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What kind of mission work have your students been involved in? How have you seen it impact them?
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My students have participated in packing a shoe box full of toys for children around the world who are less fortunate and do not get a gift for Christmas. Also my students have wrote encouraging letters to my brother who was deployed in Afghanistan some years ago.
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I have been on several student missions trips that were for them to help in already existing ministry. Some were more serious than others and so got more out of it. They definitely had to learn to work together and sort of manage themselves outside of school. Some of them worked very hard and others did not. I do think they all learned something. It depended on their maturity level. It’s a process. Overall it got them to think outside of their usual “box”.
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Through my time at my christian school, students have served in the community and abroad in trips where they have served people who are in need of help and assistance whether it be working with adolescences or adults. Students see that the world is bigger than themselves and that there are things in this world that they may never experience because they come from privilege.
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Our course chose to help children with special needs by raising money to buy a wheelchair and bible for a child in need. I was able to share personal stories of serving with the ministry Joni and Friends and how precious the people are that I served during the ministry’s family camps. For many students, it was their first exposure to such a ministry. I shared the struggles that many of these families have and asked my students to think about how they would feel if they could not do many of the things they currently enjoy doing easily. I asked them to think about how it might feel to be left out or made fun of. I saw compassion in action as many children donated their own money and as we prayed for people with special needs.
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As a whole the majority of our students are not involved in mission work in junior high and high school. The majority of mission work happens in the elementary department. I would like to more in this area of Christian education.