Thoughts

When you mention a mission trip people want to know what your are going to do or what you did.  When I tell them about Kyrgyzstan my standard answer is "Love on people"  The looks I get are confusion and frowns.  As a society we are so set on physical goals.  People want to hear "we built a barn", "we painted a house", "we put in a fence"  "I did dentistry"  They don't understand we loved on people.

But isn't that what Jesus did?  I don't remember stories of him building houses or other physical property. (and he was even a carpenter)  You read that he had meals with people and met their needs.  

That is what we are doing here.  Twice a day we are having meals with those that need to be loved on.  We play with the orphans, we play with the men.  Today we will give hand massages to the seniors at the senior center and deliver food to people living in the garbage dump picking through it daily to find enough to live on.

The love they receive causes them to question why.  "Why did these Americans travel across the ocean to bring us food, or to play with us?"  This allows the nationals to explain the gospel to them.  It allows the nationals to bring them to Christ.  

The physical work can be done cheaply here.  The DAILY wage paid to the workers on the barn will be $10.  Yes I said $10 per DAY.  (and that is the high end of what workers make)  Our time building relationships is more valuable than that. Feeling the love of Christ and getting to know more about him is way more valuable then us physically working.