Kayla: At the time that I went on my mission trips I was in high school and it was offered in our youth group to go on mission trips. We had to raise our own support by sending out support letters and I thought it was an awesome opportunity to go. I think at the time to do that and be able to share the gospel was my main purpose in going.
Before you became a missionary what did you think your experience would be like?
Kayla: I guess I didn’t have any preconceived notions about the trip except I was looking forward to being in a different country and experiencing other people’s culture. I was never scared about it. I was never afraid to share the gospel with people I didn’t know. I just was going at it without expecting much of anything.
Can you tell me some of the countries you went to and your length of time doing missions?
Kayla: When I was a freshman in high school I went to the Dominican Republic for a week. When I was a sophomore in high school I went to the Dominican Republic again for a week. And when I was a junior in high school I went to Argentina for a week.
From now on let’s talk about the time you spent in Argentina. Were you sponsored by any organization or church for this trip?
Kayla: It was through First Baptist Church of Woodstock. We had to write up a letter to send out to whoever we wanted explaining the purpose of asking for money. My parents would donate whatever else I needed but most of the time we raised at least most of it or all the money through all the people giving.
What was the training you went through like?
Kayla: Before all the mission trips I went on, about 6 months before we left we started training and preparing. I memorized several verses in Spanish. We had tons of plays, dramas, and songs that we would sing in Spanish. We would also prepare by learning how to share the gospel with people using something called an “Evangicube.” An Evangicube is a cube that you can switch the pictures around and you can share the Gospel and verses with people as you switch the pictures around.
How did you achieve that main objective in Argentina?
Kayla: Definitely carrying out the “Great Commission” and to share the Gospel. It was also to help the church’s that were already there so where when people did receive the Lord they would have somewhere to go and to be discipled to.
What was the greatest joy you experienced while in Argentina?
Kayla: While I was there I shared the Gospel with this one lady. The day we arrived in Argentina we had been playing in the part with these children and it happened to be that they were here children that particular day. A few days later we were able to share the Gospel with her as we went door to door witnessing to people. I have never seen someone respond to the Gospel the way that she did. She was so thankful for us sharing it with her, she was weeping and weeping and she knew that what she had was real. The day before we left people from all around the community came from that church and wanted to tell us good-bye and she came. My translator found me and brought me over to her so she could share with me how grateful she was that she had salvation now and how thankful she was that we had come.
Can you tell me the major religion and the language spoken there?
Kayla: They speak Spanish and most of them are Catholics.
How did the locals receive you (including government)?
Kayla: We had no interaction with the government but everybody received us really well! It was really surprising because here in America you can’t go door to door without having people being rude to you for whatever reason you are there. Everybody, whether they accepted Christ or not, received us being there and talking to them as people very very well.
What were your living conditions like (weather, shelter, food)?
Kayla: We had really good weather. Sometimes it was a little hot but it was never unbearably hot. We lived in a hotel, which is nothing like American hotels, but it was not horrible at all. So really, we had good living conditions. The church that we were helping out would cook for us, even cooking BBQ style for us all the time; they had awesome bread and tons of meat. The food was always really good.
Can you describe to me what one day in your life there was like? (daily routine)
Kayla: We would wake up and both of the girls that I roomed with were not in the same group as me because we had two different groups there and both of the groups were at different churches. We would just get ready and go split off into our groups and travel in buses to our churches. In my group we had a translator named Raquel and we really clicked. It was really easy for me to share the Gospel with people with her translating for me. I didn’t ever feel awkward. We would come back from that and eat lunch and then play with some of the kids outside or we would talk with some of the people at the church. Sometimes we would go to the park and do plays.
Kayla: I remember over the whole trip I think I was able to lead about 20 people to the Lord. Almost all of them were individual incidences. For the most part people would listen to you before rejecting it. They would willfully accept it and generally had a very open mind to it. I think this was mainly because of their culture being mainly Catholic and also because we prayed that their hearts would be open to receive the Gospel.
In general, how was the experience of being a missionary rewarding to you?
Kayla: It was awesome to see the people’s lives being changed right in front of you. I think God helped me to see the awesomeness of salvation a little bit more because I think it’s so easy to put God in a box and just see Him as an American culture. And even just as Americanized Christians to have a certain mindset of God, but when you get out to different countries and people worship differently or use the word differently, it helped me to see that God is not confined to any of that.
What would you say to someone who is thinking of going on a mission trip or becoming a missionary?
Kayla: There is no possible way to love on people without God’s compassion in you. You can make it for a little bit but I don’t think that God delights in our striving to do that and He wants to do that through us. To be a missionary is a very privileged task.
Just for fun, can you tell me your favorite verse?
Kayla: Romans 4:5 “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness”
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