Every so often, a team member writes a personal newsletter that is so exceptional, I feel a need to share it with our audience. Howard Major’s most recent writing has touched upon the issues at hand in a way that is both inspiring and thought-provoking. It addresses the very essence of the message Amor Ministries has wanted to communicate about serving in Mexico. And the closing quote from a parent should make all of us stop and think about raising children in a complicated and ever-changing world.

Blessings,
Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO

The past winter months were both challenging and fulfilling. Some Amor Mission Trip groups suffered more than others, lacking equipment and winter gear for the wind, rain, and mud, yet, they all persevered in what they came to do. I am always amazed at how hardships bring out the best in our groups. Part of that is the sheer novelty of seeing ourselves outside of our usual circumstances and realizing that hardship is a way of life for many poor families.

Working with Amor, we see things every week that change our vision of life. What is it about these sights that transform us? Is it the shock value? I walked into a shocker when I previewed a site for an indigenous Mixtec family. They were drying hundreds of thin strips of raw meat on clotheslines crisscrossing the small courtyard of their shack. We spoke nonchalantly about the details of their new house as we swatted away the flies that wanted their share of the meat drying in the hot sun.

Does the transformation occur because we discover that most of the world is different from us? Consider these shocking statistics. It is estimated that it would take the resources of seven Earth planets to support the present population with the lifestyle of the U.S. If the entire world population was transformed into a village of 100 people, 80 would live in poverty, 70 would be illiterate, 50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition, one would be dying, and one would be in birth. Six people would possess 59% of the wealth, and they would all be from the U.S. One would own a computer, and just one would have a university degree!

I think a Mission Trip transforms us by putting us face-to-face with these realities. Not just dry statistics, or drying meat, but the very lives of fathers, mothers, children—the orphans, homeless, and jobless who struggle to have a better life. We tend to look forward and upward in our pursuit of financial or social security. We also tend to look backward and downward when we measure our successes and failures. This vertical orientation can lead us into a profound restlessness that is never satisfied.

Instead, a Mission Trip helps us to look at life horizontally. We begin to notice things on either side of us, instead of up or down at what life offers or denies. One group calls it “seeing life through God’s eyes.” Our eyes are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion must look out onto the world. He has our bodies, our hands, and our feet to use to bless others now.

Our ministry has been hard-hit by two unfolding phenomenon that we cannot control. First, the lagging world economy has cut into the support that we need. Fewer participants and dollars limit the number of poor families that we can help. Second, the fears based on sensationalized media coverage of drug-related violence have kept many from coming on this Mission Trip.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the economic hardships and the fears could lead us all to re-examine our priorities and see life through God’s eyes; to look horizontally at the opportunities around us to help make this a better world for all? One example would be Amor’s Casa de Amor program. $25 a month can help build a house. Perhaps our resources are limited; perhaps we are not able to make the Mission Trip; but, we can still be a part of transforming the lives of families who have even less opportunities or resources to help themselves. For less than a Starbucks or a Big Mac a day, we can build a home, empower a whole family for generations, and make a dramatic statement the world needs to hear in hard times.

One parent summed up this notion of looking at life horizontally as he sent his son off on an Amor Mission Trip. “Have a safe trip. It will hopefully be a dangerous trip. Not that you would be harmed, but that you would be out of your box, out of your comfort zone, out of your routine, out of your expectations, and into a whole new way of being that transforms everything in your life. Now that would be very dangerous, to open yourself to God’s unconditional love, to take the plunge, the blind leap of faith to risk everything.”

Peace,

Howie Major