As my husband and I send our daughter and son on our 8th Teen Mission team this summer (they are going to the same country, one as leader, one as team member) I wanted to share what I’ve learned from this experience over the years.
First, if God wants them to go he will provide. We have so many God moments watching him provide the funds needed to go that I could write a different blog post on them. It’s hard to trust him in the beginning with covering $5000 (or one year $10,000). My human self wants to worry and control how this plays out. But each year God said “hey, I got this…”, and boy did he. From small donations that came just when we needed them to large ones that came late in fundraising when we were struggling to find donors and I was doing a bit of panicking. But each year I was reminded of how God is Jehovah-jireh and wants to provide for his children. Certainly we needed to do our part, but we needed to TRUST that God had this.
Second, I learned that my children are strong and independent even when I didn’t see them as that yet (remember, they were young teens when they started). Like I said before, our first to go just loved to stay at home, but God knew inside was a strong young man that HE could grow in the field. They faced trials at boot camp with long days, hot weather, bugs, and teams that didn’t always fit well together and they came out stronger for the adversities. In the field, they had injuries, illness, and were homesick, but God carried them in those moments and blessed them for moving forward. They learned that they could not just survive without their parents/home but thrive and do so much good for the people they were serving.
I also saw hearts turn towards him when I worried they were lost. One child struggled to make right choices in his daily life and only went (in my opinion) because his brother went. Oh how I prayed that summer that God would capture his heart and he would choose to follow him more closely. God did work on his heart and the experience did grow his relationship, but it was only a seed planted as he continued to find his way. But I’m not sure that without Teen Missions he would be where he is now if it wasn’t for the support of some great leaders that stayed in his life after he returned home. He was even blessed to meet his now wife on that trip who patiently waited for him while he continued to search for the right path for some time after coming home.
I also learned to trust God to protect them. We’ve sent a teen to a remote island country I’d never heard of, to another that road boats along a large river to remote villages, to ride motorcycles on sandy, cliff filled lands, and this year to a country that has had large genocides of people that believed differently that the government. It’s the one area I never struggled with trusting that God would protect them. They could get sick or injured – and have – but I know that it won’t be a surprise to God.
If your child had the chance to go on a mission trip – send them. It can be life changing for them and you. There are many great organizations out there for teens (although I’m biased to Teen Missions). Do your research and talk to your teen about serving in a short term mission!
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