An EPIC Mission Trip!

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is going to be long. Because God did so many amazing things this past week in Vero Beach, FL. So only my most dedicated followers will read this blog.

So I just got back from the BUMS (Bethel United Methodist Students) Mission Trip to Vero Beach, FL. I am exhausted, tired, but also extremely blessed. So here is what went down. Last Saturday, we spent right around 12 hours in the car on the way down and arrived at EPIC Missions and were greeted by a delicious dinner, and then we were treated to Rita's Italian Ice. EPIC Missions is an organization that brings in mission teams from all across the nation to do God's work in the area. We were by far the largest group they have ever seen, but they did such an awesome job hosting us and making us feel right at home the entire week.

On Sunday we worshiped at Northside Christian Fellowship. This was the church that I would be in charge of overseeing the VBS. Worship was quite an experience, and I really enjoyed it. After the worship service, the church treated our entire team to a delicious lunch, which was so kind. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the church getting ready for VBS that upcoming week. After we finished decorating, we were supposed to go door to door in the local neighborhoods to hopefully round up some kids for VBS. Unfortunately, there was a bad thunderstorm and we were prevented from doing that. So we just went back to EPIC missions and enjoyed ourselves for the evening.

              Here is a picture of  our group having worship as we did every night!

Monday morning rolled around, and it was time for VBS. Unfortunately, we had a problem. We had no kids. Not a single child showed up for VBS. I was literally crushed, heartbroken, and didn't really know what to do. But we weren't gonna let that stop us. So we went door to door and gathered up some kids for VBS for the rest of the week. On Monday afternoon, we went to the Gifford Youth Center, which is where our other VBS was going on, and just hang out with the kids. It was such a blast.

                                          Here is a picture of one of the VBS sites

And another one.....

On Tuesday, we arrived back at Northside, ready for kids to show up. 9 am rolled around, and again no kids. So myself, my youth minister Chad, and one of my youth Sam, got together and prayed. No sooner then as we finished praying, I looked up, and there stood a woman with 2 young girls. I really dont think I have ever been more excited in my entire life. I literally jumped for joy. It was so amazing, and it was such a God moment. So we ran our VBS for those two girls, and it was awesome. On Tuesday afternoon, we got to go to an amazing place called the Harvest which is a grocery store with much cheaper prices to help those in need. It was so cool to be able to help them out and serve there for an entire day.

Tuesday night we went down to enjoy God's beautiful creation at the beach. It was beautiful.

Wednesday rolled around, and we became even more blessed at VBS at Northside. We had 6 children on this day. It was so amazing, and VBS continued to go very well. It was so great to see all the youth who had worked so hard to prepare for this trip actually get a chance to show off what they had been working so hard for. God continued to bless our VBS. On Wednesday afternoon, we had our first block party at EPIC Missions, the place that hosted us. It went well, and we had somewhere around 60 people come out. It was a lot of fun, and I know some lives were touched. At our block parties, the praise band played, we had free food for everyone, as well as snow cones, popcorn, and games. As well as this year, the Youth Choir presented their musical Flashback, which was a very unique but powerful way to witness to people. Wednesday night, we had our senior night, in which we honor all of our seniors by giving anyone who wants a chance to say something to them in front of the whole group. Its a great way to honor the seniors of the youth group.

Here is a picture of our youth choir doing their musical at one of the Block Parties. 

On Thursday, our last and final day of VBS, we had 9 kids. Such an awesome thing. God went from there being 0 kids at our VBS to 9 kids. Sure, its not a lot. But it was so amazing. And I loved it. It was such a great day at VBS, and it was hard to say goodbye to the kids we had spent time with this week. Thursday afternoon we had our second block party at Northside Christian Fellowship. We once again had a pretty good crowd at the block party It was a lot of fun.

Thursday night, we got to share in one of my most favorite things to do ever. Its called the Heart Ceremony. This is a time in which you get a paper heart and you go around to one another and tear off a piece of your heart and give it to people and you share with them why they will always have a place in your heart. It is such a cool event, and has become such a staple on the mission trip. It is just a great opportunity to share and grow in your relationships with others. But this heart ceremony was a special one for me. I had a great conversation with my youth minister during this time. He has been strongly encouraging me for quite some time to become a youth minister. But now, I think I finally had the breakthrough I have been looking for.

I had a great time this past week, and this entire summer. I have loved working with youth so much. So now, comes a hard decision in  my life. I love special ed, but I also love youth ministry. But I am definitely thinking I want to work with youth now after this week and summer. So I plan to still teach for a little while, for 3 years or so after I graduate. But I could definitely see myself going into youth ministry at some point during my life. I absolutely love it.

On Friday, we had our fun day, in which is a good time to relax and enjoy ourselves after a long hard week of work. We jumped over to Tampa, FL to enjoy the day at Busch Gardens. It was such a good day. Then on Saturday, we hit the road back home. It was such an amazing week, and I was so glad I got to be a part of it.

Determining God's will for your life can be hard to do. And its something that I have struggled with my entire life. But this week really helped me figure things out. Here are a couple of scriptures that have been on my heart this week:

Proverbs 3:5-6"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

This verse is great because it shows that as long as you trust in God, and depend on him, he will guide you. And the second verse:

Matthew 4:19-20 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." So at once, they left their nets and followed him.

This was our verse for the entire week. God is calling us to minister to others. But not only that, but to drop everything we have, and do his work. That doesn't mean that we need to quit everything we are doing, but instead, do everything for the glory of God. This was an eye opening verse for me. I'm now, from this moment on, letting God control where my life is headed. It's in his control. If God wants me to be a special ed teacher, then so be it. Or if God is calling me to be a Youth Minister, then so be it. Hear I am Lord, Send me.