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Greetings!
We hope this letter finds you well, and that your Spring is off to an incredible start!
Here on campus at Stanford, Spring is always a time of new beginnings. It seems that as the trees come back to life, so do the students, giving reason for much hope and expectation surrounding the coming of Spring. Please join us in praying that this season would mark the beginning of new life in the truest sense for many here on campus.
For starters, here is a brief recap of the ways in which we saw God work during our recent Spring Break mission trip to Honduras...
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Spring Break: Roatan, Honduras
As many of you know, we recently took a Spring Break trip with 20 students to the island of Roatan, located off the Caribbean coast of Honduras. As a leader, you never quite know how a trip like this will go. With so many moving pieces (logistics, relational dynamics, projects, etc...), it feels like all you can do is pray. And that is exactly what we did! We prepared as best we could, but in the end, it was God who caused the trip to to not only come together, but to far surpass our expectations on every front. We can't thank you enough for all of your prayers for this trip!
Included below are some highlights from the journey...
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A Student's Reflections "What grows amidst poverty? Disease, hunger, ignorance, crime, resentment? Maybe so, but the people of Roatan, Honduras did not give us that picture at all. In our encounters, these people depicted their lives with the rich colors of hope, determination, and resilience.
Mrs. Eleanor wore deep maroon the day she hosted us for lunch following church. Such a color adequately represented the extent of love she showed to us, a group consisting mostly of strangers. However, it also represented the extent of pain she felt at the loss of her son. As I spoke with Mrs. Eleanor about the heartache of a fallen world, she shared with me that if that struggle alone was not enough, she was also fighting her own health battles including a lump in her breast. Looking into her eyes, I saw the pain Mrs. Eleanor felt, but from a much deeper place I saw the hope that gives way to joy outside of this world.
The blue ocean provided a backdrop to our soccer game with some of the island's street boys. While our game ended the time with the kids, our tutoring began it. Growing up in the United States, I never would have thought learning could produce the kind of smiles I saw on those boys' faces; they were illuminating. And although these children were bright, they were not well-educated so the learning did not come with particular ease. However, their determination accompanied with such excitement challenged me in the way I approach my own education.
The Garifuna dancers whirled their skirts into a blend of green and yellow and purple at the celebration on our last night. Storytelling through their native dances, they told of their ancestors' journey to the island aboard slave ships and the resilience that resulted in their freedom. Despite struggle and hardship and injustice, these people carried themselves with a pride rooted in the knowledge of who they are at their essence. Is this not the life God desires us as Christians to live: to emanate the glory that he has manifested within our soul?
"Look to see how your story will become a God story," Trent instructed us at the beginning of the week. Throughout our time in Honduras, my eyes were open in wonder at the masterpiece God is constructing. By painting each one of our stories onto a canvas that shouts of creation's ultimate redemption story, he is declaring to the world his reckless love for all his children." - Jami Haskins
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______________________________________________________________________ t The Power of "Dying to Self" Sometime around the third day of the trip, I (Trent) began to notice that the women in the group were being especially positive, kind, and servant hearted towards the men. To be honest, this struck me as strange, because I had noticed the day prior that a few of the guys weren't exactly being total gentlemen:-). They were taking chairs while the women stood, rushing to the front of the food line while the girls waited patiently, and worst of all, seemed to" volunteer" for the exciting jobs, leaving the women to do the dirty work. With that as a backdrop, it stood out to see the women being so great.
Strangely enough, an incredible thing began to happen. As the guys received only gentleness and positivity from the women, they began to respond in kind. You could feel the men begin to stop thinking about themselves before others, and start trying to serve the women. The end result was a unity within this group like I have never before experienced on a mission trip.
I later discovered that the women, frustrated and discouraged by the way they were being treated, had had a "secret" meeting to discuss how they should respond. Their decision floored me. After a little deliberation, they decided to prayerfully love and serve the men rather than fight for what was rightly theirs. The power that decision had to change the overall outcome of the trip was awe inspiring. It brought to mind the way in which Jesus chose to die for us, even though we were still sinners, and how that singular act of love has changed the course of history forever.
May we have the courage to join Christ (and the women on this trip:-) in living a Philippians 2 lifestyle, giving of ourselves in order that others may know the life to which we've been called!
______________________________________________________________ t Thank You! Thank you again for your prayers and support of this trip. It was clear every step along the way that God was present, and we trust that there has been lasting fruit produced as a result. We look forward to celebrating with you in eternity the ways in which God worked through your investment in His kingdom. God Bless!
Much Love,
The Kingdom First Ministries Team
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Baptism on Roatan
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One of my personal highlights from the trip was the baptism that we held on Pigeon Cay (location of baptism pictured above), a small, sand spit island located 4 miles off the coast of Roatan. There is truly nothing better than walking with someone as they declare publicly their commitment to Christ and their desire to live a life that is entirely His.
Watching the group come around the individual who had been baptized, committing to support her as she pursues Christ, God was clearly present, working powerfully in and through His body.
It doesn't get any better than that!
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This Week's Prayer Requests
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Cross Training
This week at Cross Training, we talked about the importance of allowing God to work on our heart's first, trusting that he will take care of the outside in due time. We discussed the indispensable role that God's Word plays in that process and the importance of making time available for God to do His work. In a culture where everyone seems to be perpetually busy, please pray that students would have the desire / resolve to create space in their lives for God to do His work.
Stanford United
The first Stanford United meeting (a meeting intended to unify the believers from every sports team on campus) will take place next Wednesday 4/20. Please pray for direction and discernment for the team of students leading that meeting, and for favor and protection as they work out all of the logistics. Again, please pray that the power of God would be present in that meeting, and that Stanford United would become a more effective vehicle for impacting every team on campus for Christ.
Etc..
As always, please pray that the fire of God would be present in our personal lives as we meet with students this week. Pray that our capacity to care for the students would increase, and that our personal hunger for God and His Word would grow, setting the tone for the entire group.
Thank you, and God Bless!!
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Kingdom First Ministries
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www.kingdomfirst.org
325 Sharon Park Dr. #702
Menlo Park, California
94025
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