News
An Everlasting Experience by David Wong

Back a few years ago, when I use to be part of Junior Church, Missions Month was the only one other event of the year that I looked forward to besides Christmas and the start of summer vacation. It was a time of year when every missions team from our church came to us and talked about their personal experiences and the reasoning behind the purpose of ministering to others. During every Sunday of Missions Month, you would find me listening open mouthed, lost in the world of missions work. These early childhood events helped to capture my interest to serve the Lord.

My interest to serve the Lord and to help others never died. All throughout my years in high school, I experimented with volunteering in various fields in order to find something that I enjoyed. After experiencing some very motivating and some rather backbreaking fields, I finally came to realize how much I enjoyed working with children at the library. Unlike working in the doctor’s office, they did not make outrageous demands nor use me as a "pack mule". Therefore I decided to take part in the Mexico Missions trip because it mostly involved dealing with children in migrant camps. After some careful consideration, I planned to go after I took my SATS so that nothing would be prodding me in the back of my head. However I did not expect to have the surprise I did when I happened to peer at the bulletin board...

Imagine the shock on my face when on the following week I saw the pictures of Kristen Yu, Helen Lee, and May Lee right next to mine ( I had already endured such a situation where I was outnumbered by girls 3:1 on a couple of overnight school trip...). Already in my head I was expecting a fanatical lifestyle which would include me getting out ruled in all the decision making and of course getting dragged into the mall for a makeover. Again! However the Lord was good to me on this issue and instead of having a group of immature and irrational teammates, I was blessed with being in the company of some very enjoyable, MATURE, and easygoing teammates who quickly helped me to realize (after a very unfortunate bike riding incident on the boardwalk of Coronado beach) why my parents refused to allow me to obtain a driver’s license. Even though we had some disagreements (alright they didn’t want to rent the convertible) they were all like the older sisters I never had, educating and aiding me all along the way. I enjoyed my team’s company immensely and eventually I found out that someone actually enjoyed running with me at 6 in the morning. Our bond was pretty much solidified after the ordeals of the first day which involved, but were not limited to getting onboard the flight on time, boarding pass malfunctions, seat changes, getting into the Wong’s house (Anthony and family were visiting the Grand Canyon, but their dog sure was overjoyed to see us!), and of course getting locked out of our own rented car!. However these troubles did not split us apart as you would have normally thought, it only made us stronger. Even while sitting down for dinner at a table in Red Robins (while waiting for AAA) we still had a great laugh about all that we had endured. It was evident to us all that God had purposely done this and in the process caused us to become one. By the time the date arrived for us to go into Mexico, we had already transformed from teammates into family and were ready to meet the challenges ahead of us.

This just goes to show how God works in us all. Mission Mexico 07 definitely opened my eyes to witness how children living in camps in the middle of nowhere can be satisfied with what they have. They displayed such joy in our coming that by the end of the first day, my legs were buckling from giving out numerous piggybacks. Even though I went to sleep with sore legs; I was still satisfied with being able to bring joy to them by simply giving out an article of clothing or by just playing with them. To be able to see children running to you with such glee is really a sight to behold.

Although I enjoyed working with the children, I was really hesitant about going to the rehab center. The sheer number of men and women sitting in a crowded auditorium was intimidating. I was not really sure about how they might approach us, and I was positive none of them were coming for a piggyback ride. However my apprehension about the people in rehab soon vanished when I saw how even the most heavily tattooed man joined us in singing children’s songs.

Throughout the trip God protected us all and gave us the courage to minister to people in need. After Mission Mexico 07 officially ended it was evident that God was still looking out for us. Aid came to us from the California team who took over the role of host and made our remaining days in California as enjoyable and relaxing as possible. I am sure none of us will ever forget the laughs and late nights that we all shared during and after Mission Mexico 07 officially ended. Even thought we are miles and miles apart we still continue to communicate with each other through Face book. I will never forget this trip or the experiences that I had. I definitely recommend for everyone to go on a short term mission; such an event will help to develop a greater bond with the Lord. I will definitely want to go back; every time I think back to the week and a half that I spent away from home it bring back wonderful memories of how I became family with a group of strangers.