn about serving. God was very much at work in that whole process. And he remained involved throughout the whole process – as one might expect since it was a mission’s trip. This week, I am talking about my experiences on that actual trip.

Day 1

This was the day we traveled down to our destination. We had to arrive at the airport at 4am for our flight at 6am. I have had flights in the past this early and it is not an exaggeration to say that I woke up at the time the plane was leaving. So, I was paranoid that I would not wake up. My solution: don’t go to sleep! I didn’t even truly start packing until 9 or 10pm the night before just because I was preparing to leave. Since I am the person in charge of my practice, there was a lot I had to get done before being gone for a whole week. Also, I was the only one of the seven that was not able to check-in online the day prior. So, we had to stand in line and do a manual check in. But my plan worked! I arrived at the airport a few minutes prior to 4am, tired but ready to go!

Waiting in the airport and then traveling with my new friends was interesting. I had never done such a thing – wait, let me rephrase that. I had not done this since I was in the eighth grade when we took a class weekend trip to DC, but we traveled on bus. It was fun getting to know my new friends as we waited and walked through the various airports. And the bonus, as an introvert, is that I was not responsible – and didn’t feel responsible – for the conversation. But I also felt comfortable enough that I could share when I felt I had something to share, and I didn’t feel left out when I did not have anything to add. It was actually a nice, comforting feeling. As someone who has never felt like she fit in anywhere, I truly felt like I belonged.

There was a lot of nervous – and TIRED – energy for me when we arrived in country. We had already been told that this country did not appreciate missionaries, so we officially were on vacation. I had been brushing up on and learning my Spanish since I had decided to go on this trip back in February, but we were cautioned to not use our Spanish with the customs agents. We had all of our forms filled out and walked through the lines, nervous. But it ended up being ok. The guy who went through before me (who was not part of our group) was asked many questions so it added to my nerves that the person would ask me a lot of questions, but I just kept praying inside my head that this person would just let me go through without much of a second glance. My prayers were answered! I think she asked me what my job was and how many days I would be in the country and then she let me go. That was a relief.

Differences in the country were obvious immediately. We could see the mountains off in the distance and it was so beautiful. I learned later those were volcanoes and that we were seeing part of the “Ring of Fire” which is part of the Pacific. Then we were told that, when we used the bathrooms, we were NOT to flush the toilet paper, but to throw it in the wastebasket next to the toilets. That was not entirely unusual to me as I had heard of that in other countries before, but it was unusual to do – and hard to remember! The biggest thing I noticed as we drove through town after leaving the airport was that there was trash all over the town. No matter where we drove, trash all over. And lots of it. I asked Katie about it and she said that, when the government does not take care of its people, it doesn’t care about things such as services for the cities and towns. However, they did have trash pickup, but I believe those were through private companies, not the city. It was just a shame seeing such a beautiful place to have so much litter.

Another oddity that we noticed quite regularly while we were there was safety with their vehicles. We saw 2, 3, even 4 people (maybe even more!) riding on ONE motorcycle! They often did not wear helmets. Once we saw a man driving his motorcycle with a woman breastfeeding her baby riding with the man. Another time, we saw two men on a motorcycle and the second man was carrying a full-size ladder! The ladder was actually longer than the bike. Also, we saw people riding in the back of pickup trucks, though that is not as unusual… but they would do it on the regular roads and highways. This is something we did while were there when we went a short distance on a side road where we were not going very fast. I admit I actually volunteered to sit in the back, and it was kind of fun. We did it a second time too, but the men in the group climbed in the back that time.

The rest of day one was for getting settled in and learning about what we would be doing for the rest of the week. And for me, catching up on some sleep. Not that I slept well there… at the end of May, it was incredibly hot and humid, so sleeping was difficult to come by. We sweat all the time, even in the middle of the night.

Photo by Photographer Frederik Trovatten on Unsplash

Day 2

We began each day with group devotional time. This first day it was about service and what ways we saw ourselves learning from the trip. I shared that I was on this trip because of my own choice to surrender to Jesus and I did not know what I was supposed to learn, but I was open to finding out what it was. I did not question the reason for going… I just signed up and went. These devotional times and the times we spent together at night just solidified our closeness as a group. It helped make the whole experience that much more meaningful to me.

The first project for the week was to rebuild a storage shed that is on Katie’s property. The men helped Katie’s property keeper with rebuilding the shed as well as add a place for him to stay while he is on the property. The women’s job was to stain the wood that was going to go on the outside of the shed. We played music and had time to get to know each other more. It was a nice, relaxing way to start even though we were working hard.

After the women were finished with our part of the project, we went with Katie to a nearby grocery store (a neighborhood “pulperia” as they are called) to get some needed things. She introduced us to two of her friends. When she asked the one woman, whom I will call Jane, to share with us one thing she wants us to know about the country they live in, Jane started to cry. After she gave us permission, we all circled around her and prayed over her, wanting to do what we could to help her out. When we were done, she still looked so sad, but she looked lighter, and she gave us all a hug. Later, we learned that Jane has Bipolar Disorder and it is a financial strain for her to be able to afford her medication.

I learned from Katie’s business partner later that night that the country does not have medical insurance like we do. So, the people have to pay cash for many of their services and treatments. And, unfortunately, the average salary in the country is only between $200-300 per month. My brain immediately started spinning, thinking about how I could do something to help. Initially, the thought was related to some type of program – and that might still be a thing that happens. But that is no easy feat. But it was the first time in that trip that I became aware that my reason for being there was larger than just this trip.

At the end of each day, we gathered in a group to debrief the day. One of the questions we answered each night was “how did you see God at work today.” That day, the women all answered with “Jane.” Her face lightening up after the prayer was powerful in some way for all of us. For me, it was the start of my own transformation related to my purpose within the church. I knew I needed to help in some way; I just wasn’t sure how yet.

Day 3

This morning during my shower, God was talking to me. I knew it was Him because I kept having thoughts that I would not have had on my own. I kept thinking about Jane and her need for medication. What could I do about it? Is there a program that would help? What did I need to know? My mind was just running over all of these different ideas. Not on finding out about what is out there, but what was I going to do. It was a very different way of thinking for me, which is why I know it wasn’t just me. I knew there was something I needed to do, but I didn’t know what. I shared this with the girls as we were getting ready in the morning. Honestly, it felt good to be with people who understood that getting messages from God didn’t mean I was crazy… speaking from a psychologist’s point of view!

During our devotional time, we talked about God’s love for us. Katie asked how God has shown us His love for us. My answer: this group and my other small group within the church. He provided me two small groups that allow me to feel safe after YEARS of being isolated and alone, shut off from the world, essentially. Sure, I had my clients and coworkers, but that is truly not the same thing. I had started letting my coworkers in as friends, but still it was only the beginning. I remember becoming tearful quite frequently in these groups… probably because of sharing these types of things. And not just me, but others too, but I won’t share their stories because, well… those are their stories!

Today, we met a pastor that works closely with Katie. We will call him Pastor Don. He talked about the oppression for Christians going on within the country, stating it would get worse before it begins to get better. He talked about several of his paster friends who are currently in jail after they were arrested for being at a public religious event. During this time, I was reading the chapters in the New Testament written by Paul where he talks about the oppression that those who follow Jesus were experiencing in his day. I was seeing it in first person – and it was chilling and eye-opening. You don’t see it that much here in the U.S. so seeing it in another country put those stories into perspective.

After spending time with Pastor Don, the men finished up the work on the shed while the women went with Pastor Don to a neighborhood, and we helped pass out food to the children there. We took what is called “evangelical cubes” and the pastor talked about how we all have to make a decision about following Jesus if we want to get to heaven. I stood next to one girl, and she would tell me what the story was as he was telling it. They looked so pleased being able to tell the story along with the pastor. They also enjoyed the food that we brought for them. We received a lot of hugs that day. Here in the U.S., people don’t like to hug… there, it’s second nature for the most part.

After we passed out the food and drink, Pastor Don wanted us to walk with him to two different houses where the families needed special attention. We walked with him, and he introduced us to the families. They talked about their problems, and we all prayed together. I had been in church before and prayed with people during the services, but this was different. There, everyone prays out loud all at the same time. There was power in that. Everyone praying for what the family needs. Different prayers but the same requests. I usually don’t do well with multiple sources of sound all at one time, but this experience gave me goose bumps. These families talked candidly about their experiences and what they were asking for. We had brought them provisions (food and things they needed) but then we also prayed for their requests to be met. It was truly amazing.

I don’t remember if it was in our debriefing that night, but one of the things Katie asked us to think about was a Bible verse that would apply to us if we were asked to give a testimony. If she didn’t ask it this night, she asked it the next morning. And since I’m running out of space, I will share it here because a lot more happened that I will share NEXT week in part 3.

As I had been sharing with the group about how quickly things had been changing for me this year since joining Rooted, from going from being pretty isolated to being very involved within the church and this mission trip, Katie asked if she could give me a verse. This is what she shared with me (after I said, “yes, of course!”): I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26 NIV).

It felt very fitting and appropriate. Maybe I became tearful in that moment. I was heartbroken by what I was seeing by the people in this country. Everywhere we went, there were walls – fences – around people’s houses. Some of these walls even had barbed wire on top. They had very little. Sometimes no running water and certainly no electricity. They had dirt floors and plastic furniture. But when we talked to the people, they hugged us and thanked us for stopping. They offered us their chairs or turned on the fans for us. Some of them even prayed for us.

They loved us in the best way they knew how. And God just kept speaking to me. Whispers all throughout my day.

I was silly thinking I could share my whole experience in one post. After thinking about the post this past week, I began to realize it would take more than one post to share all of my thoughts when I actually sat down to write this. So, hang tight… the rest of my experiences will be posted next week!