Youth Leaving on Mission Trip

Dear Friends,

The first time I went on a youth mission trip with my church, I went to work at an orphanage in Reynosa, Mexico, just on the other side of the border from McAllen. Alas, that was back when the border was both more porous and less traveled. No passports were needed; things were easier. Parents only worried the usual amount.

Reynosa, I hear now, is a very different place. But when I see it on a map I still think about the awesome week I spent there. I remember some of what we did, but I remember more about the journey, the time with my youth group friends, the chance to worship and pray, the kids with whom we played and ate, and the experience of spending a week living for others' needs.

Tomorrow our youth will be headed to Copperhill, Tennessee. It is a little farther away than Reynosa (but not too much farther, because Texas, being awesome, is huge). As a parent of one of them, I worry the usual amount. But I’m also excited — excited because mission trips, wherever they are, provide a wonderful opportunity to grow in faith and love and relationships. I hope that 30 years from now, these youth will see Copperhill, Tennessee on a map (or whatever projection into their smart glasses they are using as a map) and think about the awesome week they had there and what God did in their lives that week.

Please join me this week in praying for our youth, for Fr. Logan and all the adults who are traveling with them, and for those they serve.

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew