What Is It Like to Serve at Casa Bernabé with a Physical Disability?
David Keimig, the son of one of our FOCE Board members, Mark Keimig, came with his church to Casa Bernabé in May, and he has a beautiful testimony of what he experienced and learned serving in Guatemala with a physical disability.
My name is David Keimig and I went on a mission trip with a team from my church to Casa Bernabé in mid-May. I am 37 and this was the first time I had gone on a mission trip since I was in high school 20 years ago. While I was excited to go on another trip, based on what I had heard about the layout of Casa Bernabé, I was also somewhat nervous. When I was 11, I was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disorder called Friedreich’s Ataxia. Because of my disability, I can’t walk and I use a wheelchair. It is becoming more and more difficult to use my fingers and my body is impacted by it in a number of other ways, so therefore, I am unable to do the majority of things in life on my own.
At Casa Bernabé this was certainly on display with the landscape. Both my parents, like at home, played a vital role in helping me get around, helping me eat when I needed, going to the bathroom, and my dad gave me piggybacks to transfer me to and from bed, toilets, and areas with steps. With the exception of piggybacks, the other members of my team were helpful with these things and looked out for me in other ways.
As I remembered from my previous trips, I looked forward to just being around the kids. My physical condition limits my ability to do any projects that involve labor; I was also limited in my access to other parts of the campus where my team was working. For the first few days during the school day, I was able to spend time in the ground level classrooms at the school with the Preschool and Pre-K classes. Those kids were very fun to be around! I speak some Spanish, but it was very difficult to understand much of what was being said, with either small voices, quieter voices, kid-talk, or ten different voices all at once! During our trip, our team was also able to spend several afternoons at the various houses playing games and talking with the children to get to know them better.
After these few days, I was thinking and praying about how people come back from mission trips talking about a connection they made with at least one person. Yet as much as I enjoyed spending time with the little kids and seeing them, I had had difficulty understanding them and was having trouble making specific connections. Of course, I wasn’t teaching or anything, but even being unable to do any work, I felt some discouragement and wondered what I going to come away with from this trip. I love it but what is my purpose for being here?
In that time of thinking and praying, an answer came to me and changed my perspective for the rest of the week. My discouragement was coming from satisfying “self.” What am I getting out of this, what can I do, who can I get to know, who can I impact, what does God have for me in this trip, what does God want to show me? This is completely the wrong perspective; I went there not for myself, but to serve God and others. After contemplating, I chose not to think in terms of my blessing or my purpose but rather giving it to God and asking, "How can I serve you, how will you encourage others through me, how can I glorify you, what do you want me to do for you today?" This is the purpose of going on a mission trip: we go to serve God and others, not to seek satisfaction or blessings for ourselves.
And guess what? My perspective for the trip totally changed. While still looking to serve, I sought to do so without any expectation of personal reward or blessing; I no longer worried about making connections or impact. Instead I tried to be a reflection of Jesus to the children and adults I encountered. The next day I moved to the older classes, participating in the English classes where I didn’t even need my meager Spanish. The little kids were excited to see me and called my name when I passed by them. By the end of the week, not only had my perspective of a successful trip changed, but God gave me little glimpses of how He was using me to have an impact on others.
This change from “I” to “Him” is something that should become part of a Christian’s life everyday in every circumstance. We may not always have something exciting happening or be in circumstances where we have an increased expectation of learning from God or receiving blessings, but we must always make sure that our “self” is not at the center of all we do. No matter where we are, who we are, or what we are doing, Jesus always needs to be the focal point–the one we desire to serve daily. The Lord will work in and through us, even in times where it feels like we have little to offer!
*David wrote a book about his experiences called Joy Amidst Friedreich's Ataxia. If you want to read more about what God is doing in his life, the book is available HERE.