Chile interrupted

B.J. Paschal, a senior history and political science major at Arkansas Tech University, had planned to spend spring break in Chile teaching first aid classes to the Mapuche people. The Feb. 27 earthquake and tsunami changed B.J.’s plans. Instead he spent the week building shelters for people who had lost their homes.

B.J. went to Chile with a team from Second Baptist Church in Russellville, Ark. The church has committed to help International Mission Board missionaries reach the Mapuche people group through prayer and repeat mission trips to the area.

Here are excerpts from his reflections on his experience:

It started with a text message
Why I came on the trip? Well, God has put missions on my heart through our BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries). I’ve helped out a lot on their local missions. … I headed up our local missions there at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries. So, missions is something that I love doing. I like to work whenever I can. And, this trip, Brother Bobby, our pastor, he sent me a text message over Christmas break, and asked me if I had thought much about going to Chile.

The money thing
I had thought a little bit about it. But you know I’m a college kid — it’s kind of the whole money thing. That was probably really the biggest thing that was making me hesitant from the very beginning. I told him, you know, the money thing is a kind of a little bit of an ordeal. He said, don’t worry about it. … Money thing aside, would you go? Yeah, I was like, I would go. I’d love to go and help out. So that’s what I did. There were about about three or four families from the church at Second Baptist that sent me here. And, so, I’m very grateful for that. It’s been a great experience so far.

A place to stay
Right now, we’re standing behind the bodega. This, here, is a bodega, which is like a warehouse storefront. … This one was a warehouse. That’s where we’re staying, we’re staying here in the warehouse.

The stuff here that’s beside me — there’s a wall that was actually in the process of being built when the earthquake hit, and it crumbled some of it. Since we’ve been here, we’ve been building relief shelters for those affected by the earthquake and the tsunami. Those in the coastal regions, mainly. … I’ve heard, they are still struggling … So, that’s why we’ve been building these shelters and taking them there to those guys.

Showing, not telling … yet
Missions, when you think of missions, you think of, you know, going door to door and sharing the Gospel. And, that’s all great and good. … To be quite honest with you, I’ve not shared my faith with a person yet, and we’ve been here for three days. And, the reason I haven’t is because I’ve been building the whole time. …

But there’s going to be families that get it. And they’re going to be asking, hey, why are we getting this? And even if there is the smallest seed planted, you know, well, we’re Christians, and we love you and Christ loves you. And, we want to give you this. We want to help you out because we love you. Well, why do you love me? Because Christ loves you.

And even if a question comes out of that, what about this Christ? That’s what it’s all about.

Chilean church takes the evening shift
Last night, for instance, we headed out probably about 7, went and got showers, had a little dinner and got back maybe around 10. When we got back, there were about 15 guys that had picked up. I guess when we left, they got here. One of the pastors had called his congregation and said, hey, come build. And they worked until midnight last night. And, so, just to see their passion for other people. It’s their own people.

It’s about people
What it’s about is, you know, the people around you. Your ministry is who is around you. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Chile or Arkansas or anywhere else. Your ministry is to the people who are around you. God’s put you there for a reason and you can minister to people by sharing your faith, by building shelters for them, even opening a door for somebody. Just any way to show Christ’s love — that’s ministry.

What you do has a major impact. My uncle is a football coach down in Monticello [Ark.]High School — the Monticello Billies. And, if there’s probably one person in my life that’s had the biggest impact on me, it’s probably been him, just for the way that he shares his faith in the things that he does, not necessarily in the things that he says. Not to say that he doesn’t share in the things that he says, but it’s more the things that he does. It’s the things that he walks and does. …

I’ve seen the way that his mission field is Monticello Public High School right now. … And I’ve tried to take that model, his model that I’ve seen from him, and the model that Christ displayed for us of having time for people. Christ was never too busy for people. He always had time to talk.

Too wired for face time
I know, for me, that’s one of the biggest things that gets a hold of me is my cell phone or my e-mail or my Facebook or something that I’ve got to go and get to or appointments that I’ve got to make, and I forget about the people around me. While I’m walking down the street, checking my cell phone, there’s 10 people that pass me. And, I’ve told people this before, I wish people would have signs that say either Saved or Lost because I think we would act so differently. If we saw a sign — Lost — that would totally change our perspective. But that’s how Christ looked at people, as sinners who needed time.

I think that is part of what drives me personally … knowing that the one thing that you do have … you do have a voice, you can change where someone is going to spend eternity.

Timeline for eternity
I like to think about things on a timeline, I’m a history buff. If you were to draw a timeline that stretched from this hand to this hand, about this much of it would be now, would be my lifetime, and the rest, the eternity that would keep going on both ways… That little bit right there can have an effect on somebody, on where they are going to spend eternity.

Just the love that people have poured out onto me has transformed me. And it’s Christ love, without a doubt. And that love has transformed who I am, and now I want to do the same thing because there’s power in it. I know there’s power in it.

Act

Read more on response to the quakes in Chile and Haiti in the summer issue of CommissionStories tabloid. Subscribe for free.

Find updates and links to blogs on the three missionary families who work with the Mapuche on the Mapuche team’s prayer blog.

Volunteer to go to Chile to help. E-mail imb@imb.org. Indicate your name and contact information, what skills you have and when you are available. Southern Baptists interested in donating supplies or offering other assistance also can send an e-mail to this address.

Online donations can be made in three ways:

Chile Response Fund, IMB
Chile Earthquake Relief Fund, Baptist Global Response
Text: Donations of $10 can be made by texting “CHILE” to 40579. The donation will be added to your cell phone bill. Your donation will go to Chile Earthquake Relief Fund, Baptist Global Response.

100 percent of your gift will be used for meeting needs of earthquake victims in Chile.

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