Connections

"What I got the most on mission trip was the relationships.  I liked the co-mingling (of churches) aspect and it was awesome how fast you can bond with people in only a weeks time and how God's love spread through us to make a bond of understanding and compassion to help a person in need and spiritually grow united in service.....BOOM, I NAILED IT."

     The above quote is not my words.  They belong to John Norton, who is going to be a Senior in High School this year.  This was his text messaged response when I asked the youth what they got out of Mission Trip this year.  John and his brother Joe went on the CTCYM Mission Trip in June as well as a mission trip to the Bahamas just over a week ago.  What a message.  Two week long mission trips in one summer for them.
     What reminded we of this quote was when Paul mentioned on Sunday how he loves how the Methodist Church is connected.  John and Joe are connected to two churches which enabled them to go on two mission trips.
     Every year on Mission Trip AUMC gets connected with other churches, which is just one of the things I love about CTCYM.  We have built a relationship with those churches.  In fact we are crashing on the floor at one of those churches this weekend on our end of summer trip and then worshiping with them on Sunday morning.
     It's always nice to see how quickly a group of youth and adults can connect when they have the same purpose in mind, which in this case was to SERVE others.  I am glad there are youth who are so aware and so willing to help others when they see a need for it.  I hope and pray that we all of us continue to show compassion and understanding and join to serve others.

grace&peace
kevin