Mission testimony - Esther Sung

Hi, my name is Esther and I’m here to share what God has shown me through Nicaragua mission trip. One of my personal prayer requests for this trip was to experience God’s character that I didn’t fully know. I knew that he is faithful and able, but I don’t think I really experienced it fully. But through this trip I experienced God’s mightiness and his faithfulness.

My biggest worry before leaving to Nicaragua was that our team wasn’t prepared. So, I felt more very anxious and stressed and afraid that our unpreparedness would impact children in Nicaragua. The night before leaving Canada, I shared how I felt with Grace and she shared how she felt. And that’s when I realized I was so focused on the work we were doing rather than what God is and will be doing through me and the team. Once I came to this realization, my worries were gone and there was peace in my heart. And I decided to put more trust in God not in our works.

And he really did show me his work. Our flight got delayed nine hours on our way to Nicaragua, so we would’ve lost one day of children’s bible camp because our first day was to go from house to house letting everyone know that there was one. But pastor at Los Solices church told us that we didn’t need to do that because he already went from house to house telling everyone about the camp. So, we didn’t miss any of the days.

When we arrived at Los Solices church, we saw children sitting outside waiting for us. As we got off the bus, they all greeted us with big smiles and hugs. Even though we had to send them back home because they were there so early and we had to get ready by decorating the church and preparing for the activities, when the camp began so many more children showed up. I think there were around 150 children who came, and this is the largest group ever on a first day. In fact, there were around the same number of children for all 4 days and usually the number of children decreases as days go by. Every schedule we prepared went well; praise, skit, games, mini Olympics. I could see that the children were enjoying, and our team was having so much fun.

We tried something new this year. Recruiting Nicaraguan youth volunteers to help out in leading the camp. Because we didn’t who will be serving with us, so I was a bit worried. But the youths there were faithful, and they were so joyful when serving. I was challenged by their serving and their warm hearts.

I also saw changes in children. Three years ago, children would fight to receive more beads or other materials and get violent when playing games. But this year, there was none of that. They made lines when they were told to, they accepted their loss in games, and they stayed after the camp to help clean up; picking up garbage and stacking chairs.

To be honest, I thought that short term missions won’t have much impact on the people in Nicaragua. However, through this trip God showed me he is working even when I am not there. Even with little faith of mine, he showed me his mightiness and greatness. I wonder what he will show me next year when I prepare with more prayer and trust in him. Thank you for supporting us with your prayers and thank God for his faithfulness.