Ethan

Ethan 今年的宣教，不只是游戏与圣经课程，更是一段以爱倾听、真心陪伴，与 Apache 青年一同走过欢笑与深藏伤痛的旅程。

Ethan’s mission this summer was more than games and lessons—it became a heartfelt journey of listening, loving, and walking alongside Apache youth through both laughter and hidden pain.

This is my seventh time serving as a short term missionary at the White Mountain Apache Baptist Church. I’ve seen how harsh the living conditions are, made connections with many of the people there, and knew most of the structure for how to plan a VBS class. I was tasked with leading things that I had prior experience in. I was in charge of leading the morning basketball camp for the kids, the youth VBS class, along with writing and directing a skit for a block party that Pastor John Hoyt had planned. While I felt that many of the preparations for this trip were very last minute, I had a sense of readiness and felt that things were going to go smoothly.

Of course I can stand here and tell you all that while I thought things would go smoothly, there were more issues than I anticipated. However, that isn’t the part of the mission I would like to focus on. Every mission has difficulties, but each time we can see God working through every second of our time there. 

A few days before the mission trip, I received a message from Lillian, who has also attended many YSMPs before. She gave me a suggestion saying that after staying in contact with some of the youth from the reservation, she noticed that many of them already had exposure to the gospel, whether it was from attending church with their family, or previous YSMP trips. Therefore, a great approach to leading them this time would be to try strengthening their faith and walk alongside them in their lives, hearing their stories and just spending time with them. I felt this was a great idea so I decided it was worth a try. 

The first night of VBS came around, and I felt this sense of peace. Because I had previous experience with leading the youth, I was prepared for them not to talk or share much about their lives. Immediately, I noticed that it was true that most of them were exposed to the gospel. Whenever I would ask a question, multiple voices would shout out the correct answer as if they’ve prepared their whole lives. In fact, I was quite astonished at their willingness to participate and call out the correct answers.

However, there was one kid in my class, Vontrell, the youngest of the crowd, who would constantly disrupt the class. He would talk out of turn, interrupt others, and make fun of me during the lesson. Surprisingly, Vontrell’s comments didn’t bother me since I found his jokes incredibly funny, and I had a hard time telling him to stop. I had to continue my lesson while keeping my eye on him to not bother his friends.

After the lesson, we split off into groups by genders. I was in a group with my team partner Greg, along with 3 other boys: Jonah, Ryzen, and of course Vontrell. The story we went over was “Jesus calming the storm,” and in our group we shared some of the “storms” we faced in our lives. I started off by sharing some of my issues, then we went around in a circle. Jonah shared that he lost 3 of his family members in a single year, and Ryzen shared how he had to move away from all of his friends to live at the reservation. At this point, I felt like crying. Jonah was a student who gave his life to Christ during VBS last year. However, I never heard him speak much or share his story, and hearing about this struggle already broke my heart. Eventually we got to Vontrell, who was smiling the whole time. When it was time for him to share, he said he didn’t have any storms. When I asked him if there was anything I could pray for him about, he said “nothing really,” and kept on smiling. However, right when I was about to start praying, Vontrell suddenly interrupted me and said “my dad passed away 2 months ago.” 

When I heard these words, I immediately froze and felt tears starting to form in my eyes. Vontrell, the jokester of the class, turned out to be hiding such a deep hurt in his life that he didn’t want to share with others. I immediately said “let’s pray” and I covered my face. My prayer contained more sobs than it contained words, and the beautiful part was that God understood my feelings regardless. As a matter of fact, God completely understood Vontrell’s heart as he was hurting, regardless of whether he was smiling or joking around. After finishing the prayer while trying to hide my crying, I looked up and saw that Vontrell was staring directly into my eyes as I cried. I didn’t really catch too much of a glimpse before I quickly switched the topic and brought them out to play basketball.

The next few days of VBS, I felt a change in Vontrell’s attitude. Apart from joking around and interrupting the class less, he became more vulnerable during prayer time. When I asked for prayer requests, instead of hiding it, he shared a whole list of things he wanted prayer for. 

This was just one encounter I had with one of the Apache kids at the reservation. I can stand here and talk forever about each interaction I had with other students. I can talk about how me and Jonah bonded over our favorite colognes. I can talk about praying with a girl named Patience who had a panic attack during the VBS closing rally. But the point I am trying to get across is that like the tip I received from Lillian, we need to value people more than tasks!

Sharing the gospel is important, and it is our mission to share it wherever we go. However, if we treat the Gospel as a simple checkbox to fulfill by giving the kids a planned hour-long lesson, we would be valuing our agenda over the people, and ultimately over God’s agenda. Jesus says in Matthew 18:5 “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” By humbling ourselves and sharing God’s love with these people, we are indeed welcoming Jesus into the situation. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. Apart from sharing the gospel during class, it is important to love with our actions. While I’m not the most athletic person, I played so much basketball with these kids during the week that I began to enjoy it more.

I encourage you all who have thought about mission trips to pray about this opportunity. While I may have told Vontrell’s story, there are so many kids on this reservation that have similar stories and need to know and experience God’s love for them. I can only tell you that it is truly rewarding to be used as an instrument in God’s perfect plan. 

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