Books for Our Trip

In preparation for our trip, our team is reading several books. One of them is Compelled by Love by Heidi Baker. Each chapter in the book talks about one of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). It is a very good book, and I would recommend reading it even if you aren't going on a mission trip. Heidi Baker and her husband, Rolland, spend one-third of their lives traveling around the world speaking to church groups and churches. The other two-thirds, they live in Mozambique (Africa) among the poor and needy, the hungry and thirsty, and those who are desperate and starving for love and attention. They founded Iris Ministries. Each week before the trip, our team is going through a chapter. Two weeks ago, we went through the first chapter - Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit. This past week we went through the second chapter - Blessed Are Those Who Mourn. This coming week we will be starting the third chapter - Blessed Are the Meek. In the book she uses a lot of quotes from Mother Teresa. I shared some of them that are in the first two chapters below. Below is also the Beatitudes.


The other book that the team is reading is Before You Pack Your Bag, Prepare Your Heart by Cindy Judge. It is more of a booklet than a book. You can write and journal in it. There are 12 lessons in it to do before you go, as well as a trip journal for when you are there. We are all working through this book at our own paces.


Quotes by Mother Teresa

• Prayer begets faith, faith begets love, and love begets the service the service of the poor.
• Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.
• He [Jesus] wants us to be more childlike, more humble, more grateful in prayer, to remember we all belong to the al body of Christ, which is praying always.
• Hungry for love, He [Jesus] looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs from you. for loyalty, He hopes in you. Sick and imprisoned for friendship, He wants from you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to Him?
• Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. In the slums we are the light of God's kindness to the poor. To the children, to the poor, to all who suffer and are lonely, give always a happy smile - give them not only your care, but also your heart.
• When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you or I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. We have refused to be instruments of love in the hands of God to give the poor a piece of bread, to offer them a dress with which to ward off the cold. It has happened because we did not recognize Christ when, once more, he appeared under a guise of pain, identified with a man numb from the cold, dying of hunger, when He came in a lonely human being, in a lost child in search of a home.

The Beatitudes

1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.