#LifeStory [ 11 ]
In July of 2012, I went with several others from our church on my first "mission trip" to Lake Providence, Louisiana. Our team of four adults and nine students partnered with many others through Mission Serve to paint and put shingles on the roofs of 7 homes in this very poor community.
Before we left, I encouraged the adults and students to write out their personal testimonies and learn the "Romans Road" verses that are often used to lead someone to Christ -- Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23; 10:9-13. Our goal was to serve the residents of Lake Providence by fixing up their homes and thus try to meet their physical needs as we show them the love of Christ. I challenged our group to share the gospel, and if necessary, use words.
After we arrived, our group was divided in to separate teams to work on the various homes. Only a few from my church worked on the same house as I, but we met and worked with a lot of other great people. Living in the home was an older woman by the name of Naomi (I think), whose grandsons would come over and stay every day while their mother worked. I really enjoyed watching our students play with the two boys (and sometimes up to 12-15 other kids from the neighborhood) and love on them as if they were the best of friends.
On the last night of the trip, we invited the community to worship with us and hear our camp pastor, David (an illusionist) speak. He shared the gospel, and at the end of the night the two grandsons got saved as they trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
The mission trip was a huge success, and our students got a first hand glimpse of how love can draw people to Jesus. Hopefully, we can plan a trip like this every year for the teens in our church. Thank you, Jesus!
Before we left, I encouraged the adults and students to write out their personal testimonies and learn the "Romans Road" verses that are often used to lead someone to Christ -- Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23; 10:9-13. Our goal was to serve the residents of Lake Providence by fixing up their homes and thus try to meet their physical needs as we show them the love of Christ. I challenged our group to share the gospel, and if necessary, use words.
After we arrived, our group was divided in to separate teams to work on the various homes. Only a few from my church worked on the same house as I, but we met and worked with a lot of other great people. Living in the home was an older woman by the name of Naomi (I think), whose grandsons would come over and stay every day while their mother worked. I really enjoyed watching our students play with the two boys (and sometimes up to 12-15 other kids from the neighborhood) and love on them as if they were the best of friends.On the last night of the trip, we invited the community to worship with us and hear our camp pastor, David (an illusionist) speak. He shared the gospel, and at the end of the night the two grandsons got saved as they trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
