Mission trips help everyone involved
Jade P. Hamdan, Writer
September 1, 2010
Filed under Out & About, Top Stories
Through mission trips, Catawba students and staff throughout the years have helped spread the word about God and have also helped countries rebuild themselves after natural disasters. Freshman Anna Christopher took a week out of her summer to go to Ethiopia while Professor Paul Baker spent a month in Cambodia with children in orphanages.
“I went to a Methodist church with my parents and I started to get tired of the same thing over again and over again. My sister went to Forest Pointe Undenominational Church, in Belmont North Carolina. I was going through a bad time with family and school so I decided to go to church with her. The first Sunday I went there they mentioned the trip and it was like God told me that was where I needed to be,” said Christopher.
Forest Pointe, ran the missionary trip through a company called SIM Sports Friends. They’re motive was to teach young boys between the ages of 12 and 18, about God and help them develop good morals through sports.
Baker also ran his missionary trips through church.
“I’ve been involved with going on foreign missions since 1993. I’ve been to Cambodia eight times, the Dominican Republic three times and Russia ten times. I‘ve lead all of those to Cambodia and five of the mission trips to Russia. So I was in charge of getting air line tickets, translators and all of that,” said Baker
Unlike Baker, Christopher‘s trip to Ethiopia was her first missionary trip out of the country.
“[We the foreigners were called the ‘Farengies’] Then you had the ‘Abashas’ who were native Ethiopians, who were the camp’s counselors. Then there were the leaders who were also Abashas. Every leader was from a different part of Ethiopia and they worked with about six boys a week. The leaders and the Abashas were the ones who taught about Jesus because we could not speak the native language, so we, the Farengies, showed them God’s love, through playing with them and teaching them new things” said Christopher.
Christopher personally tried to learn the language herself so that she could talk to the campers. She would eat dinner with them and try to communicate with them the best she could to show them that she cared. Participating in mission trips generally helps everyone who is involved.
“I‘ve been to New Orleans and a few other mission trips. I love helping people and making others happy. When you are in Ethiopia no one has a lot but they will give their neighbor the clothes off their back. One of the kids in my group gave another camper food off of his plate even though he was still hungry. People in the U.S. do not always do that. That alone made me realize what true love is,” Christopher said.
Baker said that he realized the love and affection the children of Cambodia want.
“I learned that the orphans are desperate for people to show them that they care. The people who run the orphanages run them because it’s the right thing to but also because they’re Buddhists, meaning they think that the children are there because something negative happened to them in a previous life. So the orphans want to experience unconditional love because they don’t always get it.
Once Christopher got back home she was able to realize more in depth how important relationships are.
She said “I realized that I had to fix past relationships and build new ones. When you are there you feel like a whole new person. The entire time I was in Ethiopia, I had phone reception but I didn‘t want to use my phone, nor did I use a mirror. People there don‘t care what you look like, the love over there is different than the love we have back in the U.S.”
Both Christopher and Baker feel that their lives have changed drastically after their mission trips.
“I can tell by the way I treat people that I have changed. I‘m a lot closer to God and I put other people first. I no longer think twice about helping someone else.”
As for Baker he adopted his son from Europe whom is now 23 years old.
Christopher then added that 35 out of 48 of the young men converted to Christianity after the trip.
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Anna is quite a remarkable young lady. She has been Blessed with an enormous capacity process others feelings and a heart that pours out genuine Love. Her ” Mission Trip ” for the Lord is far from over. It’s only just begun ! ” Joy is a net by which you can catch many souls ” This describes Anna’s Gift. I for one will never forget sharing this part of her journey with her. Thank You Anna, just for being You !
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Hey, Jade! All of us here in Newspaper just saw this and we are so proud of you! This is so cool, Miss Jade P. Hamdan! Mrs. Abell says, “You rock!” We’re missing you and everyone else here, hope Catawba is awesome. You have to visit us here if you get the chance; Frank already stopped by to see Mrs. Abell. Ah, this is awesome! (I know I already said this but I don’t care.)
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