A Not-So-Typical Family Vacation

It could’ve been a trip like any other,
but Shauna and her family didn’t take the usual vacation. Instead, they assembled
their family and friends to spend time with strangers, and they made memories
for many in the process. This is because their vacation was eye-opening,
heart-expanding, and life-changing. They built a house for a family in need
and, more importantly, they demonstrated to this family and to themselves how profound a life with Jesus can be when it involves sacrifice.

Shauna, her husband, and their two boys,
along with her parents, her brother, and family friends, sacrificed five days
of their lives to serve on a Homes of Hope
team in Mexico. Homes of Hope (HOH) is a ministry of Youth With A Mission (YWAM)
who have been inviting youth into international missions work for 60 years!

Hi Shauna. You and your family did something most families never even consider. What exactly did you do on your trip with YWAM and what is Homes of Hope?

My family and I traveled to Tijuana Mexico over Thanksgiving
break and built a home for a local family who owned their own land but needed
some help with their house. Homes of Hope is the ministry within YWAM that
coordinates all the details of this trip, including the approval process of the
family that receives a new home.

Why did you decide to join the Homes
of Hope effort in Mexico?

We’ve been wanting to do a missions trip of some sort
with our sons for a long time and after a lot of prayer, this was the right
trip at the right time for us. HOH has been doing this since 1990 and we liked how they
were doing it.

Were your boys excited to take this
trip? Did their enthusiasm change over the course of the trip?

Overall, yes they were excited! But they weren’t sure
what to expect so there was definitely some nerves felt as well. As soon as we
got picked up in California by a YWAM missionary and driven
across the border, all of our excitement continued to gain momentum from that
moment on. I don’t think my boys complained the whole trip… What a MIRACLE!

Did your boys miss any school days and
did they do homework while in Mexico?

We left on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so both boys
were already off of school and we returned Sunday night. So, thankfully we
didn’t have to deal with homework on our trip.

Can you share some fun family
memories from this trip that are not necessarily related to the ministry work
of Homes of Hope?

We had so many! Our first day in Tijuana was a cold
rainy day. That didn’t stop our boys from making themselves comfortable on the
YWAM base. All the boys on our team played soccer in the cold rain, on a
drenched field, shirtless. That alone would’ve made their trip a success.

Did you, your husband, or Homes of
Hope develop any initial goals for your visit to Mexico? Did you meet those
goals?

Our goals were to complete the house build in 2 days,
get to know the family we were building the house for, and be open to what God
wanted to teach each of us individually. All goals were met, Praise God!

Your husband, Chris, is a pastor so
he’s familiar with ministry and sacrifice. How was this Homes of Hope work a different
ministry experience for him?

Besides the effort of signing us up online and making
sure all our passports were up to date, we didn’t have to do much besides show
up and do what we were told. That was kinda nice and different. Even though we
were serving the family in Tijuana, we were also being served and led by all
the amazing missonaries that live there on the base in Tijuana. Their sacrifice
was a blessing to us for sure!

What do you appreciate about the
YWAM and/or Homes for Hope ministry?

The missionaries through YWAM have to raise their own support
to be able to do what they’re doing. They're choosing to live a life of
sacrifice all for Gods kingdom. They are a blessing to anyone who signs up to
come alongside them for this special kingdom work. In addition to that, they
have a great system in place. They have an extensive approval process for the
family who receives the home which includes having to own their own land and
they have to have a job. They supply all the tools so we just had to show up!

What would you say to people who might consider a Homes for Hope trip but are sure they
can’t build a house (or who are reluctant to serve God in other capacities)?

Don’t limit what God can and will do through you!
Stepping out in faith is one of the best (and scariest) parts of walking with
God through life. On my own strength and my own abilities, I’m VERY limited.
Missions trips are great opportunities to take that next step in your faith to
see what God can do through you. The fear of our limitations is exactly what
our enemy uses to keep us stuck in a safe, boring, miracle-free relationship
with God. If my 10-year-old son and my 70-something-year-old mom can build a
home in Mexico, so can you!

You said you were allowed to meet and
interact with the family for whom you built the house. Tell us more about this. Did you get to watch
Homes for Hope give them the house?

This is one of the most impactful parts of the trip. The
family, as well as their neighbors, worked by our side building their new home.
They put their own blood, sweat and tears into this build until it was
complete. We had a “key ceremony” at the end of the project and as a team we
all said a few words of blessing to the family. We prayed for them, gave them
one last hug, and, through tears of joy, drove back to YWAM’s base to process
our experience.

What was the family’s relationship
with Jesus? If they didn’t know Him, did you or your team have the opportunity
to share about Jesus and the good news of His salvation?

They did have a relationship with Jesus and went to a
local church. During the key ceremony we were able to share that it is only
because of Jesus that we were there helping them build their house. Because He
first loved us, we wanted to love this family in this way!

What are some lessons learned and
take-home nuggets your family embraced after returning home?

We were reminded what it means to put others’ needs
before our own. This project was all about this other family. We traveled,
sacrificed financially, worked through our fears of safety traveling in Mexico
with our kids, gave up our traditional Thanksgiving holiday, and got a lot of
sore muscles from the physical work, all for strangers. Sometimes it takes that
level of sacrifice to wake us up in our faith and make a greater impact in our
relationship with God.

Do you plan to do another YWAM trip?
If so, what will you do differently?

We are in the process of nailing down a date for our
next trip! Another factor that helped our boys on this trip is that we had
family as well as family friends with us. That was key to our boys having a
positive experience. They worked alongside friends and shared in this amazing,
life changing experience. I hope that our next trip works out so that my boys
have friends again.

Is there anything else you’d like
say about your trip or Homes for Hope or YWAM?

Even though our big goal was to build a home, it became
very clear that the ultimate goal was all about connection with people and
sharing Jesus’ love with them. As an American, it is so easy to be hyper-focused
on accomplishment and efficiency that we can lose sight of what matters most.
This trip provided us the experience to deal with the tension of the American
way versus Gods way. I highly recommend this trip for those who are willing or
curious to step into that tension!

Do we step into this God-honoring tension?
Have we considered taking a trip to serve others, maybe even with YWAM and Homes for Hope? We
don’t need to assemble 14 people like Shauna did. YWAM can match us with other
families to build that house.

Short-term missions may not be for
everybody, but serving and sacrificing is definitely God’s design (Luke 9:23, Romans 12:1, 1 John 3:16-18). He
wants us to step outside our comfort zones for the sake of others. “If you want to walk on water, you’ve
got to get out of the boat.”^† Stepping out in faith is scary sometimes, as Shauna said, but
when we take our eyes off ourselves and follow Jesus’ lead, we can do amazing
things for people. And this is exciting and God-honoring!

If you want to know more about the exciting life we can experience through Jesus and how to have a relationship with Him, please email me at authordlv@att.net.

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