I have worked with Mission Adventures for five years now and being slightly obtuse at times I lose sight of the reason behind what I’m doing. I got involved with MA because of it’s huge impact on me when I did three trips over the span of a year with my church youth group, and I wanted to have that impact on other teens. For me, the main point of MA has been showing students (and sometimes even their leaders) that the Christian faith must inform every aspect of our lives, not just how we spend our Sunday mornings (or evenings for us unconventional types).
The last team we hosted this year was from Nanaimo, BC. They wanted to do our MA program because they are trying to start up some ministries back home that are similar to some of the things we do here in Winnipeg. That motivation, coupled with this years theme, made for a good program indeed.
As I have said before our ministry “Roses to Prostitutes” is often one of the most impacting parts of the trip for our teams, and it certainly was so for this last one as well. Since I am moving on from YWAM at the end of August, this was my last time leading this outreach. It was also one of those times when I’m pretty sure I was as impacted by the experience as was the team. However, it wasn’t the same thing about the outreach that the team was impacted by.
What impacted me was how after spending a couple hours driving around Winnipeg in the middle of the night, the team just wanted to get more roses and keep going. Their compassion for the girls we met was so incredible to see. I struggle a lot with cynicism and seeing these teens just geared up to go and show love to people in spite of being really tired and all else really got to me. After debriefing the outreach I went to get my stuff together before leaving the church for the walk home. I had to sit down and take a few deep breaths in order to prevent myself from just bursting into tears.
Just being able to witness that, young Christians empowered and given hands and feet to their faith, reestablishes the importance of Mission Adventures for me. I am extremely grateful for the time that I spent as a part of Mission Adventures and I hope and pray that it continues on at full force for years and years to come.