Mission:DC

So we just got back from our missions trip in Washington DC, and it was awesome. We were there for a five days working among the homeless and helping out in some not-so-good parts of town. The trip was everything that I had hoped for. We went there with the goals of sharing the gospel, serving others, and opening up our students eyes to the world around them with the hopes that this would leave a lasting impact on their lives. And I think that all of our goals were met too.

I'm super proud of our team. This was the first missions trip for pretty much everybody, and they did an amazing job. Our students were more than happy to have the opportunity to serve others, were never afraid of stepping out of their comfort zones (or if they were, they did an excellent job of hiding it), and reached out to others on a daily basis.

Mixing pasta by hand now = ibuprofen later

How did they reach out and serve though? Well, our time was spent mainly ministering to the homeless. Every morning the group would go to a different kitchen/shelter around time to help prepare and distribute the meal, which turned out to be a lot more labor intensive than I thought it would be.

Evenings were spent in a local neighborhood working a VBS program for the kids. By the end of the week we had probably around 20ish kids coming for VBS, and another 20ish coming to play basketball, where we'd talk to them about Jesus as well.

After VBS, things weren't as routine. One day we toured the city, another the group went on a prayer walk, another was spent in worship, while on another day we did probably one of my favorite parts of the trip, the Urban Plunge, which was a way to experience what life is like as a homeless person. One is given a minimum amount of money ($2), and told to go throughout the city to find a meal for oneself as well as a homeless person, find a place to stay the night, and find a pair of socks. As you can imagine, it was a pretty difficult task, but it was very rewarding, and as the group met back together it was awesome to hear the stories that were shared.

Overall, this was one of the most rewarding missions trips that I have been on, as well as the most labor intensive. I think that being able to watch these guys do things that they had never even dreamed of experiencing before, and watching them thrive while they were doing it, was probably one of the most encouraging aspects of the trip. The groups eyes were opened, and they did their job better than we could have ever asked for. I'm proud of them, and looking forward to see what we can do for next year...