Winter Missions Trips
Assisting my mom as she examined the children’s eyes was a great experience, for I learned how our God is a God who cares about the spiritual and physical needs for His people. Also exploring careers and academic interests like research allowed me to discuss the importance of faith in any career, including science. Many of the children had aspirations of being scientists and physicians, so it was great that we were able to answer some of their questions.
While medical checkups and teaching were the work we planned, the best part of the trip was spiritual conversations with the children. I think the most interesting topic was God as the Heavenly Father. It was so heartwarming how much they loved viewing God as their Heavenly Father, not taking their Heavenly Father for granted due to their experience of an absent earthly father. It made me realize how incredible the role of a father is, and how appreciative I should be when viewing God as my Heavenly Father. We also participated in their daily evening devotion. Even though the adults instilled in the children’s minds the love of God and importance of close relationship with Jesus, actually showing them our love by coming all the way from America to spend time with them is love in action. I also talked with many teenagers about our similar experience growing up in a Christian school and how sometimes its easy to feel sick of so much God in the academics. I repeatedly expressed to them that being in an institute that automatically designs everything to be Christ-centered is such a huge blessing, and it often goes unappreciated until once the person leaves that institute. Explaining this made me realize how grateful I am for God giving me the opportunity to attend Christian schools from K-12th, and how the immense impact it has had on my faith was unacknowledged until I was forced to share it with the teenagers.
-Jenay Yuen
Takeaways/ Thanksgivings!
1.Team Dynamics
The whole team was comprised of 12 members: 6 students, 5 staff, and 1 baby. We had so much distance to cover for 2 countries in 10 day, including layovers and constant delays. I’m amazed and thankful though that none of the delays had affected our actual ministry days and core schedule. I think traveling with a much smaller team this year had its advantages, and the baby in the group elevated the dynamic to another level. Throughout the trip, the theme of sacrifice had kept on recurring. Counting the costs and taking the next step of faith to serve the Lord is not easy. As a team, I felt like we were able to connect deeper and saw how God was moving in each and every person (on the short term missionary teams and our own). I was humbled and stretched by all the different perspectives our team had. Being able to grow together through this EPIC community has truly been a blessing. I was reminded of this: Regardless of where you are in your faith, or how you think ministry should be run, it is easy to forget that we are all rooted in one thing: Jesus Christ.
2. God Working Overseas
The first team we visited was a team in South East Asia. This team is the first team from EPIC to start a ministry there and to partner with a church in SEA. Seeing them work has opened my eyes to a lot of things. To put it in perspective, imagine a pitch black football stadium with five little Christmas light bulbs. Those five light bulbs are the EPIC team members trying to spread God’s light throughout the darkness of those who haven’t heard. There is so much potential in SEA but not enough people to go and reap the harvest. They shared their worries about not having a team next year but had such great faith that God would still work there with or without a team there. Due to the small team in SEA, the potential for “burnout” is greatly increased. They stressed the need for spiritual, physical, and emotional rest while making sure that you had time to invest in yourself, God, and others. I personally feel like this is such a simple concept we all tend to forget, myself included. We can get so caught up in ministry, life, or work that we forget God has always had a hand in all those areas of life. Trying to find the balance in abiding in the Lord and taking steps of faith has been one of the many things that the Lord has shown me. The second team we visited was in East Asia. I think the first thing that came to mind when visiting this team was the word “persistence”. The atmosphere in East Asia was very different from SEA. Many of the students that we had encountered were very aware of their own country’s situations and were very open to the gospel. However, there were many things that were preventing them from fully committing, like the culture’s society, government, and traditions. Since there are so many barriers that prevent the students from fully committing to Christ, it takes a lot of time and patience to reap the harvest. But, the first step is to be open. Be open to let the Holy Spirit move in your heart and to potentially even call you to do a summer project or serve him in any way He sees fit.There is so much more that I could not fit on this letter, however, I invite you to call, text, or even meet up with me so we can learn and grow with each other in the Lord. I want to challenge you to let God give you the opportunity to serve him. Whether it be in the work force, on campus, in class, or in ministry, I encourage you to be open minded in letting the Lord work in your life.
Best,
Edwin Cheung
P.S. if you’re thinking about summer project, I’d love to meet up with you and just talk!
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