But, when it comes down to it, after I return home from our annual Youth Group  "pilgrimage", I really want to say that we were on a "mission trip."  I want to take  The Book Of Mormon play out of my sights.   I want to define the things that happen during our 4- day experience as more than "an important assignment carried out for political, religious , or commercial purposes."  I want to say we we there for reasons known and unknown: a massively important mission. 

 

                         

                         

When you pile 15 high school teens and 7 adult chaperones into 2 Ford Econoline vans , how can you know that the mission is beyond transporting these bodies from one place to another?   It is.  It's about connections, it's about being in each other's space, it's about the long ride.  The mission is to run out of the surface things to talk about and to start conversing deeper.   The mission is to learn how to share:  your snacks, your patience, your pillow, and your heart.

 

                                            

 

When you show up at a nice restaurant for dinner with 23 people, how can you know the mission is more than feeding the group before they begin their 2 full days of hard work?   It is.  It's about budgeting money, tipping equitably, representing your church community.  It's the couple at the next table asking where all these good mannered teenagers are coming from and where are they going.  And when we answer, their response is:  "God bless them."

 

 

    

                

 

When you arrive at the homeless shelter community and begin your work on the siding of a house, or the foundation of another; how can you know the mission is more than "service work"?  It is.  It's about learning as new skill like measuring and cutting vinyl with tin snips. It's about facing fears like cramped crawl spaces under a house and spiders.  It's about not being told that you can't do it because you are a girl.

 

                  

 

When you are working at the shelter, how can you know the mission is more than the physical work?   Oh, it is. It's about those shelter children standing on the sidelines watching.  It's about putting down your hammer and playing football with them.  It's about listening as they tell you their story.  It's about piggy-back rides, jungle gyms, and eating your lunch with a child on your lap.  It's about wiping the tears from a child when you have to say goodbye.

 

 

 It's the mystery of life, the butterfly effect, the universe teaching, living in the moment, the adventure unknown.  It begins with the willingness to climb into a Ford Econoline van and be open to the journey that will follow.

 

Yours in Faith,

Robin

 

                                                                 ~Thich Naht Hahn