Saturday, August 1, 2009

A Study in Patience and Flexibility

Good Morning. Today we leave NYC for Fargo. It's been an interesting week and has not gone as planned at all. Due to incredibly bad weather and unforeseen issues with two of the locations we were lined up at serve, we ended up missing out on much of the mission work we came to do. This has been frustrating for me, because we came to serve God and many of those opportunities have been lost... But - we didn't lose anyone, or end up in the hospital, so we do have that to be thankful for.

However, I believe that has been a lesson for me. I struggle with situations when things don't go right. This week, I have been challenged to think on my feet. While I will absolutely spend the next months worried that we didn't do enough, and that the mission of this trip was lost, I hope that some of the students were touched nonetheless.

Planning and organizing a mission trip like this is taxing. Executing the plan is difficult in the best case scenario - and we certainly haven't had the best case at all. But despite the challenges and struggles we've faced, I do think (and hope and pray) that each person on this trip was touched in some way. I know that a few of our kids were rocked and changed - and I thank God for it. The best part of a mission trip for me is not the work. It's the opportunity to get to know each of these kids better. It's the opportunity to see a change in their faith - a deepening of their relationship with Christ. I thank Jesus for the chance to serve these kids - and ask that he continue to bless me with their presence, love, excitement and understanding.

1 comment:

auntietia1 said...

Andrea, we are so lucky to have you as a leader to our youth. Those of us who know you, know how much of yourself you put into what you do and know you did the absolute best you could do. You are really an amazing person and such an awesome role model for our kids!