Our 3rd son, Casey,age 20, arrived home yesterday, from a 3 week mission trip to Ecuador.
He had lots of stories to share of his experience.
Nine years ago, when Casey was 11, we took him and his brothers on their first missions trip. Our mission trip was to the country of Honduras, to help with a school. In this rural setting, many of the students, had never experienced having "gringo" children in close proximity, let alone, engaged with them in fun and games. They were especially fascinated by our youngest son, Brock's (then age 6) glasses. They could not fathom, a young boy, actually having "lenses".
I remember asking the missionary, if it would have been better use of our resources to "send" him the money to use for food and equipment vs. the cost of bringing our entire family. His answer surprised me. He was firm in his belief that bringing our children and exposing them to mission work, not only blessed the children at the school, but would have a life long effect on our boys. He was right. The next year, our oldest, Seth returned to the school for 3 weeks to help. In the years that followed, the boys took advantage of other mission opportunities with church youth groups.
It is never to young to expose your children to mission work. We started years before this Honduras trip, by sponsoring a child from a mission school in India. Her picture hung on our refrigerator, as a reminder to pray for her.
Planting a seed, at a young age, coupled with the experience, anticipation and excitement of their first trip, has fueled a passion for missions. I pray this zeal will continue, as the boys have opportunities to share the love of Christ, where ever the Lord leads them.
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