The Most Formative Experience Of My Christian Life

The following week, we spent most of our time in the poorest parts of the city. There we went door-to-door sharing the love of God and had Vacation Bible Schools for the kids. This is when I realized how blessed I truly was. For the first time, I got to see the privations and penury environment that the citizens of Third World countries had to endure. The unpaved streets were covered in trash. Many houses, made of tin sheets, had collapsed on themselves. The people had to share wells, where they drew their parasitic water. Men, women, and children sat on the sides of the roads begging for money, because they were sick, hungry, and needed money for food and proper medication. The site of these atrocious states of living broke my heart, and showed me how blessed I really was for not having to face these problems.

I was fortunate enough to participate on a mission trip to New Orleans, just a year after Hurricane Katrina occurred. It was a horrific sight, all those people in such grief, and fear in their eyes. A desire was instilled in my heart to help those affected by such tragedies. I will never forget one of the nights there, my church group visited a small church that had just finished being rebuilt. They had lost everything in the storm, some even lost family members. I noticed an elderly woman sitting alone in the back pew, I walked up to her and asked if I could pray about anything for her. But she told me to sit down and listen. “I lost everything in this horrific storm, my house, car and all of my family. But I have my church back and that is enough for me. I thank God for allowing me to be alive, I am one of the lucky ones.

On the last Thursday of every month, a few of the Young Adults from Harvest City Church volunteer to go to Carrall Gospel Mission and serve the homeless at downtown Eastside. These people are made up of drug addicts, ex-convicts, prostitutes and people with mental health problems. First, We have a short sharing session by the leaders of the mission, and afterwards we serve the homeless dinner. The purpose of this mission is not only to engage the impoverished, but also to give back to the community. Listening to the homeless talk about their lives, I have learned to be more content with what I have and not to take anything for granted. Moreover, I have learned that reaching out to others can have a lasting impact on their lives and also on

In fifth grade I was told I was going to Mexico for spring break, little did I know this vacation would be one of the most life changing experiences I have ever had. I have always been told to do thing for others and to put the less fortunate before myself. I live in a very Catholic household and my family is constantly going to serve at homeless dinners and work at local shelters but I was never truly changed by these experiences until my trip to Mexico. Through this experience I learned that sometimes giving to others benefits me more than I expected.

Volunteerism and willingness to serve others are magnificent character traits to discover while growing up. If one is involved with such activities, they will be able to contribute to society as a whole and “leave a mark” on the world for the better. However, such activities would not be available without the assistance of an outreach coordinator. Such people prepare service projects for the community, non-profit organization, or church in hopes of spreading good will among those affected by these actions. They also must be available to offer support to individuals who walk in and require the outreach coordinator’s services. Jeanna-Mar Simmons, a family friend, generously allowed me to shadow her on April 24, 2014. This wonderful lady is the outreach coordinator for Christ United Methodist Church. During my shadow, I was able to discover the intricacies of the organization behind all the service projects I participate in on a regular basis as well as learn about her relationship with God and how it intertwines with her work and the environment at the church.

It gave me the chance to vanquish my fears while also realizing that it is God’s plan for me to help out my community. However, I am not surprised that there are still unanswered questions in my head such as: Why is there such a big hunger problem? Why is this problem not spoken about more often? Is there any other way I can help stop this problem? This service has made me more knowledgeable and aware of my community. In addition, this service project has made me take matters into my own hands. Currently, every time my family goes grocery shopping I make sure they get at least five canned goods for donating. As more of my friends volunteer and more donations come in I think we can end this fight for hunger in southern Louisiana. In addition, I believe that we should all take a step back and be thankful for all that we have because some people don’t have such luxuries. God is omnipresent, He would not want to see His children starving. Finally, I see it as a mission that we volunteers get more people involved to volunteer for the greater

My most impactful service experience happened this last summer. I have been lucky to have been a part of various youth groups throughout my adolescence. With Memorial Baptist Church, I was happy to attend PASSPORT Camps. Like other camps I have participated in, PASSPORT is a camp where youth spend a week in the summer to enthusiastically worship and serve the community surrounding their site. PASSPORT sent us to Danville, Virginia, and despite being on Averett University’s cozy campus, we were surrounded by a dying, deprived community. Social exposure is exponentially increased when your mission groups are melting pot assignments from various churches. PASSPORT did not hold back in showing us the poorest of the community, and the sheer lack

Over the years, I have had the great pleasure of taking part in several things that have turned out to be incredible learning experiences. One of the things that I have begun to do in recent years is going on a mission trip with the youth group at my church every year. Starting in the summer of 2013, we have taken about a week out of our summer each year to assist in the clean-up of natural disasters for less fortunate families. Surprisingly, these unpleasant, hot, humid, and smelly days have been some of the most memorable experiences that I have ever taken part in and have taught me an important social lesson. I learned, and relearn every summer, the importance of giving to those who are less fortunate than myself in any way that I am able to.

Through my church, I was given the opportunity to participate in a mission trip program called World Changers. This trip allowed me to travel to Birmingham, Alabama where we joined other churches from surrounding states to complete a service project. Once we arrived there, we were put into groups with people who were not from our church. This led us to the opportunity of meeting new people and stepping out of our comfort zone. During this service project, we were assigned a member of the community to help. My service group helped our member of the community by repainting his whole house, as well as yard work for him. Everyday for a week, we worked from 6 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon on his house. The work itself may not have seemed

If not for the generosity of the individuals and the community of Chelan, I may not be addressing you at this very moment. It is because of this assistance that I have been able to thrive throughout high school, and using my future college education I am determined to give back. I aspire to impact people in the same way that people like Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Johnson, and Mr. DePaoli have. Through various community service activities I have tried to gather this kind of experience. I am currently doing an unpaid/ungraded internship with the children's ministries director at Real Life church. On top of that I volunteer every Sunday morning at church with various duties such as sound/lights, PowerPoint, set up/take down, and children's church. My involvement

The church did things like go out to homeless shelters to feed the homeless, give out clothes and plenty of more things for the community. So I got involved when I found out some of my church members were going out to hand out bags to the homeless. I remember waking up first thing in the morning, the summer of my sophomore year and making my way to the church, making over 70 bags that were filled with personal hygiene items, food, clothes and gift cards. I helped them pack the bags in the church van and found a seat on the van; words couldn’t even explain how I was feeling! Nervous but excited at the same time, being the first time I ever experienced community service. Next thing you know the car comes to a complete stop to an unknown place I never seen before, the only thing I knew was that we were definitely under an old building, with a almond shape and horrible smell.

My mom looked back from the front seat and told me and my younger sister that we should join the Churchs youth group. An idea sparked in my head and on the next Sunday I signed up. Within three years of being a part of the organization, I was promoted to youth group leader. Being youth group leader for two years now has given me the education and experience I needed to find different ways of helping the citizens of my community. I have organized a few bake sales to raise money for a chapel that my priest has been wanting to built for a long time and I have been raising money to build houses for the homeless. Not only that, but my group has also created toy, food, and blanket drives to be able to donate. I pride myself in what I have accomplished and what I have taught to the younger members of my group. I am also more than gratefully appreciative of what God has done for me in only the first several years of my life. I know what I know now because God had spoken to me and gave me a starting

I was born into a Muslim family and raised up a nominal Muslim. I grew up believing Christianity is just an alternative religion to Islam. Sometime in 1999, in Lagos, Nigeria, I was invited to a church – Redeem Christian Church Of God - by a female friend. While in the church I heard the gospel preached to me and was deeply moved by the words I heard. I responded to the alter call made by the preacher and was told am now born again.

As part of my Christian Ethics class, I volunteered in St. Joseph Home Care for three hours. It’s an organization led by Ukrainian nuns and they have been for years now. The Home Care is mainly filled with elders and primarily are Ukrainians or Canadians. During the time I volunteered, I learned many things about myself and others. Also, I experienced new things that influenced me.

During the summer and the first quarter of my freshman year, I performed several hours of service because service, to me, is important and brings me closer to God. During the summer, I volunteered at my church’s sport summer camp. There I watched over the children who were around the ages of five to ten. Other counselors and myself, watched over the children while their parents were at work. I helped the children play sports such as basketball and volleyball as well as even spent time with some of the children making friendship bracelets. I spent a week volunteering at this camp because, for me, doing service brings me closer to the life Jesus said we should live; it helps me to not think about myself for once and to think about other people. Additionally, over the summer I also volunteered at Sportime summer camp. There I did similar things which included playing sports and rely games with the children as well as helping them with arts and crafts. I volunteered there because it was seven hours a day when I would focus on the children and help them with whatever they needed. At both Sportime and my church, the heads of the camps were grateful for my help because they were low on volunteers and staff members. I agreed to help because I did not see a better way to spend my time. It meant a lot for me to be able to be such a help to those people.