As she sat in her previous church, confident in her decision not to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, Anne Keeler had no idea that God had other plans for her.
Her husband Mike had already been on one trip to Guatemala and really enjoyed it. That was great. Anne felt like that was “ his thing ”, not hers. But now, she was being invited to join the next team by her Discipleship Teacher (whom she trusted). He told her that a church member wanted to sponsor a couple to go to Guatemala, and that he wanted that couple to be Mike and Anne. “Not my thing ,” she thought. But agreed to pray about it.
As she sat in Sunday School that morning, she was distracted by the invitation. She could think of so many reasons why it wasn’t a good idea for her to go on the trip… she was too busy at work. She does not have the right skills. What would she do with the dog?
Anne then headed into the church service. There, the mission team leader explained the trip to Guatemala in even more detail. “Still not interested,” she thought. She sat through the service explaining to God why this trip wasn’t a good idea.
Content with her excuses, she was totally caught off guard when she felt God speak to her. Not an audible voice, but an obvious one. He spoke through the final hymn of the morning…“Here I Am Lord.”
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go, Lord, if you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart
Anne knew that God was inviting her to go to Guatemala. “Boom. Cue Holy Mic Drop,” she laughs.
While there, the team built vented brick stoves as part of the Guatemalan Stove Project (GSP). Without stoves, cooking is done over an open fire on the ground. Toxic fumes are breathed in causing respiratory illness, blindness and burns. The forests are stripped of the wood, causing issues of landslides. The GSP helps alleviate these problems and reduces wood consumption and pollution by about 50%.
Accepting the invitation to go to Guatemala gave Anne the opportunity to experience God in a deeper way. “I grew up in the Methodist church and have identified myself as a Christian my entire life. However this was the first time I chose to put myself in a position to be completely, fully dependent on God.” Anne had never been on an international mission trip. She also knew that she had no masonry skills for the project. She accepted the invitation any way. And God did not disappoint. As Anne worked to help make a difference in the lives of the Guatemalan people, she was fully aware of the blessing God had given to her — a joy like no other.
Years later, Mike and Anne visited New Life at the invitation of a dear friend, Pastor Tom Sweat.
Anne said that the first Sunday they attended, she knew she was home! It would be here at New Life that she would get connected. She worked with youth, participated in mission trips and lead a Life Group.
One mission trip in particular brought Anne full circle in experiencing God’s goodness. While she was in Costa Rica with the New Life team, she met a woman who was working there. She struck up a conversation with her and found out that the woman was originally from Guatemala.
“I’ve been to Guatemala,” Anne told her. Then she went on to try to explain the village she had worked in. Not able to remember the name, Anne told the woman that there was a very distinctive yellow catholic church with statues of saints dressed in traditional clothing. It was the same village the woman grew up in. Anne told her that she helped to build brick stoves as part of the Guatemala Stove Project. As the woman smiled, she revealed to Anne that her family received one of the stoves. She explained to Anne the life changing impact the stove had on her family’s health and their financial situation. “It was a very humbling moment,” Anne said.
Anne now lives by a guiding principle once sent to her by a friend. It states, “Ask only to be used.”
God invites all of us to become involved in his work. It is His desire to get us from where we are, to where he is working. When we say “yes” to his invitation, He leads us from being self-centered to being God-centered.
When we ask to be used, it opens us up to recognize God’s invitation. And when we say “yes”, it changes everything.
