Mission Trip Musings

Last week, we were honored to help host a group of 10 students and 2 teachers from Grand Rapids Christian High School. They traveled to Tanzania to witness God's kingdom, both the beauty and the brokenness, here in Dar es Salaam.

In a happy instance not uncommon in the Dutch CRC community, one of the leaders of the trip was a really good friend of fellow missionaries Marc & Gretchen Driesenga, and the other leader was our close friend Steve (who we have known for almost 24 years, since we were just a little bit older than the students on this trip...a scary but beautiful realization).

My friend Gretchen was the inspiration and brains behind the operation. I served as driver of the very large school van (aka party bus), chaperone, and sometimes-translator during most days of the week when I wasn't teaching. Tim accompanied the group over the weekend on safari to Mikumi National Park. Most nights of the week we ate Tanzanian food together prepared by local women and heard from other local missionaries about God's call on their lives and their work here in Dar. Living here, you don't always get the full picture of what people are doing, so it was also helpful and inspirational for me to hear their testimonies.

Everything went really well overall – we had safety on the roads, no flight delays and no one got sick. However, I was reminded by all the curveballs that we have to navigate here in Dar. Last weekend, our car's radiator blew up. Then half our power went out for 3 days (we only had power in the living room). I got sick. Then the Driesenga's car broke. Thankfully, everything was restored by the end of the week and our good friends generously loaned their van to the group.

Gretchen is a former youth pastor and knows that keeping busy is key so that there's no time for homesickness or other drama. We were on the go every day, all day and by the end of the time, I was running on adrenaline only. I realized that I really don't have the energy required for youth ministry! Part of it was that I was still trying to do “regular life” (teaching part-time, supervising my childrens' homework, making lunches, etc.) instead of being in a SERVE-type vacuum where your only responsibility is being fully engaged where you are. Also, admittedly, part of it is that I'm now 15 years older than when I first led youth groups!

I learned a lot of other things about myself this past week. The first one was that I am actually more of an introvert than I thought. I really needed time each night to be quiet and alone after being with the group. I also re-confirmed that my family does not handle “schedule interruptions” all that well. Although we did OK, they (and I) certainly like our nightly routines.

But the most surprising revelation was the unconscious bias I've had against Grand Rapids Christian students for the last 20+ years. I had uniformly negative experiences with these students at Calvin, most notably on my floor when I was a Resident Assistant. They were snooty, cliquey and refused to participate in any dorm activities or get to know anyone other than fellow GRCHS students. I frequently wondered why they even bothered “going away” to school at all.

So to my great relief, although I had subconsciously expected this group to share similar characteristics, they were not like that at all. They were friendly, very open to new experiences, and genuinely seemed to appreciate all the activities in which they participated. True, they didn't always like the hot sun, the non-working AC in the van, and the super-spicy Indian food, but they consistently had positive and gracious attitudes.

I was also struck by their reactions to the poverty here, particularly at the orphanage we visited. I think a negative side effect of being surrounded by the poor is that I have gotten used to seeing it. It really doesn't make an impact on me any longer...it's just “normal.” Seeing it through their eyes gave me a new and renewed sense of compassion.

Although a part of me still wonders about the effectiveness and stewardship of short-term missions trips, I am praying that this group will continue to have their eyes opened and that they will share their stories back in the U.S about what God is doing here on the other side of the world! Even if they don't enter “missions,” I hope they know that they can serve as missionaries wherever God calls them.