Last summer I survived two earthquakes the same week that I ate guinea pig.
My mission trip to Ecuador last July took me out of my comfort zone in unexpected, scary ways. But, it showed me that sometimes God uses these scary, uncomfortable situations in order to teach us to trust Him.
To give you some context, this was my first time on a mission trip or out of the country. All I was told going into it was that we would be leading vacation bible school (a combination of Sunday school and summer camp) and in-home Bible studies.
So, one week of being in a foreign country, I could handle that right? After all, what could really go wrong? First, there was the issue of the language barrier. I immediately fell in love with the children of Ecuador, but it was frustrating when we couldn’t understand each other and there wasn’t a translator available. Then, there’s the issue of traffic. Drivers in Ecuador are terrifying. They pay no attention to pedestrians and seem to think that their motorcycle can fit in the two-foot space between city buses. At one point our bus driver drove up a mountain so fast that I thought I were going to fall off the side of it. Another thing that no one prepared me for? Earthquakes. There had been an earthquake in Ecuador a few weeks before we got there, but everyone assured me it wouldn’t happen again. Well, one night it did. Two earthquakes shook the building we were staying in and I was terrified. I began to doubt that this trip was worth it since hardly anyone listened when we talked about Christ and I wasn’t really having fun in that moment. Finally, on the last day, when I thought all my “adventures” were over, our leader brought out guinea pig for us to try. I tried it, but that meal made me readier than ever to get back home.
I was out of my comfort zone from the first day of the trip to the last, but now I am so grateful for it. Throughout the week God opened my eyes to the truth that He was with me when I was scared and uncertain, and in order to get through the unpredictability of life, I had to trust Him.
Most importantly, God showed me that the discomfort I faced was worth it in the end. I realized that only by driving up a mountain were we able to get to the top and see the amazing view. And, I had to face the language barrier head on in order to build relationships with the people of Ecuador and tell them about Jesus. In the end, overcoming the discomfort made my week in Ecuador one of the best weeks of my life.
The mission trip taught me that not everything is comfortable and easy, but we must trust that God has a reason for our discomfort. Charles Stanley summed it up this way; “God's plan for enlarging His kingdom is so simple — one person telling another about the Savior... The joy you'll have when you meet that person in heaven will far exceed any discomfort you felt in sharing the gospel.” And I couldn’t agree more.
