ON A MISSION: AREA CHURCHES SPREAD GOSPEL MESSAGE ON MISSION TRIPS

The Rev. Mark Anderson of Lynwood Baptist Church helped build a church in Brazil.

Dr. Alan Branson examined a brazilian patient's eyesight. Branson, a member of Lynwood Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau, worked at a medical clinic during the church's mission trip to Brazil.

Members of First Assembly of God Church in Cape girardeau visited Merida, Venezuela, on a mission trip. A view from a hotel window where the group stays shows the mountainside nearby.

"... Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Matthew 28:19-20

When area churches read the Great Commission, they took Christ's message to heart, hoping to spread the salvation message and God's love to the world. Several churches recently sent groups on mission trips to foreign lands, while others worked within the United States.

"It helps you spiritually to help others," said Dr. Byron Aden, a Cape Girardeau dentist who spent 10 days in Brazil with other members of Lynwood Baptist Church. "When you're a fish out of water, you have to depend on God to get you through."

Sending church members on mission trips to other nations helps strengthen them and their church at the same time, said the Rev. Randy Cartwright, associate pastor at First Assembly of God Church in Cape Girardeau.

Cartwright and a group of 16 others from the church went to Venezuela during June. Another group from the church spent time in the Ukraine.

Many times people will ask why the church doesn't just send money instead of taking a group of members to the site for a week, Cartwright said. "But when people go for themselves, then they have a burden for missions. We aren't just spending money on a trip, we are making an investment in lives."

Aden served as part of a medical team from Lynwood Baptist Church during the group's stay in Brazil. Other members of the Lynwood mission team helped build a church in a nearby community.

Many of the Brazilian churches also operate medical clinics because the government's social services are so overwhelmed, he said.

Although the costs of dental work or other medical care is similar to those in the United States, many of the Brazilians cannot afford a doctor's visit. "Their average income is so much less," Aden said. "When the cost of a filling is one week's pay, you let it slide."

But many of the patients who visited the clinic didn't just want medical attention; they were seeking spiritual healing also.

"It was like we were visiting angels," he said.

Many of the people were curious about the American visitors and were receptive to hearing about religion and salvation.

Carole McKinney visited many of the homes and held Bible studies with the Brazilian women. "The people were friendly and open to the gospel," she said.

Although the Brazilian nation has a dominant Catholic influence, many of the people were not devout, she said. "They are not all Catholic, and those that claim it are not going to church."

During the Bible studies, McKinney read scripture and offered Bibles and tracts written in Portuguese so that the other women could follow along.

The language wasn't a hindrance in their work because translators were available.

The same was true for members of La Croix United Methodist Church during their stay in Rio Bravo, Mexico. Twenty-eight members of the church went on the trip, where work consisted of both construction and holding vacation Bible school in the community. It was the group's first trip to Mexico; they have gone to Paraguay in the past.

Megan Watson helped teach Bible lessons to the children in Mexico. And it wasn't all that easy since every word she spoke was in another language.

Although Watson, a recent high school graduate, studied Spanish for four years, she didn't feel like she was fluent in the language.

"The kids were really patient with us when we talked to them," she said. But some of the older people and adults got easily frustrated.

The vacation Bible school message was taught by a video lesson each day.

The La Croix team worked in a community about 45 minutes drive from the Texas border, but it wasn't nearly as affluent as its American counterparts.

In the area surrounding the Methodist church where the mission team worked, many of the homes were rundown, Watson said.

Working in that environment gives people a new perspective.

"It gives you an awareness of the degree to which we are blessed," said Jim Beise, discipleship pastor at La Croix. "It changes the way you look at people, whether they are in Mexico or are our neighbor."

Shanna Barr, 16, agreed. She spent the first weeks of her summer vacation in Merida, Venezuela, with First Assembly of God.

The Scott City junior spent her time singing or performing drama skits on the streets of Merida. It was her first trip abroad.

She said, "It's something that I'll never forget."

Barr learned some practical lessons. "We take everything for granted," she said. "They are satisfied with what they have. They don't know what's out there so they don't want more." Americans, on the other hand, live a life of luxury and extravagance, she said.

But not all Americans live so extravagantly, as youths from First Christian Church in Cape Girardeau discovered on a trip to an Indian reservation in Newcomb, N.M. They renovated homes for Native Americans living on the reservation.

"It turned out well," said Joe Morris, 15. Morris said most of the seven youths had never done any sort of construction or renovation work before.

The group built a wheelchair ramp and porch for one woman and worked at another house later in the week to add flooring and drywall. The homeowners were "more than happy to have us there," Morris said.

The Rev. Phil Curran, who worked with the youths as a sponsor on the trip, said it was the first mission trip in several years that required traveling a long distance.

Typically the youths have worked locally on projects within the state. Last year they helped clean up a church campground in the Jefferson City area.