Filled with the Spirit

[johng426]

There is just something that touches my soul as I look at these Jamaican schoolboys bowed in prayer. It is moments like this that make it all worthwhile to go on mission trips.


John G.

 

[JonMikal]

excellent capture...very moving!

 

[mentos_007]

very deep picture...

 

[aprilraven]

i commend you for your mission trips....when i return from the few i have been privaledge to have been on, i wonder who gets the bigger blessing...those i have tried to help....or me. great photo for a wonderful memory!!

 

[Joliver]

very nice.

 

[johng426]

Thank you all for your comments!

April,

I always felt that I received more than I gave when I go on mission trips. I feel that we somehow impact their lives a little while we are there, but we change our lives when we return.

To me, going away on mission trips helps me readjust my course on life and also opens my eyes to what we can to do help others in our own backyard when we return.

John G.

 

[aprilraven]

john g...did you take a group with you? i have taken my teens on mission trips...never out of the country...just in america....but there is so much need...so many hurting..but i have found, it not only changes me, but it made my teens closer together... kinda like when people go thru tragedy together, they bond..? my teens do that too...and a few years down the road, they are still very close as young adults.. not only do we recieve...but we seem to keep receiving.... thanks for your reply!!

 

[johng426]

April,

Last year we took a group of 36 - out of these 24 were teenagers. On June 12 we leave again with a group of about 26 (with 16 teenagers). The trip serves as a way for us to help teach and grow our kids. We put them in charge of conducting the devotions and bible school.

Each day we are in front of between 300-500 kids and our teenagers do most of the speaking and activities. The biggest challenge for them is standing in front of 500 other kids and giving their testimony about what Christ has done in their lives. Hearing some of our kids tell about their relationship with God has brought many of us adults to tears!

The main reason we go out of the country for this is to get the kids out of their comfort zone and away from what is familiar. We can shed all preconceived prejudices we have and truely help others just for the sake of helping others. If we try to do that at home first, many times we come up with all kinds of excuses (those people don't need our help...they don't try themselves . . . they do drugs . . . they just take advantage of welfare . . . and so on and so on)

I'd be very intersted in hearing about your mission projects (it may give our church some new ideas!).

John G.

 

[aprilraven]

hey john g...
my kids and i did mission fuge a few times after we attended centrifuge...that is a great church camp put on by the southern baptist...and in mission fuge, you can help feed homeless in soup kitchens.. or help build and paint houses for the needy...or you can help in vbs in poor neighborhoods....and in that you get to do skits, programs..give testimony like your kids did..we almost went to wales..but to tell the truth, being one of two adults willing to go...taking 25 teens...just worried me...that far away...so i steered them to stay in the states..i wish now we would have bit the bullet and went....may still work on that.... i have subsequently backed out of the leadership role (after 16 yrs..) and miss it terribly... :heart: .the love you get out of teens is honest...open..and so very uplifting.... :heart: i get to see them still...and they all sit by me every sunday morning...(more for the candy i bring, i think!! :lmao: ) but i miss the teaching...gets into your blood......!!

 

[thebeginning]

that is so neat. mission trips are such an incredible way to bless others, as well as being blessed. I want to go on one sooo bad. I've only done mission work in the country, I've never been out of the country on one.

on the technical side, terrific photo. love the angle and the DoF. great job!