Unlike last year, this year I will return as a staff member playing the roles of a Pastor, Music Leader, as well as a Photo Journalist for Insight Magazine. The preparation for this trip so far has been far greater than anything I have ever prepared for in so many areas of my life. At least, that is what I would like to think right now. ;)
Physically, I have been training and exercising every day to build strength to be ready for whatever terrain I am to face in Mexico. The first week, I will be working hard physical labor in building a church where both strength and stamina is needed.
Mental preparation for this trip has been the hardest part so far. I will be living a very primitive life for the latter two of three weeks there and the thoughts of simplistic things I have in my daily life in the United States will turn into items of luxury. The weather will be tough to coupe with. Eating, showering, and the overall living conditions I will go through will be totally different than what I am used to at home. There is the fear of missing my friends and family back home while I am in Mexico. The biggest challenging thought however, is whether or not I will be ready. It has been haunting me this whole week. Being a pastor and a leader to a site of about 26 or so teenagers is a bit intimidating. Although I am a youth leader at my church, this group I will be pastoring is a group of total teenaged strangers. I don't have any hesitations, fears, or doubts about the youth I lead and interact with at my home church because I know them. I grew up with them, know what to expect and how to approach them with certain matters. But this group I will help lead, is different. It's hard to prepare to teach a group you don't know how to teach. It's hard to prepare answers for questions you don't know will be asked. How will they react to how I act and teach? Will I be ready?
There's a thought inside of me that says I won't be ready.
A thought that screams out
"How can you prepare for this? You don't even know what you are preparing for!"
Spiritually, I can feel God's transformation in me more and more every morning when I wake up. I feel THIS is what He has called me to do. THIS is what He has been preparing me for. THIS is the will of the Lord. How do I know? When you are reading The Word more and fully understanding it, when your prayer life is growing, and when you are witnessing to others, YOU KNOW you are growing in the Lord.
But the doubt still lingers...
I have been preparing my bible lesson studies day after day and to be honest, I haven't studied my bible this much ever! Being the Pastor of a group means I am the spiritual leader of the group. And aside from teaching & leading out in the evening worships as well as leading morning worships. I am in charge of the relationships of the participants with each other as well as with God. I have been training and studying to be at the highest point in my spiritual life I can possibly prepare for and although Satan continues to fight to place that big doubt in my mind about being ready for my mission trip and my responsibilities, I remember of a bible passage I received when I woke up one morning via a text message from one of my friends named Lauren. It referred to the "Do Not Worry" passage found in Matthew 6:25-34.
The passage encourages me whenever that hint of a doubt starts to sneak into my thoughts as my last minutes of preparations are upon me now. It tells me not to worry about my life or even about tomorrow. God will take care of it.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, God tells us He will not give us more than what we can bear and He will always show us a way out of our troubles. So why worry? There is no need to. Think of these verses when you are in times of worry.
There is only so much we can do to prepare for in life and for me, there is only so much that I can prepare for my mission trip. But it takes Faith in Jesus Christ to lift us up from our trials and worries for He knows what our limits are. We just have to understand that His love is never ending, His strength unmeasurable and that He is a God with no limits. There are some things you just have to let go of and let God take the lead.
Until Next time, May God continue to shower you with blessings.
-AaronNak
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