There are many types of mission trips. You can invest a day, weeks or months. Some mission work involves sharing your faith story; other mission work includes listening to others' story. There's lots of ways to do mission. I've heard it said, "Sow a seed, do a deed, meet a need." This phrase might best encapsulate all the ways we do mission.
A few years ago, I went on a learning mission trip. I did no getting your hands dirty work. My mission work was to listen to the stories of the people I met. Then, I was challenged to return home & share their stories. (I will have to share their stories with you some time.) It was difficult to see this as mission at the time of my travel. However, when I returned and began to share their story, I understood that teaching others was significant, meaningful work.
I've spent a day or two here or there doing the getting your hands dirty kind of mission work, but I've never been on an extended work trip. I'm really looking forward to the trip to Hiram Living and Learning Farm. It's both a learning trip and a getting your hands dirty trip. We'll work on the farm, in the fields and in the barns. We'll also learn about organic farming and the autism spectrum.
This trip could prove to be more challenging than past trips because our work doesn't end when we leave Ohio. Our hands-on work ends, but our sharing work begins. It's an easy task to tell our friends how much we enjoyed our trip and what we learned.
May you meet a need this week,
Rev. Tracy
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