Commit and Carry

Over the last several months, our church has been trying to raise money for short-term mission trips that happened in the spring and will be happening this summer.  The project is called Commit and Carry and a few creative people have been selling shirts, stickers, journals etc to raise money for the work that is to be done in a few specific countries.  One of these countries is El Salvador and my parents are among the team that will be leaving tomorrow to travel there.  This trip is especially significant because they received the news of my diagnosis just 12 hours before they were scheduled to leave for El Salvador last summer.  I remember the struggle to come to a decision about what they should do.  Initially I was determined to see them go because I thought perhaps God had big plans for them there.  They had studied Spanish all year and prepared for several weeks for their trip.  It felt really selfish of me to ask them not to go.  So we prayed.  The three of us went before the Lord with the heaviest of hearts and asked for his guidance.  I remember the answer coming to me within moments of our “amen”.  The answer came through the words of my surgeon who had delivered my diagnosis just a few hours earlier. She said “Honey, the next several months are all about what you need.”  I realized in that moment that I needed my parents.  If anything were to happen to them while traveling out of the country, I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it through the journey I was about to walk. 

And so I rejoice in their departure tomorrow.  I have purchased a Commit and Carry journal that I will use while they are gone.  I am dedicated to praying for them and the team as they carry out both what they have planned for their trip as well as the plans that the Lord has yet to reveal to them. They will be spending a lot of their time with the men, women and children of Guyabo at a community center that has recently been built. They plan to deliver sewing machines and teach sewing as a trade there. The married couples of the team (my parents included) will be mentoring a few Salvadoran couples in their faith.  And the ladies of the team will also be leading a women’s conference at the host church, Iglesia Gran Comision San Salvador, during which my mom will be giving a testimony on finding contentment in all circumstances, even a cancer diagnosis.  How exciting to think that God might be able to use my cancer journey all the way down in El Salvador!

Would you consider saying a prayer for my parents and the team this week, as well as for the ministry to the people of San Salvador?