Red Team
I think I want to go to mission’s camp this year
People’s responses:
“Don’t do that, you’re wasting your money and time“, “That isn’t going to make you any more Christian“, “God doesn’t say you have to do that”, “Jesus isn’t going to love you anymore if you do that”, “They’re keeping your money for the church and you’re not going to save the whole world.”
I’ve been wanting to attend Missions Camp with my church Christ Fellowship Miami, for about three years now, but simply didn’t get the opportunity due to either financial or time related circumstances. I’m almost done with high school and this was going to be one of the last chances I was going to get to attend missions camp as a student, with that being said, this was a really big deal for me, I’ve never gone to any spiritual overnight things or anything away from home for more than 2 days. It took some time and bugging to get permission from my peers, but it was totally worth it. Money was a little bit tight, but I had set up a GoFundMe account about a year ago for a missions trip I was planning to attend to Haiti in 2014, but unfortunately didn’t raise enough for, but I asked for permission of those who donated in order for me to use that money for another mission which in this case was missions camp, they happily and willingly said yes, and I thank you all so much for making this possible for me.
So, back to the responses I received. This is sort of nerdy, but I actually jotted down on the notes of my cell phone the general feedback I got from people when I said I wanted, and certainly was going to attend mission’s camp this year. That same night, March 12, 2015 next to each response, I wrote what I thought about each given one. There’s a picture attached at the bottom of this blog post with a screen shot of my responses.
Now I’m going to go through every day of the week of mission’s camp.
Sunday night (June 14th) – At around 4 pm we were instructed to arrive at the campus in order for a type of mini orientation and dismissal toward downtown Miami. We left around 5:30 and arrived around 6:20 to the downtown church campus. We went into an orientation about how this week was going to roll and the breakup into our groups for the week as well as our assigned rooms to sleep in. We went to dinner and headed to bed. I got assigned into the red team (coolest team indeed) also, the smallest work group composed of only 11 (amazing) people, and our work station was with single moms.
Monday (June 15th)– We woke up at 6 am to be ready and downstairs eating breakfast by 7:30 am. We ate, packed our lunch and headed out to our first work site, we went to the sweetest home indeed, a Christian single mother who works daily with other needed and single women, who has two wonderful daughters. This girl who just graduated from high school, welcomed our team to her home, the guys worked mostly outside cutting grass, cleaning the car and the drive way. While the girls helped in the house by cleaning dishes, the floor and helping pick up the rooms as well as the rest of the house. This girl who welcomed us had to be one of the sweetest teenagers I’ve ever met; she was always smiling and telling us about her life and how God has impacted her and her family. We finished up and prayed with her at the end, she was eternally grateful and welcomed us to come back any time even if it wasn’t to volunteer. We then ate lunch and headed back to the campus where we had our routine to shower eventually, go to a break through which meant that we had to attend one of the special speakers presentations, eat dinner and then be at service at the auditorium by 7:00 I believe.
Tuesday (June 16th)– Went through the same morning routine (breakfast & lunch packing), and then headed to mission #2, on this day we went to this wonderful home, a mother whose father is unfortunately ill. Her father is a Christian but due to his condition cannot attend church as regularly as he would like to, the lady (who is actually a sweetheart) believes in God but does not attend church as much as she’d wish due to caring for her family. We tidied up her lawn as well as her patio, cleaned her cars, watered the plants, planted some adorable flowers in her garden, cleaned the shutters and washed the windows. This day really, really touched, I had the chance to talk to the lady at a water break, she was telling me how amazing it was for her to see such young people doing such great things as well as sharing the word of God, she found it so inspiring that she said she was going to try to attend our church more often because she liked the vibe we brought with us. After we were done, my teammates left a little cross structure with some extra mulch, we prayed and we were on our way back to the campus. The service was held at the beach this day, an amazing message was given and a beautiful worship was held, with an amazing background of the sunset and ocean. Then we went back to campus, ate dinner and went to bed.
Wednesday (June 17th)- Morning routine, then we headed to another home where we cleaned the woman’s car and the drive way, and the guys helped set up some shelves inside the house. We prayed with her, and headed back to campus early, this day was a shorter for us but we got to the showers at the best time, no line! Then we got ready for the second round of breakouts, I attended the Global Missions one which was lead by the missions director of our church and I learned allot from it actually, I wish I could’ve stayed a little longer and asked some questions but I had to head to dinner before service. This service touched my heart the most overall, I cried for about 2 hours lol, in a good way, just reflecting on the love that God has for us as well as how worthy we are, and how much we’ve done this week.
Thursday (June 18th)- Okay, this was my favorite day, we did our daily morning routine, and then headed out to our work site, this mom had injured her leg greatly and had surgery done recently, she was a non-believer but her daughter is a believer. This little girl had to be the cutest seven year old I have ever met, she told me about a condition that she has, that impedes her to breathe at times, then, she told me about her mom and her condition as well as how important her mom is to her, oh, and her cats, oh, and how her dream is to be a vet one day. Then she told us that we were really nice and pretty, and that she wanted to help people when she gets older. While the rest worked outside, one of the girls and I went to clean the bathroom which needed some maintenance and I got allergic to the kitty litter box and started sneezing, I felt so bad, because I didn’t want my leaders or teammates to be disappointed in me, so I just stayed inside as much as I could, but the little girl came back and she got worried and told the folks outside which then got them worried, so I had to get out and get some air, but when I got a little bit better, we finished up and the bathroom looked good as new! When done with our assignments, we followed some ducks around and played with the girl for a little bit before it was time to pray, she then took a photo with us and told us that she’d like for us to come back. Then, we ate some lunch and headed to campus, then we went to dinner and then the second round of beach service. Oh, and before bed there was the coolest talent show, from dancing, to touching poems to Jesus raps!
Friday (June 19th) – The sad day! This was our last day, we did our normal routine then headed to our last work site of the year, at this house we painted some bathrooms and bedrooms, cleaned the car and the windows as well as the drive way. This was kind of a depressing day due to the fact that we were done and it was time to go back to our normal lives. We then prayed and got ready to go back to campus, dinner and our last service. We then cleaned up and went home.
So, what exactly did I learn and get out of this week?
- I saw my friend who I literally dragged to mission’s camp, sing Christian songs for the first time, cry because of the love that the Lord has for her, pray from her heart, and ask me questions and talk about Jesus.
- I met some wonderful people, I learned the true meaning of volunteering, I encountered broken families who just needed some love and some praying to re-establish and reinforce their faith.
- I learned how to see the beauty and the Lord in people although they’re broken and in need of some company or simply some assistance.
- My relationship with God, grew immensely in a matter of just a few days.
- I learned how to be thankful for the opportunity.
- I saw tears of happiness, beautiful smiles, and stronger relationships due to our actions.
- I learned how to love freely, willingly and without judgement.
- The week before, my cousin on his own gave his life to Christ, and sang and danced to Christian music after a lifetime of going to church and never even looking at the performers. I learned that God touches everyone at different times, everyone will have their special moment, and sometimes all they need is a little boost of faith.
Service
Beach Service
Check List I stated in the beginning
Check list part 2
Verse that inspired me in prayer room
By: Anissa Molloy
Faithfully for Jesus 