SHARING THE Mission UNCOMFORTABLE JOURNEYS

By Dustin Comm

I don’t like small planes. I just don’t. I can get motion sickness, and smaller planes produce a bumpier ride. But there I was, in the Amazon jungle, about to get into a boat with wings. It was an amphibious plane that allows the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Peru to fly missionaries to remote indigenous villages that are only accessible by water. The aircraft hadn’t been flown for a year due to permit complications; this would be the first test flight in a long while, and this wasn’t exactly reassuring. Then, as water was drained out of the hull before the flight, they tried to tell me that this was normal. Did I mention the plane hadn’t been flown in a year?

Despite all of this, I decided to board the floating 4-seater and proceeded to have a smooth, safe flight. Afterward, I reflected on the uneasy travel that many of our volunteers and in-country crews have endured over the years trying to reach communities in need around the globe. Many of these locations aren’t easy to reach, which is often why these communities are ignored. But not by us. Maranatha volunteers bring their might and determination. Local Maranatha crews transport materials for churches, schools, and water wells. The people of

Maranatha have gone to the ends of the earth for the mission—each trip unique and not always comfortable.

Common journeys involve sleepless international flights and day-long rides in cars, trucks, and buses over horrendously rutted roads. Sometimes stuck vehicles have to be freed from deep mud or sand. Occasionally we fly in small planes that land on dirt airstrips, ride in boats for hours, or hike on foot through the jungle to reach a congregation in need. Even in the United States, volunteers will roadtrip on interstate highways for days, over thousands of miles from one side of the country to the other to reach the job site.

The mission of Maranatha calls people to travel beyond their comfort zones. It’s not always glamorous or fun— some moments can be uncomfortable or even unenjoyable. Yet we continue to make these journeys because we know that we’re making a difference for the Kingdom, for the people we serve, and for ourselves. As you read this issue of The Volunteer, I encourage you to consider where God might be calling you to travel that is outside your place of comfort. It might be a physical place in a far away country, or it may be growing the ways you support the mission. No matter the calling, you may be presented with uncomfortable moments along the way. However, I consider these moments as milestones that naturally change us for the better and reconnect us to God in very personal ways. Ultimately you’ll leave the journey with a smile, no matter how you get there. Just like me, exiting an amphibious airplane in the Amazon.