My church, 2nd Baptist Church, has a partnership with One Vision that allowed me to get connected with them, and it made all the difference in my life. Last year, I was able to go on One Vision's medical mission trip to Brazil, and I've been telling everyone I can to get involved with missions ever since.
This trip, in and of itself, was a practical trip. I played with a couple kids during a rare moment of down time, but for the most part, I was working as a nurse and assisting the doctors to make sure we could take care of as many patients as possible. By the end of our time in Brazil, I was blown away by how grateful the people were toward us. The moment we met them, they were so excited - many hadn't had a doctor's visit in close to a year - and we were treated like rock-stars, which is an uncommon experience for the majority of doctors in America.
The spiritual high that ensued from this trip made coming back feel like a big letdown at first. But I made it a point to work a little harder, encourage people to get involved with missions, and prepare myself to do more for the global mission of promoting the gospel. I've been preparing myself to go back and have stayed in contact with our friends in Brazil, even learning a little bit of Portuguese for One Vision's next medical trip.
In May of this year, my husband and I were able to host some of One Vision's Brazilian partners in our home and had an absolutely phenomenal time. It was hands down one of the best experiences of my life. They looked at everything with such a child-like wonder and I loved getting the chance to really sit down and get to know them outside of the busyness that exists on a typical mission trip. Through talking with them, I was really impacted by the vast cultural differences that exist between America and Brazil. We live in such a fast-paced society - something that doesn't play a role in the Brazilian way of life - that we often forget to slow down and focus on the most important thing in our life - our relationship with Christ. While Jesieus was telling us about how he spends his quiet times, I was convicted to really put in an effort to take life at a little bit slower pace and take the time to spend with God.
My experience with One Vision is one that I tell anybody and everybody about. I've build relationships that I will treasure forever, and I've been so prepared and encouraged to continue to go and serve the people of God.
-Sherry Pyatt