A Mission Trip to Sioux County

Family and Friends,

note:  the OUR NEW VISION series will continue soon...but for now enjoy this story...

The following allegory is intended to poke fun at how all of us can easily project our own cultural expectations on others we visit on a mission trip.  What if someone else conducted a mission trip to our community and tried to do outreach to us?  What would that feel like?  Enjoy!


Some Christian celebrities and other millionaires from the community of Beverly Hills became aware of the growing trend of short-term mission trips, domestic and international, and decided to put together one of their own.  They were determined to make a difference in the world and alleviate poverty for all people, or at least for one community at a time. Not considering a trip abroad to be anything special, due to their countless vacations to various resorts in the Caribbean and other places, they elected to pick a random town somewhere in the Midwest to help.  Surely those people needed their help!  With very little research they settled on the small community of Sioux Center, Iowa, and their million dollar charter bus arrived one hot summer afternoon.

Pulling up to what seemed to be the central park in town, and descending reluctantly the lushly carpeted stairs of the mobile 4-star Hotel on wheels, they were aghast to witness some sort of parade where various floats and truckloads of people were launching generous handfuls of candy into frantic crowds of eager children.  Even some of the adults would catch a treat from time to time, laugh sheepishly, and share in the feast. 

"How sad," one movie actor lamented.  "They don't even know how to feed their children properly."

Confused, they could not understand how some of the floats appeared to be nothing more than a giant piece of farm machinery with a sign on it or a fire truck.  Nevertheless, they knew it was important not to be judgmental, so they sat quietly as each local business representative passed by and waved to the crowd.  A couple of progressive individuals in the group even tried a piece of candy, in order to truly immerse in the experience, but others were somewhat offended by this radical approach.

As the day wore on and the parade crowd dwindled, the short-term missionaries made their way out into the nearby neighborhoods to meet some families and individuals, with the purpose of finding the most needy person possible to bless with their testimonies, wisdom, sympathy, and service.  They stopped abruptly in front of what seemed to them an impossibly tiny home.

"Surely no one could live there, could they?"  One media mogul asked in horror.

A third generation oil company tycoon who got roped into the trip while vacationing at his LA condo burst out, "Absolutely not.  It must be a garage or shed of some sort.  But look there on the side where the narrow driveway ends.  I see a tiny door with a handle on it.  Could that be a single garage?  And could the person who lives here have to physically lift the handle on the door to open it?  I've never heard of a single garage before, have you?  How do they live in this squalor?  Where do they store all of their vehicles?  Or..." There was an awkward and painful pause as the man drew in his breath before whispering the unthinkable, "What if they only have one car?"  His voice trailed off as he choked up a bit.

They all stood motionless and silent for several seconds, and few even started to cry at the thought of such extreme poverty.  Several in the group nervously fingered smart phones and sent off a few texts just to maintain a tiny connection to the comfort of civilized society.

Just then an elderly man, probably in his mid-eighties came around the corner sporting work gloves and pushing a trusty old lawn mower.  Remarks were made among the mission team with regard to how the locals must not know how to treat "the help", keeping them working until long past the time when they should be allowed to retire.  Apparently there was not only rampant poverty, but great injustice in this town.

The leader of the mission trip approached the man to find out more information about the situation.  The local man switched off the loud machine and shook the visitor's hand.  The sharply dressed man asked, "Excuse me, sir, but could you tell me if the owner of this home is here at the moment?"

"Well yes, he is." the older man answered, with a bit of amusement in his voice, and then he gazed curiously at the group of out-of-towners, curiously wondering where they might be from.

The trip leader piped up again.  "Umm.  Could I please speak with him.  I would like to confront him on your behalf, because you deserve better.  Gardeners should be allowed to retire just like everyone else!"  There was much assent, and even a few "Amen's" among the team.  Now they were going to get down to business and make a real difference.

The local man laughed.  "I'm not sure what you are talking about sir, but before we all get too confused, I will just let you know that I am the owner of this house."

The mission team members were astounded.  Finally one young, nationally known female fitness guru sympathized, "Sir, we are here to help you.  To think that you are so poor that you can't hire a proper gardener or landscaping consultant.  Some of us had to mow before God delivered us out of darkness, and we want to help you see the light as well."

The man, a financially stable farmer who had retired about twenty years prior, simply stated, "This may come as a shock to you, miss, but I actually choose to take care of my own lawn and my garden, too.  I enjoy it!  It keeps me active, and it is nice to be out-of-doors."

This was almost too much to take for the mission team.  Things got even more uncomfortable when the man invited them in for lemonade.  They were a bit torn about the offer, and many were reluctant to deplete the already meager funds of the nearly destitute man, but in the end they could not find a tactful way to say, "no."  After filling the gaps in the shag-carpeted living room between the old couch and recliners with various card-table chairs and a wobbly piano bench, everyone was seated, and mismatched cups were passed around.  Some of them said "Hardees", "Taco Johns", or "Pizza Ranch", but all were topped off generously with delicious lemonade.

The group felt it was time to lay out the basic gospel message, and they found themselves returning time and again to the simple themes of God's blessings, his promises of perfection in Heaven, and how we need not suffer in this life if we only have faith.  The man patiently took it all in, and even asked helpful questions from time to time to assist them in staying on track.  Finally, the group leader felt it was time to ask for a decision, and questioned the man as to whether or not he was ready to accept Christ into his heart and be delivered from his anguish. 

The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully, lovingly placed his weathered hand on an equally worn Bible  resting on the nearby lamp table, and began a brief but beautiful testimony of his own:

"Friends, I thank you for coming to our town and specifically to my home, and it means a lot that you are sharing your faith in God.  I know God is pleased when we tell others about his love.  I need that helpful reminder from time to time, just like all followers of Jesus.  I hope you aren't disappointed, but I have been walking with the Lord for over fifty years.  I was a late bloomer, though, despite attending church my entire life.  I didn't really know God personally until after six of my seven children were born.  At that time my wife, who has since passed away, almost died in childbirth with our youngest child, and it really shook me.  God and I had some serious heart to heart talks, and I knew it was time to get on track.  Life has not been easy, but God has been very good to me.  I have 23 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren, and they are all healthy. Yes, I miss my wife every day, but I can't complain.  In fact, I would have to say that the harder times in my life actually led to growth in my faith in God."

The mission team left that day very conflicted spiritually and theologically.  It just did not add up how a person could know God and yet live in such poverty.  Surely his faith could not be real.  Or maybe he was just ignorant about finances, education, personal health, or other areas of life.  There had to be some explanation, but in the end the group assumed the man just did not "get it" when it came to knowing God and experiencing blessings in this life.  If his faith was real he wouldn't be suffering so terribly, or at least he wouldn't be so ignorant of the true, abundant life.  The week continued that way, and soon the team headed back west defeated.  In the end it wasn't a total loss, though, because the members of their church were absolutely floored by the pictures of real poor people, and how the team had the extreme faith to boldly enter into the backward atmosphere of Iowa to do ministry.


We hope that was fun for you, and more importantly, we hope it makes all of us consider to what degree our understanding of the gospel is intertwined with our own cultural conditioning.  The reality is that we all are guilty of projecting our expectations for life and our understanding of Scripture on others, but a good starting point is to become aware of that tendency and repent.  After that we pray on our knees that God will help us discern how best to help others, when to leave them alone, and WHEN TO LET THEM HELP US!


Enjoy Your Adventure Today!
-the grimm family adventurers