Fall, 1999
INFINITELY MORE THAN I DARED IMAGINE
I began my yearlong sabbatical in February. My goal for the year? Be helpful. As a person who works in the media industry, it’s sometimes difficult to feel that you’re helping the world. I had a desire to feel helpful, so I talked with my bosses at KMOV-TV, and was granted a leave of absence.

I would do pretty much anything anyone needed: wash dishes, hammer nails, produce a video. Have arms, will travel. I just wanted to help out. I met with my church’s World Missions Committee and asked if they knew any missionaries that needed some help, to let me know.

First, I went to Antigua, Guatemala, and met up with a group of Americans from all over the U.S., to work with the God’s Child Project. We spent two weeks building a couple of homes for some of the poorest people in the world. When I say “home,” I mean a 14 by 8 foot room. It’s small, but much sturdier and cleaner than the cornstalk hut with a dirt floor where they’d been living. Two beds and one light bulb … what excitement as the family of eight moved into their new home!

Based in Guatemala City, Hearts In Action goes into the public schools to minister to many children. I was absorbed into a wonderful missionary family and washed many dishes! I videotaped many of the outreaches and began work on a video for the organization. A highlight was during a prison visit after one of the HeartsTeam had spoken to the group about having a relationship with God. I was talking (in English) with a Guatemalan who had lived in California, and he told me he was going to pray that prayer next week. I told him he’d miss a whole week of praising God. He said the other guys would tease him. I told him they didn’t know what we were saying. “Don’t I have to get down on my knees?” “You don’t even have to close your eyes.” “Would you lead me in that prayer?” So, eye to eye, heart to heart, we linked him up with Jesus.

In late March, I met up with Central’s Mission Team to Honduras and saw the work of missionary Michael Miller. Our team worked on a future home for hurricane victims. It’s remarkable to see how Michael has empowered an entire community to turn the tragedy of Hurricane Mitch into a better future. We trekked supplies into a remote mountain village. Our hike was led by one of Michael’s friends, German (Hehr-mahn), a man in his mid-20s who has nothing of material wealth, but has the biggest, warmest smile you’ll ever find. He’s a Scout Leader and has a ministry where former street kids minister through music, drama and mime to kids who are still on the street. German understands these kids because he often lived on the streets before he went to live in an orphanage run by an American missionary. I am still being blessed by the memory of German’s smile.

Central’s Mission trip to the Ukraine to help with the children’s camp in Zaporozhye was another rich blessing. I now know why many who have gone in the past want to return. I’d always heard about our “sister church”. Being there, I discovered we are not just a church that just sends financial help. Each year, we go there to physically show our support for them, to encourage them. At the camp, it was our job to play with the kids, to laugh with them and hug on them. And while it didn’t seem that big of a deal … at the end of the week, a Ukranian counselor spoke of the cultural difference and how it is good to see how Americans interact with the kids, “You become like children.”

Going to a foreign land forces me out of my comfort zone. I can’t drink the water or speak the language. It takes the control out my hands and forces me to depend on God. You have to make the cultural adjustments … sometimes you turn on the water, and there is none. You can’t flush the toilet paper. You see guards everywhere with their automatic weapons drawn, ready to fire. You see extreme poverty lived out and realize that you are only a drop in the bucket when it comes to the immense help needed.

I gain a different perspective on life. Material things aren’t as important. I see how blessed we are in the United States. And how our material wealth is often what causes us to lose sight of some of the simpler and more important pieces of life. Material wealth and the jobs we hold to maintain a certain standard can cause us to develop myopia, and we forget to even look at what is happening outside our little world.

Perhaps you can tell from my favorite photos that the children are my delight. I’ve fallen in love with those dark, expressive eyes and wonderful smiles. But, the children have hardly anything. You see them wearing the same clothes day after day. They often play with something as simple as a piece of cardboard. And yet there is such joy in their soul that radiates from within. I seldom heard children cry or complain. They love to play, and want nothing from you, except perhaps a hug and a smile.

In all my trips, it always happens. I feel like I get so much more out of it than I could ever give. Does spending a week or so really make a difference? I think about people who come to visit me – it tells me they care. I encourage you to spend a week on a mission trip. Take a sabbatical … check Exodus – it’s Biblical!

Now, I’m off to France, with plans to produce videos for two mission projects. I have been so blessed and thank God for these incredible opportunities. My sabbatical has truly been an Ephesians 3:20 experience. “Infinitely more than I dare to ask or imagine.”