Mission Trip to El Salvador

The second week in August I learned that a sister church of ours was planning to go to El Salvador in January for a two week short-term mission. I got the letter when I was home on my lunch hour and immediately became excited. This I knew would be a wonderful opportunity to see if the mission field was really where the Lord was leading me. But according to the letter I needed to have my passport information to them by the 31st of August, which at the time was only two weeks away. Seeing that might produce a problem I phoned the post office and learned it was indeed impossible to get a passport that quickly. I also knew the pastor that I worked for was planning to be gone the month of January. Realizing the unlikelihood of my going to El Salvador I gave up on the idea and set it aside.

The following Wednesday, my pastor where I go to church stopped by my work and visited with me. During the course of the visit she brought up the subject of El Salvador and said she wished there was some way I could have made the trip because it would have been a wonderful learning experience for me. After she left I continued to think about it, it was really lying heavy on my heart. So I spoke to the pastor that I work for and told him though I couldn’t go on this trip, I would like to go the next time they went. He suggested I not give up on this trip in January and to contact the coordinator of the trip and see if there was any possible way I can go. So I emailed the guy and told him my situation, that I could not get my passport by the 31st but that I was interested in joining them the following year.

Thursday came and I received no word. But that night I was reading a book by Joyce Meyer about how the Lord speaks to us and she said that sometimes God speaks and we don’t hear or that He speaks and we don’t understand, so He speaks through other people. I immediately thought of Pastor Ann and Pastor Gale. In my prayers to the Lord that night I told him my desire to go to El Salvador and asked if it was his will, to make it happen.

Friday morning when I got to work I sat down at the computer to check my email and I hesitated, I was actually scared to look, it was as if I knew I was going to get my answer. Sure enough there is was an email from the guy assuring me that it wasn’t too late, and an invitation to join the group. I immediately started crying. It was the most awesome experience I’ve had in my walk with God.

It wasn’t long till doubts began to set in though: How was I was going to come up with $1050 the amount needed to go on this trip. I didn’t even have the money to purchase my passport, which was $100.

Then Sunday morning I get to church and someone walks up to me and hands me an envelope, saying the Lord had spoken to them, and asked me to take the envelope and not tell anyone where it came from or how much it was. I stuck the envelope in my Bible and didn’t look inside until I got home. Inside was more than enough to cover the cost of my passport, once again I cried. It gets even better though.

It’d been bothering me that I’ve got all these boxes of Bibles and the funds haven’t been coming in as I had hoped. The first part of the week I came across this website about an organization in Texas called ‘Daystar Adopt A Village’ that has a mission outreach in the Waterloo District of Freetown. They were seeking Bibles to take with them on their short-term mission trips that they take once a year. I emailed them and told them I had some Bibles I would like to send with them. They emailed me back very excited to hear from me and said they would love to take them. They are also going to send me the information about their short-term missions to Sierra Leone. Since this is where I feel the Lord wants me to go eventually I would like to take part in anything they have available.

Last Thursday (Sept 2) the Lord came through again when a woman from my church presented me with a check for $200 to ship some of the Bibles. So yesterday what was left of our boxes of Bibles was shipped to Texas for a total of $186. Isn’t that awesome!

This past Sunday was also pretty special. After service a gentleman in our congregation asked me to accompany him to the front of the church where he presented me with a guilt he had made to be auctioned off during our church garage sale to raise money for my mission trip to El Salvador.

In the midst of all that is happening in my family it is both comforting and humbling to know that God is right there with me, demanding my trust and faith that He will provide. Thank you Jesus for being my Lord and Savior!!!!

Sept 25th We held our church garage sale today and raised $595 towards the mission trip to El Salvador bringing total donations to $1095 PRAISE THE LORD!!! As Rose Marie stated Sunday, why did I ever doubt it.