I'm going to give an overview on the impact the outreach has had on me as a person, and tie in the impact of the dedication of the outreach to Tom Scott as well.
Dedicating it to him helped me to remember to hold every bit of life on outreach in perspective. Life is fragile: it is a special gift and needs to be recognized as a blessing from God. Every life is valued by God. Toms life was certainly valued, as his family's lives are valued today. I believe Tom's generosity lived on as a legacy, though. And his legacy can be seen in many ways.
If you know someone who is depressed or has been deeply hurt, I encourage you to reach out to that person. I encountered several, even hundreds of people while on outreach that had terrible family backgrounds and many of them had little hope. Gods desire is to see His miraculous love reflecting in us to the people who have been hurt.
Often it was hard for me to get over myself: I dont feel good, or my team member is being difficult, or I miss American food. One of the greatest take-aways from this outreach was seeing the contrast of God working through my struggles as opposed to me giving into my struggles.
Philippians 3:13-16 was a key verse that often popped up during the whole DTS experience. Forget the past and press on toward the goal that Christ has set. The goal for everyone has something in common: to serve.
It even comes down to this: when you are sleeping on wood with only a little cushion, and you wake up to an upset stomach in the night due to unclean food, and you cannot fall back asleep, but all you want is sleep...you ask God: 'is there a reason why I am up? Do you have something You want me to pray for?' I had to make war with my own flesh and remember why I am in that village at all. Why am I facing bad food at all, why am I sacrificing a good bed? If I sacrifice good food and a good bed and go to the villages to serve, but have no love or compassion for those who hurt worse than I when I wake up in the night, I am nothing. Nothing. Hm, wow. I may have lack of sleep and a little stomach pain, but the people that God woke me up to pray for have abusive families, unloving gods, little hope, little food, and even bad teeth. What is my mind on?! God forbid, it is still on myself.
