Recently 2017 Senior Rep, Rachel, went on a mission trip to Nova Scotia with others and I asked her to share the experiences she encountered. Here is her story:
Our team ended up in Inverness, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island. It was a lot smaller than Chapin with the coast on one side of the main road and houses on the other. There was one government run grocery store, a couple of places to eat, a coffee shop, one school, and a Catholic Church within Inverness.
The missionary up there, Mark, and his family have started a church called Inverness Community Church and they meet in the fire station there in Inverness. The Christians that attend are often ostracized from the community and called the “crazy born-agains”, along with being accused of being in a cult. We were told that us going up to someone and asking to share The Gospel with them is considered how we might view a Mormon coming and knocking on our door. Our big focus for the week was serving people in the community so seeds could be planted.
Our team spent our first day of service projects at a woman’s house that was in a wheelchair. Her husband had died about a year before and soon after that her daughter with her husband and 3 kids moved in to be with her. She had a wheelchair ramp along with a small deck that wasn’t connected to the ramp. Our team was able to tear down the small deck and replace it with a larger one that connected to the wheelchair ramp.
I went into the day a little concerned because I’m NOT good at construction. I spent the majority of the day painting the ramp and deck. But what was really cool was that the grandkids were able to help us paint; they spend their entire day painting with us when they didn’t have to. The 3 of them would take breaks every now and then and go ride bikes or play catch. Their bikes were rusted, the chains falling off. That’s when we noticed that they could use new bikes and a few new toys. We had enough money in our budget to get the kids 2 new bikes and some sporting equipment, like a basketball and a baseball glove with some baseballs. It was incredible to see the joy we were able to bring to that family through being where The Lord called us to be.
Throughout the day people would stop on the street and watch us work (I’m pretty sure one guy sat outside across the street the entire day), some questioning why we took time to come there to help out this woman, the answer being because we love Jesus and want to serve Him and others. I was blown away by how serving others displayed the love of and our love for Jesus. We didn’t have to go door to door to tell people about Jesus, we just needed to serve them and that’s how seeds were planted.
That being said, we did get to do a little evangelism. While in Inverness we did a gospel car wash. We had signs that said “$1 car wash” so people would pull up thinking they were gonna pay a dollar for us to wash their car. When we finished washing their car and they went to pay they were actually given a dollar along with the Gospel of John. This opened the door for them to hear the gospel as we explained the free gift of salvation; them doing nothing but Jesus washing us clean from our sins and all we have to do is choose to accept it.
I’m beyond thankful that I had the ability to go to Inverness and I hope to go back. Seeing The Lord at work in my life and in the lives of the people there has been incredible.
~ Rachel, 2017 Senior Rep