Christine: The opportunity presented itself and when I heard that my youth group wanted to go, I said sure! Also the Lord had been talking to me or had placed in my heart a desire to actually do missions when I was about 12. That’s probably where it started.
Before you became a missionary what did you think your experience would be like?
Christine: I wasn’t really sure what to expect on my first missions trip. I was kind of scared. I thought I would have to do a lot of things that I didn’t know how to do, and wasn’t prepared to do; but that turned out not to be the case. The way they had it organized everybody had something to do, be it working on house or doing a vacation bible school for little kids.
Can you tell me some of the countries you went to and your length of time doing missions?
Christine: I did one week long missions trip in Mexico in the town of Chihuahua in 2001.
From now on let’s talk about the time you spent in Mexico. Were you sponsored by any organization or church for this trip?
Christine: Not so much sponsored as supported by Marietta Alliance Church of The Christian and Missionary Alliance.
What was the training you went through like?
Christine: We did a couple of sessions with my youth group in high school. We did a few 3 hour long training sessions where we talked about what we would be doing, basically preparing. Another type of training that we had was actually doing a ministry in our own neighborhoods of vacation bible school and backyard bible clubs for little children. This really helped us to prepare for the mission field for younger kids. They may not have spoken English but we were prepared for the content and the experience.
What was your main objective?
Christine: There was a bible school down there, not a very big one, and one our jobs was to work on construction of that. We needed to put in a roof, some plumbing, they had already laid the groundwork for the cement flood but there was no plumbing. We put in plumbing, insulated the walls, put up sheetrock, basically helped them get part of this bible institute up and running and able to be used. We also participated in Sunday services with a local church down there that we partnered with of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. We also were involved in vacation bible school and backyard bible clubs for little children.
How did you achieve that main objective?
Christine: Hard work, early mornings, teamwork was very important. I wasn’t just a missionary; I was on a mission's team. I couldn’t do anything alone. I had people with me helping me always and we really gelled as a team.
What was the greatest joy you experienced while in Mexico?
Christine: The friendships made with the people at the church, the fellowship we had with the natives that went to the church there, and our team. I still keep in contact with one of the people, Israel (picture below), that does praise and worship at the church we helped there. After Israel became a Christian, which was later in his life in his 20’s, he started going to the church. He did not have a place to live so he basically lived in the church basement while he learned to play guitar and lead worship. He changed his name to Israel because of the biblical sense of it.
What was the greatest hardship you experienced while in Mexico?
Christine: Getting up early was hard. We had to fight tiredness and angry tempers and people getting upset, which happened. Also, the water! And the showers! We had one cold shower for the women and men. That was it. We lived at the church and they had one shower and it was trickle and it was freezing! The water was less than sanitary…let’s just say a lot of people got sick. That was battle. The water was rough; I thank God for bottled water.
Can you tell me the major religion and the language spoken there?
Christine: The language was Spanish. The religion was probably Catholicism if any at all. Most of the people in the neighborhood did not attend church.
How did the locals receive you (including government)?
Christine: We didn’t receive any immediate resistance or opposition, at least not that we could see. There’s always a problem with going to another country and having to deal with going through government and the borders of Mexico. It was usually more of a problem getting back over to the U.S. Within the town we met mostly hospitality among the people. They seemed for the most part to welcome us because we were taking their children and letting them have a fun time. Albeit still teaching them about the bible they were having a great time learning about it. That was usually a welcomed thing.
Christine: The weather was hot and dry…but mostly just hot. There was a lot of sweating and only so much bottled water, so that was kind of rough. As far as living conditions we all slept on the floor of the church. We had an upstairs big room for the girls and a smaller room for the boys. We all shared. We had one incident with a scorpion in the girl's room, but nobody got hurt. The living conditions weren’t that bad, they were bearable. We were inside and not outside living in tents. We had running water, we couldn’t drink it, but we had it. We had bottled water, not a lot of it, but there was enough. We had more food than we could ever ask for. Mexican food every night and every afternoon, and for breakfast we ate cereal.
Can you describe to me what one day in your life there was like? (daily routine)
Christine: We were awakened about 4:30 in the morning by the Cucaracha mobile. It drove by playing the song “La Cucaracha.” That was our wake up call. We got up, ate breakfast, went to the worksite, and began working. The afternoon came and we took a break and had lunch, came back at about 3 to do our backyard bible clubs or vacation bible school for the children in the neighborhood. We would sing them songs, do crafts with them, tell stories and after that was over we went back to the worksite or sometimes we had a break depending on how late it was. Sometimes we would go out and do something in the neighborhood or prepare for a service. A couple of nights we attended a big tent revival meeting in the downtown part of the town we were in. Later we came back, had dinner and had some time of reflection. We would talk about the day in a big group. I remember fondly sitting in a big circle in the sanctuary talking about what God had done that day, if our prayers were being answered, or any stories
How did the people respond to the Gospel?
Christine: The children seemed to really receive it well. There weren’t a tremendous amount of kids who said they wanted to accept Jesus Christ but we believe there were a lot of seeds planted. Hopefully through continued work of other ministries in the area and the ministry of the church we helped those children to grow up knowing about and believing in Jesus. We hoped that they would take the knowledge back to their parents and say “Look Mom, Look Dad! See what I learned! Listen; let me tell you about this man Jesus!”
Can you tell one story of an amazing way God met a need?
Christine: That story started before we even left, and it had to do with the money to pay for the trip. I’m not the richest person in the world and I really wanted to go on this trip. We had fundraisers that we would work at and I ended up, through the fundraisers, being able to pay for my whole trip, and I even got money back! I used that extra money to buy a guitar while I was in Mexico and I used it on the trip to do praise and worship. That was when God met and need and went over the need. He exceeded anything that I could have asked for.
In general, how was the experience of being a missionary rewarding to you?
Christine: The knowledge that somebody knew about Jesus that didn’t know about Him before. And because Jesus saved their soul they have the opportunity now to say that they know Him, or eventually will be able to say they choose to believe in Him and follow Him.
What would you say to someone who is thinking of going on a mission trip or becoming a missionary?
Christine: Do it! Don’t hinder God’s call. Don’t try to stop it. If God has called you and you have the opportunity and God places that for you, don’t try to deny it. Instead, pray about it, consider it, and ultimately do it.
Just for fun, can you tell me your favorite verse?
Christine: Isaiah 26:8, “Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You; The desire of our soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You.”
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