My Missions Trip Story

Hello! As most of you know, my name is Clarissa, and I'll be telling you a bit about my experience on the missions trip that my youth went on. 

The London trip was an exciting, if not exhausting, trip. I had the opportunity to tell quite a few people about God, and to step of my comfort zone and try new things. 

My most memorable moment happened on Tuesday, the second day we were there. It had rained that morning, so we couldn't go to park to do Vacation Bible School with the kids. It seemed like we would spend most of the day on the main building of the place we were staying, which was called the Village. Instead, our youth leader, Janette, contacted a few people, and two different groups of kids came in. We set up for VBS in the basement and had it there. In the story that was told, I played as Queen Esther (don't know the story? Look it up! In the Bible, the New Testament, the book of Esther). After VBS was over, two of the girls who had been in the first group asked me for autographs. Me! And I'm not even a real queen! It made my day - and my week. Maybe even my year. It was by far my most memorable moment - more so than the day one the boys threw up at Vietnamese/Thai restaurant! 

I overcame a challenge almost every day: the challenge of trying new food. We went to Greek, Ethiopian, Thai, and Hungarian restaurants. The biggest challenge of those was the Ethiopian food. I admit: I'm a VERY picky eater, so going to a place that had no food I'd ever tried before was scary and uncomfortable. Even so, I faced my fear and tried the food. No offense to those of you who like Ethiopian food, but it was disgusting! The best of it was a zilzil platter, which was mostly beef, but even that was only just bearable. Remind me never to eat there again! 

Another challenge I faced was being patient. Love is patient, right? And I'm generally a loving person (or so I'm told). But believe you me, patience was a HUGE issue for me that week... especially with the boys of the group. Every day, in my 'field guide', I prayed for patience. I probably got real sassy at least once, something I'm not proud of. But, I pulled through. Thank You, God! 

God taught me over the week to love people, no matter what their story is or what they look like. I thought I knew how to do this before, but, as it turns out, I didn't. On Friday, some of us went to Arc Aid, which is a place that serves agree meal every day. We went there to serve the meal that day. We had the opportunity to meet and serve many people who didn't have much. I remember seeing one girl who didn't look much older than me. I'm fourteen. She was skinny, and her clothes weren't very clean. I remember wanting to hug her and tell her about God. I wanted to tell her she was beautiful. I don't know why I kept my mouth shut (cue waterworks). God taught me to truly love that day through those people. 

We did so many amazing things that week. On Wednesday and Thursday, six of us went to one of the cabins in the Village for the elderly who have Alzheimer's. Even though they wouldn't remember us, it was a brilliant experience. We used our VBS Sing and Play DVD for songs, and we all sang along and did the actions. The elderly loved it! The second day, I got to dance with one of them. His name is Abdullah (pronounced Ab-dule), and he loves to dance. It was so much fun! 

There were many answers to prayer on the trip, but there were two in particular for me and my friends. First, two of my friends and I fought a lot for the first few days. I prayed that we wouldn't fight so much, and on the last two days, there were no arguments! It's not big, but it's still and answer to prayer. Second, one of the girls in our youth has anxiety. On the missions trip, however, she didn't have even one anxiety attack! It was a huge answer to prayer for many of us. 

Well, that's my missions trip experience. I had so much fun, despite the fact that we had to get up at 7:00 each morning. I hope next time will be just as life changing as this one was. Thanks for reading!

"Here's the test to find out whether your mission on earth is finished: if you're alive, it's isn't." 

- Richard Bach