Scars!

In the article, the three steps that need to be part of all short term preparation are: cultivate a compassionate heart, develop an understanding of what the Bible says about injustice and my favorite one, be willing to take action.
Being merciful is very important for us Christians, God call us to be merciful cuz He is and always be merciful for us sinners. When we go in a short term mission trip, usually we visit slums and low profile places with problems such as racism and poverty. For example: if we feel the need to give like a gift or money for a cause, we need to do it because God has placed compassion in our hearts rather than for some effect, like expecting something back or as we say in Spanish doing it “ a regañadientes”, that means like forced too. There’s this quote in the article that really caught my attention: “God wants soft hearts more than efficient remedies; a compassionate heart gives us eyes to see and keeps us awake to the world”. God, in His wonderful mercy, wants us to act for compassion rather than some effect, because in this way God can act through ourselves, and be a softener for our hearts! By doing things for compassion, we work for His glory and mercy, and He works in us changing our hearts.
Knowing and developing an understanding of what the Bible says about injustice have to principal benefits for us: first of all it makes us walk between three rock solid understandings: That we believe in God on a cross, we believe that judgment will come beyond judgment on earth and that we believe he wants us to be involved in the solution. When we walk between these, it makes stronger our faith and gives us authority to preach when we see injustice taking action, and that’s the second point: preaching. Knowing what’s injustice in Bible terms, gives us the authority we need to preach about what’s right and wrong according to His word.
My favorite one: taking action. As God want his people be involved in the solution, taking action is part of this. We need to be very good observers (eyes and ears open) in order to be able to see things around superficial stuff: if one problem is racism for example, we need to look beyond, seek the causes, how’s affecting the population, the reason why this act is developing, I mean, there’re so many background things that we can’t see simply, but if we analyze and found this things, important things, that can really be part of giving a solution. Maybe people will disagree on some solutions, but as the article says, ignorance and denial is unacceptable. I feel like all the previous preparation that we receive at all the meetings during Sunday school at church were a way to as we prepared for the trip, we prepared too in taking actions. This previous preparation I really feel that have opened our eyes, to see things beyond the context, and I’m willing to form part of the solution.

Questions of Trust

PQT stands for ‘prior question of trust’. It’s based on the question: “Is what I’m thinking, saying and doing building or undermining trust?” What this chapter explains is how our actions can build bridges of trust upon people that have a different culture. There’s this phrase in the article that develop this topic crystal clear: ‘no matter how interesting is your story, the spinach between your teeth distracts from what you say’. Cultural differences are a fact in this mission trip, and in communication is really going to be kinda like an issue, even though that Peru is a Spanish-speaking country, there’ll be at least quiet a few differences. These are just mindsets of people from two different countries, but as we go to Mancora, we need to think constantly if our actions are really building trust. Forming relationships there is part of our goals and trust is a fact for a relationship. How can we build relationships without trust? How can we be trust-worthy if what we do may disrupt our intentions? If cultural ignorance distracts from the message of Christ, as we think in what we say, we need to learn how we say and do things in order to be able to share the Gospel.
Cultural Communication Patterns: I got a friend that told me he had a horrible experience in a foreign country (don’t remember which one) by calling a cop by only waving his hand, apparently that meant something really rude, like a curse symbol or something like that. Maybe in Peru, some patterns of communication maybe different from here and we need to be aware of that, we need to ask the senior leaders for them to guide us, and we need to be really good observers, so we can learn also by looking to other people. We don’t wanna go there and like nod our head to say yes to someone and we are saying something like: I don’t like you! :(
Humor: This maybe a little controversial for some people in the team that already went to Mancora, but as I see it, it maybe a difficulty, let me explain: In Panama when we are like in a group of friends, or in a group in which we feel very comfortable, we tend to make jokes, but we know unconsciously that we are just kidding, it depends in the trust of the group. We really don’t want to make them laugh by telling a joke that they may look at it as negative. Humor in a new culture frequently sounds negative, so here we need guidance from the senior leaders and also be very good observers.
Time Views: CBC is a chronometer :) Service starts at this time, end at this team; meeting starts at this time, end at this time. Some Panamanians lacks of this chronometer, but we are used to be on ‘time’ on CBC stuff, at least CBC is on time, indeed. We don’t know how things are with time in Peru, they may be on time, or late, we don’t know; we need to apply the Gumby philosophy here and see things around to look how they work, if they are always on time, or have the ‘elegant late’ of the Panamanians. :)
For me, the most difficult will be the frames of reference. I have many ways to express my frame of reference, in they way I see it, even the phrases in our speech determines that. I used a lot the word ‘man’ and mention some Spanglish words in my talks, and I do it unconsciously. For this I need to work my mind for general points of common understanding; general subjects that may not be an offense for the people in Mancora. I need to think very carefully the things I say so I need to train my mind!

Mack and Leanne's Guide to Short-term Mission Trips

I can summarize this article with the phrase “You reap what you sow”. In this track that’s our life, there are definitely going to be some difficulties, and in some of these we may have to take some risks for our own good. But the things that may be go wrong in our trip, are external forces that we can’t control, so as risks, and the seven aspects about risks of this guideline are just the key point of how to handle it and encourage us about it. The ones that really caught my attention were: Jesus rewards risk: that’s so cool! But we are soon to forget this! These must be our pillar to take some risks for own good; Risk on things that are worth it: Come on! We are not talking about risking two hundred bucks in one all-in poker bet! But we should take the ones that will build us, that will build trust upon the people, maybe as the article says, eating some risky food to build trust, doing like some cultural thing that seems risky for you; When something bad happens, and something bad will happen, be calm and compliant: …Something bad will happen? OF COURSE. I mean, we are representing the body of Christ in there and we have a big enemy that will just do anything to ruin our trip, but we have a bigger God that already won the war, the only thing that we need to do is ask for God for patience. There’s a verse in the Bible in Ephesians 6 that talks about that we need to wear the armor of God because when the bad day comes, we need to be prepared. The Bible here is implicitly saying that, THE BAD DAY WILL COME! And we must be prepared for this, because if that day hits the date when we are in Mancora, as we lose our patience, we may lose our goal, and most importantly, we may lose some souls for Jesus. We may not change them; Jesus is the only one, who can make a change, but we are the ones that throw the seeds, and Jesus will handle the rest. But we can be mediators in this growing by building up some trust. There are going to be things that we need to take some good risks, In Mancora there can be some trust issues, language issues, etc. For these stuff, risk is good and important.

Summarize

Maybe for me, risk is called eating a fruit! Maybe for others, risk is called not saying a specific word. But risk involves a subject that I found very important in this guideline: BUILD TRUST. Risk is necessary, is good because it will make us become the people that Jesus wants us to become (Jesus rewards risks), and as I mention before and my two previous posts about risks and team issues, we must be constant in prayer, I believe that’s the only way to control our patience and emotions. Some of us may be not that patient, but we have to remember always that God is in control, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and as we think we can handle our emotions ourselves, HE as a gentleman won’t be involved, as we pray and let Him in our hearts, He will handle us. Let’s remember this always!

Dos and Dont's

Definitely, the most dangerous ones will be the food, water and health issues, and some low profile suggestions. Maybe because we live here in Panama, we are used to drinking water to take a bath with it, to brush our teeth with it, and in there we can’t use it like that, but bottled water. If someone gets really sick, that will be kinda dangerous because it will not only affect directly the ill team member but also will affect indirectly the other team members as we worry about him or her. I don’t think that someone will eat something that fell on the ground (hope so), but we are ALL exposed to illness in some way, maybe the water, or a mosquito bite, let’s say that someone eats something that fell on the ground (…), for this we have to be constant in prayer, for ourselves and for our team members.
I think it will be difficult for anyone some communication aspects. In almost every country, that’s an issue, and Mancora is not the exception. We are used to our own cultural mindset to communicate ourselves, that we found pretty normal some things that in other countries may be rude or inappropriate gestures. Some talking subjects, as politics, wealth, etc, are very delicate as I see in the handout. Even some conduct aspects like taking pictures, appropriate clothing, the amount of money you carry, I mean, we should be very careful in these things, because obviously is going to be difficult for use, but we should be aware also of these aspects, ask our hosts, see what other people do, and ask our team members with experience on previous Mancora missions trip what should we say or do. We as a team and as a representative of Christ and our church, we don’t wanna give the wrong image, or to our goal as a team in a mission to be ruined just for one of our conduct or communication issues in there. For this also, we have to be constant in prayer.

African Planter

There’s this section of the article that says if short-term missions trip help, It says that they call them learning opportunities, because short-term missions implies agenda and something to do over there, even though that change doesn’t happen in weeks because life is way too much complex for that. Both of these definitions apply to us, because as I think of this mission trip, changes don’t happen in a week, but we can make a change for a lifetime in a week and as we do that, we have a lot of opportunities to learn about God and His church over there. Also the statement about the partnerships with the churches, what was the key of that partnership? Someone that’s a good listener and is trying to learn, this applies to us in the very same way, because this is what this is about! The relationships that we build over there, are going to make the change, over this mission trip been seen as a community work, relationships are going to be the key to the change of a lifetime, not only to them as one of the goals of our mission trip, but also to us, as we learn so much more about God and the importance of missions and sharing the gospel. I also agree with the statement that talks about that many churches in America have been inspired to think about the needs of the world, but they may not know of anyone who can play the role, so do they cultivate those people? 1. Cross cultural change opportunities 2. Internationals that have come to live in America 3. Sending individuals. Number one and three are the key statement that applies to us because in Panama (personal opinion) many churches may be inspired into the world needs but neither of them doesn’t know how to play that role. We have in Crossroads cross-cultural opportunities nearby, as a bilingual church, people who talk English and Spanish interacting may be learning mutually about the other culture and how to relate to them. Also this church have send and support individuals to missions, we have to Gumbs, the Galvez family, I mean, as part of Crossroads Bible Church, we as a group of youth, are learning about the needs of the world, and in Mancora we will learn a lot more about them.

Jahango Fair

1. I saw God Almighty in the Jahango Fair in a very curious way! How everyone in this world form part of God’s plan and how even the cultures can worship God in their own cultural songs and dances. At the fair, they were showing some of the traditional dances of the Jahango culture. But I really imagine how humans in terms of their own culture can worship God. The creation worships the Creator.
2. That both cultures have the very alike cultural laws in terms of religion, the poor Christianity in there, I mean, less than 5% of the population are Christian, so it’s interesting how Jahango and Kenyans are so alike in cultural terms, they have both African influences, so I think that maybe the reason for it.
3. First of all, I think that the Galvez will face a language challenge. As they have to learn the language of the place they will go in Guinea. Also, the food may be a challenge as well, at the Jahango Fair there was this food that was typical from that culture, I didn’t taste it though, but for me it didn’t look very tasty, weird aspect...weird smell! So, the Galvez need to get used to this kinda food. Also I think that a challenge for them may be the clothes that they used in there, not for them but for their kids! They have small children and as they are growing this is the medium that they will be involved too.

A Community of the Broken

1. For us to be a step in the right direction, we need to understand really what the “church” is. This word means literally “assembly”, in which we can infer that requires a group of people reunited for the Lord. Church is people; Paul talks about in the Bible of the church as a metaphor of a human body: different parts, but all working together for the same goal. We are the head of the body in this mission trip, there are different parts of it, but all of them work together for the same. If people stop thinking about themselves, if WE stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking as a group, as individual parts, all of us will be collaborating for the goal to be accomplished.
2. It’s very important because in the case of this trip becoming a “sanctified tourism”, we would be people that are going to serve rather than servants. Sanctified tourism means that this is a temporary trip; literally it is a short-term mission trip, but not a mission that will not last on our lives or in their lives and this is what sanctified tourism will turn our trip into. We really need to avoid this by our preparation for this trip, knowing all the context of what missions are and most important, feed ourselves with the Bible in which we will find all truth especially in Paul’s life.
3. Other ideas that struck in this article were:
• WMF strives to cultivate a mosaic of diverse Christian community--> not only this organization but ALL of us need to have this principle in our lives instead of living by prejudice.
• And it is only when women and men work together that we demonstrate the wholeness of Christ’s body-->Galatians 3:28, I didn’t realize that we demonstrate the wholeness of Christ’s body this way, but as I read this verse, it just got clear to me. We as a team of men and women need to work together for this principle to be true in our lives and work. We are committed to show the wholeness of Christ’s body.

Aligning with God's 21st century moves

I’ll get the record straight here, I really couldn’t listen all of Rev. Gary Edmonds message! It was a lil bit late when I got to the church and I seated all the way back in the fellowship hall, so I couldn’t listen very well there, but, I did listen what I think it was the main point of the message about Aligning with God’s 21st century moves and his point will definitely be useful as we prepare for our trip. Reverend spoke about a very important point about Matthew 28: 19, here Jesus told us to go to all peoples everywhere and make them disciples, but some Christians have seriously grabbed this verse to do this instead of a main thing that Jesus told us to do ever more times in the Scriptures. I wanna highlight that is not incorrect that the Christians grab this verse to make disciples, but is not the only thing: Jesus told us more times in the Bible to go and follow Him. Both are really important and they complement each other, but the contrast here is that one represents doing something and the other one represent being something, just like the paradigm shift between servants vs. people that serve. To follow Jesus states who we are as persons, and then we act in order from who we are, instead of making disciples only. In other words is not all about making disciples only, but to follow Jesuschrist; that will form us, fill us and determine our character as Christians and will definitely align us with God so much better: the truest preparation we need (It’s nothing against the sessions of preparation Jeff, they are cool and necessary, but indeed the only One who can change our mindset and can prepare ourselves is God!). Let’s remember that the only thing that Jesus wants from us is our hearts. I speak for the team by saying that we are definitely committed to follow Him!

Part I: Jeff's Challenge

1. About the statement that we are going to Mancora because we are servants rather than to only serve, I can see it very clearly now. WE are servants, which mean that our duty as servants is to serve always, because that’s what we are. But we if we are going to Peru only to serve, means that is like we are going there to serve for a week and that’s it, we come back to Panama and we keep going with our lives. That’s not the point of this trip. We as servants, serve is our duty. If you can’t notice the difference, I got a great example: is not the same someone that talks about God, than someone that’s a Christian. Someone that talks about God, maybe is a person that know something very superficially about It, maybe between friends that subject arose and He knew a little bit about It, but someone that’s a Christian talks about God because that’s who he is, a newborn person in Christ that is going to do what God told us Christians to do..It’s the same as servants vs. people that is going to serve; we are doers instead of people that are going to do something. This can be connected to “We cannot truly serve those who we don’t know and love” because as servants we must be fully capacitated and willing to truly serve. If we are going to serve only, we can do it without knowing or even loving someone, but if we are going to TRULY serve (as servants do) we must do it with all the qualities of a servant : establishing relationships with people, being with them, loving them..THEN we are TRULY serving.
2. I’ll have to choose three questions that I hope this trip gives me more insight to: What’s the impact of culture on faith? What’s wrong with this world? Where am I going?
I know that God teaches us through experiences, vivid experiences; the Bible is full of those experiences in the lives of Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Job and a lot more. Our prayer should be like to be more like Jesus, simple, but it should also requires that we have to die everyday, to be less like us every single day to be more like Jesus. What we are going to see in this trip may change our lives forever, God indeed is going to teach us through His church over there, but our heart needs to be willing and open to be able to be transformed by Him. I have no idea what I’m going to see over there, but I do wanna see life and the gospel different because of what I’ve experienced: I do want to change more. Why? Because I know I struggle in some parts of life that I need to change, and most important, God knows me so much more than I do, and I know He wants to show me the areas of my life that He dislikes. I want to open my heart to God for Him to transform me more.
All of us are Christians, some of us maybe know much than others, but still we are able to learn so much more. Some subjects are so complex that maybe we’ll not know the whole complexity of them such like: poverty, justice, and the causes of suffering. When God brings us to a place like Mancora, when we are obedient to His word, the Holy Spirit shows us a lot of things that makes us better as Christians, as we know more of His Word, His purpose for His church: the Holy Spirit reveals the truth about God (John 16: 13). So it’s biblical that the Holy Spirit leads us to all truth. What I’m going to see on this trip, I hope that God reveals to me and show me all these themes that seem so bad for the world, honestly I think that’s our sinful nature that make this world go rotten, and it’s because of sin that all of these horrible things developed, but indeed there’s a purpose for them. Why? I’d really like to be full-extras Christian, even the wiser man knows nothing compared to God, but still, learning about this stuff will make my faith go stronger, and all the seeds of doubt that the devil wants to put in my mind, will be worthless as my faith and spirit goes stronger and mature. Also, learning about this make our testimony more effective, it’s very difficult to talk about this stuff to the non-believers, they immediately question that if there’s a God that loves us, why are so many things as wars, poverty, world hunger, etc.? WE CAN’T BE QUIET AS CHRISTIANS HERE! These are things we need to know, not only to make ourselves stronger, but to be a truthful testimony.
There’s a purpose for all of the members of this team going to Mancora. As God reveals to us, He will teach us not only about His church over there, but ourselves too! Indeed, He is going to call us specifically in our lives, in which way does He wants us to be, to do, to go, etc. Maybe some of us will learn much more about the stronger points of there vocation and the reason of this is because we are going to be obedient to the Word of God as the servants we are, God loves us so much, that He will show us to way of the calling in our lives. Sooner or later, everyone will face God and, as we face Him right now in obedience, He’ll lead of to His way. Maybe some missionaries are going to be born in this trip. I’d really want God to show me where am going, because as a Christian, I’d really want to know where am going, am a student of industrial engineering and I feel very comfortable with that, but I know, that God wants to use me someway and use my skills for His Kingdom, but I don’t know where and when or in which way! I wanna stand still in the everlasting rock and this trip will show me fully or a glimpse of where am I going.

Part Two..Experiencing Life At The Margins

1- There were three principal ideas that caught my mind a lot. Avoiding being at the center. We may go to Peru and I remember Jeff told us once that we would prefer not being seen as rockstars or something, because we are people, the same as them. Maybe unconsciously we would out ourselves at the center, cuz we are kinda like the guests in Peru, and we are going to do do and do, BUT we may avoid this, because we are just people as they are, and we both are instruments to the Kingdom of God, so let's put the pride away! Relationships. Peru mission trip 101, this is what this trip is founded on, relationships! The interesting point here is the humbleness behind the relationships, let's just be in Peru to be with them, that's what's going to make flow the Holy Spirit over them so they can be helpful to other churches as well. Jesus came here to die for us so we can be saved..it's true, but even during his ministry He wasn't just making disciples in everywhere He went, He was with His people, healing the sick, visiting the poor..taking care of His sheep. 2- Let us follow The example and THIS is what is going to aplly to us in Mancora, RELATIONSHIPS!. Maybe the point that talks about Americans understanding the main challenge facing Africa is not going to apply to us, but we as Panamenians can know the main challenge facing Peru! So we can be prepared and ready to help there as servants of The Lord. :)!

Part One..Commitments

I have no disagreements with the commitments on the list, each one is very truthful. Indeed, I have inclinations for some of these like for example the one that says !WE WILL stop thinking of short-term mission trips as a service to perform and see them as another expression of a seamless life of missional living that includes giving and receiving. It's a time to learn..." VERY accurate, we are not performing here, we form part of the body if Christ as instruments to serve, to contribute for the Kingdom, we will go to Peru to be teached by God ans His church over there. There's also another commitment that says this "WE WILL humble ourselves before God as His servants, and humble ourselves towards those we are serving as their servants, too." Let's be humble putting the pride away, maybe for some people is harder than others, but let us think this way: God, being the KING OF KINGS, living in His BIG KINGDOM, came here to this rotten world,to be..human! To feel pain, suffering, being tired, feel hunger, etc. And to die the way He die, hanging on a cross..for love? What a great example of being humble, for God and for His people.
"Our individual and team preparation will be characterized by putting God at the beggining, middle and end of everything we do"

O&O Summary

I would really like that these mission trip mold my life in every aspect: personal character, spiritual life, commitment to Jesus and preparation for his work. I already have a life changing experience, but indeed I would like that it could just grow more. I have no idea what I’m going to see or experience, but certainly I want that this trip mold extremely my spiritual life, so I can be stronger and mature in spirit: It’s never enough :). I’m sure that I’m not the only one that is expecting for this, I hope that every member of this team want to be more mature in spirit. At least in me, I know that will be great for the future tribulations and blessings!

Outcomes&Objectives :)

Outcomes: I absolutely agree with outcome number five that says: “The world is hungry for Jesus, and there are many ways we can be Jesus to the world.” The earth is yelling out loud for a Savior, but for some people in this world, they think they don’t need One, for others; they don’t know where or how to look and place their biggest needs; pleasures, security, treasures, their heart and soul in this world.. that’s rotten. And there are others, who know the Absolute Truth, and several sit on their faith by doing nothing about It, the rest do something to show everyone the Truth, but all these facts are surrounded by one: The world is starving for Jesus. As the Bible says, WE are the ambassadors of Jesus in this earth; He was the period to the pact between God and mankind: we can be saved and be healed by his wounds. God is so patient that He is waiting for everyone to know about this and even though that God can just make trees and stones talk about Him to others, He is so merciful that He uses us, so that our spirit can be in touch with the Holy Spirit, and we can feel reunited with the God that created us, just by doing his Word for Kingdom. If God make a stone yell: “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life”, that’ll be sure an amazing thing! But He wisely does the miracles that’ll be so much worth for the Kingdom; by flipping one person’s life 180 degrees and using the gifts that God himself gave to that person, so he can share to others about Him. Reading the Bible and having a great desire to be more like Jesus is a way that we can be Jesus to the world; He can do an amazing miracle by making the Mount Rushmore do this, but He uses a biggest miracle, I’ll say that’s the truest miracle: our lives.
I feel strong about objective number 2.5: I’m a rookie in missions so I really hope that I could learn more about the missions’ strategies. Objective number 4.2: I would really expect that through this trip God motivate me more about Christian world missions; I’m not saying that I’d turn in a missionary, but I can be part someway or somehow into missions. Objective number 4.5: I would really like that all this characteristics could be involved in intercultural missionary service, but specially I would like that our preparation could just make stronger all these other (personal character, spiritual life, commitment) so that we can be spiritually stronger for this mission trip.

Say Your Prayers..

Hey Guys
I just wanna post a lil something here. Hillsong United, Pillar, and other bands have influenced in my life with their lyrics, and I think that's a great way God can talk to us: through music. I bought a CD a while ago called "Polarity" of a punk rock christian band that's called "The Wedding" and there's this song called "say your prayers" that honestly..it just pierce my soul!! Very regular punk rock band, good rythyms and a classic drumming style of punk, BUT..the lyrics of this song was like God himself took me, sat me on a chair and just spoke to me through this lyrics. This song is like a letter from God, a letter that many of us never thought that He could send us, or maybe some of us didn't even care about it. The chorus of this song I think that is a call from God to HIS CHURCH..I felt very identified with the chorus, maybe some of you will feel identified with some of the verses, but I just wanted to post the lyrics of this song because I think that this "letter" it's something that we as christians should remember always.
Imagine God saying you this...
Look at you now, just standing there like you think you’re something.
The lights are up and the crowd is looking your way.
Waiting for what you have to say.
Go ahead boy give them a little taste of hypocrisy, maybe a hint of blasphemy.
Whatever you’re preaching it isn’t Me.
You wanna walk with Me, do ya?
You wanna walk with Me.
If you love Me then just love Me, don’t you give Me pretty words.
Lay your life down at the altar.
Let Me see how serious you are.
These people don’t look to me no more they’ve got their idols in various forms.
With lust in their eyes they crave for more.
Take their place with the corporate carnivores.
Oh, keep your focus for the day will come when everyone will give account for what they’ve done; make Me proud.
Make Me proud my son.
You wanna walk with Me, do ya?
You wanna walk with Me.
If you love Me then just love Me, don’t you give Me pretty words.
Lay your life down at the altar.
Let Me see how serious you are.
Look at this broken world; look at my children.
Get ready go; sing to me the right song.
Look up say your prayers on the steps of the capitol.
Look up say your prayers, on your knees.
Look up say your prayers.
Look up say your prayers.
You wanted it to be like you always thought it would but all you seem to accomplish is the opposite.
You wanna walk with Me, do ya?
You wanna walk with Me.
If you love Me then just love Me, don’t you give Me pretty words.
Lay your life down at the altar.
Let me see how serious YOU ARE!!

Assumptions!

I have to disagree with “We cannot truly serve those we do not know and love”, because I think as serving like not for people, but the souls of the people. The main goal of serving for God’s kingdom it’s to win more souls to Jesus, and for the souls that are already of Jesus, the goal will be like to mold them making their faith stronger. Of course I think it we need to know and love for serving, but I don’t think we can’t truly serve if we don’t have those. The principles of serving are surrounded by love, so we can perfectly serve to people we don’t know, and sometimes it’s easier, because we won’t fear total rejection and confronting them again. WE are disciples of Jesus, and we are called to do as the Bible describes the mission of the apostles: “Go and preach, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near!’ Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid.” “And if some home or town will not welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place and shake the dust off your feet.” (Matthew 10: 7-8, 14). God gave us a way to serve with our gifts, and we didn’t have to pay for them, so we can truly serve always even if we don’t know people, because of what God gave us, LET’S DO THIS!
Assumption 2: BIG TRUTH. I’ll replace the word ‘neighborhood’ for ‘house’. We must be a team of our word through our actions, not just listeners but practicing the Word in our lives.
Assumption 7: I could learn in past experiences that we can learn even more that we can imagine by giving just a little, I can’t figure out right now what we could learn, by giving so much more. One of the reasons that I’m excited for going into this mission’s trip: As we serve, GOD WILL TEACH US A LOT ABOUT OURSELVES, OUR FAITH, ABOUT HIS CHURCH, and ABOUT LIFE.
Assumption 16: There’s a fact: we need to learn more and more through life about the Bible. Is not an exception to learn more for missions and this assumption develops a big truth that I learned reading a book called: “Hermeneutica Biblica” which means “Biblical Hermeneutics” that develops the way how we can study the Bible, the meaning and context of some words and also show the readers that we can’t be anachronistic studying It. Learning the cultural context of the biblical times, will teach us more not only about that culture, but what we can learn right now in the present, understanding better that past cultural context. =)

Letter

Hi

The way God's preparing me for going to this trip is by the way He's showing Himself to me in my life: family, friends, church, etc. These are defintely situations that makes my faith stronger, a strong faith that I need in this trip, preparing myself more about God and other people.I would really want to go to this trip, because first of all that's what God commanded us to do, to share the Gospel around the world, and what a great opportunity to share it in this trip, the purpose of this is sharing God's love with everyone and ministering in different ways to different people, according to our spiritual gifts..working as one for the Kingdom. I really hope that as God shows Himself through my family, friends, even in my own struggles, that He really shows Himself to me in such a tangible way, that I can really learn so much more by doing this missions trip, by doing what He wants us to do, by doing His will and I'm very sure, that when that happens, I won't even notice how I changed or in which area I changed, I just know that'll happen, that someway I'll become less carnal, and more like Jesus.

I can see God working in..

My family. God is working very lightly in my family, but still working..specially through my grandmother. She's my spiritual teacher, I've been taking Bible studies with her. She have a lot of years of experience, so she's definitely the instrument that God have chosen to teach me A LOT! As almost every normal families, I've to live with certain internal issues, but I feel that even in that God is showing Himself to me. In which way? Simply, by letting me live and go through this giving me his peace and letting me look it by the bright side. God is doing this specially for something..for me to LEARN from other people experiences, this case: my family, I feel that this is one of God's processes to polish my faith and making it more valuable as His word says.

My church. God's working in CBC through many ways, specially through ministries. Every kind of ministry that CBC has like Crossfire, women ministry, the missions committee, Bible academy, etc. It's a way that God show himself and works around everyone: leaders and secondaries. One way that God works in church I think is directly to people..I mean..IT'S HIS HOUSE AND HE'S THERE! People go to church seeking for God, and he might show Himself to others using the pastor's messages or by moving His people in ministries.

My college. This maybe the most awkward, but God is showing me there that HE IS DEFINITELY IN MY LIFE. It's not easy to move through a very harsh non christian enviroment, I'm used to though, but still..it's hard. I've talked to my friends and classmates in college about Jesus, specially last year and one of my friends accept Jesus in his life, but nothing more amazing have happened, but last week one of my classmates saw a lil' bracelet that I was wearing that have the word "SHEMA" in it, which is the hebrew for "listen": the famous jewish prayer. And she began a gossip around the class that I was a Jew, and one of my friends yell at her like: Don't be a liar! Can you see clearly that Josue always talks about Jesus and His love, Jesus is clearly in his life and you think he is a jew! They don't accept Jesus. You're crazy!. First of all I thought....always? I mean I only have talked about the Gospel like 3 times last year and then I examined what she said.."Jesus is clearly in his life"..something that I've struggle for quite a while and a non believer could see it clearly..I was like..WOW..YOU'RE DEFINITELY HERE. Honestly, I don't know how, but the thing I know is that God's using me SOMEWAY to show himself to myself.

Summarazing Personality/Spiritual Gifts

What role do you typically exercise on a team?

• Usually, when I work on a team (for example in college) I tend mold to the group situation, if the group needs a leader I can be, if the group already have a leader, I can follow instructions perfectly fine, as I give suggestions too. I prefer to do things that I know the most, but I’m also willing to do new things that I don’t know too much about them and learn how to do them good.

What should members of this team know about you in order to work with you as best as they can?

• The most important thing they should know about me it’s that I willing to work in order to fulfill all the goals of this mission, so if they need my help with something, even if I have no idea know to do it, I’ll try as hard as I can to help them :).

How might God be bringing together your personality type and your spiritual gifts for use in his kingdom?

• The way God can bring together my personality type and my spiritual gifts for the use in His kingdom is by using me as a channel for the Holy Spirit, so He can flow through me, using me as I am, acting through me, increasing all the advantages of my ESTJ personality and the top of my spiritual gifts, working with my qualities and making them perfect as He is.

Personality and Spiritual Gifts Combined

As I look to my personality and spiritual gifts, I can see them working together :P. For example my extroverted personality can be combined with the serving gift. When you serve, most of the time includes other people in it: interaction with others or even following directions of a leader as you serve, so I think that fits perfectly with me. My thinking personality can fit too with my administration gift, when it involves taking a particular decision and thinking it very well. It can also be involved with my teaching gift. I may not know the WHOLE Bible, but as I study the Word of God, think about it and fulfilling my desire to tell other people about what I understood, it can be a little help to others as my ESTJ personality develops.

Spiritual Gifts :)

I’ve always struggle founding which are my spiritual gifts. After finishing this test, I was surprised with the results! My top three stronger spiritual gifts are: service, administration and teaching. I feel very sure about my serving gift, the truth that serving for the Lord inspires me and it really fills me, but, with the administration and teaching gift, first I doubted, I felt very weird, but then I realize my tendencies to those gifts: taking decisions, establishing goals and complete them, a desire to know the Word of God and try to explain it to others. Maybe these gifts haven’t completely developed in me, but I tend a lot to the qualities of these gifts.
The weakest gifts that I have are mercy and hospitality. I’m not surprised with this. I do have both qualities in me, but I can see very clearly that other people definitely have these gifts more developed than me. I don’t feel in me the desire to provide house or accommodations to others and I’m rarely moved to mercy if there’s a financial struggle in church. I can feel these qualities in me (mercy and hospitality), but just as qualities and not as strong spiritual gifts. The weakest one is definitely speaking and interpreting tongues. I’ve never spoke fluently tongues and I can’t understand them, even that in my family there are people that can speak them and I’ve known people that can understand them, they haven’t developed in me. They are highs and lows in my spiritual gifts, but I feel happy to be part of one of the members of the body of Christ.

Personality Test :O

Hey!
A while ago I finish the personality test and the results were the ESTJ personality type (Extroverted Sensing Thinking Judging). When I read the description of this personality type, I realize that it fits perfectly with me.
This personality type has extroverted thinking and intuition; and introverted sensing and feelings. I’m a guy that thinks a lot on some things; but at the same time, I act simultaneously as I think: I’m used to make quickly decisions. It doesn’t mean that I don’t think very well in what I’m going to do. Usually I over think the things , but I don’t delay in taking a decision. I’m not afraid to say what I think, but if it’s something very important, I may not be that direct to people. I let guide myself for my intuition, when I feel that something is correct or not, I act according to what I feel and think. This represent a disadvantage for the team, because maybe the things I feel may not be correct in certain situations and I can make mistakes for inexperience in missions’ trips.
I consider myself a sensitive person, even that I don’t show it most of the time: part of my introverted qualities. The fact that it’s very difficult for me to show easily what I feel, makes me most of the time with people I barely know, a quiet guy: that’s another disadvantage for the team, I’m always going to meet new people and maybe the first impression that they’ll get about me that I’m a quiet guy, which I am when barely know someone, but when they get to know me, my extroverted personality just flows without any restrictions. Even that I don’t show that I’m a sensitive person, I am! That’s makes me a guy that can listen other people, try to understand them and give them advices about any situation. I don’t let myself guide for my sensing part, but that makes think even more about anything according to what I feel. That’s me! I can have advantages and disadvantages, but I’ll pray to the Lord that He’ll use me as I am so He can act through me, and He is PERFECT.