Reflection On A Mission Trip To South Carolina

My first mission trip was five years ago when I was in eighth grade. Both my sisters and brother had gone on various mission trips and the one to Detroit was my first opportunity. On that trip we worked on fixing up a couple churches that held youth group events. My team and I weeded, painted, planted flowers, organized and cleaned the churches different offices and activity rooms during the first couple days of the week long trip, the second half of the week, my team and I consisting of middle schoolers, put on a day camp for the kids around the area to play games, do crafts, eat lunch, listen to worship music and a message. It was a great experience because the adults gave the responsibility of leading the camp to us kids. As far as cultural differences, they were mild as Detroit is only a few hours away. The housing many families were living in was not to the standard

1) As a Roncalli student, I have been able to participate in many memorable service activities both as an individual and in a large group. From freshman year, I have accumulated the most service during the summer time when I have had the opportunity to be involved coaching youth teams in different sports. This service is the most special to me because it is a way for me to volunteer in activities that I myself love and have a passion for. It has taught me a lot, and I think I have gotten as much out of it as the girls I coach have. Another notable service is the service I was able to participate in with my classmates as a volunteer at Journey Home. This service really opened my eyes to the issues people and families face here in Aberdeen. I was happy that I was able to experience and learn something new while helping a cause and helping people in my own community that I otherwise would have never known about. This year, I was also able to volunteer to be a group leader at a Roncalli Junior High Retreat. When I was younger I always knew it was something I wanted to experience and I loved being there. It was great to meet the younger kids and help them along throughout the day while they experienced a retreat for the first time. I hope to continue these service activities as I get older and move out of my time in high school wherever I end up.

This semester I participated in a service learning partnership with two other students. Through the semester I spent a little over ten hours with each of my partners. Most of the activities we participated in were activities in which we were able to get to know one other on more of a personal level. The thing that made this partnership interesting was the fact we were all from different parts of the world. Which means the way we had grown up was very different for each of us.

I knew one thing for certain: Tennessee was a very stupid state filled with stupid people and I would never drink their stupid sweet tea. Thus was my twelve year old opinion.

While going to college I got to have the experience of a lifetime. Myself, and a group of 15 others went on a mission trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. We all got to see many cultural differences and help people in need. Helping people in need just

I found this chance to help people a way to get to know the people in my youth group, but I learned so much more than I thought I would. What amazed me the most out of everything on this trip was the willingness of kids my age to help those around them. During that week in Denver, I also had the chance to meet some of the other youth from other cities in Missouri. A lot of them whom had remarkable stories. Their reasons for helping out during this mission trip were much greater than my own, I was astounded. They had told me about their past, the struggles and valleys that they had gone through that lead them to help those who are going through the same situations or worse. One story struck me the most. One about a boy and a past fight with drug abuse. He said that one day he felt this indescribable jolt and he just lost it. He broke down and asked himself what he was doing with his life. After asking around and seeking help, he went to the local church one Sunday. That was when he met the youth leader that helped him through his

Since its’ inception, the Southern Baptist Convention has stood in unity against the consumption of alcohol for recreational and social purposes. However, there has been a growing group of Southern Baptists that are challenging this historically held position. Richard Land and Duke Barrett write a defense of Southern Baptists historical position on abstinence from alcohol.

During my freshman year at Stuyvesant, as I was looking through extracurricular activities to participate in, a Jewish Museum internship stood out. I had loved working with students in my previous job at a Chinese school, and was really excited about the opportunity to learn Jewish history, arts, and culture and to teach it to students.

Going to a church that is not of your current denomination or faith is an uncommon thing to do. We are accustomed to staying within the group of people that have common beliefs, especially in regards to religion. Therefore, attending a different church can be uncomfortable for some. Personally, I had the irrational fear of being rejected by church goers of a Southern Baptist church for worshiping the same God in a different manner. Despite my initial concern of being left out or unacknowledged at the sermon, Panther Creek Baptist Church was humble, welcoming, and open to talk about the regular attendants.

Even though I studied harder than I ever had before, I still did not reach the grade I thought I deserved. He told me it was because the student who shared a desk with me earned a C and it was partially my fault. This lesson taught me that life is not just about reaching personal success but helping others reach theirs too. My schools CFX’s (Companion’s of Francis Xavier) were another way I have lived out service, spirit, and intellect. During summer vacations after my sophomore and junior year, I would spend hours in the sun hammering nails or digging the foundation where a new home would be built. At the end of every grueling day, we would discuss the reasons why this certain group of people were impoverished and the systematic ways that we could fix it. These trips helped me grow as a person and realize my place in today’s society. It also made me look at larger issues in our world such as homelessness and the border issues - I worked in solidarity building homes with people that were impacted by these matters. One of my greatest moments of service and spirit came on my senior year trip. It was Easter Mass and my group was in the

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) stated “every Sunday morning at 11 o’clock we see the largest segregated hour, and Sunday school remains the furthermost separated school of the week,” this is an often -quoted statement of Dr. King. He was referring to the statistic that through his lifetime, the majority African-Americans church congregations were predominantly comprised of black people.

This year I worked at my elementary school, which was St. Rita, and I helped out with their open house. I chose this service opportunity because I've worked open houses before and I know what to expect at open houses. I chose this one because it gave me a chance to show families wanting to send their child there all the great things about my old school.

I took advantage of the opportunity; while other students laughed and giggled I took notes, asked questions (a hard feat for an introvert), and took a more hands on approach to my bourgeoning success. I maintained my academic success throughout the summer courses, Saturday sessions, and after school tutoring provided by Upward Bound. Upward Bound has stressed the importance of becoming more productive citizens by inspiring us to help our community and prosper in our academic endeavors. Perhaps the most involving team project I have participated in this Trio Program was Live United Day of Action volunteer service. The official Live United Day of Action is on June 21 and it’s a day that encourages people to take the pledge and make a change in their community. While in Upward Bound I took fifteen Honors courses, received a CPR license, Microsoft Specialist Certification, CNA licenses, and took the initiative to volunteer at

For my project I attended a service at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Midland, Texas. I picked this project because attending a Unitarian Universalist Church was always something I was interested in doing. I had known people involved with this church and I had always heard good things about it. When visiting my hometown I seized the opportunity to go with a friend who is a very active member with the church.

During the summer of 2016 I attended a mission trip to Lynn Massachusetts. The city of Lynn welcomes refugees and give them a place to stay that helps them establish a good foundation. After the refugees have a good foundation they will disperse around the country to start a better life. Little did I know that during that week my life would be changed. When we arrived they split us into groups and told us who we will be serving this week. The group that I was placed in would be attending a soup kitchen. As we pulled up to the soup kitchen there were about fifteen homeless waiting to eat lunch and it was only nine o’clock in the morning. My job in the soup kitchen was to serve the people coffee and hot tea. The people came in for lunch and