(EDITOR’S NOTE —
Ten-year-old Ty Rasmussen shares journal excerpts from a family mission trip to
Southeast Asia where the Church at Canyon Creek in, Austin, Texas, distributed
Bibles to Chinese tourists. These excerpts document his first international
volunteer mission trip.)
BP photo Ty Rasmussen writes in his journal each day, documenting his first international volunteer mission trip. The 10-year-old from Austin, Texas, traveled to Southeast Asia with his family and other members of The Church at Canyon Creek to distribute Bibles to Chinese tourists. |
Day 1: This is the first “official”
day of our mission trip. Yesterday, we had two days all rolled into one. We
spent it flying. I never got any sleep because we chased the sun. For almost
two days, I never saw darkness.
I am about to distribute my first Bible. We sit on the sidewalk practicing our
Mandarin phrases.
We wait quite a while, and I still haven’t handed one out. We
go get something to eat. (Almost everything here smells different — mostly
bad!)
Finally, I hand out my first Bible. Here’s how it works: the bus parks in the
parking lot so the Chinese people can go to a tourist attraction. While they
get off or on the bus, we hand them Bibles if they want one.
Day 2: Our visit to the jail was very successful. There were six men in one
cell and two women in another. One man spoke some English. His name was Jom. We
were able to speak to him about Christ. One lady accepted Christ.
“Dear God: I pray for Jom and Ning (from the jail). Keep them safe. Amen.”
Finally, we go to the ultimate Bible-passing-out-place. So far, I’ve passed out
30 Bibles.
“Dear God: I pray for all the Chinese people here today and everyday that they
will hear and read Your Word. I pray that because of one Bible we hand out, 10
people will read it and at least half of them will come to Christ. Amen.”
Day 3: We go to the orphanage. The kids crawl all over us. There was one kid
who will not let go of me. I play with him a lot.
Day 6: Tonight is our last night handing out Bibles.
Our team gave away 750 Bibles this week. Bible distribution was definitely my
favorite thing we did. It is fun to see people make a big decision in their
life. They are so excited to get a Bible.
We don’t get that excited about a
Bible in Texas — maybe we should.
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