Short Term Mission Trips: Something You Didn’t Know About Them

DSC_0125So I just came back from a SMT (Short-term Missions Trip) that completely changed my life. I would have come back and written about it right away for you guys, but of course, it didn’t happen. Miss one week of school and voila, you’re months behind. So, here I am, finally free of homework (for the time being) and ready to share my experience.

“SMT”s are always life changing. 

Sorry to be a party pooper, but no, they are not “always” life changing. If you go on a SMT believing that, and just do nothing expecting the trip itself to change your life, you will come back sorely disappointed. An SMT pushes you out of your comfort zone and into a place where you are forced to be humble, put others above your self, and just help out. If you eagerly participate during you SMT and are glad to help out, be selfless, and get your hands dirty, chances are that when you get back these actions will have become a habit. I started thinking more of other’s needs, rather than my own, when I returned from my missions trip.

Everyone else isn’t selfless and humble like me, so they are selfish people.

This person must be really self centered and proud to say something like that! Who would even say such a thing? ………. Me. Yup. Though it seems mean to think this way, I am guilty as charged. When you go to a place where a mother fed her 8 month old twins tea because she didn’t have enough money for food, you realize how poor some people actually are. And yes, I thought I knew how poor people were before I went. I had an understanding, but I hadn’t felt what it was like to actually be with them, there in their lives, until the SMT. When I came back, and found my siblings complaining because they hadn’t had a snack after their full breakfast, I was pretty angry.

How could they be complaining when they have it all?

What took me a while to realize, was that the people back home hadn’t seen the same things I had. They didn’t understand that I had a new perspective, a new view on how much I actually had. So I went easy on my siblings after that, with the hope that one day, they too would be able to experience what I did.

Yes, my missions trip was life changing.

But it wasn’t just because I went. Like I said before, someone could go on a trip and not get anything out of it. They would have to try very hard to ignore everything and not get involved, but it is possible. SMTs are about getting out of your comfort zone, learning a new perspective, and helping those who are less fortunate.

So let me challenge you to start your own trip.

It just may change your life forever.

Lara

 

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