HEARTS FOREVER CHANGED

This summer marked over 30 years of SON short-term mission trips. Each year, we take mission teams into former communist countries throughout central and Eastern Europe, the Baltics and the Balkans to teach English using the Bible.

These VBS style camps for younger students, and retreat style camps for teens, have introduced the Gospel to thousands of young people and their families in areas of the world where the Generations of Faith were lost to the socialist agendas of removal of family structure, eradication of individual and cultural identity, and scientific atheism. This left millions of people without the knowledge that they have a Father in heaven who Loves them, brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the whole world, Mercy and Forgiveness in Christ, or an identity as a Child of God, and is why our mission statement is Connecting Spiritual Orphans to the Global Family of Christ.

Each year, we can count on several things to occur:

• God will put together exactly the right team with diverse spiritual gifts suited for each location.
• On the first day of camp, students will be timid and team members will be nervous, but God is present, and the Love of Christ is shared despite our fears.
• By the third day of camp, students will be hugging team members and singing camp songs while moving from one rotation to the other.
• The camp week, which seems long on Monday, will suddenly be over and students will be performing the English skits that they have prepared.
• Team members will say teary goodbyes to their students and small gifts will be exchanged.
• God will do at least one thing that will take our breath away.

Woven through the mission of SON, there are many stories of God’s wonder working in, around, and through both our students and mission team members. Here are two such stories:

Danko
The first one involves a young Slovak boy, named Danko, attending a SON Life and Adventure Teen Camp. From the outset, it was obvious that he didn’t really want to be there. He seemingly paid little attention to our instruction and constantly tried to gain attention through disruptive behavior. Towards the middle of the week, we began to teach the skit that would be performed in front of the entire camp on Friday.

The skit involves the story of a young girl being pulled further away from Christ by the temptations and demons in life. In the skit, Jesus is heartbroken by the sin that is separating the girl from a life in unity with Him and saves her by throwing himself in front of the demons. Of course, Danko wanted to play the part of Jesus. Suffice it to say, by all accounts, we were expecting a disaster.

However, as the skit progressed, we witnessed Danko on his knees in tears. After the students finished, Danko raced over, threw his arms around us and proclaimed, “I understand what Jesus did for me!” Today, Danko is a leader in the Slovak Lutheran church. He is married and has two small children who attend church regularly and will know what Jesus did for them too.

Eneda
The second is a story about Eneda, an eight-year-old Muslim girl attending her first SON camp in Peshkopi, Albania. We had just finished reading the Bible story for the day from Luke 17:11-19 – The Parable of the 10 Lepers. As we began our discussion questions, Eneda raised her hand. Assuming that she wanted to ask a question about the parable, we were expecting to answer with a well-prepared response. However, her question will be forever etched in our hearts…

“Is Jesus for everyone? Is Jesus for me?”

Of course, the answer is “YES!” Eneda returned for her second SON English Bible Camp this past summer, and this time, she brought several friends. Together, they are continuing to ask questions and to learn about the Love of Jesus Christ. They have begun to attend children’s group at the local church with which SON partners. It is our prayer that she, and her friends, will accept Christ and be baptized into the family of Believers. We will certainly rejoice on that day!

When we go on a mission trip, there is a notion that we are going to serve others, and this is certainly true. However, when we share a life filled with Christ, His love overflows and permeates everything that we think, say, and do. To that end, there is one more thing that we can always count on, and that is that both the hearts of those that we are serving as well as our own hearts will be forever changed.

SON short-term summer mission teams are made up of individuals, families, and small groups that God brings together, from all over North America, to form cohesive mission teams. Every team member brings a gifting that compliments and completes the team. We welcome you to join us next summer to serve in Latvia, Albania, Slovakia, or one of the other countries with whom SON partners in ministry.

To God be the glory!