It occurred to me that I never placed the final numbers for the Mission trip on this site. I am placing them now, as well as offering some words of encouragement and congratulations for those that stepped onto the mission field, if only for a few days, and helped expand the Kingdom of God in Rio de Janiero last week.
Totals for the Week:
Medical Clinic 734 patients 468 adult 266 pediatric
Dental Clinic 254 patients 158 dental 96 cleanings 231 teeth extracted
Optical Clinic 618 patients
Total Patients 1606 ± (due to unregistered patients)
Pharmacy 2626 prescriptions filled
And the most important number of all: 339 Salvation decisions made for the Lord
All of these rewards we place at the throne of the Lord who allowed us to travel to Rio.
A thought for the team and everyone who supported us in Rio
I came across this inspiring statement of how God wants us to lead our lives when it comes to serving Him today Jon Acuff’s amazing blog “Stuff Christians Like” . In the post, Jon discusses his continuing struggle with his ego and success in light of his commitment to serve the Lord.
If I want a greater expression of God, I cannot sit up with my lips glued together with an aloof expression on my face and expect to get a mighty move of God. I want you to understand that to receive what God has for you, you may have to break out of your comfort zone. God did not promise to fit into your training and your background and your personality. God did not promise to fit into your little idiosyncrasies. God did not promise to be housed in any man’s culture or philosophy. God is too big to be held down to the principles of your age or your time. God says I know what I want and I like what I want and I want somebody to praise me.
Do we have reason to be proud of our accomplishments in Rio? I say yes–as long as we understand that the reason we went to Rio was to serve His needs and wishes and not our own. I say be proud of your hard work and allow yourself some brief sense of accomplishment for being part of an amazing movement of the Holy Spirit in a poor, neglected corner of the world. Be proud of the fact that you allowed God to use you as an instrument of His will and that, in some small way, we were part of revealing His love to those that may never have had the chance were we not there. This doesn’t mean get a big head and act as though you are any better than the sinner sitting next to you since everybody has a sizable dose of that flowing in our blood-enough to keep us eternally separated from God were it not for the sacrifice of the Son whom we serve. The sense of elation everyone felt as we returned home was not only for the relief of seeing our loved ones but also from the fact that God whispered in our ears, “Well done, my good and faithful servant…” and for that, I am proud to have served with everyone that came to Rio as well as those that prayed for our safe travel and our ministry while there.
This is not the end of this site-not in any way. In fact, I plan on placing more information here to allow everyone involved in the Rio Mission to look back at what we are doing as well as start planning the next one. That’s right, God has given us another chance to travel to Rio July 10 – 19, 2009 and continue serving Him amongst the loving, kind people of Brazil. Mark your calendars and save your pennies, as it only gets better year after year.
