Wednesday, July 14, 2010

She'll Be Never the Same!

Now that she's back, I can tell you about my girl's mission trip! She went on a mission trip organized by Susie Magazine, which author Susie Shellenberger started a little more than a year ago. (She had been the founding editor of Focus on the Family's Brio magazine.) If you have a teen girl, GET THIS MAGAZINE! It is incredible. My girl eagerly awaits hers each month. It has motivated her to consistently read her Bible each day and is full of great articles for Christian teen girls. (No one asked me to promote this; we're just passing along info because we like it!)

Anyway, the mission trip, called Never the Same 2010, was to Antigua, Guatemala, and my girl LOVED it; it was both spiritually impactful and lots of fun. There were around 240 teens who went, both boys and girls. They were in teams of about 40 each. The bulk of their time was spent performing a 20-minute skit called Spellbound: Toymaker and Son. Here's a summary of the story:
Toymaker and Son fashion a marvelous Toyland and place two special creations in charge. However, when left to themselves, the Prince and Princess foolishly listen to the cunning Evil Magician who instantly wreaks havoc in the Toyland. A barrier now separates Toymaker and Son from the broken toys. In order for the Spellbound toys to be liberated from the Evil Magician’s clutch, Toymaker’s Son must put aside His royalty and become a toy. The story of Creation, the entrance of sin into the world and the story of what God has done to break down the barrier of sin between Himself and his creation.

They were in Miami for 3 days for training and learning the play. (They actually pantomined the skit to a pre-recorded Spanish narrative.) In Guatemala they performed it up to 4 times/day. . .in schools, parks, orphanages, etc. My girl was the princess. I never thought being a princess would be so tough, but apparently she gets "slapped" and falls down at one point in the skit. On one of the first days, she collided with someone's foot when she went down and bent her finger back, thus breaking it! We had it x-rayed Monday and have an appointment with an orthopedic MD this afternoon. Gotta be sure it heals right so she can play the piano and viola!

In addition to the skits, they also did some service projects - painting at an orphanage, etc.

The trip was somewhat of a combo of missions and camp: each night at the hotel they had worship with music by Jaime Jam and teaching by Susie Shellenberger. Those were times of spiritual growth as well.

Here are a few pictures:

I won a Disney giveaway from Teresa at Grammy Girlfriend (Thanks, Teresa!) and my girl confiscated the Mickey Mouse I received and took it to Guatemala to give to a special little girl that she might meet. Here's the delighted child who received it:



She also had a little Chick-fil-A toy that she gave this to this little one:



This is part of the skit:



And this is overlooking Lake Atitlan:



And here's her extra little "souvenir" after we got it x-rayed!



It hasn't hampered her any, and she's already campaigning for us to let her go on the trip again next year!

As much as the trip meant to her spiritually and emotionally, my girl is still a typical teenager: One of the first things she wanted to tell us was the fun she had haggling prices at the market when they went shopping and the great bargains she got!



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10 comments:

quilly said...

I've been to Antigua! I know this was an incredible experience for your daughter. I also went as part of a mission team and I feel in love with the country and the people.

Teresa Dawn said...

What a great experience for your daughter, too bad about her hand though.

Diana Ferguson said...

What an experience!!!

Karen said...

Awesome! There's no better way to spend your money than to send your teen on a missions trip. We've sent ours many times with Teen Missions International, and I can't recommend them highly enough. I have a daughter spending the summer in Hong Kong with them this year. So glad she wants to go back!

ps. The photo of the little girl with Minnie Mouse is precious!

Joyce said...

There is just nothing like a mission trip at that age to make a real impact on a teenager's life. The kids she served too but I know for my own kids it helped to plant their feet (and hearts!) on a path before heading out to university. Glad she is home safe and sound.

Thank you for the books-they arrived this week. I was only expecting one so the second was a nice surprise. Perfect timing too because I had just finished a book. Have a nice day!

Beth said...

So glad she had a good time despite her finger. It is wonderful that our kids have the opportunities to go serve and have fun---and learn that it is 'not about them'.

Julia M. Reffner said...

Thanks for sharing, Linda. What a great experience and sounds like she learned so much. I've heard great things about Susie Shellenberger's ministry. My daughter is just 5, but definitely a ministry I will look into as she gets older.

CeeCee said...

Wow! This experience will stay with her for the rest of her life. Don't be surprised if she becomes a missionary for a couple of years. You must be a proud mama!

bp said...

What an amazing experience!

I have written an article a few months ago for Susie magazine. I read Brio as a teen and still keep in touch periodically with the pen pal they gave me though the magazine.

Carole said...

I enjoyed reading about your daughter's mission trip, Linda. She probably doesn't even realize how great the impact was yet, and who knows where it will lead? My daughter went on her first short-term trip almost 10 years ago, and now she leads a campus ministry in Germany. I miss her, but finally realized that we can't raise our children to love the Lord and then try to stop them from following where God leads.