Over the last couple of weeks, I've shared stories from my recent mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico. Several of you shared experiences from your own mission trips. Here they are:

My dad is a pastor. When I was 10, he took me to Nauru and Kiribati, two island nations in the Pacific Ocean. While we were there, we decided to go to one of the remote islands, to do some preaching to the people in the villages there. That's where I met Noah, a girl about my age. We became friends, playing together, swimming in the ocean, eating together, and meeting each other's families. When I left, she gave me her favorite necklace. I'm 16 now, and I still have it. I still remember Noah's smile.

The main thing I learned from that trip is that friendship and love overcome language barriers. Sometimes, if you don't have words, love will do.
—Johanna

This summer, I was part of a group of 40 teens who left our hometown in South Carolina to go on a mission trip to New York City.

At first, I desperately needed an attitude adjustment. Part of our work was to help a church by cleaning classrooms in the high school building where the church meets. As I scraped gum off the bottom of desk after desk, my feet ached. I hated inhaling the smell of the solvent I was using to soften the gum. I also hated being so sweaty.

When I handed out tracts, I was really nervous. So nervous that I dropped my tracts—they went flying everywhere—and I had to try to pick them all up. I didn't have any amazing stories about great conversations with nonbelievers. I couldn't even hand out all of my tracts without help. I wondered what I'd gotten myself into by going on this trip. I couldn't believe I'd raised money and actually paid for this experience.

It was early in our trip, but I was already physically and emotionally exhausted. I wondered how I was going to make it through the next four days.

Later that night, I remembered Jonah 4:11, where God tells Jonah that he cares about the people of Nineveh—the people Jonah's been sent to warn about God's judgment. I knew God cared about the people I'd been sent to serve, too. So I made a conscious effort to pray for patience and understanding for the rest of the trip. That way, I would be able to truly focus on serving the people I met.

Of course, my good attitude didn't end complications. I was still tired and uncomfortable sometimes. But looking back, I know the good times outweighed the bad. And as we rode back to South Carolina, I really felt the trip had been worth it.
—Tenell

In July, I spent nine days in Ghana, Africa. My team and I saw God bring together all of the details we needed to coordinate our travel to Ghana. We had a lot of problems—flights were cancelled and our luggage was lost. We needed visas for unexpected layovers.

But not only did we eventually make it to Ghana, we also got to enjoy stops in Frankfurt, Germany, and Beirut, Lebanon. Because of the flight problems, our airline paid for beautiful hotel rooms and several meals. And many of the things that had been problems turned out to be blessings.

Eventually, we made it to Nkwanta, a district in Eastern Ghana. Our team painted a school, prayed for sick babies in the hospital and ran a Vacation Bible School for over 300 kids. We spent a day in an orphanage, singing, playing with kids, and teaching them Bible stories and verses. It was really fun.

During our last day in Ghana, we went to Kakum National Park where we walked on bridges in the canopy of the rainforest. We also went to a slave castle, where Africans were held before being shipped to America as slaves. That was sad. We also got to eat some traditional Ghanian food. I even ate snails.

The whole trip really strengthened my faith, because I learned that God is always going to take care of me, supply what I need, and sometimes even more than I need. I also learned that God has a plan for everything, and he knows what is going to happen.
—Kimberlie

I went to Tijuana, Mexico, with my church this June, and it was incredible. We helped build a house for a family there.

All week we'd been praying that the language barrier would be broken down, and that we could show Christ's love to these people through more than building. One night, one of the youth pastors shared something that happened to him during a recent trip to Gigante (a large store similar to Wal-Mart) with another group member. A man came up to them and asked, in broken English, if they were Christians. They talked for a while about Jesus, prayed with him right in front of the dog food aisle, and the man became a Christian!

I prayed that God would give me an opportunity to share my faith, too. Later, during a construction break, my team prayed for Francisco, a man who wanted a relationship with Christ. He spoke with such passion. Our leader started praying for him, but Francisco was so bold and excited that he began to pray for himself instead. He was crying with joy. You could totally feel God's presence there. We all reached out our hands toward him and prayed one big prayer together.

Later, on another trip to Gigante, We saw a girl lying on the ground, unconscious. Her wrist appeared to be broken. The nurse on our team was able to give her medical care, helping her regain consciousness, making a splint for her wrist and calling an ambulance. I think it's really amazing how God used our team in that situation.

Toward the end of the week, we had amazing worship, and several people were baptized. We danced to worship music, and whenever someone was baptized, we shouted the number out in Spanish. Eight people were baptized, and it was like an incredible party. I felt humbled by the way God used us. I realized that he's so much bigger than we can imagine. And the worship made me feel a step closer to God.
—Heather

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