Mission Moment

Oh, welcome back to Truth Talk Live, and we are live today at this part of the hour. From now on, we can take your calls when we need them, because we're going to be talking about what was your favorite mission moment. What was your favorite mission moment? 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH, if you're digitally gifted and you can do that kind of thing.

Again, you know, think about it. If you've had a chance to go on a long-term mission, short-term mission, maybe you went to the beach or helped fix houses in a crisis, or maybe it was just an opportunity you had at the moment to share Christ, whatever that was, it was a mission moment. In other words, you were on mission for Christ, and we would love to hear about it.

866-348-7884. And as you might imagine, Nick, I've had a few of my own. So a couple years ago, right before COVID, I got a chance to go with a team challenge. They asked us with a masculine journey to do a boot camp in Jamaica. And what an adventure that was.

It really was. And so we actually got to go up in the mountains and do a sort of a boot camp for some folks struggling with addictions and stuff there in the team challenge program there in Jamaica. But what my favorite mission moment was on that trip, for those who know me well know, I taught special needs at Calvary for years and years, maybe 20-some-odd years.

And so I've always had a great affinity for, you know, folks with autism and Down syndrome, that kind of thing. And in Jamaica, unfortunately, it's quite tragic, actually, that they literally, because of the voodoo and some of their false religions they're stuck in, when they have a child that's got some kind of disability like that, they literally throw them out in the gutters to die. And fortunately, the church, and in this case, a Catholic church, drives up and down in the streets to look for these children that have been thrown out as infants. And they take them to a fairly giant orphanage there.

And I'm trying to think of the name of the capital city there. But anyway, that's where they were. And so we went there to minister to them one day. And oh, my goodness, it was heartbreaking in so many ways, because unfortunately, you know, with that population, if they don't get the proper training and somebody really spent time with them, they never learned to go to the bathroom on their own. So they were all in diapers.

Many were never taught to walk. And so many were just stuck in cribs and literally, you know, lived their life in a crib. And so there was this room that had, you know, maybe 20, 25 young men in it that were all in cribs, but they were teenagers, right? So they were 12, 13, 14, however old they were.

And none of them were vocal. They were all making noises and whatever, but they were very excited to see us. And it was great to have, you know, eye contact with them. But the thing that was like my favorite moment that I'll always remember was there was one little guy clear across the room. And apparently, he noticed one of the other guys stealing, essentially, it was a piece of a box, but he was stealing it from his neighbor's crib as it was. And this little kid, even though he wasn't involved, he was going nuts because he knew what was going on was wrong.

And I've never forgotten that. Here's a poor guy that, you know, is thinking about his brothers in the other cribs at the moment, and he's being, you know, righteous. You know, in other words, even there in that particular situation, you can see God at work in these people. They're made in God's image, because they know the difference between right and wrong.

And he wanted to make that right, and he wanted to get our attention to make sure that this didn't happen in this crib over there. And it's just one of those things that stuck in my heart and one of my favorite mission moments. But I want to know what yours is. 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. I have Kenny.

He's in Winston-Salem. Kenny, you're on Truth Talk Live. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. I've got a couple of things that stand out in my mind on a missions trip to Ukraine. One was, we were in a village, we had done a medical mission trip, and treated people during the daytime, invited them to a service at night.

Me and another guy, Danny, we preached the gospel at night. And I could tell beforehand that there was a lot of tension in the air. And even though I didn't speak Russian, there was, you could just feel it, you know. And so I asked my translator, I said, What's going on? And she said, Well, be kind of casual about it.

But turn around and look at the lady in the white dress. She's the Communist Party leader. And she said, the man sitting next to her is the Communist Party newspaper editor.

And he's taken down everybody's name that's here. I said, Okay, I said, Does that mean we could go to jail? He kind of grin said, Yeah. So we, we preached the gospel. One of the first people that came forward that night was that Communist Party leader.

Wow. And she said, You people have the answers I've been looking for all my life. And that just had such an impact on before she said that, though, she asked if she could say something we hadn't heard of the microphone then he looked at me and I looked at him was like, kind of shrugged and like, Okay, we didn't know what she was gonna say. She had come forward to accept Christ. And so then when she, she said that we were just ecstatic. And the other one that struck me was on that same trip.

Little girl, 10 years old, at noon moonish. We were, of course, treating people. And this little girl was wracked with fever. They really couldn't even afford an aspirin or anything else. And she was prescribed antibiotics.

I was playing the part of pharmacists. And anyway, she, she was shivering. It was about 104 degrees that day she was standing there shivering as I was dispensing the medication for. But I went ahead and invited her to the service at night. And very resolutely, she came forward, one of the first people to come forward and stood there. And we asked her why she had come forward. And she said she wanted Christ in her life.

And so, I mean, there were so many things like that, that we saw that, you know, where God was at work, and it just, it has a way of changing you and really making you understand the importance of the missions work and doing the things that God wants us to do. Oh, absolutely. What year was that trip? That was in 99. There was still pockets of communism as there is today in Ukraine.

Right. And that particular village was communist run. I can tell you, Kenny, that's, those are some, like, man, just think what it's gonna be like in heaven when you meet that lady in the white dress. Yeah, we saw 350 people that we counted. There was others that we were like, well, we're not sure about that decision, you know, so we didn't count those.

But we saw 350 people that we knew were being followed up with by church planter in that area. And so it was just an amazing time. And yeah, I look forward to seeing the various people that you might have had an impact on, you know, and seeing them in heaven and greeting them there, you know. Oh, Kenny, that is so amazing. I can't tell you how it's gonna be.

I'm gonna think about that story for days. Oh, that's just, that's a testimony right there, my friend. I can't tell you how much we appreciate you calling in today. God bless you. All right. Have a good day.

You too, sir. All right, we got Mike is in Dayton, Ohio. So Mike, you're on Truth Talk Live. Good afternoon.

What you got? Oh, well, I should tell people that are wanting to call in that you ought to. 866-348-7884 is the number to call in, 866-344-TRUTH. Mike, go ahead. Yeah, my story is not as elaborate as Kenneth, I guess that guy at last caller is, but that's a blessing. And we were, my dad visit me in Escondido, San Diego, California, and I was in the Marine Corps and he come out and visited me and he was my mentor.

And you preached on this before or talked about that. And we went to Tijuana and never forget it. We went down to Tijuana just to visit Tijuana and never been to out of state or out of the country. And to make a long story short, we were walking around and eating some Mexican food, which was unbelievably good. And we came out of the Mexican food and these little girls. Oh, wait a minute.

You got to stop right there because everybody's hungry. Sorry about that. No, no, that's great. So what did you, what kind of Mexican food was it that you had? Like, you know, I'm just one of those people like, you know, I mean, it is unbelievably different. Oh, I bet it is. We're going to hear more about the Mexican. We got to go to a break.

Mike, you can stay with us, I hope. Okay. Yes. Yeah.

All right. So, and we need your story and we're gonna find out more about this food. 866-348-7884.

All kinds of spiritual food as well. We'll be right back. This is the Truth Network. What was your favorite mission moment today on Truth Talk Live? We would love your story. We've got several lined up here. 866-348-7884 is the number to come in and call in and share.

866-348-7884. So we got Mike. He's still with us in Dayton, Ohio. So when we left our hero, he was eating Mexican. What, did they have chips and hot sauce?

Oh my gosh. We went to Tijuana. We were eating Mexican food and it's delicious. I mean, it's homemade tortillas, homemade food. It's unbelievable.

And it's just the culture there is so much different than American. And anyways, we come out of the restaurant and my dad, who's my mentor. He, I mean, he's my King. I mean, I'm not my King, but he's, I understand. He, I learned everything.

You know, I learned everything from him and I miss him a lot. And anyways, he's come out of there and there was these little girls that were selling chicklets. They're little gum, right? And they had, they had tons of gum with them.

I mean, they were carrying them on their backs and the backpacks and everything. I mean, you know, and, uh, my, my dad come over and she said, he said, how much for a whole case? And my dad bought air free gum, every piece of gum from these little girls, from every one of them. And my heart broke.

Um, it made their day. And as we're going back to the border, every little kid that was in Tijuana come up to us and ask us, can you buy more gum? And my dad kept buying gum all the way to the border. We had so much gum.

It was unbelievable. I mean, we had gum for, for a lifetime and it taught me something that that was a witness. And my dad kept saying, do you know Jesus?

And they go, no. And he didn't know how to speak it, but he said, you need to find Jesus. And he gave him money and he bought the, bought the chicklet.

You need to find Jesus. And he bought the chicklet and it was unbelievable. He was, he was a mentor and, uh, it was, it was, it was unbelievable. The thing about that story, Mike, it just grabs your heart is, you know, the father is that generous, right?

He's going to buy all the gum. I was just, I am just, and I could tell that, you know, clearly, you know, God blessed you in so many different ways through, and you know, we don't realize sometimes that our own kids that are watching, you know, what we're doing and, and it may be a memory that they remember like you do this one. It's just, that's a, that's a precious, precious, really. Yes.

I, you know, it touches me and I'm, you know, you know, I have to tell you my own dad gum story. Okay. Yeah.

That's why I shared it. Yeah. Oh, did you hear my dad? Have you heard, have you heard my dad gum story?

No, I haven't. Oh, okay. Well, you know, I don't remember it, but so, but you know, I, and you know, my father, you know, one of the cool things I got to do when I was a kid was help him, you know, on Sunday morning or whatever day it was at Saturday morning, he was going to do a project, you know, he'd get me out there and, and one day we were good. We lived in New Mexico and he was going to show me how to lay bricks out there. We were making a courtyard in our house and as he was putting these bricks down in the sand that he was, he was setting up for this courtyard, he was chewing gum and he took this gum out of his mouth and he's, and he put it on the underneath one of those bricks and he stuck it down in the sand. He goes 2000 years from when they excavate this, this area right here, they're going to say, what is this strange adhesive?

And for whatever reason, you know, I guess it's just me. That is one of my favorite moments of my dad. Like it was just this sense of humor. Like here we're working away and all of a sudden, you know, he, he just takes a piece of gum, puts it on a brick. But you know, when you talk about dad gum, I couldn't help but think. Well, I'm sorry.

No, no, no. I'm glad I've lost my dad. I mean, those are precious moments. I'm glad you shared it. Yeah, buddy. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mike. God bless you. Thank you. God bless you. Bye. All right. We got Valerie is in Winston-Salem.

Valerie, you're on Truth Talk Live. What do you got for us? Well, one of the, my husband and I have been blessed to take several mission trips across the world. But one of my favorites is with my two daughters were able to travel with us on a mission trip. And they were still in high school. They're very impressionable ages still. And we had a chance to just watch God work in their lives as they serve the Lord.

Now, my kids have always been, you know, kind of in titles where they felt like, you know, they, they want to have the newest, the latest everything. But when they got over to, we went to, we were in Oaxaca, Mexico. And when we got over there, and they saw the children that had no shoes that were living on had dirt floors. And we were there to help build to make, to make a concrete floor to them. Just to see them work so hard at shoveling rocks and spreading out that my oldest daughter who at the time was probably about 16, but she just, she volunteered to be the one to just spread out the concrete for an entire house, which, you know, wasn't very big.

It was just like a one room, you know, home, kind of a shanty town. But it was her pleasure to spread out those rocks so that these people could have a floor. And we also had collected before we went, you know, I got to thinking well, we're going to be working with concrete floors, you know, this that's going to eventually get you know, here in America, we have carpet that might start hurting his feet. And so we bought with us suitcases full of flip flops. And to see the people come up of all ages, and thank God I had flip flops for all ages and sexes. And they just, they that, you know, they were just so grateful people had even as the supply started to dwindle. We had, you know, some people were like, just give me what you have. Even if it's if one size fits, you know, this size and the other shoe that you have left is another size. I don't care.

I don't care what color it is, just whatever you have. And just the gratitude, the gratitude, the renewed gratitude in my children, and seeing how they just were more appreciative of what God had done is doing in their lives, and had done for them and how they could possibly be living. But yet how these kids that were that had nothing that had practically nothing, were still so happy and so joyous.

You know, they didn't have the latest iPhone or, you know, the new game. Right, exactly. But they were they were just so grateful to basically be alive and, you know, to have the love and support of these missionaries. So I'm just grateful.

Yeah, when I listen to your story, Valerie, I couldn't help but think that in so many things like that, we go into it thinking we're going to help somebody and they end up helping us. That's right. That's right. That's how it works. So you know, and what a neat memory to be able to share with your kids, right? That's right. And now my grandchildren.

Oh, yeah. Now my grandchildren. They're a little a little young yet. But, you know, to let them know how their parents, you know, serve the Lord when they were young. So I'm just grateful for that. And I wish more of our of our youth could take advantage of those opportunities.

You know, I really get to see what people, you know, in other parts of the world are living like and how they still have this gratitude that you don't have to have all this, this technology and things in order to be happy. I agree. God bless you. Thank you, Valerie, so much. That was awesome. What a story. Keep up the great work. God bless you.

All right. We got Buskman is in Ohio. Buskman, my friend. How are you? Dad, dad, dumb.

Those were great missionary stories. Dad joke alert. Dad joke alert. I got it. I got it right here.

So, you know, what does NASA do every time they plan a mission? You got any idea? I don't know that one, brother.

Robbie, I don't know that one. I should know this one. You should read. All right. They plan it. OK. They plan it. Yeah. They're dead.

I just want to say for the first half hour, that was awesome. And those dear folks to talk live listeners, those are our control group. That's Christian. That's real persecuted Christian stuff happening there.

So we got to check our walk with Christ and see, would we do the same, Robbie? We've got a lot to learn. And I've had a chance to interview those guys many times. And Brad Phillips himself, like he's the Indiana Jones of missionaries.

Like, man, the stuff that they get involved in. It's unbelievable how God has gifted them and kept them safe through some really horrific things that I know of over the years. That's due to prayer, brother. That's due to prayer and our support. So please, truth talk live. Give in either financial ways or prayer support. Remember those persecuted Christians and learn from them. Amen. So you've been on a mission trip. It says here you've got a story. Yeah. Well, this was a long time ago. This was back in 2007. But I cannot compare it to these dear folks, Robbie, because I just went to Great Britain.

I went and talked with some people who did not believe in Jesus Christ. Share it quick, because I think we only got about a minute. Sure. Sure.

Sure. I used Answering Genesis. And I was a youth minister at the time. And I was able to use Answering Genesis to talk truth to teenagers. And it was awesome.

It was awesome. Right. And you'll never, ever forget the look on those faces when they got to hear the truth.

Never. That's so amazing. And I can't wait to meet them in heaven, Robbie. I'm with you.

I'm with you. Thank you, Bussman. I appreciate it. It's always great to hear you. Thank you. So all those calls are just absolutely wonderful. Made my day. And remember, every moment can be a mission moment. This is the Truth Network.