121 World News
October.08
 
TEEN TRIP DOWN I-35
 

Houston … The largest city in Texas is home to 5,000 energy-related companies, 18 Fortune 500 firms, professional teams in every major sport—and the third largest homeless population in the United States.Youth

Student Minister Jamie Willis and his team of 32 teens and adult leaders traveled to Texas’s largest city last summer on a week-long mission to urban Houston. The group’s ministry activities during the July 20-26 mission were coordinated by the Center for Student Missions.  An organization that focuses on urban missions in major North American cities, CSM partners with existing local ministries to spread the gospel and provide aid to those in need.  The organization arranged for the 121 crew to serve alongside the Salvation Army as well as other ministries that work in the downtown Houston area.

Jamie said that the group was divided into three teams.  “Each team was assigned to two ministry sites each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon,” he stated.  Team members were delegated a wide variety of tasks:  moving furniture, cleaning, delivering meals to Youthchildren, working at a food bank, and tutoring adults in reading and math.   Teens also had opportunity to share their testimonies with the people they met.

121 students also had the opportunity to serve in several homeless shelters.  The teens’ response to the homeless pleased Jamie.  “After they had finished about an hour and a half of serving food [at one shelter], I noticed that our students were striking up conversations with the Youthhomeless people.  I was proud to see students step out of their comfort zones and take the initiative.”

YouthSome activities were designed to broaden students’ understanding of and exposure to other cultures.  “We ate at a different ethnic restaurant every night to help students learn to try new foods,” explained Jamie.  Students had the opportunity to sample the cuisine at Thai, Lebanese, Salvadoran, Vietnamese and Indian restaurants.

The youth also participated in a scavenger hunt—but it wasn’t a run-of-the-mill sort.  One of items on their list of tasks was to cash a check from a foreign country.  Jamie stated that the students had to place themselves in the shoes of a newcomer to this country and figure out how get access to money that had been sent to him from back home.  The team initially tried a local bank, which refused to cash the check.  Students eventually succeeded in completing their task by using a foreign currency exchange office.  “The activity helped the teens have compassion for some of the challenges [immigrants and international students] face,” he said.

The group also received a tour of downtown Houston, but its purpose was not merely for sight-seeing.  “We went on a two-hour prayer tour,” said Jamie.  “We learned about the needs of Houston and prayed over the city.”

For Jamie, one of the most rewarding aspects of the trip was “seeing kids loving on the kids.”  He added, “Sometimes the assignments were hard, hot and uncomfortable.  But our kids made a difference.  They can have an impact.”

::Cindy Bushman
 

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