Narrative Essay On Mission Trip

The purpose of a mission trip is not to save everyone or solve hunger. Many people who take mission trip have this mentality, and I 'm not going to lie, my first mission trip this is what I expected. I believed that I was going to be the one person to go down and “change” the people. This idea is far from reality, but I realize that you can make a difference in some people’s lives. I have taken a few mission trips to the Dominican Republic, where I have built relationships with the people down there. We have the power to teach people about a wealth of knowledge that lies between the pages of the Bible. Each year I strive to improve my influence, so I had to ask myself, “how does someone who is taking a short term mission trip leave a long-term …show more content…
I asked myself the question “how can we make a long-term effect on a short-term mission trip?” This idea centered around the lessons we were teaching the children throughout the day. I noticed that the children we well informed about God and how to become a Christian. Pastor Vernon gives them lessons every week, probably the same lessons we were giving them. The children were hungry for more than a preschool version of the bible. They wanted more than Salvation Bracelets, which are the number one craft everyone mission group does. These children had a hundred Salvation Bracelets from previous groups, and they knew what each bead meant before I could explain its meaning. So, how could we change our lesson to really benefit the children? First I came to the realization that after my week spent in the Dominican they won’t have the resources I do to continue to study God’s word. And is the bible really what they need? Of course it would be wrong of me to answer “no,” but to starving families how will a bible feed them? But if we didn’t preach the bible then what is the point in going on a mission trip?” All of these question I had to find the answer to. This is what I decided, feeding them, clothing them and bringing them fresh water was not going to solve their problems. Eventually the food and water would run out and they would outgrow their clothes. Giving them a …show more content…
Figure out what they really need, whether that is a lesson about trash or a lesson about another topic, it is important that you feed their hunger to learn new things. The people in the Dominican Republic love to learn and improve their situation, they would rather you show them how to take care of themselves instead of giving them food which will eventually run out, or giving them a bracelet which will turn into trash on the ground. Mission trips are important to show people how to improve their way of life by giving them examples and evidence from the bible. A lesson about trash can very well tie into the