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SOAR (Youth Mission International's teen program) came to mind. In order for us to be able to go, the trip would have to take place the last three weeks of July. We checked it out and found that this was the exact time for SOAR.
However, our plans were not God's plans. We only wanted to go along and help in whatever way we could. We also wanted to go to Tijuana to give our kids, aged 3-10, a cultural experience. We did not want to lead because we had four kids of our own to look after. In the end, we were leading a team, we were stationed in Reedley, Calif., and we left our 3-year-old at home.
In Reedley we worked with an organization called Community Youth Ministries that had been able to get into an Hispanic apartment complex housing 2000 mostly illegal immigrants, 1500 of whom were kids. We did VBS, sports camps, drama and various other activities with the children. Our own kids fit beautifully into this and loved playing with their new friends. I could feel God working through our hands as we played with the children, our mouths as we verbally shared His love, and our eyes and ears as we saw and heard their hurts and pains.
Just to think that God had set our family apart for three weeks so that He could convey His love and compassion to hurting people was life-changing for me. It opened my eyes to how He wants to use me in the same way here at home, and how I had allowed myself to get caught up in the fast pace of life and the pressure to get ahead.
At home now, we have been praying for God to open our eyes to what He is doing around us so that we can join Him in His work. We have a deep desire to involve our church in planned outreaches in the community. It has also been our prayer that God would use us to inspire other families to do the same thing. God has given my family an experience that we will remember forever.
Norm and Lori Nickel, Abbotsford B.C., South Abbotsford MB Church
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