Middle School Mission Trip, 2011

This is a guest post from my daughter G, about her mission trip:


Hi, I am Pam's daughter G. I am 14 and going into 9th grade. I recently had the opportunity to go on my first mission trip from July 10th through the 15th. We stayed in the state, staying overnight in a nearby church and going to a nearby town to work every day. Our team was divided into three families, and each family was further divided into smaller teams. Some teams worked at the homes of a few elderly people who went to our church, doing yard work, washing cars, and just visiting with them, but I worked in town every day. On Monday and Wednesday I worked at a shelter washing tables and serving meals, and on Tuesday and Thursday I worked at a large food bank warehouse, packing food and sorting donated books. I got to work with some good friends, and I made some new ones too. Because I homeschool, I don't get to spend a lot of time with other kids my age, so making new friends was one of the highlights for me!

It was really satisfying to work hard every day, knowing that what I was doing was helping others. Each evening our entire team had a time of worship and then a Bible study. We discussed the book Crazy Love (which we had all been required to read ahead of time) and studied passages from the Bible. We were all encouraged to study the bible on our own every day, and everyone was faithful in doing so. I spent a lot of time with God that week and I loved every minute of it! We also had a lot of time every evening before and after session to play and hang out. Twice we went swimming at two families houses who were gracious enough to let us use their pool. We had a blast! We also got to eat out for dinner one night and afterward walked to a nearby Dairy Queen for dessert. We made it a thing to play the game "Sardines" every night in the church. That was always fun.

The three family groups I mentioned earlier took turns making dinner the nights we didn't go out to eat. I helped by cutting up watermelon for fruit-ka-bobs. Trust me, they were delish! Every family worked hard making dinner for the other families and it paid off. One family even grilled! On Friday- the last day of the trip- we were split into teams to clean up the church. I had to scrub toilets ( I'm so proud of myself) :-)!

I had so much fun and also learned the importance of team work and communication. Instead of individually working, we should organize ourselves and work as a team, speaking to one another so that we don't misunderstand or get confused with one another and the project. I loved working along side old and new friends encouraging them and being encouraged. The whole team worked hard on the trip. I appreciate all that my youth group leaders have done these past three years and I will definitely miss being in the middle school youth group. I encourage any of you readers to go on a mission trip if you haven't already. It is so fun and refreshing and so many good memories are made! I am looking forward to next years mission trip!