Trip brings joy, changes life forever

by Laura Varberg

I cannot express to you in words the experience that I personally had on the mission trip in Jamaica. But I will try to summarize some key people and places that changed my life forever.

My family decided to go on the mission trip to Jamaica together, which helped a lot because it was my first time traveling to a different country. When my parents told me that we were going on the trip I was so excited and nervous at the same time! I knew that it was a mission trip involving children, but I didn’t think I would become so attached and fall in love with every child that I met. All of the kids I met changed me in so many ways, from the way that I think to how I love.

For three days we volunteered with an orphanage called West Haven, which is specifically for children with disabilities. When we arrived all of the children immediately came up to you and took your hand. They didn’t know if you were good at sports, had a lot of friends, or made bad decisions at home, and they didn’t care what type of person you were. They just wanted to be with you all the time, and to see that happen in front of your eyes is breath taking. It made you love them in a way that you could never have imagined until you experienced it.

And I saw God in every way in a girl named Carrianne. She could sing until she ran out of songs, which rarely happened. We brought the West Haven kids to a Faith Chapel right up the hill from the orphanage. This meant pushing their wheelchairs and helping them to get to church. To see all of these kids get dressed up and ready to go to church to praise the Lord was incredible. I had the opportunity to take Carrianne, and she sang her favorite song “Jesus Loves Me.” She was so happy and excited to sing it for all of us. When she was singing, I knew she really knew what she was singing and that it meant a lot to her. That was the third time she sang to me and the third time that she brought tears to my eyes.  To hear her sing is like God giving you a big hug, it’s something that you can’t just read about, you’ve got to experience it.

This mission trip was a huge step out of my comfort zone. Everything was totally new, from being in a different country to driving on the left side of the road! So the whole trip was a challenge, but all of these challenges that I faced are making me a better and stronger person. The people that I met on the trip made my faith grow and mature in a way I have never known.

And now that I am home I plan to write letters to some of the children I met on the trip. I would like to stay in contact with them until I go again on the next Mission Jamaica trip! This was an experience of a life time, and I would recommend it to anyone.