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A family mission trip sounds simple until you actually try to do it: take time off work, travel with kids, step into a new culture, and serve where you cannot rely on comfort or clear communication. Brittany sits down with Justin Burleson plus Luke, Hope, and Abigail to share what pulled them back to Yucatan, Mexico near Cancun and what they brought home with them that no souvenir could match.

We talk about practical ministry moments that made the week unforgettable, from installing ceiling fans at Kingdom Academy to walking through Milagros to invite families to a church event and mini VBS. Luke shares what it feels like to enter homes in the jungle and how “pizza” and Google Translate can open doors when you do not speak Spanish. Hope reflects on helping in the English area at the school and watching young students work hard to learn, plus what it taught her about perseverance and gratitude. Abigail brings the heart of it all with a story about friendship, hospitality, and visiting a classmate’s home with small gifts that turned into lasting connection.

Justin ties the experience to James 1 and the call to be doers, not just listeners, and we unpack a theme that keeps surfacing: love is a universal language. The conversation also turns outward to the Great Commission and a challenge we all need, serving does not require a passport because there are opportunities every day in our own neighborhoods. If you’ve wondered whether mission trips are worth it for families or kids, press play and join the conversation, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more people find these stories.

Visit our website at www.fbcboerne.org for more stories, information, and service times.

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A mission trip can feel like a one-week event until the plan falls apart and you find out what you really believe. Britney sits down with James Smith to tell the behind-the-scenes story of how First Baptist Church built a long-term missions partnership in Cancun, Mexico, and why bringing families along changes everything. What starts as construction and service work becomes something deeper: a new way of seeing people, a new tenderness toward poverty, and a shared family memory of God’s faithfulness.

James walks us through the early days, from taking his own kids on their first mission trip to watching youth ministry trips grow into today’s family mission trips. We talk about what teams actually do in Cancun with Vita Life and Kingdom Academy, including painting, installing fans, encouraging moms, playing with kids, practicing Spanish and English together, and visiting homes far from the tourist beaches. Along the way, James explains how missions helps young people discover gifts they didn’t know they had because they are forced out of their normal environment and into real dependence on God.

The most gripping moment comes when a key missionary leader quits mid-trip and most supporters leave but the local pastors stay and our church stays too. James shares how that crisis became a “we didn’t come to fail” turning point, and how relationships later connected ministries across Mexico and Peru through YWAM, DTS training, Starfish medical work, and Casa del Aguila. We close with a surprising story about an accidental introduction that helped confirm a 62 year old man’s call into ministry. If you’re considering a Christian family mission trip, a youth missions experience, or you want a clearer picture of church missions in Cancun, this conversation will give you both the heart and the practical realities. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a push to go, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most.

Visit our website at www.fbcboerne.org for more stories, information, and service times.

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Japan gets labeled “hard soil” so often that many Christians quietly assume spiritual breakthrough there is rare, slow, and maybe impossible. Sitting down with our friend James, a young missionary serving in Japan, challenges that assumption with both honesty and hope. We talk about his winding story from a childhood of constant moving in a military family to watching God rebuild his parents’ marriage and bring his whole home to faith, shaping the way he trusts God to change what feels unchangeable.

From there, we zoom out to missions strategy and the Bible. Romans 15 becomes our roadmap as we unpack Paul’s ambition to preach where Christ is not known and the idea of “no place left” in a region because the gospel has been fully proclaimed and local churches can carry the work. We connect that to No Place Left training, gospel conversations, disciple making, and the kind of apprenticeship approach that helps ordinary believers move from fear to faithful witness.

Then we get specific about Japan missions and why the barriers are real: Shinto and Buddhism, deep family identity, ancestor veneration, and the weight of honor-shame culture where becoming Christian can feel like betraying your people. And yet, James shares encouraging on-the-ground fruit, including gospel conversation trainings with Japanese churches and 49 baptisms in roughly six months in Okinawa, plus growing boldness to share publicly and even go door to door.

If you care about unreached people groups, Japan missionary work, church planting in Osaka, and gospel saturation that multiplies disciples, you’ll find plenty to pray about and act on here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves missions, and leave a review, then tell us: what part of Japan’s story surprised you most?

Visit our website at www.fbcboerne.org for more stories, information, and service times.