Thoughts on My Mission Trip
When I heard that I would have the opportunity to go on a mission trip to West Virginia with my church youth group I was really excited. I had never been on one and I really wanted to go on a mission trip so that I could know what it was like. We planned for several months and when June came around everyone was beginning to get really excited, because we would be leaving soon. On June 29, we met at our church to load up our vans and head out for WV. After an 8 hour ride we were welcomed by the missionaries in Logan, Dan and Deb Lawrence, who opened their home up to us and who would be our guides for the week. After a tour, some warnings and advice, and a quick practice to run through our night programs. We went to bed excited about our next day. On Tuesday we packed our vans with clothes to give away in a near by town called Madison. After the 30 minute ride there we were shocked at the nice little park that we would be using as the place to give away clothes and to have lunch and a Vacation Bible School for the locals. After sorting through the clothes to get them organized, we made signs and began to invite people over. This was when the awkward parts began. We all had to step out of our comfort zone and talk to people that we didn't know. This was very hard for me because I am so shy. After our free lunch of hot dogs and chips, came the hardest part for me, Vacation Bible School. I was the person who did the story telling so I had all these new faces of children and adults alike all looking at me as I told them the story of Moses and Pharaoh. But God gave me the strength to do it without much trouble and before we left that day I was begged to tell the story again, because the kids had so much fun acting out the parts.When we where done we went back to Logan to get ready for the night program. We met the people of the church that the Lawrence's go to and were welcomed by the people there and so we had an easy time getting used to them. Wednesday morning was similar to Tuesday, except that we knew everyone's name by then and so we had even more fun. That night was when I had my biggest test and best time. We would be singing, acting and talking in front of the churches youth group, but we found out that someone had invited the Youth Works Kids to come to our program. Youth works was a big bunch of high school and college kids that were in a national mission trip program and they were staying in the upper floors of the old school building that the church was in. That night we had about 120 people there to watch us. I have a very hard time getting up and speaking in front of the people at my church and school, but I now had to sing and share my favorite bible verse in front of all these strangers. But to my surprise and to the surprise of everyone in my youth group, I got up there and talked as if no one was there. God had come into me again and had given me the courage to do something that I never thought I would do. I don't think that I will ever forget how it felt to stand up in front of those people and not feel afraid. The next morning we went to Logan State park instead of giving out clothes and we got to see just how beautiful the mountains are. We went back to Madison and had our last lunch and Bible School. Everyone was very sad that this was our last day together but we still had fun. That night we had our last program and shared our testimonies after singing. After the program ended, we had time to go to the towns 4th of July fair. We closed our trip with a bang at the fair. Early Friday morning, we packed our vans and headed back home. I know that I came back a new and changed person. I realized just how blessed I am to live where I live and to have the things I have. I will never forget the people we met and I hope that they will never forget us. Bust most of all, I hope that I get to go back and do it all over again.
Mary Seward
