Thinking about Mission work...

Following on the heels of my earlier post, I have been thinking about where my desire to do mission work comes from. To be perfectly honest there are folks in my Church going and perhaps that is what is prompting me, or at least waking up old memories.

Some years back while in the Military, I wont say when, makes me feel old, but it is around 10 years ago maybe 15, I had an opportunity to serve in Honduras. My duty was in a Combat engineer unit, and as such we did many jobs. This mission was unique in that we were building School houses in the hills in Honduras.

This was an exciting opportunity as we arranged to have the materials delivered to the site and build these buildings. The materials were mostly local as in coming from within the country, from the concrete for the foundation to the clay roof tiles. We would pour the foundations, stack the cinder blocks for walls frame the roof, and tile.

We had other crews working on building desks for the classroom. Sometimes there was other work, such as either moving or creating new latrines for the village and new wells.

The villages were rather poor in that they didn’t have much. Most homes didn’t have a floor they were bare dirt floors inside. One particular village had a community laundry area, it was a concrete contraption, the woman would bring the laundry there and beat it against the concrete and rinse then bring home to hang dry.

In another village the kids had a game with the tarantula’s, they would find the hole in the ground and pour water inside till the creature popped out, then they would basically use it as a soccer ball, quite interesting, but not so good for the creature! Out of nowhere kids would arrive selling us cold cola. I have no idea where the cola came from.

There were many missionaries there around the area anyway. Sometimes we saw them come to the villages and give shots, pass out clothes and other items. we did not interact with them we had our mission to do and were clearly told to let them be and not intermingle.

My job was Operations so mostly I was responsible to manage the various construction sites, and get the equipment and materials to the sites. That allowed me to actually get to the sites quite often, and I would tour each site we were doing. I would have a driver take me from site to site and would have to assess the needs, do we have enough material, are we on target to get the work done, so on and so on. it was a monumental task and we had many resources available to us.

I was struck by the people. That they had little but made much of the little they had. They recycled everything, nothing going to scrap. Any piece of brick or metal they snapped up and used, nothing being wasted. They were very resourceful and most of them were Christians. Missionaries have been visiting them for many many years and they all seemed to attend Catholic services. Their faith in God was strong.

At the time I had no desire to witness to them I had a job to do, and I didn’t have much time to meet with the villagers. My interaction was mostly with the liaisons for the villagers they were very practical people and their time was short. The time I spent with them was all business as we had many villages to support. I never asked why we were doing this, or why the US was building Schools in the back hills of Honduras. It was for Higher ups to worry about.

When my tour was over I remember feeling that I was leaving something behind. these people lived a simpler life, had a strong faith in God and family. They supported one another, when someone didn’t have they shared what they had. it was a communal type life in the villages.

Later years I have always looked back on that experience and know it was something special. even when I was there I knew I was part of something, and always said that some day I would be back but not as a Military person but as a missionary as they were doing the hard part. they were doing the day to day dirty work.

At the Military base where we spent each night we did have some Peace Corp folks stay with us from time to time. They were passing through though they did not sty on the base long. They were coming in on the planes at the base I think and then heading out to do their work. They all had the same look on their faces that was a look of great anticipation. They would be excited and on edge and ready to get to business. They all had a look like they were doing something they thoroughly enjoyed. There seemed to a tension between the Peace Corps folks and the Military folks.

Perhaps this is what sticks in my mind. Those folks who were coming there willingly to volunteer their time. Low pay if any, bad accommodations, but they didn’t seem to mind, they even seemed to cherish it. here we were on a base with every amenity modern life can provide, hot showers, three solid meals a day, yet the missionaries seemed happy with one meal a day and sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag. I couldn’t see why they were so happy about that.

Today I can see it I see their secret and know why they were happy. They we serving God and pleasing him. Their own pleasure and comfort was not an issue, and was even a distraction from their purpose. I knew then I wanted something they had.

So perhaps that is what drives me today. Remembering what they had and the work they were doing. This will take some more praying to see if God is leading me to this or something I desire.