After my senior year of high school, I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to the jungles of Ecuador. We were going for two weeks to serve among the Auca Indians, the tribe that is notoriously known for killing 5 missionaries in the 1950’s. We arrived in Ecuador and loaded our stuff onto these small 6-passenger planes and waited our turn to arrive in the jungle. The village leader greeted us upon arrival and showed us to the bunkhouse where we would be staying. As we set up our mosquito nets and our mats on the floor, I began to look at my surroundings and wonder what in the world I was doing here. How on earth was I going to survive the next two weeks?

As the days went on, we found ourselves doing tasks that no one in their right mind would do. We found ourselves laying underneath homes painting their foundations with oil so termites would not destroy them, hauling massive pipes through the jungle to provide plumbing to the village, and walking through the rough & rugged jungle terrain to visit another village. All of this was done while being surrounded by jungle animals that could potentially kill us.

One night it began to poor down rain, and the floor of the house we were sleeping in began to get very wet As I lay awake, freezing and wet, I thought, “God, why I am here? What am I doing? I just want to go home.” I made it through the next two days, and as I was getting ready to hop back on the 6-passenger plane to leave the jungle, one of the women in the village approached us and asked if she could pray for us. In her prayer she thanked God for bringing us to her village and how through our service to them, she has seen a piece of the image of God in us. It was in that moment that I realized what my purpose was: to serve others and show God’s love to other people, even it meant doing the most obscene tasks.

“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but TO SERVE, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

My question to you is this: Whom will you serve this summer? And how can you show God’s love to those who you are serving?

-Ravae Wilson

Oasis Student Ministries Admin.