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I will not adequately be able to put into words the range of emotions I felt from Saturday to Saturday… It was a week where I saw, felt and heard God move in big ways.

It’s now Monday morning (July 5th) and I’m on my way to the airport to head to Monterrey Mexico for the week to help Back2Back with clean up after Hurricane Alex and I really don’t know what to expect. Part of me is wishing I was still with my family at the lake, especially after what happened to Morgan. The other part of me is excited to get back down to Monterrey, but I already feel myself being guarded.

As we arrive in the airport and get through customs and introduce ourselves to the other Church from Michigan I can tell this isn’t going to be like the other 2 trips I’ve been on. For starters we were staying off campus at a Motel, so the camaraderie that happens in a typical group will be lacking. So far as I reflect I realize I’ve made the trip about me… That is never a good thing.

As we drive to the Back2Back compound we see devastation… Bridges are gone, cars have been moved and have crashed into each other because of the force of the water, 3 lane highways are no more they have collapsed, there is debris everywhere and as we attempt to go over what was once a bridge to the compound we get stuck in a hole and have to exit the van to push it out in 6-8″ of running water.

Again I’m reminded this isn’t going to be like any other trip. We walk the rest of the way to the compound and I’m amazed at the damage the compound has and after a very quick update we get to work digging a trench.

The next day we head to Rio III and I’m shocked… Not at what I see, but what I don’t see. Where there was once hundreds of homes there is nothing, I mean nothing… I again feel myself put up a guard to protect myself from experiencing all that is going on, I make the decision that I wasn’t going to let the reality of the situation sink into my soul. I wasn’t going to allow what I see, hear and feel to affect me. Why? I’m not sure…

As I continue to think about all that we experienced that week, all that we did, all that we saw and heard I realize I not only protected myself from most of it, I limited what God wanted to do in and through me.

Fast forward to Thursday night (July 8th) and we are able to have a worship service and one of the staff tells us of a God encounter he has, it’s just what I needed to hear. Then they offer to pray for us… Again just what I needed.

I go up for prayer and something simple yet profound is prayed over me… “This trip isn’t over yet (I’d leave the next morning)”. How true that is.

I’ve been more impacted since the trip than I was during the trip. I’ve been retracing all the things I saw, did, heard, etc. I’ve asked God to speak to those things, I’ve been seeking God about what I am suppose to do, what I am suppose to learn, what He wants from me… He’s been speaking.

God has been reminding me of who I am in Him. God has been putting things on my heart. Although I wasn’t present in the moment, I believe God is making up for lost time and it has me rethinking a lot of things. Mostly this; Where else have I/could I ask God to move? Are there other times/areas I have “guarded” myself from all that God might have for me and could I ask God to redeem those like He is this past Mission trip?

The biggest take away for me on this past trip came from a Pastor from a community that Back2Back supports and he said “today you guys are an answer to prayer”. Wow, I don’t think I ever thought of it that way. I just came to help, I didn’t think of it in the realm they were… Again I wonder, where else are we answers to prayer? How often do we miss God moments because we are so focused on a task, rather than what God is doing?

All this to say; I want to be more open to the things God is doing, than the things I’m trying to get God involved in.

Here is a video I put together from our trip, it’s just a glimpse of what we did/experienced.

-Rainey

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