Service Trips--Looking Back and Looking Forward

This past Sunday a group of us gathered to remember our experiences from past Charis Ministries service trips. It was a great opportunity to share pictures and memories from the trips and catch up with people whom I haven’t seen in a while. Those of us who went on one or more of the service trips formed a great sense of community with each other over the course of the week-long trips, and it was great to renew that sense of community. We shared a lot of stories about our experiences from the trips, and there was plenty of laughter exchanged. It was fun to relive memories from the service trip to Idabel, Oklahoma that I was part of in 2004 and to hear stories from other service trips that I was not part of.

Several of us commented that sharing our memories from the service trips has inspired us to renew our commitment to volunteering. It’s easy to get burnt out on volunteering or to let a busy schedule get in the way, but getting together with other volunteers to have fun and reflect on your collective accomplishments is a great way to renew your enthusiasm and commitment to volunteering. This gathering was a fun opportunity to reflect on past service trips and to look forward to future trips.

-Jared W.