Less than ten miles from the border of Burkina Faso, the site of yet another terrorist attack two weeks ago, mPower Approach had the honor of training thirty seven Ghanaian believers. These men and women traveled from near and far to learn a skill that would allow them to further advance the gospel in their own villages and beyond.
Our team of thirteen spent the week teaching dental extractions, dental hygiene, vision screening, and sewing. While each member of the team was busy instructing in their area of expertise, as always happens, our students were doing some teaching of their own.
So often we think we are going on a mission trip to be a blessing and impart our great knowledge. We rightly desire to match our abundant resources with their compelling need. However, the nationals we train are doing the same for us. It’s a wonderful, God ordained exchange!
In a short amount of time we have much to accomplish. Feeling the weight of this we would attempt to start early, rush through lunch, finish late, etc… but the students would not be rushed. It seemed as though they didn’t understand how precious our time together was. We had an agenda, a schedule to keep. They had relationships to cultivate, stories to tell and all the time in the world, or so it seemed, to listen.
While we were busy showing them how to patiently and gently loosen and extract a tooth, they were modeling patience that we as Americans don’t even comprehend. Our dental hygienists stressed over and over the importance of being steadfast in cleaning every single tooth because a small amount of tarter will one day grow to be a painful problem. They get it, unlike many of us, they have not been lulled into a false sense of security. They prayerfully and powerfully pray against the schemes of the evil one on a daily basis.
Back in the States, we evaluate the success of our trip. We are certain these students will take the skills they’ve learned and leverage them to take God’s great name and His renown to the lost and hurting people around them. The question remains, will we do the same?
If you didn’t have a chance to see our new video yet, here it is! It gives a glimpse of what we do on an mPower Approach trip.
