As many of you know for the past seven years Emmie and I have participated in mission trips to Central America with Baptist Medical Dental Mission International (BMDMI). God is accomplishing some wonderful things through BMDMI. Meeting of the physical needs is a key focus of the work God has commissioned and commanded each of us to do, and BMDMI has positioned itself in Central America to provide much needed aid to thousands of people each year in Honduras and Nicaragua. BMDMI understands that reaching people with the Gospel must be accomplished through practical missions. But the benefit derived from the work of BMDMI is not just limited to the people of Central America. Those that have participated in short term mission trips understand that God provides many blessings to us as well.
One of these blessings starts the moment someone says yes to going. At first the apprehension and fear might be overwhelming for a first time volunteer, but as God meets needs and proves Himself faithful, that apprehension and fear is quickly replaced with excitement and confidence that God will provide. I guess what I’m trying to say is that surrendering provides the opportunity for God to build faith in the hearts of those that answer His call. That indeed is a blessing.
Another blessing is achieved by what I’ll call the “ripple effect”. The surrender of each volunteers ripples through the friends, family and church families of those that surrender to God’s call. Others begin to get involved in the excitement of providing for the needy and reaching them with the Good News of Christ. From the little kids that give their pennies to the senior adults that give from a lifetime of God’s blessings, from the RA’s and GA’s that make the witnessing bracelets to the ladies’ groups that gather and sort clothes, from the men’s group who cook barbeque to the Sunday School class that gathers to pack pills, all become involved in the sending of those that go. Because of this involvement they too are missionaries of the Gospel.
Yet another blessing is those personal blessings one receives while on the mission field. Allow me to share one with you. In late July of 2007 our team went to Reitoca, Honduras. While many times our team travels to the mountains where the climate is surprisingly mild for Central America in the summer time, this was an extremely hot trip. I have worked in a metal fabrication plant in Memphis all my life and am somewhat accustomed to the heat, yet I don’t think I have ever spent a hotter day than our last full day in Reitoca. The reality of what God taught me that day did not fully set in until a week or so after I returned home. It was about 2 in the afternoon and I had been working in the kitchen since 4:30 that morning. We had just finished cleaning-up from the lunch meal and had about an hour to rest before we started preparing the evening meal. I was hot, tired and soaked in sweat, wanting nothing more than find a shady place to sit and drink the bottle of cold water I had just gotten from the cooler. Just as I sat down Dwight Carr our BMDMI missionary for the week, came up to me and asked if I would help him take some water to the people waiting in line outside the gate of the school where our clinics were set up. The truth is that my first thoughts were not about how thirsty they must be after waiting in the hot sun all day just to get to that place in line. My first thought was to tell him that I needed the water more than they did. But after seeing he was serious, I got up and went with him.
We had discovered the day we arrived in the village that the community water system was not functioning and that the entire village depended on water they carried from the small river at the edge of town. As always our team had packed in enough bottled water to meet our own need for safe drinking and cooking water, but we still needed water for our showers and to flush the toilets. We discovered that the school had a concrete water tower that had not been used for what must have been years. It had about a foot of rotten leaves and trash in it and all the plumbing fittings were broken off the bottom. Dwight got some of the boys from the village to climb up into the open top tank to start cleaning it out. He then sent one of the interpreters to find PVC plumbing fittings and we were able to fix the drain to where we could attach a garden hose. Dwight then was able to find a farmer that had a gasoline powered water pump and enough pipe to reach the river which was about 150 yards down the hill. We were able to fill the tank with enough river water to last us all week.
So here we were on the last day in the village, our bottled water was almost gone and the people were thirsty. Dwight and I went into the kitchen and got a couple of Styrofoam cups and a large stewing pot and filled it with river water from that water tower. As I drained the water from the hose into that stewing pot I commented to Dwight that we couldn’t give them this hot dirty water to drink. He answered in a matter-of-fact way, “this is all they ever have to drink.” We carried the pot of water to the gate and dipped a cup at a time. Without exception, the parents first gave the water to their children before they drank any themselves. They all drank from the same two cups until the pot was empty. I remember when the water was gone a couple of local women that had just finished their drink took the pot from us and ran to the water tank to refill it. These were ladies that had been waiting just like the rest of the people in the line, yet they were willing to replenish what they had been given so that others could receive what they had received. I didn’t think too much of this at the time but after being home a few days I began to think just how selfless they had acted. Then I was reminded of the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples on the Mount of Olives. He said 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Oh what a blessing that was for me! I’m sure that this is just one example of blessings that are received by those that go about sharing their joy both at home and in Central America.
Tommy--one counted among the redeemed.
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