Student returns to Mexico to follow up January mission trip

When master’s student Marla Rasberry joined the College at Southwestern’s annual mission trip to Mexico in January, she thought it would be like other short-term trips: valuable but brief. But after a week of service alongside missionaries and church leaders in the Yucatán Peninsula, God called her to return the following summer in order to follow up with new Christians, the children’s home at which the team served in Tekax, and a new church plant in the village of Pencuyut.

Returning for a two-month trip during her summer break from school, Rasberry observed the significant growth in the churches planted in the region within the last year, but she also saw the need for more work to be done. Within her first month there, Rasberry developed new curriculum for workers at the children’s home (a home for orphaned and displaced children) and traveled to the nearby church plants to train and disciple women.

Many of these women, Rasberry explains, are shy and often not confident in sharing their faith with others. However, during the two months in which she facilitated evangelism trainings, Rasberry saw a change among many of the women. With each week, they became more confident in using the evangelism tools Rasberry taught them. By the end of Rasberry’s trip, 12 of the women were regularly going out into their communities to share the Gospel with their friends and neighbors.

Rasberry says her courses at Southwestern, specifically her childhood education and missiology courses, helped her to serve and lead in Mexico. “I was able to take what I learned in class and develop their children’s ministry for them,” she says. “There was so much to do in those two months the Lord gave me. He prepared me, and I was able to apply what I have learned.”

About a month into her trip, when everything seemed to be going as planned, Rasberry was faced with an unexpected tragedy and challenge for her ministry in the Yucatán. In late July, she received word that longtime missionary to the area Shelby Boyd had suddenly passed away.

In addition to processing the grief of the loss of a friend and mentor, Rasberry now inherited the task of leading a church mission team expected to arrive that week. Initially overwhelmed with anxiety and doubt that she could handle this task alone, Rasberry says she clearly saw the Lord orchestrate each step of the week. Even when the week did not go as planned, through the team’s faithful evangelistic witness, six people gave their lives to Christ.

“I was given a lot of responsibility that I never would have thought I could do,” Rasberry says. “It was only the Lord who was my strength. I had to be completely dependent on Him. In the midst of that tragedy and sadness, God was still at work.”

Reflecting on her two months in the Yucatán Peninsula, Rasberry says she was challenged and learned a lot of valuable lessons, but she knows there is more to do and more to learn. She plans to return during future breaks from school in order to continue to follow up with church plants and new believers.

“The Lord really pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I learned what it means to wait on the Lord’s [perfect timing],” Rasberry says. “I hope to keep going and see how those ministries are flourishing and how the Lord is moving in those ministries. There is still a lot of work to be done in those villages.”