FUMY's Summer Mission Trip
By: Sharon Russo
We are just back from our Mexico mission trip where we built a house for a family in great need. That family was picked by a local pastor after a long and thorough process. We worked side by side with the pastor and the family building their house.
I was invited by Pastor Angel to share a testimony at his Wednesday night church service. I graciously accepted and decided to share the story of how our youth group ended up in Mexico in the first place. This was a story that I had never shared with anyone before. I was a little nervous that something would get lost through translation, so I said a little prayer and took a deep breath and it went like this….
“Hello, my name is Sharon and I am the youth director at our church in San Diego. Every two years our youth group goes on a mission trip. Last October I had a big meeting with all the youth and their parents to talk about our next mission trip. Now usually the director comes up with two or three suggestions for a mission trip and then the youth get to vote on where they would like to go. But, at this meeting there was no voting… I told them the decision has been made, “We are going to Mexico!” What?! A handful were excited but the rest were worried. They said Mexico is too dangerous and our youth will get decapitated! ( I left that part out of my story…) When parents and youth asked me “Why?” I didn’t know what to say so I did what anyone in my shoes would do, I lied! I told them that this has been a lifelong passion of mine to go and build a house. In truth it had never cross my mind before. But, how could I tell everyone that the reason we are going to Mexico is because God had told me to go?! I heard it, I felt it and I knew without a doubt that this is where we were supposed to be. So, I just asked them to trust me and have faith in me. 15 of them did just that. We worked for almost a year doing odd jobs to save the money up for this trip. Then two weeks ago we received a video of our family that Pastor had picked for us. The minute I saw their faces, I once again felt God’s spirit telling me to have faith, this is where you are meant to be. 4 days ago we met this beautiful family and the pastor’s family for the first time. We were strangers sharing a meal. The very next day all of us started building this house side by side. 4 days later, all I saw was a mom, a mom like me, just wanting to do better for her children and knowing we were no different. And as this house became a home and these strangers became friends and these friends became family and all of us made memories that will change us for a lifetime… I knew without a doubt that this was where we were meant to be. I knew that this was God’s plan all along.”
Thank you to all who had faith in me.
