One of our favorite things is sharing stories from team members. Today we have Mark’s story… Mark has been on a couple of our teams (Kenya and Nicaragua) and has willingly offered to share his story and experience.
“From an early age I have been involved with missions. When I was young, my parents investigated becoming a missionary family to Papua New Guinea, but at the last minute the Lord closed the door. After finishing high school, I took my first mission trip to a remote area of Southern Mexico. The team I was a part of was doing church planting with the indigenous people, many of whom did not speak Spanish but rather local native languages.
After returning from Mexico, I explored becoming a full time missionary, but the Lord led me into engineering school and then a career in healthcare, first at a large corporation and then later in starting a business. During my career I was able to participate in missions by prayer and financial support but was unable to participate directly through mission trips.
A little over two years ago, the Lord helped me to sell my company and this allowed me to go to Kenya last year with the team from Fox River. I was a bit apprehensive in going to Kenya, because it had been a long time since I had worked with children and my own children were now grown up. However, I thoroughly enjoying working with the students and teachers in Kenya and I made a number of wonderful new friends. God willing, I hope to return to Kenya next year to renew friendships and once again work with the teachers and their students.
Back in April I was able to go to Nicaragua with the team from Fox River. This was a construction trip and the work we did was physically hard, but the experience was also enjoyable and rewarding. The part I liked best was forming close relationships through working together. For example, I worked with El Jefe (in English “the boss”) and at the beginning of the week it was all about the work, but by the end of the week we were sharing details about our families and parted with a warm embrace. I hope to go back to Nicaragua in the future to see what God has done in the lives of the people I grew to love.
It is always fascinating to see how God works – had I not been in Nicaragua with my background in healthcare, we might never have known the clinic had an ultrasound system that failed. Since returning home, I have located a replacement and look forward to the day that it can be used in the clinic!
In thinking about the future, I realize I’m not as young as I used to be and may not always be able to go on future mission trips. I believe the Lord gave me this thought – would I be willing to donate the income I earn during the same period as the mission trip if was physically unable to go? I’m writing this blog because I believe the Lord may wish you to consider and pray about making a similar commitment.”
~Mark Schwartz
Thanks for sharing Mark! We love how God uses missions to show us new things.
Have your ever asked yourself how you can be involved in missions? We are always available to answer any questions you may have! Ask us on… FaceBook (Fox River Missions), Instagram (@foxrivermissions) or email us (missions@foxriverchristian.org)