Conversation - with Pastor Robby and Tricia Talbott about African Mission Trip

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes conversation podcast.

At Church of the Lakes, our mission is connected over Christ.

In 2026, we're emphasizing the kingdom in all of our ministries and missions by being more like Jesus.

Health and education that creates sustainable child-centered solutions to collaboration, trust, and empowerment.

Join Pastor Robbie Strock as he interviews one of the missionaries, Trisha Talbot.

Be blessed.

Welcome to another Kingdom Conversations of Pastor Robbie Strock.

And today we are highlighting our global mission trip that just arrived back home safely from Sierra Leone.

And our mission trip was just this absolutely incredible opportunity in which our team served alongside the people of Sierra Leone to build relationships and, of course, share the love of Jesus.

And we really have uh partnered with helping children worldwide in this mission program over the years.

And this one was no different as we really supported our efforts and focused on strengthening families, caring for children, uh, healthcare initiatives, equipping local leaders, amongst many other things.

And to help us explore this mission trip is probably a little still travel weary, Trisha Talbot.

Trisha, thanks for coming on today and sharing a little bit about your mission experience.

How are you doing today?

I'm good.

Thanks for having me.

Well, I'm excited.

You're just a few days removed from the trip.

I wanted to get this in while it was still fresh, but I wanted to give you more time than what Jared had between him preaching on Sunday, which was like 12 hours.

So I don't know how his head wasn't spinning.

But uh, welcome home and thanks for coming on.

And can you share with us just a little bit about what your team team what the team did while on mission in Sierra Leone?

Yeah, absolutely.

So this um team was a little bit unique.

Okay.

The cool thing I like about helping children worldwide is each um missions trip doesn't have like a specific focus.

Yeah, right.

Have people apply, they look at the gifts um within the team, and then they tailor the you know missions to the people on that team.

Which is incredible because you're never going to have the same skill set, right?

Right.

So the July team is a tiny bit on the unique side because um there is a core member of people we joined on that team that have been going for nine years or 14 years.

And so it's um a little bit more specific than some of the other mission teams that go.

So it was a huge focus between a medical initiative and an education initiative.

Okay.

And then we had some engineers throwing in there.

So they kind of, you know, plotted, you know, and worked with some of the people at the hospital to figure out how they could help with their infrastructure.

And we had a biomedical engineer.

So she looked at how she could repair some of the equipment.

Um, but this one was focused a lot on the medical aspect and then the education aspect, and then we got to do some family outreach and village um outreaches in between.

You know, what's exciting for me is certainly this mission trip was in a unique time of the year for us as a faith family.

Typically, when Pastor Jared has led a mission trip over there with helping children worldwide, they've gone in the spring, correct?

I think it's normally April here.

And so certainly, as yourself as an educator, amongst many things, I certainly wouldn't limit you just to that, but like going in July gave you the opportunity to go.

Yeah, there was actually four of us on the trip that work in a school that were able to go.

So that was really cool.

Which makes sense because why your focus was in both of those areas.

So uh I'm so excited just to hear about what moments have stuck with you.

Since coming home, what has been kind of like the refrain going in your mind, the memories so far of the mission trip?

So the kind of the umbrella are are the people.

And then within that, there's been lots of specific examples or experiences that I will cherish forever.

Um, probably for me, you know, most people know my passion lays with children and specifically those with disabilities.

And so I had the incredible opportunity to go to a school called Junior's Place of Hope.

Um they affectionately call it JPO.

It was started by a lady named Henrietta who um is from Sierra Leone.

She has three kids and they kind of immigrated to um Southern California.

But her middle child Junior has epilepsy and autism.

Okay.

And so um from going to the states from Sierra Leone and then traveling back frequently to Sierra Leone, she realized the immense gap between not just resources, but the way kids with disabilities are viewed within Western Africa in the states.

So what she shared with us is you know, kids, you know, they're not just poor in Western at Western Africa, it's extreme poverty.

And so food is scarce.

Um, housing, you know, takes on a variety of forms, and the kids with disabilities tend to be the outcasts of their villages.

So sometimes they don't get food or meals if you know there's not enough going around.

And one of the teachers told me that um the people that have hearing impairments that are deaf, sometimes they wait in their huts for the Lord to take them home.

And so they just have a different view, just not because they're being mean, but because they just have a lot less resources.

So she wanted to try to change some of that.

So she opened up um this school, Junior's Place of Hope and Honor of her son.

And it is the only school for kids with disabilities.

There are schools in Africa for the deaf and for the blind, but there isn't one for kids specifically with autism.

Okay.

So um, Brian Kenniss, who's a preschool special ed teacher, was able to come with me.

We went together, we were able to spend four days there.

And it was so heartwarming because the kids were so excited to see us.

Um, they wanted um me specifically because they don't have speech therapy in Sierra Leone.

So none of these kids um have ever had any intervention in terms of communication, and so a lot of them are nonverbal and they don't really have a way to help them with that.

So they said that they were gonna pick a group of their most impaired kids and have me work with them.

Well, it turned out to be over 20.

Um, in particular, there was a girl named Edna that Brian and I both worked with.

Um, she lives with her grandmother.

They traveled um over 16 miles to come because when we went, is the rainy season in Africa.

Yep.

So they don't have school during the rainy season because often the roads get washed out.

So they came into school specifically because Brian and I were going to be there.

Oh wow.

So the grandma, Edna's pretty impaired.

She has autism, and the grandma wanted some ideas on how to work with her.

So the day that Edna was really cooperative, the grandma wasn't there at the very beginning and missed it.

So she traveled 16 miles in this thing called a KK.

It's like a three-wheeled golf cart sort of thing.

And their roads are all dirt and bumpy.

And so um, Edna wasn't super cooperative the day she was there.

So she had Brian and I do like a role playing, and she taped us so that she could see how I worked with Edna, you know, to um so that she could work with her at home.

And what what touched me, she looked at me and she says, When are you leaving?

And I said, Well, we're leaving this afternoon for Freetown and then we're going back to the States.

She goes, honey, no, you can't leave.

You have way too much to do here.

You can help these kids.

And that was really touching to me.

Yeah, and just um the willingness of the teachers, not you know, they weren't offended when I butted in or offended when they told them to do something different.

They were, and they never asked us for money, which everybody warned us about.

They were truly just wanted the knowledge and they wanted to be able to help the kids, and they're trying to get them to be included in some of the um like regular schools there, which is a huge change of culture.

So that was really special.

Well, it has to be sobering to hear comments that you heard there.

Uh, but you know, if I if you could help me with my own ignorance, I'm fairly certain that regardless of location, autistic kids are pretty similar across the board, are they not?

So a lot of the skill sets that you had been trained through your amazing education, whether that was through your master's program, so on and so forth, like I'm sure a lot of the same tools translated, regardless of culture, society, language, so on and so forth, right?

Well, that was the one area over there where I didn't have to think about what I did or what I said, you know.

And luckily, um, you know, with what I do right now, I work with a lot of kids that have severe impairments.

And so I was seeing kids like every five to seven minutes.

We were cycling through kids.

So luckily I've been doing it long enough with this population that I could take some notes and give them some ideas.

And then my hope is to type out and make a folder for each kid that I saw that has some visuals specific for them and then some ideas.

Um, Brian did some, we were able to do some like professional development with the teachers on Wednesday.

And Brian went over like work bins on how to work with the kids, and so we were trying to make a hierarchy.

So I wrote down like where to start, and then he's giving ideas of where to go.

So hopefully we'll be able to help them expand.

But they were doing some really amazing things and they welcomed us into everything.

Yeah, like we got to sing and dance with them.

That's cool.

They wanted us to teach them a song, so I taught them a two-d'etat, and which I think is really all over Facebook, but that's okay.

I have nothing to do with that, apparently, but I guess that's what happens when I share the church feed all the time.

So yeah, so you know, it's all good.

They were like still singing it when we were leaving.

That's cool.

Yeah, that's amazing.

I am so excited to hear these little bits and nuances because like we've never been more in touch with the world through our technology, but there are times where we've never felt more isolated, especially in today's culture and society.

So I'm super excited to hear that uh you were able to not only give educators in another country the same set of tools, similar tools to work in their toolbox, because you know, they're gonna be able to apply that to more than just the 20 or so kids that you worked with this over this mission trip.

They're gonna be able to expand that to maybe another generation past this, or maybe another one after that as they pass it down, right?

Yeah, and not every kid was able to come in because some were on vacation.

So they were already saying, Oh, well, Naima is close to this kid, you know, I can do the same thing with both of them.

And so, you know, you have to think about sustainability.

And I had to change my mindset a little bit, but um, it was just really cool of how I mean, I was Auntie Trisha, and he Brian was Uncle Brian, and they told us as we were leaving that we now have an African family.

So when we pray, we need to think of our African family, and that was that was four days, you know, and we were only there half a day, so it was it was pretty touching.

Um, just amazing.

And so I want to pry just a little bit, like certainly your experience come back.

Like, uh first of all, I know this isn't a video format, so people can't see Trisha, but her face is lining up, and it makes me so excited because certainly I'm sure you went into the trip with expectations, and I'm sure there were certain people, whether it was on people who had been on mission previously, and this is their going back for a second, third, you know, Jared, so many times so far.

Um, you kind of by osmosis hear what people's expectations are for the trip.

But now that you've come back and experienced it, how would you say the people you met or the mission trip as a whole has met or challenged those original expectations?

Like, I'm so curious as to if it met, if it exceeded.

Like t tell us about your reflection now in hindsight of what it means to serve in such a capacity like that.

Yeah, so anybody that knows me, and my husband's gonna giggle in the background, but anybody who knows me knows I'm pretty darn type A.

So I Rick is shaking his head, yes.

Yeah.

So like my whole life is some sort of plan.

Like when we went to Disney, I had an Excel sheet of like when we were supposed to be at each ride.

And I can deviate from the plan, but I like to have an idea of what I'm going into and what I'm doing.

Look, look at where I imagine working with kids with special needs makes it such that you do have structure, but then you have to be able to be flexible, right?

Yes.

Um, I'm working, I'm a work in progress on the flexibility.

But I went into this trip and uh really letting go of any expectations because sometimes I feel like our own expectations rob us of the joy of the experience in the moment.

So I was really trying really hard to go with the flow.

So whenever somebody got uptight on the trip, we did this like waving motion at each other to remind us to just let go and go with the flow.

And what that allowed me to do was just listen, you know, and listen to um, you know, everybody there was so welcoming and so friendly and you know, greeted us with song and dance and drumming and just being able to talk to them was really inspiring.

And the one thing that got me, you know, sometimes I think we get caught up in what we think is important, you know, a lot of times that lies in materialistic things, you know, it lies in making sure that we give our children the best of everything and the best experiences and you know, and listening to some of the people there, like we did have a chance to talk to Reverend Charlie, who we've had a long relationship with at the church.

Yeah, we had lunch with him.

And one thing that he shared with us that I didn't know is that when they build um a new house, um you know, they kind of pay particular attention to one specific room in the house.

And this room in the house is designated for strangers that might come visit you.

So the best of whatever they have goes into that room.

Wow.

And for me, it was very jarring because that that's not what happens here.

You know, sometimes guests get the couch with the dog.

So hey, it's a master of bedroom and bathroom, right?

That's where the resources go, right?

Yeah.

So it was different to me that people living in extreme poverty are not thinking about themselves or what they can do, it's what they can do to be welcoming and hospitable and loving to their stranger or to a neighbor.

And it really is that village mentality.

You don't just have neighbors, you have a giant family that's living together and supporting and loving one another.

And if one falls down, they go and pick you up.

And it's just um a different philosophy than what how we live here, where sometimes we don't even know our neighbors' first names, you know, or you just wave to them as a passing.

So that um that was interesting to me.

And along the same lines, we were able to do some home visits.

Um, you know, there's um uh organization through the CRC, the child reintegration center, where you can adopt families.

I know we've done that within our church.

And so we were able to go out and do some home visits and deliver rice to them.

And one of the things they when you go, they start bringing out all these benches and chairs and just stuff is everywhere.

And they were like, have a seat, have a seat.

And we were all just kind of looking, and to not accept their seat to them is disrespectful because they're welcome, me and you into their community and their home.

And to me, it's a little thing when you talk about it, but the lasting impression it's gonna have on me and how I can change my life to have that same mentality, it was a big thing for me.

Oh, incredible.

Yeah, well, thank you so clearly for laying out the uh, you know, the phrase that Jared uses all the time is uh Africa time.

Oh, well, yeah, it's a thing.

Because they're focused on each other rather than getting the checklist done.

And they have no expectations, you know, nine turns into 9:30, and that's absolutely okay.

But and it's interesting because it takes so long to get anything started because they start everything with this huge like devotion and song, like you know, that joy and their faith is so deeply rooted, um, regardless if they're Christian or Muslim, you know, it's so deeply rooted in that community.

Like we went to one of the villages called Fangahun.

Okay.

Um, we pull in and we have like six SUVs, you know.

So we pour out of these SUVs, because there's 17 of us total or 18, and we walk into the village and we're immediately surrounded by all of these kids, you know, that want to give us high fives or fist bumps.

And then they pull out these giant drums and they start just banging the drums, and everybody busts in to dance.

That's awesome.

They're pulling our hands into the middle of the circle to dance.

It's a real life musical.

It is.

Yes.

I mean, that would never happen here.

Yeah.

And it was interesting because there's an instrument called a shibora.

It's like a dried gourd, and it's in like a net with beads, and so you shake it.

And so the women of the village tend to be the ones who get to use this instrument.

So they're pulling all of us into this circle, and then they hand me the shibora, which I have no idea what it is.

And so obviously, I did it completely wrong.

So they this guy comes over and like moves my hands and shows me how to do it, and then they do the whole drumming around the shabora, but it's just extreme poverty, but the joy that's radiated out of it is just really striking.

Well, thanks for uh Trisha leading me to my next question because certainly um if you see faith so intertwined into people's daily lives in Sierra Leone, how did you see God work throughout the whole entirety of the trip?

Because the reality is, is certainly, um you already said it, you know, the materialistic nature of our culture and society is such that we would see them as poor.

But I'm sure there are times where they realize that they might be materially poor, certainly.

Yeah, but they're spiritually rich.

Oh, 100%.

Can you speak to kind of where you saw God really working in this trip then?

Whether that's through the people or whether that's you know, through, you know, your your work over there, or I'll let you have the floor.

What do you think?

Yeah, uh two things pop into my head.

All right.

The first one is Pastor Jared had the privilege of preaching at our the church service we went to, which was three and a half hours long.

Um part of it was I want people to hear that.

I want people to hear that that three and a half hours long is three and a half hours long, yes.

And I think it was a short day.

Um, but Jared, you know, feels very strongly on things.

And the one thing that he wanted to offer to the congregation at the end of his sermon was a like prayer time of healing and anointing.

So he invited, you know, like he does here, he invites people up to the altar and sometimes a couple people come.

Yeah, I think I think on average we have about a dozen or so uh at most that didn't get in a given service, right?

I mean, sure.

Well, it took him over an hour to do all of the prayers.

Everybody came forward.

Well, yes, but they also left and went and got people in the village or in the streets got them in to be anointed.

So for a while we were making jokes because the end of the line never moved.

And then we were worried it was so hot in there that he wasn't gonna be able to do it.

Why do you think that is then?

Why why do you think people felt the call to leave and grab people and come back?

So it's interesting.

We had um a liaison named Mata, okay, who was with us the whole week.

He kind of functioned as um like our translator and a driver.

He lives in Sierra Leone?

Yes, and he actually attends this church.

Okay.

And he came back.

I actually took a picture of Jared anointing him, and he comes back to me and he's beaming.

He goes, Trisha, I have the anointment in me.

It's in me, Trisha.

And to them, like it's not just oil on their forehead, it is the Holy Spirit within them.

And to me, it was, and he was so excited to share that with everybody.

And his mom has malaria, so he asked Jared to go out to his house so he could anoint his mom when she's sick, because you know, that is it was just very important to them that that was now within him.

And that kind of caught me because, you know, I've been a Christian almost all my life, and I've never honestly been anointed.

Sure.

And oftentimes people don't want to be anointed because it usually means something very severely bad is going on, right?

Yes.

And instead, to them, it was this positive expression of their faith.

Like it kind of reminded me of us getting the ashes.

Sure.

You know, um, but in scripture we see all the time, like, and I can't help but think of the story of David when he gets anointed with oil way before he becomes king of Israel, and Samuel just pours this.

Chauffar of oil all over him.

And it's like that's something we would never do in today's day and age, right?

But Sarah Leone, they might.

And I'm pretty sure if Jared offered to like anoint people, the whole entire congregation is not going to line up.

And they were like dancing.

I mean, it got so bad.

They had to have bouncers up by Jared because people were like fighting to like get to him first.

And I think it wasn't because it was this magical thing.

I think to them it was just such a deep expression of their faith.

And that to me was um pretty cool to see.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I'm sure that is something you didn't expect to see during your trip, right?

Uh no.

And honestly, I think Jared wasn't expecting.

I think he was hoping a couple people would come up, not the whole entire congregation.

I I don't want to speak on Jared's behalf, certainly, but I know that Jared has gone to extreme lengths to be able to serve in that capacity because, you know, as uh uh as pastors, we like to think of ourselves as a unique skill set.

But to be honest, on a mission trip, there's probably often times that Jared and I, or Brian, Pastor Brian, look around and go, uh, we could probably do more, but we don't have the skill set to do so.

No, Jared made a comment about that.

He's like, we've got all these educators and engineers, and then you know, they got the pastor.

So I'm glad certainly Jared is an amazing leader, but I I have to chuckle that he was really f and spent a lot of heartache in planning into what he was going to do.

I'm sure in his wildest dreams he could not have experienced or witnessed.

It truly speaks to the Holy Spirit moving in an atmosphere like that.

Um, but what are some of the other things that you uh maybe didn't expect going into the trip that happened that you experienced?

What else can you share with us that surprised you?

Yeah, I mean, it's funny because it all keeps going back to the people.

Yeah.

Um, you know, we had the privilege of doing two medical outreaches.

Okay.

So I was more of an observer because I'm not a medical person.

And so the first one was in Manjima.

And um, you know, we go in and we get attacked by all these kids.

And so I literally spent the whole entire time singing and dancing with the kids, you know, while the moms were doing their things.

Um, and then the other village we went to was Fangahun, and then we went into this village that was more deeper in the bush, like our car got stuck a couple of times.

Um, it was called Bombay.

Okay.

And um, all right, so I'm gonna embarrass myself a little bit because it proves a point.

But um our driver, Mata, I said to him, if I have to go to the bathroom, am I gonna have a problem?

Because we're like out in the middle of the bush.

And I didn't say I had to go, I just said if I do, because you know I tend to be a planner.

And so I didn't think anything of it because he just laughed at me, which happened a lot.

So we get to the village and there's just people everywhere.

I mean, the amount of children um per mother was pretty substantial.

So they were all waiting um for because it was specific for like moms and babies and pregnant moms.

So they were waiting for their for it to start so they could go through registration.

They give them medications and like liquid IV and things like that.

So Mata comes up to me and he's like, come, come.

So I'm like, all right, because you know I'm going with the flow.

So I just followed Mata and he gives me over to this lady who I think um, well, at the time I didn't know, but she works for Mercy Hospital.

Okay, and she just takes me and leads me through this village and we see a family sitting at their um, I call them huts, but at their house, and they all wave to me, and I'm really naive about what's happening.

She's just being very kind.

And so we go around the back and she goes, Okay.

And then it dawns on me that they're taking me to the bathroom.

It is literally just dirt and grass behind this hut that also has a door that goes all the way through, mind you.

And so I just must have stared like deer in the headlights at them.

And they're like, We give you privacy.

But this lady named Monica stayed with me.

And I say this again, like I said, to prove a point.

So she looks at me, she's like, You go.

And I just stood there and I'm like, Oh goodness, like if I leave, I'm gonna offend them.

So like I got myself into this mess, I'm just gonna have to see it through.

So she goes, I help you.

So she literally pulls down her pants and starts going to the bathroom to show me how to do it without making a mess.

And I'm like, Okay, God.

Like I said I was going with the flow.

So she goes, you join me.

So we went to the bathroom.

We we things Jesus calls you to do.

I right we went to the bathroom together.

And then it got a little weirder after that.

But in hindsight, after I was like completely mortified, yeah.

I realized she wasn't mortified, she was very joyful that she was able.

So they when the women go to the bathroom, they say that they ease themselves.

So she was very proud to go and tell all of our friends that she helped the white girl ease herself.

Oh man, that makes me chuckle, but it really goes to the reality of really how uh you'll do unexpected things for Jesus at times, right?

Well, and I I look back at her heart because, like in a similar situation, if somebody comes into my house and doesn't know how to use the toilet, I'm not sure I'm demonstrating it for them.

So the fact that she didn't even think twice about it, and then she just went back and did her thing, and it really made me realize that you can be kind as much as you want to be, but until you let go of you know those expectations you have, and you just love everybody and you're willing to do whatever you need to do to make somebody else comfortable.

I was it was um a funny situation to prove a point to myself.

Well, I you know, I'm sure you handled it with utmost grace.

Oh, I don't know.

The funny thing to me is oftentimes people, I think, realize when they go to something uh that we're very passionate here at Churchill Lakes, which is Royal Family Kids Camp.

Oftentimes when you're around a kid who's in the foster care system down in camp, they'll ask you to do something.

And it's one of these things where it's like, hey, can we go ride bikes?

Uh, can we go get our nails painted?

Can we go get dressed up at grandma and grandpa's?

It's those types of things.

Like, are you gonna say no?

And uh that's another, that's a little, you're pushing even a little extreme there.

Uh, but I love it because it just proves the point, you know, certainly that uh when called to serve, we'll do anything.

Um now I am curious, uh, Trisha, I'm gonna try and embarrass you.

Um you see I just told you a piece.

I know, I know, I know.

I said try.

Um you're very passionate about serving and serving people.

Your job is about serving people, number one.

Uh, number two, um, you work also on staff here at church and our hospitality, where all you do is answer questions.

Uh, and sometimes you have to answer questions, oftentimes when the pastors go, I don't know, go talk to Trisha, you know, when we point people to our connection center.

Or how about this?

You serve in our music ministry, um, whether that's bells.

I know you can sing, you don't have enough time to sing in our choir, but you could sing in our choir if you wanted to.

I know also that your family is very passionate about Royal Family Kids Camp, so much so that your immediate family all went down.

Was it for the first time ever that you all four got to go down this year?

Uh last year.

Last year.

Rachel was okay, yeah, okay.

Rachel's, yeah, your daughter's going to be a senior this year, so that makes sense.

Even more so, you guys have all served at Habitat in some capacity, right?

Um, look, the list could go on and on, all right.

But how did serving on a mission team in Africa really change what your viewpoint is as serving here at Church of the Lakes?

You've been pushed before, certainly, with Royal Family Kids and then like the talent to be able to do music ministry.

I mean, not anybody can do music ministry, right?

Uh Dean is kind enough to let me sing in the choir, but I certainly couldn't play or ring a bell.

Um what do you think?

What uh how did how did this mission really change your idea of what it meant to serve in this faith capacity?

So for me, it helped me realize like I feel like here you mentioned a a lot of things, um, and they're all things that I do for a purpose.

Sure.

And what I learned in Africa through my experience with Monica or going to the villages, or we did a um teacher learning conference, and I have a story about that.

But what I learned is that you don't have to have a purpose going into it.

Sometimes God, well, God always has a plan.

Sometimes we don't always do a good job of just letting that unfold.

Sure.

We think that we need to have input in that and we need to have a specific reason that we go and serve, like we're building a house, so I'm gonna go serve habitat.

You know, we're doing this camp, so I'm gonna go serve foster kids.

But there it was just like, you're here.

What are you gonna do with what I gave you?

And sometimes it showed up in very unique ways, you know, like with my experience with Mary, you know, Monica and the bush.

Or, you know, I am in education, and so we are forced to do PD, you know, for our continuing education.

And let me tell you, nobody ever celebrates that.

What professional development isn't fun?

Is that what you're saying?

That's what I'm saying.

You get your certificate, you get the heck out of Dodge, right?

But instead, they had this teaching learning conference for two days, and it was unique this year in Sierra Leone because the Sierra Leonean teachers through the United Methodist schools got to lead the conference.

Okay.

And so there were three master teachers that um really led the conference.

And so there were three tables.

They each took one, and then they had master teachers rotate and they talked about different skills at each one, and then they put us at some of the tables.

So Brian and I were at a table, Sharon Lindbergh was at a table, and Julia Favish was a big teachers.

Yeah.

Yes.

And so um, you know, we they they let it sometimes they asked for our input, you know, we told we talked about commonalities and differences between the states and here.

They asked us how we manage things, particularly behavior.

But at the end, the the end was very eye-opening because they allowed the whole afternoon for their award ceremony for their certificates for their PD.

Whereas in the states, we would have all skipped it and left.

We all sit down, they get called up one by one, they all get their picture taken with their certificates.

And then we spent 20 minutes at the end taking pictures with everybody who got their certificates because they were so excited to be able to have this training and to take it back to their jobs.

So, the other interesting thing is in Sierra Leone, sometimes nurses and teachers for the first three years don't get paid.

So they came to this conference purely for the knowledge and for the experience so that they could go and serve.

And I don't know how many of us would do that.

Yeah, you know, go to a job for three years if you're not going to get paid for it.

Um, but it was those kind of things where I saw the spirit of the people, and you know, God kind of wove us into what their narrative already was.

And so I didn't have to have a specific purpose.

You know, some of the engineers on our team didn't have a defined purpose like we did, and they would just walk around with the facility managers and things would just kind of pop up, and it was God leading us through this weave of his plan, and it's just not what I'm accustomed to.

And so it was a different way to serve, and it was new and unique and exciting every day.

And so I'd like to think when I come back here, I can weave myself more in and follow God's lead instead of always having to have a plan.

Thanks, Trisha, for your honesty and your authenticity.

It certainly shows when it comes to discerning what God wants us to do.

Like, I don't know what that took me 40 years, and I still don't think I know what I'm supposed to be doing.

Um, but no, I I appreciate that that moment of reflection because certainly there are opportunities to serve in any community around the globe, and we can do many things, um, but they're all done in the name of Jesus Christ and with the Spirit.

But I am curious now as we kind of wrap it up.

Um, you're home.

You made it back after how many hours of travel?

Oh, I it was a lot.

I think we left.

If we look at our time, we would have left at what was I think nine o'clock on Friday morning, and we got home at 10 o'clock Saturday night.

Wow, wow.

Different layovers in different countries and going through customs and then, of course, driving back from DC to get to here.

Uh well, my flight from Brussels to Dallas was eight hours and 45 minutes, and we got through customs, and I'm like, yay, we're back.

Oh, I got a six-hour drive home.

I chuck I chuckle because certainly uh that can stretch you physically.

Um mentally, that can be challenging too.

I'm sure sleeping can be difficult in moments like that, but you've had a little bit of a reprieve, a couple of nights in your own bed to reflect on this.

Would you plan on going back?

Oh, a hundred percent.

Oh, you didn't even hesitate.

And I know I knew you would say that.

But like that, does that speak to how um transformative an experience this was for you?

Yeah, I and I was unique because I kind of knew my purpose a little bit going in, because the um juniors place of hope thing was a really unique experience.

You know, the medical team has a defined purpose, so I kind of had some sort of purpose going in.

Um, God showed me a variety of other experiences while I was there.

I think the team that he blessed me with going with, you know, for the most part, we all meshed really well.

The seven people from Church of the Lakes all got along really well.

You know, we kind of helped each other when we needed to.

We played five crowns a lot.

Um, don't play with Julia, she cheats.

Get her to hear first.

But um I would not hesitate to go back because I do believe Edna's grandma.

I do believe there's more to do there.

And I think the work isn't done.

And I am just so incredibly blessed and honored and humbled that God um, you know, allowed me to do that.

You know, I know Jared and Brian always talk about how God picks, you know, troubled people or, you know, look at the people in Jesus' lineage, and sometimes you're like, why me?

But I chose not to question that.

And I am just glad that that was a part of the plan.

Yeah.

So it's transformed.

Certainly, the experience has transformed.

Do you see it affecting the way that you move forward from the here and now?

I hope so.

How so?

How do you think it's gonna affect it?

I mean, I hope that I don't forget how I was treated there.

And I mean, it is hard to grasp the poverty that's there from living here.

And so just to see that joy.

And I I was really touched.

I mean, I am not exaggerating.

Before every meeting, before every outreach, they literally do these beautiful songs of devotion.

And I've already talked to my family in the evenings, we pray together and we do like highs of our days and lows of our days.

But I'm wondering how we can kind of transform that in each of us leading a devotion, you know, to end our day.

You know, it's different than them starting their day, but just having that whole mindset of giving your all to Christ when your all isn't a lot materialistically.

But you can do so much beyond what the materials tell us.

So I'm hoping that I can remember that when I go back to my classroom that's busting with materials and J pos all fit on one table.

You know, that those little things that we tend to complain about or tend to let ourselves get depressed or anxious about.

I hope that I allow that spirit of the people of West Africa to just kind of remind me of who Christ is, what is most important all the time, and how you treat others goes through that.

Oh, awesome.

Well, Tricia, thanks.

I'm sure we could talk at length forever about this.

Uh, and I'm excited to give you an opportunity to share just a little bit more because you know, on Sunday mornings we feel bad.

Oftentimes um we can partition a part of worship for a good news moment on what um God has been faithful to us to serve on a mission in some area capacity.

It was a five-minute video, it was very nice.

Um, but I can't wait to share this platform out larger, especially the next time when we're planning a trip to encourage people who may have some questions about how God can use them.

And I'm sure there were moments in your trip where you felt um, like you said, when you were doing the medical outreach portions, you're like, I'm go with the flow, I'll do anything anybody asks me to do.

That's maybe not my area of expertise.

And so God can use anybody, and I know helping children worldwide would encourage anybody to go on a mission trip to be able to do that.

It's a phenomenal organization.

Yeah, well, fantastic.

And we're so proud to be able to partner just bits and pieces, because certainly uh we're all on the same team fighting together, whether you're in West Africa or in Canton, Ohio, you know.

So I'm thank you for coming on today, and we're so excited because Jared's gonna be pitching, uh, Pastor Jared's gonna be pitching a future vision of what supporting the people um in Sierra Leone looks like.

And certainly uh many of you know we have members from our own congregation who are from that area um who can speak and help us plan with a little bit more um, you know, how can I say it?

It's it's a beautiful way of being able to not just assume what people need uh um from our privileged situations, perhaps, and allow someone to tell us what they actually need.

Um, so I'm excited to be able to help uh uh you know share that vision here on this podcast and in in worship and so on and so forth.

But uh if you're interested in learning more about helping children worldwide or our global mission work, I want you to please email me.

Put put me in your mind.

You can email me at Robert at churchalakes.org, or you can reach out to our podcast, which is podcast at churchalakes.org.

I'd love to be able to connect you with Pastor Jared, with Trisha, uh Brian, who was on the mission trip, any of the members of the mission trip and hear more about how you can serve.

But before we go, I just want to say a big thank you to uh Brian's uh amazing wife Betsy, who's our director of communication, uh helping us get this up and running.

Uh uh Len Brown, who's our editor and our chief encourager, my wife Stephanie to getting this up on our social media platforms.

And certainly as we uh go to serve in Africa in the future, um I hope people will allow this experience to wash over them and inform them as well.

Because it's certainly our mission here at Church of the Lakes to connect all to Christ, become healthy and God, and courageous and love.

And so until next time, God bless.

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