My Experience At High School

Balancing my time with school and taking care of my dad and aunt every day after school to care for them was quite challenging. Although they both insisted to focus on my studies instead of them I refused because they meant the world to me and I was afraid to lose them. Within time everything got better for my family. I learned a lot from all the crying and anger I had and I learned to value time and loved ones more than and this is where my outreach to god came into the picture I have never had a close relationship with God but dealing with my father and aunts illness gave me the motivation to reach to God. I believe that because of him my father will someday find that kidney donor and his eye surgeries will continue to let him recover a bit more of his eye sight and also the reason why my aunt conquered colon cancer.

At church, in addition to my participation in the worship services, I volunteered at our church’s soup kitchen, medical camps and elementary school for underprivileged children. These experiences opened my eyes to the deprivation of love and care in the world and a dire need of God’s grace for people at large so they could receive forgiveness, healing and restoration in their lives.

Before my internship last summer, I had been a camper at Go Tell for two years. After being an intern with Go Tell I have seen God work in many ways through student's lives, intern's lives, and the lives of those living in Nicaraguan villages.

Our YRG arrived at the work site we were sent to. We realized that this area we were working in was suffering. The town had poverty all over and it seemed like it was in bad conditions. Even though we saw that, it made me more excited to work on something because I knew whoever we were doing it for they would be thrilled to see something new. That day we met an elderly lady that had been living in this community all her life. As the week went on with building a ramp and painting, I had a better chance to get to know her. We talked about the community, interests we had, joys, and so much more in just little time. Thursday came too quick. That night for worship we had a time to let God come in and remember why Jesus died for us. It was a time to be with our church group and a time for tears throughout the whole camp. That night it was emotional, but warming. Through the tears, I thought about what the elderly lady had told me. She reminded me that the things that we complain isn't as important as something that someone is suffering through. The community we had been in was one that was suffering with insurance an financially. She reminded me that we should be thankful for all the

Have you ever been so broken spirited that you just ask “why me”? Last summer my youth group and I journey to Philadelphia for a mission trip. We would be helping plant a church and provide outreach in the local community. We all expected it to be fairly painless trip, but we were blind-sides when God decided to transform our lives, while we were taking the opportunity to revolutionize others.

For example: Every child I lead was thankful and grateful for everything they were given. None of them ever complained about their situation or home lives and they all simply just learned to enjoy life. Even though in my three weeks of community ministries I was supposed to be the one teaching and leading kids, I too learned a lot from them. I came to the understanding that my life was nearly flawless compared to theirs yet I take it for granted everyday. I realized that there truly are people struggling in the world and the people living below the poverty line are much more than merely a statistic, but

Everyone in their childhood has a moment that stands out and defines who they are. Mine is a moment, but is also part of my background. This came about in my nine year Catholic education. I attended St. James Catholic School from when I was a kindergartner until I graduated eighth grade. I am the third generation of my family to attend St. James, and can still remember my first day as a kindergartner. I walked into school with the same feeling as all of my other kindergarten classmates with a blank face and did not know which direction to go. Kids, who I thought were giants, guided me to class. From that time on I looked up to them as my friends, and could count on them if I needed help. For the next nine years that building was my home, but I can recall a moment in second grade that sky rocketed me in my Catholic faith. This moment was when I made my First Communion.

Learning happens in many forms. Teachers lecture and pastors preach. However, the lessons that impact me the most are not the ones that are told. They are the lessons taught through experience. Last summer I had the opportunity to travel with my youth group to South Dakota for a week-long mission trip.

Before attending Columbus high school my connection with G-d and my Community were lacking heavily, I was indifferent to the plights of others around me. Once I arrived I was introduced to the path of G-d, my religion class taught me the ways of worship and faith in our Lord. When I was told about having to perform community hours I just thought that it would be a waste of my time, how wrong I was. During my time volunteering I learned about the divide between myself and those I helped, being able to see the discrepancy first hand I had an urge to assist even if it was only minorly significant. By labouring to hopefully make their lives slightly brighter, I believe that it brought me closer to G-d and my Ideal self that was designated by G-d.

Every summer during my elementary years I attended a Christian summer camp called Camp Thurman. After experiencing the great joy of many years of fun-filled weeks, I chose to spend my summers in high school working at this camp as a counselor. Without having the honor of working at this camp, I would not be the person I am today.

I grew up in the small, Dutch, Christian town of Sioux Center, Iowa. I walked 2 blocks to a local Reformed church right across the street from my house. I attended Sunday school and catechism every Sunday and Wednesday. In middle school and high school, I attended many church camps and did countless service projects. Two of my favorite partnerships was with ViBella Jewelry. ViBella is a Christian organization that works with women in Haiti by giving them jobs making jewelry from old plastic bottles. The women color the plastic strips, but first the bottles must be organized and cleaned which often my job. I also very much enjoyed having the chance to teach a Sunday School class for one week. Both my junior and senior year of high school I paired up with a friend to teach a 4th grade girls class. Not only was it an opportunity to teach but also an opportunity for the kids to interact with older kids. I believe that the experience was had a positive impact on both our lives and theirs.

We all have life events that shape who we are. For me, that event was the two mission trips that I went on with my church. Beginning in the summer of 2013, some of the youth from Christ Church in Warwick, NY, traveled to San Jose, Costa Rica, to start the construction on an Episcopal Church. We then returned in the summer of 2015 to continue our work on the same church, Iglesia Episcopal La Ascensiόn. What I didn’t know, was how much these trips would impact my life.

The climax of my ministry was going to the Fair Monte Park as part of the evangelistic team. I observed and feel God’s presence in the rainbow of individuals residing in the park, eating, and assisting each other as family. This was an amazing experience, and it gave me hope to know that persons of various ethnic backgrounds can put aside their differences and work and live together as a community. Despite their drugs use and other factors that put them in their predicament. These homeless individuals had no bearing on their situation or where they came from, but they see each other for who they are. God is truly remarkable. God moved in mysterious ways to gather His people in his time. This is what impacted me, to see people in their deprave

My youth group and I had one week to do mission work in this beautiful but dangerous town. We had many rules to follow to keep ourselves safe. Hats were not to be worn backwards and bandanas were not to be worn at all. We had to be in a group to go outside of the building. We were instructed to not talk to any neighbors, and if we were approached to call for help. Despite the fears I had towards this city, I was prepared to do what was necessary to love on all of the people I came in contact with.

A few weeks later I walked into church and my heart stopped. There in the center of the stage stood a mountain of hope. The entire church community came together in order to properly send off over 1,000 shoe boxes to children living in poverty. The church helped us write letters and prayers filled with compassion and love for every single one of those children. My family and I were astonished at what we could do together and never will I forget this one of a kind experience.