How was your mission trip? Tacoma team leader response...

I will be asked this question many times in the next few weeks. It's harder to answer than you might think. For those who are looking for the short answer, I can do it in four words: "Awesome. Best trip ever." And they will be satisfied.

But for those who've been on mission trips, or for those with whom I have a spiritual attachment, that won't suffice. So I'll have to gauge how much of their time they may want to invest.

With Leanne,my massage therapist, it was easy. I had her undivided attention (or she had mine) for almost an hour;she asked lots of good questions and heard lots of details. For those who've read my email updates (now a blog at lampcanadaandusa.blogspot.com), I only had to fill in the blanks.

But what about the dear friend who asks in passing at church, "So - how was your mission trip?" I feel the question deserves an honest, detailed answer. It really was the best trip I've been on in five years, due in part to the awesome collection of people who went, and also to the lack of crises we faced.

I could talk about how team members' hearts were touched: how Tyler committed his life to Christ after campfire devotions one night, or how Jen spent several late-night hours counseling teens who were facing some difficult personal problems. Or I could tell how our teens discovered they could give their all one day, come back to camp emotionally and physically exhausted and sore from too many piggyback rides, and do it all again the next day, with more love and patience and smiles than they might ever give at home.

I could talk about arriving at our VBS site and finding kids already waiting for us, no matter how early we were, and how they would jump up and down with excitement, calling "Jon! Alisha! Alex!" and the ever-present "Piggyback!" or "Shoulderback!"
I could talk about the older VBS teens who would initially pretend just to be checking things out but could easily be talked into sitting down and working on a bead-gluing or cross-painting craft. And in the process, engaging in friendly (and sometimes deep) conversations. Or how one of the older guys was actually talked into going up front and helping Matt lead "The Hippo Song" on the last day!

I could tell about the tears - the sobbing, actually - on our last day, when we had to say good-bye. About Jessy and her new 4-year-old friend clinging to each other, tears rolling down both their cheeks. About how David's phrase "Only 360 more days til VBS" was heard spoken by many on that last day (except the one who muttered, "360 days? Dude, that's waaaay too LONG!").

I could even tell about the conversations on the way home, about the number of teens on our last night who admitted the week had changed their lives. About their comments like, "I know now that my parents make rules because they care," and "I never knew how easy it could be to talk about my faith," and "I didn't realize what an effect it would have on my own relationship with Jesus."

If I have the time, that is what I will say. But if I have to give a short answer, it's four little words:

Awesome. Best trip ever.
 
Sue Acuna