David's thoughts about returning to Connecticut after his DTS experience in Europe and Sierra Leone.
“How was Africa?”” How was your mission trip?” These questions greeted me many times upon my return. Even after weeks of transitioning back to western culture, my answer to these is still - ‘it’s hard to explain’. Before leaving, I had ideas of what doing God’s work in Africa would entail. I thought I was making a sacrifice of time and money and I was ready for the Lord to use me to help comfort, enrich lives, or serve others who needed it. But that was only part of the equation. I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly unprepared for what I would gain from my experiences. No matter what I faced, I left every encounter blessed and full of wonder at what God showed me.
I could write hundreds of articles about those six months working in foreign environments outside my comfort zone. We are blessed in America. We are not to compare our blessings with others blessings. God has given different people groups and different cultures relevant blessings to where they are. (He meets us where we are) Blessings does not equate with better. We are NOT better than people in Africa. Our blessings carry different responsibilities. Each culture has different ideologies in its society. They struggle with poverty and hunger, we struggle with selfishness and gluttony. They struggle with physical disease and lack of transportation, we struggle with anxiety related mental illness and road rage. They don’t have clocks or many activities to schedule, and we are run by clocks and overscheduled to the point of imprisonment to daily routine. Their churches battle with fatalism and voodoo. Our churches face legalism and atheism. Different places face different problems and receive relevant blessings to their needs.
No amount of gold or diamonds or convenience could ever take the place of the invaluable time I spent abroad. Beside all the encounters and eye-opening experiences of being in a third world country, I also learned new things about God’s love. The realization that God loves us so much that He gave us free choice, reached a new level of understanding for me. He doesn’t force us like puppets to bend to His will. He, like any parent, desires a relationship with us. What father or mother gets pleasure from demanding obedience and time from their children. The same principle applies to God the Father – He wants us to choose to be with Him out of love, not rules and discipline. But it gets even better! Through study and experience, I saw that, even when my decisions and actions weren’t the perfect ones, God’s love doesn’t waver. The Father Heart of God is just like that!
I want to once again thank everyone who helped support me and I also encourage each of you to consider stepping forth into new ground and doing some missionary work. The perspective changes will help increase your knowledge, appreciation, and reliance of God working in your life, as this trip did for me. Thank you.
