I used to worry about over-romanticizing what our Amor Ministries experience is like when I sat down to write these posts. In regard to what has taken place in 2009,  I don’t see this as an issue anymore. As Howard wrote in the previous post,

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.

Still, some 250 homes were built in Mexico and South Africa so far this year by more than 5,000 participants. That is a pretty impressive line, and I am fairly certain we could stop there and still leave a lasting impression by the impact our participants have made in the last four months.

However, I don’t want to  reduce these endeavors to numbers, because  doing so doesn’t articulate the true value and scope of this Mission Trip. Follow with me:

Let’s begin by including the thousands of people from the churches, schools, and communities of our participants who enabled them to come to Mexico and South Africa through financial support. Next we’ll mention the thousands more who were (and still are) praying for our ministry and our participants. To this, we will add our team at Amor Ministries and the hundreds of supporters who make it possible for each of us to be here. Aside from that, we have a host of volunteers who help us coordinate our groups during our peak season. Of course, I could not forget to point out our teams of Mexican and South African Pastors and their families who work tirelessly to bring the love of Christ into their communities everyday. Wait, there are more. Those 250 structures mean thousands of people now have a sturdy, water-tight house to call their own home.  Their communities will be impacted as a result.  I could go on.

But again, I must stress focusing on even these limits the potential effects our ministry can have. Because we cannot measure the impact God has on the life of each participant. Multiply that by 5,000+. We do not determine what the reaction of a teenager returning home from an Amor Mission Trip will have on their family, their friends, their future. Furthermore, we have no idea how to put a figure on the difference each participant could have on their own community. Multiply that by 5,000+. Indeed, I certainly cannot calculate the generational effect a new home will have on a Mexican family. Whatever it is, multiply it by 250 for 2009, or more than 15,000 and counting since 1980. Here one begins to get the picture that we can never see the whole picture.

For me, therein lies the rub. I am the type of person who likes to see the lasting impact—the full fruit, if you will—of our labor. But I cannot begin to understand how God works within the infinite variables of each of our lives at the same time to bring us closer to Him. Honestly, it blows my mind. At the same time, however, I am eternally thankful that God’s willingness to extend His saving grace to me (us) is not dependent on my (our) ability to quantify the works of His hand.

This has never been about the numbers. This is a movement. Thanks for being a part of it!