Saturday was our journey home. So, I think God was in our safe travels there and back. The ride went smoothly and both vans seemed to have a good time even though they were stuck in a van for 15 hours or so. During the trip, each person wrote in everyone's journal. They wrote positive messages about each other. Of course some were silly things about the week, but others were messages of encouragement and love. At the beginning of the week, some knew each other better than others. But, by the end of the week, they were all old friends.
Looking back on the week, I have to say it was an interesting week. Every year, my mission trip has been a unique experience. This year, it was unique from the beginning since there were so many last minute changes. Creating my own mission trip at the last minute made for some hectic days before we left. But, seeing people from the church support our mission and continuously bring in food and snacks was awesome!
Getting to the church where we stayed and feeling welcomed from the moment we arrived was a blessing. All I wanted for the youth was to go to a place where they were wanted and needed. The 1st year, God gave us Nigel, the man we worked for. Last year, God gave us a potato shack to tear down. This year, it was a little harder to find our moments, our mission. We worked at the thrift store. But, the job was not a mission trip set up but rather something I found on a volunteer site. So, rather than having the mission trip philosophy of experiences being more important than work, this week, we worked and had to find our own experiences. They weren't handed to us. But, isn't that how life is? Sometimes, things are going well and we see God everywhere. It's easy to be "Godly" during those times. But, that's not really enough. It's not in the easy times but in the times where God isn't as obvious that we need to search for Him. This year, we found Him on the streets of New Orleans. We found Him in the random people we met.
We did good work. But, we'll probably never see the results of that work. The store we worked at benefits a women and children's shelter we never got to see. That reminds me of life. We work hard to do things, to make things better for others. And, alot of times, we never see the results. This year, it wasn't our mission trip, it was God's. We had our moments, we grew closer as a group, and we developed teamwork and leadership skills, and most importantly we grew closer to God. As in anything with a lot of people from varied lives, some seemed to get things more than others. But, my guess is that I may never know who or how lives were changed this week.
So where was God? He was in everything- even the unseen. This was God's mission trip and I hope He enjoyed every minute of it.
Blessings,
Jennifer
Looking back on the week, I have to say it was an interesting week. Every year, my mission trip has been a unique experience. This year, it was unique from the beginning since there were so many last minute changes. Creating my own mission trip at the last minute made for some hectic days before we left. But, seeing people from the church support our mission and continuously bring in food and snacks was awesome!
Getting to the church where we stayed and feeling welcomed from the moment we arrived was a blessing. All I wanted for the youth was to go to a place where they were wanted and needed. The 1st year, God gave us Nigel, the man we worked for. Last year, God gave us a potato shack to tear down. This year, it was a little harder to find our moments, our mission. We worked at the thrift store. But, the job was not a mission trip set up but rather something I found on a volunteer site. So, rather than having the mission trip philosophy of experiences being more important than work, this week, we worked and had to find our own experiences. They weren't handed to us. But, isn't that how life is? Sometimes, things are going well and we see God everywhere. It's easy to be "Godly" during those times. But, that's not really enough. It's not in the easy times but in the times where God isn't as obvious that we need to search for Him. This year, we found Him on the streets of New Orleans. We found Him in the random people we met.
We did good work. But, we'll probably never see the results of that work. The store we worked at benefits a women and children's shelter we never got to see. That reminds me of life. We work hard to do things, to make things better for others. And, alot of times, we never see the results. This year, it wasn't our mission trip, it was God's. We had our moments, we grew closer as a group, and we developed teamwork and leadership skills, and most importantly we grew closer to God. As in anything with a lot of people from varied lives, some seemed to get things more than others. But, my guess is that I may never know who or how lives were changed this week.
So where was God? He was in everything- even the unseen. This was God's mission trip and I hope He enjoyed every minute of it.
Blessings,
Jennifer
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