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Shawna Duriga, Youth Leader Intern to Alliance Friends reflects on the benefit of a local "mission trip"

"As I looked at the group of teens that God had brought together on the first morning of the trip, I just had to smile. I saw a spiritually immature, self-centered group of teens. However, it was my hope and prayer that the life of each person there would be changed by the end of the week."

In early July of this year I had the opportunity to lead 11 teens on a unique 5-day mission trip. The trip was unique because our group chose to stay in our hometown, Alliance, Ohio for our mission, rather than traveling to a different city or country. The trip was based on the premise that you cannot minister effectively elsewhere until you can minister in your own back yard.

Our goal as leaders was that the teens would begin to see their own city through the eyes of Christ. Through this trip we hoped to introduce the teens to the needs of their community and to encourage and enable them to continue to minister, even after the trip was completed. The teens were continually challenged to be servants, as exemplified by Christ in Phillipians 2:6-11.

During each day, the teens had the privilege of working with a different local ministry such as Bethany House, Hartville Migrant Workers Ministry, Habitat for Humanity, the Alliance City Civic Improvement Program, and our own church where we assisted some of the senior citizens of our church by doing yardwork and other odd jobs.

In the evenings we went out and visited significant locations in Alliance such as the Veterans' Memorial, and the bell tower of the United Methodist Church, which is the highest point in downtown Alliance. At each location I gave a lesson that applied not only to the place we were visiting, but also to the ministry we were doing.

The teens quickly built a reputation for themselves of being fast, willing, and cheerful workers. Through their attitudes they emulated our theme verse for the week, Phillipians 2:5, which says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." However, the energy that they showed during their work and play paled in comparison to their passion when it came time to worship the Lord. Each night we spent 2-3 hours singing songs and praying to our majestic God. It was during these times that the teens opened their hearts to God and allowed Him to begin to mold and shape them into His likeness.

By the end of the week we had completed many projects and touched many lives. But more importantly, the teens themselves had been changed. They were unified as a body with Christ as their Head. The immaturity that had been evident at the beginning of the trip had been exchanged for spiritual depth beyond their physical ages. And the selfishness had been replaced by genuine love and servanthood.

"As I watched the teens leave the church at the end of the week, I just had to smile. I knew that they were going back out into the mission field that they had been in all week long. And I knew that, because their lives had been changed, the ministry that they had done would continue, even though the trip itself was completed."