Short Term Mission Trip Research Paper

Volunteering at a community health center in my hometown, Santiago de la Frontera in El Salvador changed my perspective on choices. Growing up, I thought that people chose to not brush their teeth. At the age of seven, I immigrated to the USA and didn't have a chance to understand that concept in El Salvador. I went back last summer and assisted an orthodontist. This opened my eyes to realize that some families have to choose between a tooth paste and food. In life, we are not given the same advantages and therefor, we can not make the same choices.

After landing in Mexico and meeting up with the people I would be working with during a three-day mission trip, we were crammed into a bus and spent the next two hours getting to know each other. We were there to build homes for a multitude of families in the town of Xochimilco, Mexico. When we arrived late in the afternoon, we were led to an empty school where we would spend our nights. Sleeping on the floor next to school lockers with bugs buzzing in my ears in a country I did not know well was an interesting experience to say the least—but that was just the beginning. At dawn, the real work began and so did a change in my thinking that had a dramatic effect on my perspectives about life.

Throughout the semester we have discussed how the homeless survive economically and the different ways they gain income such as, panhandling, becoming vendors who sell magazines, books and CD’S. Jerry and Matthew squeegeed to gain an income. This was depicted realistically because homeless people hustle to find ways to make money. They also faced challenges squeegeeing such as being called bums or being stopped by the police. Even in the face of these challenges they continued to work together and make a living. This shows that though their circumstances are different they are people just like us trying to survive. However, people battle with trying to understand whether or not the homeless are worthy or unworthy of the public’s help. However, this film

Homelessness exists as a prominent issue that plagues society in various ways. It brings about hardship and controversy as individuals struggle to survive on a daily basis. Additionally, this complication tears families apart and ostracizes individuals from a society where they once belonged. A specific problem regarding homelessness consists of lack of interest from bystanders; some of these spectators refuse to even acknowledge homeless individuals sitting at their feet. As homeless people live their lives on street-corners, the more fortunate members of society choose to engulf themselves in their personal problems alone. Displayed by their clothing and accessories, most of these individuals possess the ability to help in some way;

An experience that has made a profound impact on my life was when I directed and completed a community service project to fulfill a requirement for the Eagle Scout Award in the Boy Scouts of America. In order to competently act as coordinator for this service project, I had to develop both my interpersonal communication and leadership capabilities to a proficient level. Besides improving my professional skills, this project gave me the opportunity gain hands on experience working with groups of people who had varying skill levels. So, not only did these skills allow me to complete the project successfully, they have also proven incredibly useful throughout my academic career.

One of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had was the mission trip I took to Costa Rica earlier this summer. Being able to be immersed in the culture of such a happy country while being able to help a family get a home changed my life forever. Meeting a family that had nothing but was so willing to share the little amount they had was such a humbling experience. Everyone we encountered on the trip was so nice and giving.The most important lessons I learned from this trip is that things I have taken for granted my entire life seem like a luxury to other people. Having a floor without any holes was something that I was just used to and i never thought that was something that could bring a family to tears from gratitude. Handing the keys

When I see someone experiencing homelessness, I questioned what led them to be homelessness. I questioned how come the most of country in the world have people experiencing homelessness. I remembered walking around downtown last summer, I was admiring how beautiful the city of Chicago is with its giant buildings, but when I noticed homeless people sleeping outside those buildings just made me question why people are sleeping outside those buildings. I thought it was just unfair in that purpose.

In tenth grade I was enrolled in conformation class at my parish church. This was the first time I had really started getting involved with my Church parish. The big event everyone was talking about for the upcoming summer was the mission trip to Jamaica. My first thoughts about this trip were to stay away from it. I found myself not wanting to get involved with a huge event like this. Leaving the United States is something that I have never done before. A whole week away from home is something that scared me at the time. I kept it in the back of my head throughout the year and the time came to make my decision. The decision I made would, without me realizing it, change my life forever. My trip to Jamaica would teach me just how blessed I am.

In the fall of 2014 I was presented with the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Zambia. We had a few meetings about this trip and interest grew. Next thing I knew it was March of 2015 and I was headed off to Haiti. Plans had changed but I could never have imagined what great impact this would have on my life.

My topic or experience that reveals something about who I am is the mission trip I became a part of from June 18, 2017 to June 24, 2017 when my church went to Cannon Falls through Group Missions. During this mission trip, I have met some amazing people, made some great memories, and more importantly, formed a closer relationship with God. Before the trip, my relationship with God has just been at a plateau with me barely reading his word, praying from time to time, and just having a relationship with Him as if we were just acquaintances. During the trip, I met other people from different states: Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and where I am from, Illinois. I made lots of connections with other Christians which helped with me being antisocial,

Homelessness is one of the most misunderstood social constructs. The familiarity of homelessness to many American citizens is seeing a scruffy old guy on the side of the street asking for money (Duncan 1), yet the construct is much deeper than that. We associate old, bearded, white guys with homelessness because that is what we see every time we turn our televisions on, or read some heartwarming article about a homeless man getting another chance, yet we don’t wrap our minds around the fact that whole families are homeless too. Many children, moms, and fathers reach a point where they cannot sustain the cost of

Very often, students go on mission trips to different states and countries to do good work and positively affect communities. Recently, I went on a mission trip for a week to an Appalachian area called Joppa mountain where we ran a camp for underprivileged kids while many of their parents went to work in tomato fields. The experience opened my eyes to how difficult it is for working immigrants who come to America to make a better life for their children. While we spent money and resources to travel to Tennessee, I realized many children are in need of help in my own city, specifically needy communities that live in the inner city and struggle with raising their children and breaking the poverty cycle. Instead of going on multiple mission trips

On one sunny day, I was helping my mom doing chores when she pulled me over to talk to me about something important. I was confused why my mom would want to me about something important, but I listened to what she said and followed her. What she told me was what her life was like back in Vietnam. She did not have much of an education. Instead, she stayed home with her mom to sell Vietnamese yogurt every day for a living. Since I was born in America, I never thought of life was like for others in developing countries like Vietnam. Hearing from my mom's experience, it stuck with me. I learned the importance of being grateful for what I have since they are a lot of people who do not have what we have in America and it made me want to help those who are in need. I was also inspired to do whatever I

A place that’s really important to me from my childhood would have to be Quick Trip, or as it’s commonly abbreviated, QT. It was important to me because when my friends and I would hang out we would always talk to the workers and get soda. I know it seems weird that an 18 year old girl would say that her favorite place to hang out or a place that meant a lot to her was a gas station, but I didn’t have a very good home life in my in my adolescence, so I took every excuse to stay out of the house. QT’s main colors are red, black, and white. Their uniform, not unlike Target’s, is a red polo shirt with khaki pants. When you first walk in, the cashier’s station is normally on the right across from the candy bar shelves. Behind the cashiers station

Since a young age I have been passionate about ministry, and I have seen God place experiences in my life such as going on mission trips, leading a youth group and working with children. Now I hope to see God continue to form my experience to disciple others and understand their culture as I anticipate going into the mission field one day. I anticipate attending Moody to assist me in achieving a foundational background to nurture, love and disciple people through their spiritual walk in a tangible way that is understood. I believe Moody will help me reach this goal by giving me a biblical education to understand not just the Bible, but people as well as I teach and gain experience to fulfill God’s plan in my life for His glory. As Romans 12:3-8