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.