Even when you’re outside your comfort zone, dog tired and wondering how you can continue in ‘the good fight of faith’…moments like these are certain to come in your experience on a mission trip…God is always faithful! Prepare, take one step at a time, stay in prayer, and He will provide the strength, direction, and grace for you to fulfill the work He’s laid out for you. Love Europe London I & II lived out this truth by God’s grace in May and June 2016.
The focus of our mission trip to London was working with U.K. missionaries and two London area churches/community centers to build bridges of God’s unconditional love to young lives. Our group joined with other U.S. volunteers and British believers to form the staff at two VBS-style day camps for children—a sports camp and a performing arts camp. Our goal was to show God’s love to the children, share Biblical truths and the Gospel where opportunities were presented, and encourage our British brothers and sisters in Christ.
The vast majority of children with whom we worked could not afford the opportunity of participating in a sports or performing arts program. And most were from non-Christian homes. In the sports camp, a Bible lesson was shared each day culminating in a presentation of the Gospel and two of the children made decisions to follow Jesus Christ (and others were clearly moved). At the performing arts camp, visiting professionals demonstrated their talent and talked about God’s work in their lives (our own Luanne Olson played cello and shared from her life, including John 3:16). Each of us had numerous opportunities to encourage children. With a lot of prayer, empowerment of the Holy Spirit, strategic planning and insight from fellow team members we invested into lives…even those kids who tested our resolve! It is our prayer that hearts have been touched, and that kids and families will seek to connect more deeply with the two churches and respond to the Gospel.
While we faced many challenges—jet lag, a few colds, some mischievous kids, grabbing the wrong ‘tube train’ (subway), a tight time frame to train and fundraise, tight facilities for the performing arts camp and so forth—but God worked in ways that blessed each of us and exceeded our expectations in every way. We are forever changed and stretched in faith. Our vision for the Lord’s work in London and here at home has been expanded in ways exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we had asked or thought.
—Shared by Jim Durbin