The mission triptrip I took to Madrid, Spain was probably the largest blessing of my life (besides being saved of course).
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how I became involved with a mission trip to Spain and about all of those in my Wildwood 
Baptist Church family and other Southeast Texas Christians who helped make it possible for me to go on this trip.
Now, I am back in Southeast Texas and I wanted to provide an update on my mission trip.
My Texas mission team was bussed us all the way to Oklahoma for the iGo Global base camp.
Once we got there, we were told before we got off the bus and that the next few hour would be disorienting, but that everything done at base camp was for a reason, and each exercise would prepare us for our mission trip.
We got off the bus and the iGo staff told us we were going to the country of “iGosia” and needed to get to the air port. They had set up an entire simulated air port in the worship center of the base camp. All the “airport security” and related “workers” were iGo interns and they were intentionally as rude as they could be to prepare us for potential difficulty in international travel. The baggage checkers tossed our clothes around and then told us to pack it back up quickly. The person who you checked your baggage with ignored you until you actually talked to him.
Once you got off the “plane”, you had to go through customs. If you had too much space between you and the person ahead of you in line, the security griped at you. If you swatted at flies, the security personnel griped at you. If you didn’t know your insurance group number (or if you didn’t make one up) you were sent to the end of the line. If you didn’t have a good reason to be in iGosia, then you were sent to the end of the line. There were some people who spent a half hour trying to get through customs.
Once you finally got out of the “air port” they had tons of people dressed as iGosian natives trying to get
you to buy bus tickets. Once you got your group together, you had to buy the right bus ticket and get on the right bus, which would bring you where you needed to go. The whole experience was so stressful, that it actually made me afraid to go to the airport (Did I mention this was my first trip on an airplane?).
We stayed at base camp for two days. In those two days the iGo Global team poured information into us that we would need for the trip. The analogy was made that we were drinking from a fire hose.
During the whole base camp procedure, the preparation exercises continued.
One day they gave us cucumbers, tomatoes, and rice for breakfast to prepare us for eating weird food. Not only did they prepare us for eating food we weren’t accustomed to, they also taught us that it could be important to politely finish the offered food.
They taught us the four core values of iGo missions. They taught how to prayer walk. Pillows were withheld from our beds. No schedule was provided. For some, not having a schedule was the worst part.
Once we we completed base camp it was off to DFW. I quickly found out that the airport wasn’t that bad. We took off in the plane and landed safely in Madrid several hours later.
Once we made it through passport control we met with our trek leader. We received Metro tickets and we used the Metro to get to our hostel. Once we got settled into the hostel, each trek got a list of sights we had to go see all in one day. We saw everything from plaza de sol, to the castle. We walked all over madrid. The goal of the day was to keep us walking so that we didn’t take a nap, and get jet lag. When we finally got back to the hostel, we were all so tired we could barely stand up.
The next day we went through some teaching, we ate lunch, then we went to our sites. Once we got to our sites, we had “trek time” where we talked about all that we had learned that day. After that, our trek leader took us around the border of our site.
Once we finished established our border, we prayer walked. We prayed over the parks, we prayed over
the buildings, we prayed over the people, and we prayed until we ran out of thinks to pray over, then we prayed some more. The whole first day we just prayed. The next day we went back to our site. same as the day before, we had trek time and then prayed.
That day, a group of our girls met a woman who owned an art studio. They asked if they could pray for her art studio, and she said that they didn’t have to, because she prayed to Mary. They convinced her to let them pray for her, and then they started to leave.
She chased them down and insisted that she buy them ice-cream, because they were so selfless and she felt she had to do something in return.
After a few more days of prayer walking, and a few random conversations in broken Spanish, some people in our group met a lady who owned an Arab bakery. When they asked what her beliefs were, she said that her mother grew up Catholic but converted to Islam. She herself didn’t have any particular beliefs, but she believed in “God” and liked to hear about other people’s beliefs. After a short conversation, they left. During our last day on site, they were able to share more about what they believed and exchange e-mail addresses with her.
We met so many people and they were all so nice. We didn’t get to share our beliefs with all of them, but we prayed that they would see Christ in us.
I learned so much about sharing my faith while I was in Madrid. One of the things that stuck with me the most was when they started to talk to us about Ancient Work at base camp. The speaker gave us a large poster with a timeline that started from around the time Jesus died, to today. He wanted us to fill out events, people and inventions that played a significant role in spreading the gospel. People put many things and people on there. One of the things that I particularly liked was the invention of the airplane.
We don’t think about it that often but the airplane totally revolutionized who we take the Gospel to at the ends of the earth. It also created a whole new class of missionaries , the “one week”, “two week”, “month long”, or “summer long” missionaries. Today, ordinary middle class people can serve as missionaries around the world without leaving behind their careers and families.
His point was that the mission work that is being done in Madrid, or even in our home town, is a part of God’s ancient work. One mission trip to Madrid today, is probably answering a prayer that was prayed over a hundred years ago. The message as a whole really put into perspective that we don’t take Jesus with us where we go,
He’s already there. When we go somewhere, we join in on the work that was started. It also was kind of frightening. It made you want to be extra careful that you didn’t mess up or hinder thousands and thousands of years of ministry.
This whole trip was such an amazing experience. I learned so much and I feel like I am more prepared to share my faith here at home.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.
SetxChurchGuide: Thank-you to Zach Shearer for sharing this recap of his mission trip to Spain.
Zach Shearer and his family attend Wildwood Baptist Church in Village Mills, TX.
Zach is a 2013 graduate of Warren High School.
In every way, he is a normal Southeast Texas kid (or young adult!).
Prior to this mission trip to Spain, Zach Shearer had never been on airplane. This trip was an introduction to global missions and to
the power of personal testimony. On this trip, he encountered his first mosque, had his first real opportunity to put his high school Spanish to use in an immersive environment, and he learned a great deal about how people live in other countries. He learned what kind of tool sharing his own story will be over his lifetime. What Zach learned on this mission trip will likely provide a platform of knowledge that he will pull from over the various ministries he becomes involved in over his lifetime.
A number of people from Zach’s home church, Wildwood Baptist Church helped make it possible for Zach to go on this trip. His church family prayed for him, donated money, and gave him encouragement. His church family believes in Zach and that he is exactly the kind of young man who can make a difference in the missions field. At every step, Zach’s Wildwood church family was proud of him- proud of him for deciding to go on this mission trip, proud of him for doing all of the fundraising and prep work leading up to the trip, and proud of the way he conducted himself on the mission trip.
These stories are what we are all about at SetxChurchguide.com. Southeast Texas Christians and Southeast Texas churches working together for the growth of God’s Kingdom.
A big SetxChurchGuide thank-you to Zach Shearer, the family that raised him to be a wonderful Christian young man, to Wildwood Baptist Church and their congregation for supporting him, and for all of those in Southeast Texas who are involved in the missions field globally and right here at home.
Zach Shearer’s story helps illustrate today that anyone God calls can serve in the missions field (not all will be called to serve internationally -there are certainly endless needs right here in Southeast Texas). Perhaps Zach’s chief qualification for this global missions opportunity was that he prayed for God’s guidance, listened to God’s response, and followed God’s plan for him.
Listening and obeying are two of the hardest challenges that face Southeast Texas Christians.
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