God Worked in My Heart | 神在我心里动工

When I first heard that my parents wanted to bring me to go on a mission trip, I was okay with serving; however, my heart wasn’t committed to the trip nor excited to serve the Lord. Furthermore, upon hearing that I would be the oldest kid with few other people my age, my personally invested interest dropped further. I knew going on mission trips and serving the Lord was the right thing to do, but I had no motivation to do so. In the weeks leading up to the trip, my father repeatedly urged me to prepare. Given that we were serving in medical, children's, and prison ministries, I knew I needed to practice my Spanish, learn the children’s songs, and prepare my testimony, yet I was lazy.

I had previously served on a short term mission trip in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and both before and during the trip, I simply listened to instructions, with no personal initiative required from me since my youth pastors and leaders took charge. With this mission trip, I was no different in my initiative. I pushed off practicing Spanish completely, hoping that my previous four years in school would be enough, without any real use of Spanish in a whole year. I completely ignored both my testimony and the children’s songs, listening to the songs for the first time a mere two days before the trip started as a result of my father forcing me to do so. Going into the trip, I was in no way spiritually or mentally prepared for the week. 

Upon arriving, I was pleasantly surprised to see that our mission base was quite clean, with full amenities. Familiarizing myself with the other three teens there, I was fortunate to quickly strike up conversations, finding similar interests with all of them. While I had made a few connections, I believed that the trip would simply be one where I went through all of the motions of service without any change in my own heart, both towards the Lord and towards service. Fortunately for me, the Lord intervened and softened my heart. 

Since my Spanish was passable, and I had listened and memorized the children’s songs beforehand, I was tasked with the children's ministry. Working alongside members of the local church and their Compasíon young adult group, I was greeted with the smiles and laughter of children in grades one through six. Despite my incredibly basic Spanish and poor listening comprehension skills, simply greeting children with “Hola!” or “Buenos Días!” resulted in them going absolutely crazy, coming up immediately for hugs and greetings. While this may have partially been a result of my mission team being the first Chinese people the children had ever seen, I was immediately touched by the overwhelming joy and gratitude that the kids expressed both during the ministry that we conducted and afterwards, when providing arts and crafts and medical assistance. Encountering this extreme gratitude immediately made me want to serve the Lord more, allowing more to see the love and joy that God provides when one puts their faith and trust in Him. 

While seeing children’s smiles may seem small, it completely changed my heart and attitude towards serving the Lord, shifting from an attitude of passive obedience to active engagement. This new attitude was only further reinforced throughout the week as more and more people were served, saved, and blessed by both the Lord’s compassion and our medical ministries. Seeing the physical states of young mothers, children, and elderly as they walked in and the joy and thankfulness they expressed as they left the missions locations, newly transformed by the Word of God with a bag of medicines in their hands, was quite simply, a life-perspective-changing experience for me. 

On the final day, we visited a national medium security prison, witnessing and serving around 700 men. On that day, my newly found compassion for serving was further reinforced, as many of the prisoners were extremely excited and grateful for both the caring words we shared with them regarding Jesus’ love and forgiveness, and the supplies we distributed to them.  

Throughout the week, while I expected to simply serve, I was gifted with a new attitude and gratefulness for what I have. In the future, I wish to serve within many more mission trip groups, faithfully serving the Lord just as my namesake did. I thank God for blessing me with this opportunity and I hope to be blessed with many more.

当我第一次听说父母要带我去参加这次短宣时，我并不反对去服事，但我的心既没有真正投入，也没有期待能够服事神。后来得知我是团队里年龄最大的孩子，与我年龄相仿的人很少，我对这次旅程的兴趣又降低了不少。我知道参加短宣、服事主是一件正确的事，但我就是没有动力去准备。在出发前的几个星期，父亲一再提醒我要做好准备。因为我们将参与医疗、儿童和监狱事工，我知道自己应该练习西班牙语、学习儿童诗歌，还要预备自己的得救见证。然而，我却一直懒散拖延。

我以前曾参加过宾夕法尼亚州 Johnstown 的一次短宣。当时，无论是出发前还是宣教期间，我都只是照着带队牧师和青少年负责人的安排去做，他们负责一切，我几乎不需要主动参与。这一次，我依旧是同样的态度。我完全没有练习西班牙语，只想着在学校四年学过的内容应该够用了，尽管我已经整整一年没有真正使用过西班牙语。我也没有准备见证，更没有学习儿童诗歌。直到出发前两天，在父亲不断催促下，我才第一次认真听那些歌曲。可以说，在踏上这次短宣的时候，无论是属灵上还是心理上，我都没有为接下来的一周做好准备。

抵达目的地之后，我惊喜地发现我们的宣教基地环境整洁、设施齐全。很快，我也和另外三位青少年熟悉起来，发现彼此有许多共同的兴趣，因此很自然地建立了友谊。虽然交到了新朋友，但我仍然认为，这只不过是一趟按部就班完成服事、却不会改变我内心的短宣。我以为自己会照着流程做完所有事情，然后回家，一切照旧。然而，神亲自介入，柔软了我的心。

因为我的西班牙语还算能够沟通，加上临出发前总算把儿童诗歌背熟了，所以我被安排参与儿童事工。与当地教会和他们的 Compassion 青年团队一起服事，我们面对的是一至六年级的孩子们。虽然我的西班牙语非常基础，听力也不太好，但每当我只是简单地说一句“Hola（你好）”或“Buenos Días（早安）”，孩子们就会兴奋地围过来，主动拥抱我们、向我们打招呼。也许，我们的团队是他们见过的第一批华人；但更重要的是，他们所流露出的喜乐和感恩深深触动了我。无论是在儿童聚会中，还是后来一起做手工、接受医疗服务时，他们脸上的笑容都让我难以忘怀。孩子们真诚的感恩，让我第一次真正渴望去服事主，希望能帮助更多人认识神，领受神所赐的爱与喜乐，并经历将信心和盼望放在祂里面所带来的恩典。

也许，在别人看来，看见孩子们开心地笑只是件小事，但对我来说，却彻底改变了我服事神的态度。我不再只是因为“应该去做”而服事，而是真正愿意主动投入、甘心参与。随着这一周不断过去，这样的心志也越来越坚定。越来越多的人因着神的怜悯、我们的医疗服事和福音分享而得到帮助、蒙受祝福。我看见年轻的母亲、孩子和老人拖着疲惫、病痛的身体来到服事地点，离去时却是带着药品和满满的喜乐。更重要的是，他们因着神的话语得着新的盼望，那一幕彻底改变了我对人生的看法。

最后一天，我们来到一所国家级中度戒备监狱，向大约七百名服刑人员传讲福音并服事他们。那一天，我对服事人的怜悯之心再次被神坚固。许多囚犯都非常激动，也十分感恩。他们感谢我们告诉他们耶稣的爱与赦免，也感谢我们送给他们的生活用品。

整整这一周，我原本以为自己只是去服事别人，却没想到神赐给我的，竟是一颗全新的心，也让我更加珍惜自己所拥有的一切。感谢神赐给我这次宝贵的机会。未来，我盼望能够参加更多宣教队伍，忠心服事主，正如我名字所纪念的圣经人物迦勒一样，始终忠心跟随神。