RCA Missions Blog

“ You have one mission on earth-to save souls.” After all of the planning, prayers, and meetings, the countdown was finally up. March 12th, 1:00 AM, my team and I were saying goodbye to our parents, giving hugs, and loading buses to go across the country to teach the love and power of God to some of the most amazing people I have ever met. After a long but safe day of traveling we finally reached our destination, Fort Defiance, Arizona. We arrived at the Quality Inn, unloaded the vans, freshened up, and set out for supper. Pizza Hut was the choice of the night and boy, did it hit the spot for all of us hangry teenagers! We returned to the hotel and settled into our rooms because we knew we had a long and fun week ahead. 7:00 AM came fast, but we were all ready to get down to the Fort Defiance Church of Christ to reunite and begin our “ to-do” lists. That Friday, our mission was cleaning and the cookout with the community. We spent most of our time on Friday preparing for the projects of the week by cleaning and de- cluttering the church building. It was great to see all the smiling faces of the Navajo people again. The next day, Saturday, we started preparing for our VBS classes of the day, cleaning the baptistry, making the parking lot more accessible, and putting together a basketball goal for them to enjoy using at the church. That night the topic for VBS was Jesus healing the blind man in John 9. Our main topic of this whole trip was “Keeping Our Eyes on Jesus.” We set our VBS up by age groups. Each age group would rotate from games, skits, snacks, and crafts.  Sunday we started off the morning with our worship service led by Mr. Terry Lawrence. Some of our boys were involved with leading singing, saying the prayers, and waiting on the table. Then we started our VBS for class that day. The topic for Sunday morning was the Road to Damascus. Sunday afternoon consisted of Churches Chicken and exploring the Window Rock. Then we set off back to the church for Sunday night VBS where we talked about Peter walking on water. After that great VBS session, we rode in the vans to drop the kids off at their homes. On Monday, our focus was to move Mr. Terry’s office to make it more convenient for him and the members. We also helped out with a variety of needs at some of the members' homes. After accomplishing that, the kids started piling in the vans and were ready to play, sing, and learn. We covered the topic of the Prodigal Son. This was our last night to be with the Fort Defiance Church. It was very sad to say goodbye to the kids that I had been around all week. On trips like these, I learned how attached you can get in a short amount of time. But when we said goodbye, we all followed it up with see you next year! That gave us all something to look forward to. I’m thankful I have pictures to help remind myself of the mission trip. Tuesday was our off day. We had decided early on in the year that we all wanted to go back to the Grand Canyon. I will never get tired of looking at such an awesome sight. It is such a beautiful place to sit back and reflect on God’s beautiful creation. Then, our trip ended at a sudden halt. That next day we were supposed to be going to the Manuelito Children's Home. But we heard word of airports shutting down because of the COVID 19 pandemic. So the adults had made the decision that we were going to leave Wednesday instead of Thursday like we had planned. Yes, we were all very disappointed, but understood that we needed to leave for our safety. That next day we boarded our flights and safely arrived back at RCA around 11:00 pm. 

    In conclusion, I am so thankful I had raised the money and had the opportunity to take this trip during my spring break. It really was a trip of a lifetime that I not only got to enjoy with some of my favorite people ever, but also my dad. This trip brought me closer to God and really made me realize how blessed I truly am to have a loving family, a roof over my head, food in my pantry, and a jacket for when it is cold. I learned to not take anything for granted. Also, I would like to thank Mr. Jim Black for everything he did while planning this trip. But, we could not have accomplished it without every single person that was on our team. Everyone played such a vital role in making this mission trip happen. I’m so thankful to God for directing our paths, and I’ll forever cherish these memories. I can not wait to return to Fort Defiance, Arizona,  for my third time next year.  Also, I’m very eager to spend time at the Manuelito Children’s Home- Lord willing! Some might question why would you want to spend your whole spring break on a full agenda, lack of sleep, in unfamiliar surroundings? In my opinion, it is  worth the challenges and I  feel it’s a life-changing experience!  I pray God will send me again on this adventure to help spread my love for Him.   Isaiah 6:8 Here am I, send Me!                                                                            

Lilly Ragland