My dad used to be a youth pastor (he's now an executive pastor which just means he takes care of a lot of behind the scenes stuff) and he used to do missions trips into Tijuana Mexico a lot. I was always really curious about these trips and he would tell me stories about the 12 foot by 12 foot houses his youth group kids would build for families of up to ten people. That was when I was pretty young, but since then the stories have taken on a lot more meaning. My heart breaks for people who are suffering not only from poverty and hunger but also a spiritual hunger – as much as we can meet people's physical needs, their most important one is their need for Jesus.

   I went on a missions trip last summer to the West Coast and Alaska that was designed to bring people closer to Christ. And while this was accomplished and it's certainly a worthy goal, I felt somewhat unfulfilled by the fact that people still had obvious physical needs that we weren't given the chance to aid. I believe that a missions trip should meet both aspects of spiritual and physical. I'm not saying that if a missions trip doesn't do both it's not a good one at all because we still definitely saw God work through us in California and everywhere, but it seems like so much more could be accomplished if trips went with that dual mentality.

   Anyways so I was looking for a missions trip for this summer because I really felt God was calling me to use my time for him. I looked at a few other trips, one to Guatemala and another to Costa Rica, and I felt that God was ultimately calling me to this one. I'm really excited to see what He can do through us this summer!