Reflections on Serving - Jamie

I admit it, I was nervous about this year's trip to Colima.

This is my fourth year leading the CenterPoint team to serve at Hogar de Amor, but this is the first time that we've traveled completely solo without our sister team from North Carolina. As excited as I was to see the caregivers and kids I have grown so attached to, I was anxious about going it alone. Would we get lost or have trouble driving in Mexico? Would the team grow tired of me nagging?Would the strain of organizing without my co-leaders suck the joy out of the trip?

And did I miss our sister team? Did it get stressful navigating Colima? Did I have moments of exhaustion? You betcha. 

But you know what? The differences I was dreading ended up just being nice changes - not necessarily better than previous trips, but sweetly different.

I got to rely on the team and my co-leader from Utah more, and they amazed me every day with their willingness to do whatever it took to serve each other and the kids and caregivers of Hogar de Amor. We got to explore Colima in a new way, finding our way around the city and visiting the places that we wanted to go. We got to know Pastor Pablo from Grupo Amor and work more closely with the amazing caregivers as we worked directly with them on the projects that would make the biggest difference in their everyday lives.

Change is scary. Especially change that involves taking fourteen people to another country for a week. 

And the 2016 Mexico Mission Trip was beautiful. It was beautiful to see the transformation in the team that came from hard work borne of love. It was beautiful to see smiles light up the kids faces when they saw us return for another year - coming back year after year speaks volumes to these kids about their worth and our (and Jesus') love for them. It was beautiful to see the caregivers open up so readily to our presence, inviting us to meals and welcoming us into their lives and work with open arms.

I love how God took my nervous worry and used it to teach me a new lesson in trust and transformation. For me, our 2016 Mexico Mission Trip was one big experience of Ephesians 3:20

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.