Missions Hits Home

       God taught me so much on this trip and I know he’s nowhere near done working in my life. As we went on this trip, I realized a part of why it’s so important to go and tell others about the Gospel of Christ. I once heard a public speaker who said that children spell love t-i-m-e. They can tell that you care about them by just spending time with them. This has been made real to me through this trip but I also realize that this isn’t just for children. Everyone feels this way. In my own experiences, I know that there is no better way for people to show love to me than to spend time with me. I have been able to tell people who really care about me by the way they invest in me and try to help me grow in my relationship with Christ. I say all this so you can understand the difference between going to tell someone and just “supporting” the people who do go. I know there are always circumstances where a person absolutely cannot go but as a generalization, most people are able to and when you do  go, it shows more that you care when you are able to talk to them and know them personally.
       While I realized how important it is to go, I also realized how important it is to tell people right where you are. I know that isn’t usually the thing people learn about or come to understand better when they go on an international mission trip, but I did one day while we were riding in our vans. As were leaving from Masai Mara, I was looking out at all the people that were going about their everyday lives. As we were driving, I started praying for those people. I knew that there was little I could do about their eternity at that time and that I might never see those people so I began praying for someone to come along and tell those people. As we went further away, I saw church buildings and Christian schools on the side of the roads and I wondered, “Why aren’t these Christians telling everyone around them about Jesus? They at least know the language of these people and can speak easily with them.” But then I had to stop myself because I realized, I don’t do that back at home. I’m not always telling everyone I see about how great God is. We’ve individually been put in our own mission field. There are many people that we come in contact that don’t know. And, for the most part, we can easily speak their language too. This  experience made me realize that going on a mission trip to Africa and telling people about Him when that’s all you’re there to do is not the really really hard part. Although it isn’t easy by any means, I feel like it might be a little harder for us to live unashamed in the place that we live. We can easily get scared about what people think when we are talking to people we know we are going to see every day. So I’m not just talking to the people reading this blog but myself as well. Let’s live unashamed no matter where we are. We have a reason to speak out because we have the greatest news in history so let’s not hide it.
       In my little reflection blog here, I would like to take a  second to thank all of you who prayed for us while were gone. I can’t speak for the whole team, but I think that we all would probably agree that we felt your prayers and appreciated them so much. I love you all.

Sincerely,
Leah Register