41: Voices of the Future: HOPE Youth Students on Finding Community Through Summer Mission Trips

Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope.

Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online.

We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others.

Welcome to Hope.

Hello listener, my name is Ashley Black, and today I am bringing you a special episode of the Meet Hope podcast.

This is the third in a series of installments we've done over the summer where we've gotten to hear from some of the youngest members of our Hope community, and today we're hearing from some students who went on Hope Youth Ministry's mission trip this past summer.

These are all middle school students who went on a trip to Logan, west Virginia, under the leadership of our amazing youth director, jason Shin, and so we hope that you enjoy hearing from them and hearing about what their trip was like and how they encountered God and why maybe your student, or even you, should go on a trip.

Let's start by can you tell us your name and what grade you're going into?

I'm Luke.

I'm going into ninth grade.

Okay, where do you go to?

school Eastern, so you went on a mission trip this summer with Hope Youth.

Yeah, yeah.

And you went on the middle school trip.

Mm-hmm, where did you guys go?

We went to Logan, West Virginia.

Have you ever been to West Virginia before?

No, okay, how was the drive?

getting there.

It was nice.

I talked with a bunch of people and you really bonded with them.

That's awesome.

So this was your first trip, mm-hmm, how was your?

experience.

It was really good.

I liked serving the food to the homeless and I liked talking with all the other people.

Tell us your name and what grade you're going into.

My name is Emma and I'm going into seventh grade, okay.

And you went on the middle school mission trip this year?

Yes, and tell me where you guys went.

We went to Logan, West Virginia.

Have you ever been to West Virginia?

No, I haven't.

How was the drive?

Did you drive there in one day?

Was it easy to get to?

Yeah, it was one day.

It was pretty easy.

Did you have to leave early in the?

morning.

It wasn't too early for me, because when we go on vacations we leave at 2am.

Okay, but it's still early to leave at 6am.

Yeah, did you get to sleep?

Did you sleep on your ride or were you awake and talking to people?

We switched vans and I slept in one van and then we go to another van and I talk with my friends and stuff that's good.

So this was your first trip.

Were you excited?

Were you nervous?

How did you feel about going?

I was excited.

I was a little nervous at first because I didn't know how it would be like.

Tell us your name and how old you are.

I am Elijah Cooper and I am 13 years old.

What grade are you in Elijah?

I'm in eighth grade.

I'm in eighth grade, you're going into eighth grade and have you liked middle school so far?

I think it was amazing what's been your favorite part.

I would say hanging out with my friends.

It doesn't really matter what class I'm in, it's always good to hang out with my friends.

You went on the mission trip this past summer.

Yep, when was it?

Do you remember generally when it was?

I think it was the end of July.

It was recent, right?

You just got back.

Yeah, you got covered.

Are you still tired?

Yes.

Were you up late a lot.

I was up late a lot, yes.

Why did you go on this year's mission trip?

I went on this year's mission trip because I enjoy hanging out with my friends.

I also don't want to miss a mission trip so I can get the Hall of Fame Award.

It's a really important thing to me, being an accomplishment in my life.

Can you tell us what that award is, because most people that aren't in Youth Minister you don't know what you're talking about.

The award is if you go on every single mission trip from sixth grade all the way to senior year, then on that senior year mission trip you get a Hall of Fame Award for Mission Trips.

That's cool.

So they acknowledge that you've gone on every single one, that you can go on Both like a typical day, like when you were there.

Wake up, go down, eat breakfast, do a little bit of work, come up and then eat lunch and then usually, like some days we fed the homeless, some days we did more work and yeah, and then after dinner we just hung out.

What was your favorite part of a day on a trip?

The hanging out and having fun.

Yeah, with friends.

Yeah.

What was your favorite service work that you got to do?

I liked feeding the homeless a lot.

And what was that like?

How did you guys do that?

Well, there were two days.

The first day we went and like gave them pasta, and that was really cool.

And then the second day we gave free hot dogs out, and that was also really cool.

And I liked the hot dog because I held up a sign and it was really cool.

And I liked bringing them in and it was fun.

You liked bringing who and you liked bringing people into it.

Yeah, the people went to eat, and so did you get to.

Have you ever done anything like that before?

No, like serving people who are in need of food.

No, I haven't, which was really cool.

Were you nervous at all.

A little yeah, but not that nervous.

Would you do it again?

Yeah, I would do it again.

What is your favorite part of going on trips?

My favorite part is like free time, because that's the time when you get to like explore the area and see what the best thing you can do at the past mission trip was it was air hockey.

Yeah, my friends.

I just enjoyed playing air hockey or card games and really just doing whatever.

Yeah, and you feel like you get a lot more free time with friends on a trip.

Like, yeah, then you would during your week at home.

Yeah, because I'm like more connected and it's not always something you have to schedule.

You're just there and you just say let's go play air hockey.

Is there anything else on this trip that you really stood out to you?

I would say I would say Um, working, because in work you would just have a system and it would be really cool to do really like or we served the homeless twice out of our three times that we served and it was.

It was pretty fun because you got to like go and experience, oh like.

You got to get together with the community.

Yeah, logan, west Virginia.

You got to like really feel like you're part of the community.

That's awesome, so you felt like you actually got to know who you were serving.

Yeah, that's awesome.

What was your favorite part of the trip?

That's a hard one.

There's a lot of good, okay, tell them, tell me, all of them.

I really liked hanging out with all the people there.

They're really fun people and I really liked like serving the food.

It was like yeah, so serving food, that was like a big service project you guys did while you were there.

You served people in the community of Logan.

Did you do that every day, or more than one day?

Well, we did like serving food and we helped this one lady that was in a different town with our house, like there were different groups.

One got to like rebuild like this stairs or something my group had to paint, and One like loaded a bunch of bags into a truck.

Okay yeah, there was also like a thrift store that we went through.

That was at the bottom of the place that we all went, that we had Like go through all the clothes.

So you got to help in a bunch of different like with a bunch of different local Places that needed help.

Yeah, that's cool.

Have you ever done any projects like that before?

I Don't think so.

Yeah, what was?

it like to do some of these things for the first time.

It was really good.

It made me feel like a good person and it made me feel like closer to God.

What do you think going on these trips teaches us about how to be more like Jesus?

It teaches us to be humble like him, and teaches us to know what to do when you're serving, how to serve, how to connect with people and Really like how to be in the moment with God.

I love that, because when you're on this trip you guys don't have any leg.

The goal is to kind of reduce distractions, right, so you can't have, like a phone or a video game or electronic running you yeah, um, but I would say it's way easier than at home.

It's definitely harder to go without electronics at home because there's always something for you to do and you're never Bored yeah with it.

That's awesome.

Is there anything that you feel like you learned about yourself or about God that you like want to remember the rest of this year?

I did learn some.

I learned that people are so grateful for what they have, even though they have so little, and it really makes me feel like, oh, maybe I shouldn't be this snobby about the way I have things like I really need to be really grateful and think about others, of what they have, and Really think about God, of what he gave me as a gift that I couldn't have, but I do have.

Is there anything?

Is there anything that you feel like you took away from this year's trip, like something you learned or something that you like Discovered about yourself, or about God or about serving others that you would like want to keep with you the rest of the year?

I learned that People who have God in them are very grateful and they they know that they're gonna be okay because they're with God and they love God and they trust and they trust in him and that gives them encouragement when things are harder.

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

So this was your first trip which you said.

What would you say to someone if they're thinking about going on a trip?

How would you encourage them to help them like, feel like they should go?

Don't, don't be scared, it's, it's Hang out with other people, it's a lot of fun and yeah, yeah, just give it a try, just give it a try.

Yeah, so why do you think if someone was Like your age and they're thinking about maybe going on a trip and they're, they're still like thinking about it, why?

Why do you think you should encourage them to go?

I would encourage them to go, because it's the best chance to hang out with your friends and the best chance to really just get away from anything bad that's happening and just Go go on a new path.

Awesome life.

Well, thank you.

I just.

What would you tell someone if they were thinking about going on a trip for their first time?

I'd say definitely go.

It's a really good opportunity and you would definitely grow your relationship with God and you get to meet new people, you get to do more things and it's just really good.

Along with asking some students about their experiences, we also got together with an adult leader who is also the parent of one of our students, elijah, who you heard from on this episode.

Next you'll hear from Josh Cooper, who shares about his experience as an adult leader on mission trips.

So, josh, you were Elijah's dad.

You guys are here together yes, we are, and you went on the trip together.

Yes, we did.

So why do you go on trips, a student trips?

I love to go on student trips.

They are a break from my daily routine.

That's one number two.

I like to keep my eyes on him and my other son as well.

So, when, whenever they go on trips, I want to make sure I'm there.

Well, because I don't know.

I'm the dad and I feel like that's part of my job.

I want to be there and I want to see what they get to experience, and I want to experience it as well.

So it's good for me, it's good for them.

What's your favorite part besides keeping an eye on your kids?

Do you have a favorite part of going on these trips?

The service, of course, is great, the new opportunities.

I've never been, for example, to West Virginia.

It was just trees and trees and trees.

It was beautiful to see God's creation.

Yeah, yeah, it's always cool these trips you get a chance to.

I Think it's always interesting to think about that.

You go to another state, like still in the same like Country, like we're still in the United States, but yes the difference in like the what it looks like.

So there's so many more trees if it's in the mountains or even like the being in a different community of people and how that's a little different than the community I'm used to being in, and absolutely.

What, so you go as a volunteer leader.

Yes so Different from a student?

What do you think being there as an adult?

What does it teach you about Serving like Jesus or being like Jesus?

Well, number one you are separated from your family.

You are separated from the things you have every day.

All the comforts of home are not there, and so you are on someone else's time frame, you're following someone else's plan, and I mean that's good.

It's good to break your routine, it's good to get away, it's good to see your children in the new light, and others people's children as well, and so you, all of you, are experiencing this together.

So we're in this, this middle school, and so it's new for all of us, completely different.

We got to meet a new pastor, pastor Dan, and pastor Debbie who owned the nonprofit, and we get to be in this new town and see different people.

So all the experiences are different and and what?

But at the same time, people are people, no matter where you go, and so you get to really spend time serving away from the TV, away from the routine of life, away from the traffic down in West Virginia, away from all the buildings that I'm used to seeing.

So it's really a time to not just break your routine and not just hang out, like Elijah said, with your friends, but it's also a time for you to spend.

It's also an opportunity for you to spend time with God.

And so this particular trip you guys were in Logan, West Virginia.

Is there anything you felt like the people of Logan, West Virginia taught you or taught the team on this trip?

Well, definitely taught the team.

I don't think Elijah has spent a lot of time around those who are homeless, and many of the kids there talked about the experiences being something unique, and so you know when.

Sometimes, when you're home, the service that we do is not always as it's not as intense.

It's not that there's a word that I'm looking for immersion.

We are not, at home, always as immersed in service as when we go away into a place, into an environment that's not ours.

And so I always remind Elijah and the other leaders we are not in our hood, this is someone else's hood, so it's different.

The way people think and act and the rules of this environment are just completely different, and so it's a good thing, because we are immersed in service so that it taught it taught all of us, I think, a lot, especially those who had never experienced what it's like to not just serve the homeless, where they drive into your church and drive out, or come to your church and pick up food and leave.

This was where we set out a table, the food we cooked and prepared and set the food out, and they came up and we serve them one plate at a time.

That's a different experience.

Yeah, so you spend a longer amount of time with people.

You get to know them in a different way.

Completely.

We are sharing space together.

It's really great.

So why, if there was someone, an adult, who was thinking about going and serving on a student trip as a volunteer or maybe their parent and their kid they were thinking about sending their kid.

Why would you encourage them to give this a try?

Well, there's a joy in having shared experiences with your children.

There's a joy in having shared experiences with the young people of the church, with the other youth leaders.

I just saw one of the youth leaders at the end of service today and so we got to talk a little bit about our experience, that we remembered and things we saw and, as Jason was giving the message this morning and talking about his some of one of his experiences in Virginia I can remember and relate.

So it's a connection that you have because I am.

It's an investment that I've made into.

Hope Church, into my children, into other people's children, and so it's a valuable experience to break up the routine.

I will confess that I resisted the morning before the day before the day of.

I'm thinking, oh man, I'm going to fall behind in my work schedule.

There's grass I got to cut, there's things that I got to do and I'm breaking my routine.

And I resisted in that moment, in those moments, just before I go.

But once I get there, and even on my way back, I'm so thankful for the experience that I've had.

Now there's no way, had I knock on, there's no way that I can know what I would have missed out on.

The only way for me to know what I've missed out on is for me to actually go and experience it and then I can see it from that perspective.

That's awesome.

Thanks, josh.

Absolutely.

Thanks for joining in today and being a part of the Meet Hope podcast community.

If this episode or other episodes that you've listened to have brought you encouragement and joy, we encourage you to share them with a friend, share them on your social media or even head into Apple podcasts and give us a positive rating.

All of those things help us to reach even more people, to encourage them to hear stories of hope and faith in their lives.

If there is something on this episode that you really related to and you're interested in getting involved in youth ministry, you can reach out to Jason Shin, our youth director.

His email is Jason at meethopeorg.

Or you can learn more about Hope Youth Ministry on our website at meethopeorg slash youth.

We'll link both of those things in our show notes, and we just wanted to say thanks again for listening and we're excited for what's coming up this fall, and so until next week.

We hope you have a great day.

Thanks for being a part of the Hope community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope.

If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand.

You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.