By Jennifer Nead Finley

Our confidence increased as our team boarded our flight, each of us proudly wearing our team T-shirts bearing the slogan from Genesis, "We will be a blessing."

Our Volunteers in Service Abroad (VISA) team was going to Guayaquil, Ecuador, to build the Gilgal church, and we knew we were doing a great thing.

We met the members of our sister church from Itapevi, Brazil, at the airport in Ecuador. Early the next morning, armed with tool belts and work gloves, we charged on toward the building site. Soon after our arrival, I learned my first lesson, a lesson about language.

Our supervisor spoke Spanish, our Brazilian friends spoke Portuguese, and I only spoke English and a bit of French. I could not follow even the simplest directions. After a few hours of this, it became obvious that our supervisor was getting frustrated. God strengthened me, though, and I developed valuable and entertaining methods of communication, such as charades.

Overcoming the language barrier was difficult, but I knew that I would be better in other areas. After all, I was there to be a blessing, right? I decided to put my limited building expertise to use by plastering a wall. I had never done this before, but the supervisor made it look easy. However, I made it look difficult, and, when the supervisor saw my work, he kindly removed me from my duties.

Apparently I was not an asset to the actual building work, but my spirits were not deterred—I was going to be a blessing!

I ran some errands with Lucilee, one of my Brazilian friends. At the post office while I looked at postcards, Lucilee had been quietly talking to the worker. As we started to leave, she handed him the address of the Gilgal church. While I looked at postcards, she had talked to him about Christ! He wanted to know more, so she invited him to the church. He would be attending the following Sunday. Lucilee had been a blessing while I acted as a tourist.

By this time, I started to get a bit disappointed with my role. Nothing was turning out like I envisioned. But I had one more opportunity to be a blessing.

Our supervisor, a non-Christian, invited us to his home for dinner where we met his beautiful wife and daughters and ate exquisite fresh fried fish. Before we left, our supervisor asked if we would have our usual devotions. (We had been praying and reading Scripture daily after lunch at the work site.) During this time, he gave his life to Christ.

A previous VISA team had planted the seed, Christ had cultivated it, and now our supervisor was ready to commit himself to Christ. Our team had little to do with the decision, but we saw its fruit. I couldn't help feeling that the trip was a waste of time and money. I had come with the idea that I would change the life of an Ecuadorian. I believed I would be a blessing to someone in Guayaquil. As I meditated on my failure, I realized something had happened I had not anticipated: I was blessed.

I was encouraged with the patience of the Brazilians. I was strengthened by their openness to share Christ, even with a stranger. I sang a duet with a Brazilian and understood that it really was well with his soul. I shared in the celebration of our supervisor's dedication to Christ and saw the changes that took place in his life.

I headed back to Indiana with a new understanding of blessings. A blessing is something you receive, not something you actively seek to be. God has his own ideas of blessings, and his plans were different than mine. I learned to be thankful for his plans. After all, his plans are the greatest blessings we would receive.