My First Mission Trip

One of the best qualities of mine is that I have the compassion to help others. My motivation to assist people comes from a bible verse, Philippians 2:4 "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." I admire this quote because I am selfless, I care more about others than I do for myself. Summer of 2010, I volunteered to go on a mission trip with some members of my church. We traveled to Martin, SD to a small Indian reservation. When we arrived to there, we began working right away. We only had one week to get things done and we wanted to get as much done as we could. Our church group divided up into smaller groups. Each small group had different responsibilities to do, such as: repair and paint homes, visit the nursing home, and accompany the young children in the park. Eventually throughout the week we got to switch up the duties, in order to give everyone a chance at each location. I personally enjoyed playing with the little kids. I met a little boy named Lance, who was 5 years old at the time. He was the cutest little boy I had ever met. He liked to read, so everyday he read to me his favorite books. He also liked to go down the big, swirly slide on the playground. We went down that slide at least 100 times! I had an amazing time with my new little friend, Lance. I miss him so much. Visiting with the elderly at the nursing home was probably my second favorite thing to do on the mission trip. I love to interact with other people. They had a bunch of activities to do in the nursing home. One activity I did was I went around with my youth director, Katie, to each room and sang songs to those who wanted us to sing to them. I also got to play checkers, bean bag toss, and other little games with the elderly. The best part about interacting with the elderly was seeing the smiles on their faces. They were so happy to have volunteers help out with their town and also make time to visit them. Nothing makes me happier than to put smiles on other peoples faces. The repairing and painting houses were fun as well. I enjoy doing hands-on work and knowing it is for a good cause. I learned so much about myself that summer. I learned that I have my church family by my side no matter what, they love me and I love them. I also became more close with God. My views toward my religion changed greatly over that summer, all because I made the decision to go on that mission trip. That mission trip changed my life.