Summer Mission Trip

At last count, we are going to be sending fourteen (14) of our members to Show Low, Arizona this summer for our annual mission trip. We will again be partnering with the Francesville church to provide vacation Bible for the Native American children in the community. The group is a combination of adults and students. Some of them are alumni from last year's trip, as well as several new folks making the commitment.

One might ask the question, "Why do a short-term mission trip?" That is a reasonable question, given the great number of local service opportunities and the cost of traveling. The answer is that a short-term mission trip is more than just serving others. It is about getting a taste of both what it means to be a missionary and to minister in a different culture than your own. While the trip is a huge blessing to those you serve, it blesses you as well because it changes how you see the world.

Having been on two mission trips, one to Haiti and one to China, I can testify to this from first-hand experience. When I was in Haiti, I learned what real poverty is. When you work with the poor in America, you are one of many different institutions. In addition to the church, you have other charitable organizations like the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. You also have many government agencies helping out as well. In Haiti, all you really have is the church working with outside organizations like CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere).

If you want to lose weight, try eating your dinner with two hundred (200) starving people staring at you through a barbed wire fence. In your heart, you want to feed them, especially the children. In your head, you know you do not have enough food to even make a dent in their poverty. Feed this group today, and you will have a thousand here tomorrow. Then twice as many the next day, and the next day! When you have experienced that reality, you become a changed person.

If you were in the worship service when the group from last summer's trip shared their testimonies, you would understand what I am saying. They spoke of how the children and their living situations touched their hearts.
This is why we believe in short-term mission trips. It results in changed hearts and more dedicated lives to the mission of reaching others for Christ.