A Life-Changing Summer Mission Trip – Part 7 – Summer Vacation Series

Introduction

This post suggests a very different kind of summer vacation – a mission trip. Its one that either individuals or families can try.

This suggestion comes from our own family’s life-changing experience in 1995.

Our trip was a Christian faith-based mission trip and if that is something you are open to, great. Even if not, there are plenty of organizations that would love to have volunteer help to provide assistance to those who have little or nothing.

Twenty years ago right about this time my wife, Lynn, Jennifer our 12-year-old daughter and I departed with some other members of our local church for Reynosa, Mexico right across from the currently controversial McAllen, TX border crossing point.

We were part of a team of youth and adults, men and women, from two churches whose one-week missions were to build a modest house for an extremely needy family, conduct a morning Vacation Bible School for boys and girls, visit men’s and women’s prisons and play soccer with the children (those of us who were able!).

Our trip cost each person several hundred dollars but we did fundraising activities to help defray the costs, especially for giving scholarships to those who wanted to go but could not afford the cost.

I wish I had a lot of photos and videos to show you our actual work, but I do not.

I will try to show you what teams like ours do.

Adventures in Missions (AIM)

Our church decided to use AIM because of favorable personal reports from friends who had been on AIM trips and because its values matched ours.

Don’t think this is the only good one. There are lots of them and word-of-mouth endorsements and testimonials are a great source of guidance. This applies to faith-based and other kinds of organizations.

Here is a taste of AIM.

You can click the link below to see a lot more of what a short-term missions organization is like.

Adventures in Missions (AIM)

Our Trip

Our trip had over a dozen volunteers and we were assigned an AIM Trip Coordinator who saw to all the logistical details that were clearly beyond our ability to handle on our own. We were also generously assisted by Mexican volunteers from a local church. These gracious people were bilingual and also contributed skills and prior experiences with visiting missions teams.

We stayed in an “economy” motel, purposely, so we could see the difference in the level of facilities that available to the public in that area compared to the more luxurious ones back home.

We ate modest breakfasts and lunches at the motel in what might look like school cafeteria accommodations. Our sandwiches were paper thin and we drank bottled water and even used it to brush our teeth.

Typical Old House and New House and many old houses are much worse.

The temperatures reached the mid nineties every day and our construction project was in the afternoon! We had to drink almost constantly but we finished a modest 12″x16″ roofed and floored house that was received with great joy and appreciation by a three generation family of seven.

About fifty eager and receptive children attended our Vacation Bible School morning sessions. They laughed heartily at our puppet show skits where the characters spoke in Spanish, thanks to a recording session back home with a native of Ecuador who graciously adapted his voice to a variety of puppet characters.

Our sessions in the prisons were well received and we were surprised at the calm and friendliness of the inmates we spoke with.

More than anything, we were impressed with the happiness and willingness to share the very meager food and token gifts that the people exhibited.

Our bottom line is that we received more life lessons than we provided.

We were changed by this one week in the summer.

We were also convinced that we made a significant impact on the people we interacted with.

What Do You Think?

If this sounds like something you would consider, probably for next summer, start now. If your church has done these trips before or is considering doing one, become a cheerleader for the idea. If not, see if there is a church in your area that has done these trips and see if you can join with them for the trip.

If you are inclined toward a more generalized service trip, just Google International Service Project Trips and you will find many opportunities.

Whether you choose a faith-based trip or a more general service organization I believe your experience will be a great life lesson and a lifelong memory.

The thing to do is START NOW!