The school year is wrapping up across America and that means it’s time for everyone to head to ...Guatemala? Africa? Haiti? Well, if you have missionary ambitions, these are the places that might make you forget the beach and pool for a while. Since Yesenia and I met, we’ve participated in twenty-six weeks of short-term missions together. This doesn’t make us experts so much as experienced co-workers. We offer this blog to this year’s missionaries and hope you will consider i

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:” -1 Peter 4:10 When my New Jersey church recruited me for my first mission trip to Guatemala, I knew it wasn’t just because of my dynamic personality and good looks. I had no experience in foreign missions. In fact, except for a few cruise ship excursions, I had never been out the country before. But what I did have was a particular set of skills acquired over a long career. I w

This past week, Atalia and Estuardo got married. They planned the celebration for months. Over the last few weeks, they sampled food, compared frostings and cake, tinkered with dresses until they were “just right”. They purchased candles, scouted for flowers, and searched the web for ideas for their sign-in and photo booths. Their vows were carefully written and re-written until they reflected exactly what they wanted to say. The celebration was held in the ruins of a church,

“Why are you here?” This is a question I love to ask first-time missionaries as they arrive from the USA. The most common answer is, “I just feel I need to do something.” Many will cite the needs of the location that have travelled to. That they feel they have so much and want to give something to the less-fortunate. Many cite the Bible and how it says to reach out to the poor and the least of His children. My first short term mission trip was in 2010. When I boarded the pla

Yesenia and I just spent a wonderful week with a short-term mission team from Northeastern University in Boston. Nineteen future physician assistants and one doctor made the trek to San Lucas Toliman to work alongside the Tierra Prometida team. Soon, they will all be graduated and board-certified and working in the awesome, but brutal field of medicine. But first, they decided to put their scant “extra” time into this mission trip. I can’t say enough about them. They were ent

In June of 2010, I was ready to work some magic with a short-term mission team in Guatemala. God performed several little miracles to bring me here. It was obviously because He knew these people needed what I had to offer. I was destined to save Guatemala. Little did I know, Guatemala was about to save me! The normally lush mountains surrounding San Lucas Toliman were striped with the shiny, brown ribbons of recent mudslides. It was obvious that the hurricane had not spared t