How 2009 Wet Footers faced the challenges:

Victoria Gallagher : Wet Footer, Mexico
I'm not a particularly good team member, as I tend to think too much about myself and I don't always value other people in the group enough. Unsurprisingly, these qualities posed a slight problem on a 3 week mission trip to Mexico with 22 other people. I found I had to make a conscious effort not to just think of my own needs, but to put the rest of the group first. This was hard but I prayed about it a lot and was helped by 1 Corinthians 12. It's about the body of Christ and knowing where your place is, but also valuing the gifts of each person and being concerned for each individual. It served as a reminder that, surprisingly enough, the world doesn't revolve around me. As I got to know the members of the team, I came to see how gifted they all were and how much they had to offer. It also made me realize that God had handpicked each one of them and how privileged I was to be part of such a group.

Erisa Katono : Wet Footer, Mexico
"Culture: A set of social norms and values or a learned pattern of behaviour and customs in which an individual lives his or her life". Participating in the Wet Foot Mexico trip opened up my eyes to see how easy it is to use my world-view as a cultural yardstick to judge and assess other cultures. My main challenge was, therefore, adapting to the local culture and integrating with the local daily customs. ingrained in my worldview was a perception of how certain things should be done. One step I took towards overcoming this issue was to understand that we hadn't just come to serve but we had also come to learn from our hosts and be served. The fact that they were welcoming us into their lives with open hearts allowed me to see how short-sighted it can be to measure another culture against one's own culture. To truly enjoy the 'cultural' experience one has to live alongside and share one's life with others from the host country. Luke's description of the 'Fellowship of the believers' in Acts 2:42-47 is quite pertinent in regards to how I set about assessing what's most important in life for 2010 and how I view the world wherever I am.

Steve Jones : Wet Footer, Bosnia
In Bosnia, it was easy to talk about English premiership football - many of the students were avid followers - but moving the conversation from football to faith proved quite a challenge!
Walking in the countryside and chatting with the students I was feeling quite useless, wondering what it could achieve. I sat down and prayed, 'Lord, please find a way to use this situation'. As we walked I got chatting to a very clever guy who was studying Bio-Ethics (or something!). He said how nice it was to speak to an English person because he thought that all English people spoke like William Shakespeare! I pointed out that Shakespeare wrote in old English that I struggled to understand myself! Then he said, "...and the Bible, that's very difficult to understand, too, isn't it?"  Amazingly, here was my opportunity to talk about Jesus! After trying to explain the whole message of the Bible in a few sentences, I handed him my ipod where I had a dramatised audiobook version of the Bible. As we walked, I shut up and prayed - and he listened to God's word! He said he found it interesting, and not what he expected at all. Since then, he has read all four gospels and is showing real interest in knowing more about Jesus.

I have learnt so much from that simple interaction! Firstly, God does answer prayer and he can use anyone in any situation! Also, have a copy of the Bible with you at all times, let God speak to people directly through his word.