I was surprised to discover my students did not know who Joni Eareckson Tada is. Only ten years older than me, by the time I was a student at Portland Adventist Academy, Joni (pronounced Johnny) was well known for her dynamic testimony of God´s work in her life following a diving accident which left her paraplegic at age 17. She was the Friday night keynote speaker at Mission Connexion, an annual interdenominational event that brings inspiring speakers and practical workshops to Portland, with the goal of helping Christians share their faith at home and abroad. The theme for the conference this year was "Who is Able?" and Joni set the tone for the weekend. Speaking from her wheelchair, her message was convicting: "Yield your inability to God. God uses the unable, so that the world can see it was God. How dare I use my inability as an excuse?" Joni did not sugarcoat her situation and confessed that daily pain was discouraging. But she has found suffering to be a "little splash of hell that wakes you up so you can realize the real hell from which you have been saved." [Watch Joni´s talk here.]

The keynote speaker Sabbath morning was Tom Doyle, who spoke about what God is doing in the Middle East. "Don't take your world view from the news," he cautioned. Although many Americans have the impression that the Middle East is filled with Islamic extremists, that is a small fraction of a larger society. "The news is keeping Christians away from Muslims," Doyle said. But God is not staying away. The fastest growing church in the world today is in Iran. A video from Refugee Care Collective after his talk really moved me: "Make a stand together. We are not going to be led by fear, but by love." [Update:the timing of this conference was amazing. Just a week before the order to prohibit refugees, here was a group of Christians preparing themselves to embrace them.]

Sabbath afternoon a keynote by Michael Oh brought new light on the Lord's Prayer. He showed us how the prayer can be seen as two parts: God's purpose and His provision for fulfilling that purpose. Too many Christians, he said, make the prayer for provision the purpose of their lives, always asking, "What is best for me?" By holding onto those provisions that have been given to us, we delay Jesus' kingdom.

We had decided to make Mission Connexion part of our Sus Manos retreat weekend each year, as it gives our students a much bigger view of God's mission and inspires them to take an active role in that mission, beyond our spring break trip. As we debriefed the conference, one student mentioned that his church doesn't talk a lot about missions. Mike explained the different way that missions are funded--although missionaries from many denominations raise their support through local churches and maintain contact with them, Seventh-day Adventists have an efficient system that provides support through a central fund that all churches contribute to. The downside of that efficiency was evident this weekend: missionaries are anonymous and giving to the mission fund may seem impersonal and not inspiring. We want to help our students to continue to embrace their role in supporting and being missionaries in our church.

Besides the inspiration from Mission Connexion, our retreat weekend was a time to bond--many of the students (who are sophomores, juniors and seniors) did not regularly "hang out" together at school. Our retreat is an important time for bringing us together as a team. We camped out at Tualatin Valley Academy, as it was closer to the Mission Connexion venue than PAA, ate meals together and began journaling things we are learning. Their journals will be used as witnessing tools in Cuba, so we did some things in Spanish. We spent a little time working on VBS plans, encouraging daily quiet time (with God through Bible reading and prayer), and reading Steps to Christ.

Journal highlights:
Sus Manos mission statement: "We seek to be the hands of Jesus in the Spanish-speaking community at home and abroad."
Scriptural foundation for short-term missions (Romans 1:11-12)
Our effectiveness depends on our connection with Jesus (John 15:4-5)
We are not done until we have passed on what we have learned (2 Timothy 2:1-2)
The Navigator Wheel illustration 
The Navigator Word Hand illustration of 5 ways we interact with the Bible

           “Why do you want to go on the mission trip to Cuba?” Mariela’s answer surprised me. She had planned to return with her friends to Fiji, where they had gone their sophomore year, for a senior year, last mission trip together. Except… she felt God was telling her to participate in an evangelistic outreach. When I announced the opportunity to help with Andrews University’s evangelistic campaign in a Spanish-speaking country, she recognized her call.

            I didn’t know Mariela or her brother Marcel beyond their friendly greetings when we passed in the halls, so I was eager to get to know her during the applicant interview. She admitted she was conflicted about not going with her friends to Fiji, yet confident this was God’s leading. She told me how her life had changed during high school, especially as she began spending time with God daily. I mentioned that I had heard she was very caring toward her younger brother. Her response surprised me again: “Oh no, he’s the one who has been a good influence on ME.” She shared how his spiritual awakening in the past year--reading his Bible daily and choosing Christian, rather than secular, music--had sparked a desire for a closer walk with God in her.

            As I listened to Mariela’s story, I, too, became convinced that she had been called to Cuba. Later, talking with my husband, I said, “After everything she told me about her brother, I think Marcel should come, too!” We guessed, correctly, that their single parent mother felt they could raise funds for just one of them to go on a mission trip—Marcel’s chance would be next year. I asked them to pray about Marcel going and assured them that God would provide the means, if He was calling Marcel to Cuba. The whole family felt this was indeed a God-sent opportunity for brother and sister to share their faith together in Cuba.

            They sent support letters to friends and family. And… nothing. Usually responses come within a couple weeks, but there were none. We prayed, they made plans to do a fundraiser at a fair at another school, and we continued to believe that God would provide, because we were certain He had called them both to Cuba.

            At school, Marcel approached me excitedly to tell me what had happened at the fair. They sold some products, and a woman they didn’t know chatted with them and took their letters. A while later, she returned with a donation that covered one fourth of their trip! The unexpected provision was confirmation to the siblings that God had indeed called and had ways to provide for them that they could not anticipate. Only after that did they begin to receive the expected donations from friends and family. But God was not through with surprises! The donor contacted them again, saying they came to her mind when her mother gave her funds to contribute to a good cause, and she gave a second donation to support God’s work in Cuba.

            I always say that I do not want to do short-term mission trips just because we can. I truly want to know that God is calling each of us individually to participate in His mission and that He is preparing us to do the work He has planned in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). All the donations—large ones as well as the “widow’s mite”—are a confirmation and encouragement to students that God and His people support their desire to serve. Mariela and Marcel’s story of God’s convicting them and providing for their needs through a stranger is an encouragement to me that it was indeed God I was hearing when I felt so powerfully that they should both be on this trip. I can hardly wait to see how God will continue to prepare our team and bless the evangelistic campaign in Cuba in March!