Sunday morning we heard from three of the students over the course of the three worship services; Kelsey shared at the first worship hour about the student mission trip to Boston. Here’s what she wrote if you missed it:

Hi, I’m Kelsey and I went on the Boston missions trip this summer. The first thing we did was camp out in the woods at Gordon College for two days. This was an interesting experience. First of all the closest thing we had to a shower was a lake so we all smelled wonderful after that. But the whole point of camping was to do different team activities and high ropes courses that tied into our motto for the week, which was adventurously expectant. This motto helped me throughout the whole trip because multiple times I was put out of my comfort zone so it was good to have “adventurously expectant” in the back of my mind.

Next we arrived at The Boston Project, which is an organization in a little town called Dorchester. Basically it is a bunch of volunteers doing service projects for people around the area of Dorchester. It was hot, the days were long, and it was hard work. But I just kept remembering adventurously expectant. Before I signed up for Boston I was signed up for the Maine trip. There was no doubt in my mind that Maine was were I wanted to be and where God wanted me to be. Then Pastor Matthew called me and told me there wasn’t enough room on the trip and I was heartbroken. It was frustrating that I was being told I couldn’t go to the place where I thought I needed to be. I prayed about everything a lot and I finally came to the decision that I wanted to go to Boston. The spiritual high that you get after coming off of a missions trip is something that I couldn’t go a year without having so I signed up for Boston.

To be honest I went into that trip half-heartedly. I was confused because I thought Maine was where God wanted me to be. The minute I met the volunteers for the Boston Project something clicked. They were all so happy and they all had a huge heart for God. I grew especially close to two of the girls, Loni and Tyler. These two girls changed my life. I only knew them for about five days and they left a life long impression on my heart. They listened to what I was struggling with and told me exactly what I needed to hear. If it wasn’t for these two girls I would not be where I am today in my walk with God. Looking back on the whole experience now I realized that before I went to Boston I felt alone. I felt like no one understood my life and no one was with me. But I realize now that God was with me the whole time. He saw me struggling and he knew that Boston was the way to fix it.

My favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” It’s amazing to me that even though I wanted to go to Maine God had plans for me. Whenever I struggle now I know that I’m never alone. It’s comforting and if it weren’t for me going on the Boston missions trip I would still be lost. Boston changed my life forever.