The summer of 1996 changed my life. I went on a month long mission trip with New Tribes SUMMIT to Paraguay South America. I was 15. Now that I’m a parent I can’t believe my folks said yes! While there the team built a school for Missionary Kids. It was during that summer that I saw with my own eyes how missionaries lived daily lives. I got to see them and talk to them face to face in their own houses. They were more than just newsletters with exciting stories, they were people living “normal” lives. I also had the sense of, “They need teachers, I can do that.” God has used a lot of different people and a lot of prayer to keep me on the path of becoming a missionary. Some days I still can’t beleive it’s what we do.
Fast forward to 2013. Married and two kids later, ministring in the Guest House for the field of Mexico. I received an email from a couple whose name I would never forget. He was a pilot in Paraguay. He flew us, plane by plan, into a tribal location for a Sunday worship service with the tribal church. Dwight and Diana Brown were part of that summer. And on October 30th, they stayed at the guest house! I couldn’t contain my excitement that God would cross our paths again!!! They have been missionaries with New Tribes Mission since 1984. God has closed down the flight program in Paraguay and they are now serving in Bolivia. We spent so much time catching up, reminiscing on the summer I was there (they served lion meat for lunch once), and talking about God’s faithfulness in leading us to where we are now.
I often tell parents, “If your child wants to go on a missions trip, let them. You never know if it might be a trip to change their life.”