Later this weekend I will get in our church van with seven other members of our church, we will drive to the airport in Atlanta, and we will fly out to Port au Prince,Haiti.

For several days we will travel to villages near the town of Leogane to set up medical clinics for people in the areas. I will also spend time teaching pastors. This will be my seventh overseas mission trip, my fifth to Haiti and my fourth to this specific area. It will be the second time I will be accompanied by members of my church.

Like I mentioned about our Judgement House, this type of trip is both exhilarating and exhausting. It is exhilarating because we get to see people whose lives are drastically changed by our being with them.

Last year our medical provider saw a 4-day-old baby, and a 100-year-old man on the same day. Without her the baby might not have lived a week. What a blessing to realize you’ve made a difference in someone’s life!

As for me, I have grown to love the pastors I teach. There is a deep satisfaction in sharing with them, knowing that they are better equipped than I to reach theirof a car). We ride from place to place in the back of “tap taps,” small pickup trucks that have been converted into very uncomfortable taxis. We sleep on lumpy beds.

But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Every time I go I learn more about God, about ministry and about myself. I see faith in action. My heart is softened.

May I encourage you to consider taking a mission trip of some kind? Perhaps your church already goes. If you are interested in a medical trip, our church will return at about this time next year. We would be glad to have more team members. Maybe you could organize a team from your church.

You don’t have to go to Haiti. I have been to the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, too. There are places even closer than that where you could serve. I can assure you of this. You will never be the same if you hear God’s call and obey him by going to serve others.

Jesus said of himself, “The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve.” He expects the same from his followers. own people.

Still, the trips are tiring and difficult at times. We live for a week without so many of the basic things we take for granted (TV, radio, air conditioning, the interior of a car). We ride from place to place in the back of “tap taps,” small pickup trucks that have been converted into very uncomfortable taxis. We sleep on lumpy beds.

But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Every time I go I learn more about God, about ministry and about myself. I see faith in action. My heart is softened.

May I encourage you to consider taking a mission trip of some kind? Perhaps your church already goes. If you are interested in a medical trip, our church will return at about this time next year. We would be glad to have more team members. Maybe you could organize a team from your church.

You don’t have to go to Haiti. I have been to the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, too. There are places even closer than that where you could serve. I can assure you of this. You will never be the same if you hear God’s call and obey him by going to serve others.

Jesus said of himself, “The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve.” He expects the same from his followers.