Mission Work Makes Friendships

    "There is just not enough time.”  I hear that complaint often these days.  Often, I am the one who says those words.  We are busy with work, with our families, with our church activities.  We are so busy that we are missing something very important.  We rarely have time to sit and talk with someone long enough to really get to know them.  Although our society is blessed with material things, we are short on friendships.  This is part of the reason that we have trouble making new friends.  To be a real friend requires time to get to know someone, to learn to trust them, and to learn to share your burdens with each other. 
     One of the real blessings of going on a mission trip is that there is time to get to know each other well.  There are long airplane and bus rides.  There are times of getting things prepared and then just having to wait.  There are times in the evening (usually late in the evening when all the work is done) when you are too excited to sleep, but too tired to work.  In those times, I often find myself sitting with someone, sharing an experience of service for the Lord, and in those times real Christian friendships are created. 
    On mission trips with other brothers in Christ, we have shared our deepest concerns about our families, about our children, about our work, about our relationships with God.  Men have talked about hurts from the past which they have never shared with anyone;  trust has been created and a relationship of real brotherhood has emerged.  That has been an unexpected blessing for me. 
    In January, 2005, I was flying with a mission team down to the Dominican Republic for the first time.  On this leg of the flight from Miami to Santo Domingo, our seats were assigned by the airline, and sitting next to me was Dr. Neil Barry, III, of Middlesboro, Kentucky.  I had met Dr. Neil briefly in our planning meetings, but for the first time, we had almost three hours to just sit and talk.  The first thing I realized about Dr. Neil was that he loved the Lord above everything else in his life.  The second thing I realized was that he was a good listener.  Before the conversation was over, I realized that Dr. Neil was also a brilliant physician.  After many trips together, many mission experiences under dangerous and uncomfortable circumstances, and all the work on the Jimani Project (see the web link) together, I know that all of those first impressions were accurate. 
    As one of the busiest physicians I have ever met, Dr. Neil discovered the joy of medical mission work on that first trip.  He has become an expert in medical mission organization, and has helped us all understand the importance of keeping ourselves healthy to do this work.  He has also worked with me in the pastor training project, and perhaps, most significantly, on the trip to a Dominican men’s prison in August, 2005, he allowed his gifted young son to go with me and translate as we preached and witnessed to those lost men.  Neil Gordon (the fourth), is a college student, fluent in Spanish, and preparing for a career in medicine like his father.  Dr. Neil, on a hot August morning, gave permission for his son to go into the dangerous prison courtyard, and as a result, many souls were touched, and had their first encounter with our Lord.  It was truly a blessed moment.  It proved to me that Dr. Neil loves and trusts the Lord above everything else. 
    What kind of friends should we ask God to give us?  Those who love the Lord above everything else are the best friends we could possibly want.  Even in our busy lives, we need to prioritize creating time for Christian friendships.  We cannot have friends if we do not show ourselves friendly.  Only in Christ can really productive joyful friendships develop.  I thank God for the many new friends I have made in the course of mission work.  If you are hoping to make new friends,  join in where God is at work, and you will be amazed at the surprises God will prepare for you.  
    Look at Matthew 6:38.  “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measure to you again.”   My Dad used to say that you cannot “outgive God;" in mission work I have seen this proven over and over.  No matter what we give, God gives it back in blessings we can hardly contain.