Originally I was not
overly stoked to attend Missions fest because I have never really had much of
an interest in missions. However as we drove downtown back to the church we
were staying at I realized that my heart was broken. As we drove through East Hastings
I felt a burden to help the people there who seemed to have their lives in such
a state that seemed so hopeless and broken. I wanted to love them with all my
heart and just be there to pray with them and hear their stories. After driving
through and seeing this I realized that I care a lot about other people and
mission is more than just going out to a third world country and serving there I
realized whether I’m working at camp, or evangelising at home I am serving as a
‘missionary’ in essence. With the new perspective of loving people and being a
missionary in more than just third world countries I was able to go to missions
fest with a new view and opinion.
At Missions fest some of the highlights were mostly talking
to missionaries and people at the booths. Being able to hear the heart of them
and hear what it is that they were doing was super encouraging. One of the
booths I was super interested in was More than 12. They had a huge heart for
loving people that are judged and looked down upon often. It was cool to hear
about the ministry they have and what led them to that ministry. Another booth
that interested me was inner hope. They are people who open up a place for
broken people to stay who needs a place to stay. They are able to stay there
for as little or as long as needed and they are given the opportunity to get
back up on their feet and get support from those around them. These are two of
the ministries that my eyes were opened to and I felt super burdened as a Christian
in the way I serve others and love others. These ministries made me enjoy being
at missions fest a lot more as I was able to deepen my understanding for
missions and gain an even larger understanding and perspective for missions.
Hearing stories and inspiration for the missions I felt
encouraged. It was really cool to hear the stories. Through more than 12 it
made me think a lot about the way that as Christians we treat others. I thought
about the fact that as Christians we have a duty to love others and while it is
awesome these people have opened a place where people who aren’t often loved
can go and feel loved while being ministered to I also don’t think we should
have to have that. As Christians we should be loving people so much that
everyone feels welcomed and accepted in the church. Missions fest made me think
a lot about our love and the way we show it. I realized that love is a huge
thing in being a missionary to others and opening up doors to evangelise to
individuals.
Overall as I went to missions fest originally I was not
extremely stoked, I had a poor attitude and mostly was just excited to be away
from having to do school work. However as we drove through East Hastings, spent
time in community and I sat through mission speaker people and spoke to people
at the booths my heart was changed and I realized how important missionaries
are and realized despite my belief of ‘missionary work not being my thing’ that
I in fact am a missionary because mission work isn’t what I thought it was but
rather applies to more than just cross-cultural mission work.
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