Hello, Bison! I sincerely hope that everyone had an amazing spring break whether that consisted of a fun getaway, time at home, or something else! I spent my spring break on a mission trip in Fort Yates, North Dakota. This mission trip was organized by Chi Alpha and truly was a blessing to me and so many others. Mission trips are a great way to help people in need, so I thought it would be nice to share some of the benefits in hopes of persuading someone to partake in one of these awesome adventures!

1. Helping people in need

This is the first and foremost point of going on mission trips: helping people in need. Short-term mission trips, like the one I went on this past week, often involve things like building or renovating houses, taking care of people, and spreading the word about a particular religion. The mission trip I went on involved renovating a house for a family in need, cleaning and upkeep of church buildings, and putting on a VBS (vacation Bible school) for kids in the area. 

It is so easy to get comfortable in the lives we have built. College can get uncomfortable sometimes, especially financially, but the truth is that we will (we are almost completely guaranteed to) be okay. This guarantee is not there for a lot of people. According to statista.com, in North Dakota in 2022, the poverty level was 11.5%. This number is pretty low, but it is not nothing. We do not see a ton of poverty around our campus. People are surviving here. Not everyone is. Not every family has enough money to buy food for their kids. Not everyone can afford a toothbrush. These things seem so commonplace to us but they are not for everyone. Not everyone is taken care of.

Mission trips give people the opportunity to care for people who have not had anyone take care of them in a long time. Some of the kids I encountered this week had not experienced much familial love, so being able to show them that love was such a blessing. Even on the non-childcare side of things, being able to tackle projects for people who cannot handle them is quite beautiful. Maybe these people cannot afford to complete these projects. Maybe they cannot physically or mentally handle the burden of these projects. We are young, alive, and well. We have the opportunity to do hard things. Taking advantage of that can be so helpful to other people.

2. Taking the focus off yourself

I am about to share a hard truth, so if you do not want that, skip ahead a paragraph or two. It is easy to be selfish. It is easy to care about yourself to a fault. It is easy to forget about the world and people around you because you are so wrapped up in taking care of yourself. Obviously, it is important to take care of ourselves. If we cannot care for ourselves, we cannot care for other people. However, only focusing on yourself is not healthy or helpful. 

Participating in a mission trip can help take the focus off of oneself. Not fully because we still need to be able to function. Functioning can change, though. Functioning can shift to incorporate other people’s well-being. 

Once we learn how to change our own functioning to help other people, we are opened up to seeing just how much help other people need. They may not admit it, but they need help. Helping other people means letting go of yourself. This is hard, but it is good and needed. 

3. Changing your mindset

This one is a little more self-focused, which I know I just said was something we could do less of but hear me out. Once you can open yourself up to a little heart change, your heart may open just a little more. And then a little more. And then a lot more. And maybe this change means you change the way you live your life a little. Maybe this means giving a little more of yourself to other people in day-to-day life. We cannot just go on short-term mission trips every day, but maybe this means trying just a little harder to take care of the people you can take care of especially the people around you: your family, friends, coworkers, classmates, professors, and so many other people in your life.

Everyone needs love, and maybe you can give a little more of that. A little mindset change can turn huge, and it can be huge for other people, too. Imagine what would happen if you spread a little more love, and the people you spread love to in turn spread more love. There is much love to go around, and you can start the chain.

I hope that this information was helpful to someone reading it and that I have persuaded someone to partake in a mission trip! Or at least to strongly consider it! Or even just to ponder ways you could contribute to sharing love in a more accessible way. Again, there is so much love to go around. Share it!