Origins: Middle School Mission Trip 2023
June 20, 2023 by Analise Narine
Interested in going on a mission trip as a student or volunteer this year? Join HPUMC on a community and construction trip to the Methodist Children's Home in San Jose, Costa Rica in October. Learn more and register here.
Serve on HPUMC Youth’s next mission trip during spring break next year! Look out for details on this trip to San Antonio, Texas from March 10 to 15, 2024.
What better way to kick off the summer than by helping others? This year, middle schoolers embarked on a journey to Waco, Texas from June 4 to 8, for HPUMC Youth’s Middle School Mission Trip, participating in service projects in the community with Mission Waco. Throughout this impactful week, students worshiped, formed friendships, and learned about ways to fight poverty.
As part of the theme for the trip, Origins, Rev. Chelsea Peddecord, Pastor to Youth and Their Families, led students through the Book of Exodus, telling the story of Moses and the relationship between God and the Israelites from the beginning. Pivotal Bible stories, such as the Finding of Moses, Moses and the Burning Bush, and the Parting of the Red Sea helped students understand what it means to be called by God. Students were also encouraged to examine their own “origins” and look at how God has played a part in their story and the stories of people they met on the mission trip.
Each day, students also ran a children’s camp, visited homeless shelters, and participated in poverty education experiences, all with the intention of de-stigmatizing the experience of homelessness. Through these activities, middle schoolers were able to form real relationships with this community in Waco and with each other. Students and volunteers alike were encouraged to challenge stereotypes and assumptions about those experiencing homelessness in order to see them fully as children of God.
During evening worship time, middle schoolers pondered the chaos that results when God’s creation is used for evil, and how God’s sovereignty was displayed through plagues that ultimately led to freedom for His people. Students also discussed the meaning of the desert for the Egyptians and the origins of communion in Passover. All week, memories were made, neighborhoods were served, and students learned about the power of God and the importance of a relationship with Him, then and now.
More than 25 middle school students and six volunteers took part in this trip, and as they dove further into Scripture each night, they were met with the following questions and more:
What are the gardens in your life? What helps you feel close to God?
What things in your life feel like deserts? What makes you feel distant from God?
How have you seen God show love to you? How have you seen God show love to others?
What did you learn about how you like to worship?
What did you learn about God from the Book of Exodus, Moses, and the story of the people of Israel?
Biblical knowledge and faith were deepened on the trip as students learned about what it means to have a relationship with God according to the Exodus story, ways to worship, and how to make a difference in their community on HPUMC Youth’s 2023’s Middle School Mission Trip.
