Chad and I were blessed with the chance to spend Christmas with my family this year. The main reason this worked out was because we were able to combine family vacation with ministry work. The week after Christmas we spent in training with the San Diego AIM Team, preparing them for the following week where they would travel in Southern California.
This whole mission trip was a learning experience for Chad and I. First off, I was in charge of booking the mission trip. While I have helped with many aspects of the ministry in my years with them, I have never made a booking call before, yet alone booked an entire mission trip (even if it was only a week long). It was challenging to say the least. I was very glad to be able to start small as I will be in charge of booking all three 4-5 week long mission trips this summer. Another area I was able to grow in was simply using the phone. To say that I despise talking on the phone is probably an understatement, especially when it comes to cold calls...but after contacting over 90 homeschool groups (yes I did go through and count them), while I still don't enjoy it, I think I can say that I've got the hang of it.
The next learning part of the mission trip was the fact that we were taking a team and not just a group of AIM students from various teams. While the ministry has had whole teams go on mission trips before, this was the first time that it was set up with headquarters leading a mission trip with the team. A big part of what Chad and I were doing on this mission trip was identifying a process on how to walk a team through putting together a successful mission trip. This meant many e-mails and phone calls with the team director and assistant director (who just happen to be my mom and brother) mentoring them through decisions on how the mission trip would be put together and run.
The mission trip itself was pretty much like any other mission trip in that they are all unique. Training camp ran from 9-9 each day as we prepared Bible studies, worked on the songs they would be presenting, and prepped them as to what to expect at the different workshops. After the week of training, we spent Monday helping a lady from our church with yard work as a service project and then hit the road Tuesday for our first workshop. We had three workshops total (Norco, Lompoc, and San Diego) with over 60 students ranging in ages from 5-college. Chad and I were impressed by the mission trip team as they learned how to handle different age groups, different sizes of groups, and yes, different interest/participation levels.
Even with a shorter mission trip, it is amazing to watch how much the students grow in their personal walks with Christ, in their relationships with others, in their confidence with speaking in front of their peers, in their teaching skills and in many other ways. Once again, we were blessed to be a part of such a wonderful group of young people.
For those of you who haven't seen AIM present before, here is one video of the mission team presenting a song at the San Diego workshop: I Surrender All
