First I went to Merida Mexico with the group selected from the entire church. I got to meet many of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ there both from Mexico and a few that I didn't know as well from the church. We helped them build a church,  saw some caves, went shopping in the town square  and experienced God in a number of ways that I had not seen before. My favorite part was worshiping with the Mexican people. Though they did not have a formal sanctuary, (since we were building it) my preconceptions of worship were really destroyed on this trip. I knew that we could worship in all we did as Christians but these people exemplified this concept to it's fullest.

Merida Mexico

 It was so encouraging and convicting to see these people who had significantly less than myself worshiping so much more both n their daily actions, and with songs and scripture readings. This trip has allowed me to become more free in my ability to worship despite what I may be doing at the time, where I am or what's going on in my life. My most distinct memory is stopping work to sing along, or at least try to, with a guitar among the rocks, cement and dirt that we were working with. These people loved God.

The other trip I took was with the youth group to Costa Rica. Here we met with the most impoverished people I have experienced in my lifetime. We would experience the natural beauty of a Volcano, sit in hot springs and visit waterfalls but I remained grounded in the need the people had all around me. With my American mentality I wanted immediately to fix their physical situation. Give them clean water, food to eat, better electricity, maybe air conditioning. God used this time to give me a much deeper goal. To give them the living water. Like the Samaritan woman at the well, I first thought of the physical, and overlooked the deep spiritual needs these people had.

Costa Rica

On this trip, God taught me how to be there for people, how to live as a physical example of the love Christ extends to all people in every situation. This really made things much less overwhelming. While it would take the effort of millions of people and dollars to fix their circumstance, I found myself fully equipped by God with the Holy Spirit to do what we are all called to do. To be like Christ. I learned to love the least of these. Not with any conditions, not if they did something for me I would do something for them. Not because associating with them would make me look any better or cooler or more acceptable to society but simply because God called me to meet them at their need for love. This lesson was invaluable.

Overall God has met me at every place I have been, and I m fortunate for Him to have allowed me to go to these places. I would like to thank you all for the support and prayers you gave both groups, and ask that you would continue to support these efforts in any way that you can. These are life experiences I will never forget. Thank you, and go with God.

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