Reluctant missionary: Team headed to Cancun

Written by mission group team member:

Mexico, June 23

"I'd like you each to share why you want to go on this trip" announced the minister. It was March, and the mission team was assembled for the first time in the children's room of the church. One by one each participant spoke. "I've always wanted to build a school" shared one, "I've wanted to go on a mission trip my whole life" said another. I was the lone outsider "Chris wants to go and I want to be with him" I said, not knowing if this was a legitimate reason and certainly not as noble as the others I heard in the room that day.
Truth is, I've never really considered going on a mission trip and don't envision myself as a leader in that way.

Although I am a church attending Christian, pray daily and try to follow the teachings of Jesus as best as I understand them, holding hands and praying in a group setting is outside of my comfort zone. Building things is not a marketable skill of mine either. Truth is I've never built anything let alone a building that will one day house children. "Are there building codes in Mexico?" I wonder to myself. Surely they have professionals overseeing the handiwork of well intentioned yet clueless foreigners. Si?

Then there's the heat of Mexico INJUNE. I hate heat. It makes me tired and crabby. Snapping at people on a mission trip certainly would be unacceptable.So I think, maybe I shouldn't go, maybe this is a really bad idea. That night, after the first group meeting, while I am laying in bed saying my prayers to myself in my head, I ask god for a sign. "God", I pray, "if I should go on this trip I need a sign." The next morning, before I am fully awake, the first thought I had was "you're not the only one who will be hot, so will everyone else." My next thought, "that's my sign". 

I'm not sure if that was really THE SIGN, you know, the one spoken from God, but I chose to take is that way. And here I am. On the plane, the first leg of the journey from Detroit to Florida with my son and twenty-some other fellow travelers,  err missionaries, on an adventure. I am looking forward to being out of my comfort zone and challenged. It's time to shake me up a little. And, with a little help from my new found friends I may even learn to pray out loud, holding hands in a circle.