What are they singing?

On my first trip to Peru we worked a lot with the kids in the village of Irlanda. We had a lot of fun playing games with them, doing crafts, telling them Bible stories, and just spending some time with them. One of the things I helped with was that we taught them several songs in Spanish that we all sang together the last night before we left. Some of the songs it seemed that they knew, and some of them they didn’t know. One of the songs we worked on was one I learned just for the trip.

We also traveled to at least one other village each day and did some of the activities with their kids as well. Since we were staying in Irlanda, we got to know those kids a bit more. It was truly enjoyable and interesting to go around and see the different villages in that immediate area. Some of them had been hit hard by flooding earlier in the year and had suffered a lot. We went around and gave out food to people as well.

The second year I went was the only time of the 4 times I have been down the river that we didn’t stay in Irlanda, but we did visit there. Each year I was both surprised and pleased to see kids that I recognized from that first trip. But there was one thing that happened that completely took me by surprise and made me really think about the impact we had as short term missions workers in that area.

The fourth time I went to stay in Irlanda (three years after my first time there), I was walking across the field from where we were staying to the church building in the village. Not too far from me, walking the other direction, were some of the kids that I had seen often over the years. All of a sudden I heard, “Cristo eres mi roca fuerte, yo se que en Ti seguro estoy…” being sung by the kids. I almost immediately stopped in my tracks, because I realized they were singing one of the songs I taught them the first time I went. I was even more floored when I thought back and realized that we hadn’t sung that song with them since that first year. They not only remembered the song, they associated that song with me and remembered that we sang it together several years before.

To this day, I think back on that moment when I wonder about the impact we have on the lives of those we come into contact with. It amazes me how a song could be remembered after three years when we only sang it for one week, on one trip. Missions, both short term and long term missions are so very important! I would recommend to every person that I could ever meet that they should be involved in at least one missions trip in their lifetime. For both your sake, and those you go to help. But I think at times we forget about the message we send to people every day. If those kids could remember a song I taught them 3 years before when they saw me, what kind of impact do we have on those we see every day? Are we living a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ? Are we joyful, loving, peaceful, patient, and kind? How do you want to be remembered?