Chicken Head Soup & The Lessons Learned During Mission Trips

Have you ever eaten Chicken Head Soup? I don't recommend it. 

Years ago, my friend Kevin McQuaig and I were in the mountain village of Los Conchas outside of Guatemala City. In the many trips we had taken together to Guatemala, we have built or worked on 20+ houses, churches, roads, a clinic, a community center, and relationships beyond measure. 

In this village, as well as other impoverished countries, living conditions are not what we're used to. People primarily live in a hut with dirt floors, rusty tin walls, and use bedsheets as doors and interior walls. Mattresses on the ground and dogs and chickens have free reign to wander outside and through the homes. Outside, brick ovens burning with the most beautiful smell of smoke and tortilla.

It's one of the most spectacular places I've ever been to. Some were lucky enough to have a concrete home, and while simple, they were impeccably clean and well cared for. 

The people there were some of the most beautiful, joyful people I've ever met. Because we would come back to the same village year after year, we became friends with so many of them. 

When we arrived, we were greeted with hugs, smiles, and gifts they had made for us. They'd show us their houses and how they'd updated it while we were away. Such joy and gratitude was overwhelming. In many ways, it was these experiences that taught me what joy was. A grateful, content heart regardless of circumstance. They taught me that hard work is joyful, as women and kids in sandals would be by our side all day long, mixing concrete and carrying block. They taught me how to pray as we experienced prayer at a whole different level and watched the Holy Spirit work before our eyes. It also taught me the magic of hand sanitizer and to guard my inputs. 

Typically we would work each day until 3:00 and then walk around the community delivering baskets of food or water filters and just building relationships. Often times, people would offer us coffee or bread. I typically would say, "no, thank you," but Kevin would always accept. He saw this as a way of saying: we are friends. The Bible says, it's not what you put into your mouth that makes you unclean, but what you allow into your heart. Kevin was right.

One day, we were walking around and were offered soup. I looked at Kevin, and he gave me this shrug and eye roll that said: "why not?" Well, when I looked at my bowl, I could see a chicken foot floating around, and it caused me to pause. At this point, Kevin was working full time for the foundation we would take these trips with, so he would spend weeks at a time in Guatemala sharing food and conditioning his body to their specific bacteria. Kevin's bowl had a chicken head in it! When in Rome. Later that night, we experienced different results. Kevin was fine. My result was great for weight loss, bad for productivity. Guard your inputs. 

In the world today, what we allow into our minds can be the difference between fear and encouragement. Between anxiety and calm. Between restlessness and contentment. I don't believe there is any real, truthful news available to us, primarily just people's perspectives of the truth or the truth they want you to believe. We have to be very careful about what we take in. Control your inputs. Take in a high dose of things that nourish your mind and heart. When consuming news and current events, use a string filter to let facts and truth in and keep one-sided opinion out. That will keep you from fear and anxiety and lead to better choices and healthy responses. 

In our mortgage world, it's a garbage in, garbage out scenario. If what you put into the system is trash, you are going to muck up the whole operation for everyone, including you! Take the extra time to do your part with excellence, so the next person in line has an easier time doing their job with excellence. That's how teamwork produces great results. Don't rush and expect someone else to clean up your work. Guard Their Inputs. Bad inputs are bad for productivity. Don't be chicken head soup. 

What we allow in is so important. Guard your inputs and help others do the same.