I’ve said this before but I’ll say it one more time. I view God as an author. A perfect author who is continually writing
the best story ever told. It is a story
that began before time and a story that will never end. One huge story full of millions of small ones
that are all connected somehow at some point.
We each have our own little story that is woven together with everyone
else’s story to create a masterpiece.
Each of us has our own part to play in His story but it is up to us how
significant our role will be. Will we
try to write our own part or will we allow the Perfect Author to write our
story, to lead us to live the part He has in store for us. That is the choice we must all make.
Our stories may not make sense to us at one time or another. We may not see where God is taking us but one
day we are going to be able to look back and see just what God was doing the
whole time. We’ll get to stop and say,
wow He really was doing some amazing things.
That’s what I’ve been able to do lately and share a few instances in
which I’ve seen that.
I was the kid who never left home. Never went to spend the night at friend’s
houses. I never did anything like
that. I had a bed at home where my
family was and that’s where I wanted to be.
Slowly that started to change as I entered the youth group. I finally started going on some weekend
retreats but that was about it. So in
2005 when I was 17 and I told my parents that I wanted to go on a mission trip
in the summer of 2006 for 10 days to Honduras with the Church. I can’t even imagine what they were
thinking. This kid has lost his mind but
I was completely serious. I had some
friends at school and we would always joke about how if we ended up as
missionaries who would be the best. Who
would baptize the most people or if we were youth ministers who would have the
most kids in their youth group. We would
joke with each other about how great or terrible we would be at it even though
none of us had any experience at all working with a youth group or any mission
experience. I knew that it was something
that I might want to do and I wanted to give it a try and see what God would
do. So at 17 I decided it was time. After talking a lot with my parents I signed
up for a 10 day trip to Honduras. This
is where the story gets interesting and it has taken me a few years to see what
God was doing. I applied for my passport
in late April, plenty of time to receive it in the mail but I went ahead and
had it expedited just to be on the safe side. You know, plenty of time for it to get here,
PLENTY. So here I am on the first
Thursday in July knowing that I have to be at the Church at 11pm to take a bus
ride to Raleigh, NC to be on a plane at 7 am to fly to Honduras and….. I do not
yet have my passport. I sat at the front
door all day, bags packed, waiting on that thing. I called the postal service and they were
trying to track it, I called the airline company and they said it was too late
to change the ticket. Yea, I was
freaking out. The hours kept going by
one after another until it was time.
10pm, no passport and it was time to leave for the Church. So I left my bags at home, drove by myself
over to the Church and cried the entire way.
I remember punching my steering wheel over and over and yelling at God,
“If you didn’t want me to go then why didn’t you just say so. Why did you have to tell me like this.” I was mad at the world and the God that
created it. I screamed and yelled and
drove around an extra 20 minutes just to calm down before I went to the
Church. I couldn’t believe that this was
happening. I was soo ready for this trip
and now I wasn’t going to be able to go.
Our group leader already knew what was going on but when I got to the
Church I had to tell others that I wasn’t going to be able to go. That is a feeling I hope no one else has to
experience. My heart was broken, my
trust in God was shaken and I was mad at everything. He always has a plan though. Everyone loaded the bus to go to the airport
and as they pulled out of the parking lot, literally just as the lights faded
out of sight, my phone started ringing.
My dad had been on the phone since I had left and found out that the
postal service was guaranteeing my passport would arrive the next day, Friday,
and also to tell me that the airline was not only now going to change my
ticket, but allow me to switch to a closer airport. I would be flying out Saturday morning and
would arrive in Tegucigalpa around noon.
So I quickly called our group leader to let him know and then hugged everyone
that was still at the Church. I got in
my car and cried all the way back home while apologizing to God for doubting
Him, I mean really He’s God, don’t doubt Him.
Needless to say I went from the most upset person in the world to one of
the happiest in just a matter of minutes.
Unfortunately things didn’t all go as planned. I was able to get to Tegucigalpa on Saturday,
I flew from Columbia to Houston to Teguc.
My bags went Columbia to Houston to Las Vegas…. From Saturday to
Wednesday I had to borrow clothes and soap and toothpaste and all that good
stuff. Everyone pitched in to help but
it was still very inconvenient. I had
also just had surgery on my wrist in May.
I was cleared to do most things except really heavy lifting. So on the very first house I helped build,
I’m lifting a board up to the guys on the roof and one of them loses his grip,
drops the board and of all places for it to hit it hits right across my wrist
where it had been broken. It bruised up
pretty quickly and I thought I might have re-broken it. Thankfully after I got back I had it x-rayed
and it was fine but I really couldn’t do anything with it while I was still on
the trip. Despite everything that
happened I loved everything about the trip.
The work we were able to do, the people I met, the impact we were able
to make. I loved it all. So the next year it wasn’t even a decision
for me, I was going to do whatever I could to make sure I was going to go
back. And I did. I tell you this story because now I am able
to look back and I think I know what God was doing. I think He was looking at me and saying,
“Lets see how dedicated this little guy is to doing this kind of work”. “I want to see your passion, your desire and
your willingness to endure”. I think He
wanted to see just how much I wanted to do this. He pushed me to the brink mentally with my
passport and taught me to NEVER doubt Him even when things seem completely
hopeless, there is always hope. He made
things inconvenient for me to see if I could handle it and look past it to
continue having a passion for the work that was being done. To see if it would really bother me or if I
would trust in Him to take care of me.
And I did. He pushed me
physically to the point where I couldn’t really use my right arm for much of
the trip to see if I would give up or if I would find a way to continue being
useful in the work that was being done.
And I did. Then a year later He
found out that I would be willing to endure it all again to be a part of the
work that was going on in Honduras. I
went back for round two. He threw me a
curveball, a slider and a split finger, a tough trio to see how dedicated I was
to this mission field. To see if I was
willing to let Him write part of my story in that place.
Since then I have spent part or all of my summers in
Honduras. It seems like each year I stay
a little longer. This summer it was 2
months and it has had a real impact on me.
The kid that wouldn’t stay at the neighbor’s house spent two months in
Central America. That house that put me
out of commission the first year, yea I’ve now built 54 of those. Crazy right?
I have a passion for the work there, a passion I don’t have for anything
else. He has seen my dedication, my
passion and desire for this work. He has
seen what I am willing to sacrifice and how far I am willing to go for a work I
believe in and for Him who I trust in.
My experiences there have changed the way I view everything. For years I have been saying that I feel like
God is leading me to live and work in Mololoa, a community in Tegucigalpa. The last 6 months this has really been on my
mind a lot and for a few different reasons.
I went this summer with the focus of seeing if this was where God was
going to write the next chapter of my life.
After seeing the dominoes fall in place one after another and talking
with many people about the work in Mololoa, I have decided that it is time for
me to hand the pen completely over to God and let Him write me into His story
on His terms. His role for me, His place,
His plans, His design. The worst kept
secret is that I am planning on moving to Tegucigalpa within two months. There is no doubt in my mind that this is
what He wants. With everything that has
happened in the last 2 months I can’t see Him wanting anything else. I have been back in the States since Monday
and I’m itching to get on a plane back.
It has been great to see my family and I am working on getting things
done that will lead me back to Teguc soon.
Palmetto Church of Christ in Columbia, SC are the main
supporters of the work in Mololoa. We
have a Daycare that provides free childcare 5 days a week to moms who need to
be able to go work to provide for their families. We have a Kitchen that feeds anywhere from
50-100 kids a day and sometimes more. We
also support a preacher who works everyday in the community. The community is one of the poorest you will
see. Small wooden, one room houses. No
electricity or running water. The
families work all day just hoping to have money for food that night. The people are amazing but they are living in
a cycle that doesn’t allow them to escape.
Most of them have to quit school early to work just to help their family
survive which then hinders their ability to have any kind of a decent job later
in life. So they repeat the lives of
their parents, not able to escape the cycle of poverty. In order to survive, they have to give up the
only opportunity they have to escape, their education. It really is sad and it’s something that we
are hoping to change and in many instances are changing.
My role will be to work closely with Evelyn to help manage
and run the Daycare and the Kitchen.
That will be my primary goal. I
will also be able to work with Noel, the preacher, to help the people of the
community grow spiritually. In my
opinion you need to meet the physical needs of people, build relationships with
them, in order to have a greater impact on them spiritually. We are doing just that in Mololoa. There have been some ups and downs along the
way but things are looking up. I will be
able to help fix a few issues that are going on and assist in the ever
increasing workload that is weighing down those who run the ministries as they
are growing. I had two big obstacles
that I was worried about when I started seriously thinking of taking this leap
of faith. First that the elders of my
Church who oversee the work in Mololoa would allow me to move and work with
their ministries. And Secondly, the
financial support. After conversations
with one of our elders, he has told me that one of those obstacles was actually
never an obstacle. I have the approval
of our elders to work in the community, that will not be an issue at all. The only other obstacle is financial
support. After talking with some people
who live and work in Teguc as missionaries, I’ve been able to create a budget
of what I think it will take to live and work in Mololoa. $1500 a month is my goal. If you break it down that’s only 30 people at
$50 a month. I think that is
attainable. Being a missionary is in no
way a one man job. It takes a team. A team consisting of financial supporters,
prayer warriors and someone who is willing to go. If you are reading this then you have found
someone who is ready and willing to go.
I have no doubt that this is what God wants for me, I think He is just
itching to write the next part of my story
and yours. I am so excited to let
Him and I hope you are too! I have seen
too many things fall into place over the last few months and years to believe
that He wants anything other than for me to put all of my trust in Him and go
for it. I pray that we can partner
together, work as a team to allow God to write our story. Allow Him to weave our stories into one as we
serve Him. If you will please pray for
me and for this work that is being done I would really appreciate it. Everything has to start with prayer and trust
me I’ve gotten a good jump on that. God
knows exactly what I want and knows my heart and He is continuing to push me
towards this work. If you think you
might be able to join the team as a financial supporter then I ask you contact
me through email. My email is jtgist@hotmail.com. It doesn't have to be $50, it can be anything. Everything helps, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100. It will all help. If you have any questions I will be extremely
happy to answer them or if you want to talk on the phone then just email me and
we can swap numbers. If you need more information just let me know and I will be glad to give you whatever you need. Pray about it,
think about it, and then pray about it some more and if you feel God calling
you to this team then I’d love to hear from you.
In Christ, Tyler
