I took two different trips to a homeless shelter about three hours away from where I live. One was this past summer, and one was the summer before. I went with my youth group for church and the goal of our trip like any church mission trip was to spread God's word to the people at the homeless shelter. Both years we held a Bible school for the children at the shelter with games, songs, snacks, and of course Bible stories. The first year we did a lot of work around the shelter, and not a bunch of kids showed up for our Bible school. The second year was different though.

The first day I didn't do any physical work at the shelter. We started Bible school with the kids right away though. We made name tags, then taught the kids about the miracle where Jesus fed the 5000. It was my job to get the music together this year and after snacks they came to sing songs. A few little girls stayed back after we were finished and packing up to keep singing songs with us. Their enthusiasm and joy even though they had to stay in a homeless shelter was so encouraging. One little girl asked if we were staying all summer and at the time I wished were, but we only had a few days.

The next day we painted a few rooms inside the shelter. I was curious to what the rooms were like that people had to stay in when they didn't have a place to call there own. I was in the larger of the two empty rooms that needed painted. It had only two sets of bunk beds, a dresser, and a closet. A whole family would stay in that one room. Downstairs there was a living room, dining room, and kitchen that were all “community living” for the families in that building. There is zero privacy. There were two separate buildings at the shelter. The one I was in was the short term shelter, and there was one across the parking lot that's more long term. The long term section I believe is set-up more like apartments, but I've never been in there.

Bible school that day with the kids was a much less serious note. The point that we were trying to get across to the kids, that Jesus loves them, was still the most serious and important thing there was, but it didn't hit my heart the way seeing that a whole family had to share that bedroom did. Our Bible lesson for the day was about Jesus' first miracle, where He turned water into wine at a wedding. My pastor thought it would be fun to have a little mock wedding, so she handed me a veil and said “Abby your going to be the bride,” then handed my close friend a tie. Now behind the long term shelter, there is a grassy area where we held our Bible school each day with two picnic tables set up. My friend and I linked arms and walked around the picnic tables laughing away while the kids sang the bridal march. The next day when the pastor asked the kids where Jesus preformed his first miracle this one little boy said, in the cutest voice you could ever imagine, “Over there” and pointed to the picnic tables.

The day after that was really emotional. We had to head home. We went back to the shelter in the morning to have our final Bible school with the kids. As fourteen members of my youth group are getting out of the van, little girls ran up to the van to greet us. Smiling ear to ear, they hug each and every one of us as we step out of the van. It was really hard to see how much they cared about us, and then shortly after have to tell them we're leaving. I cared about all of them just as much. They probably didn't know how slim the chances of us getting to see them again were. We had our Bible school, then took some pictures. Then our pastor said each youth member needs to pray over a child. I rushed over to a little girl who stole my heart. She was such a sweetie. I held her little hands and prayed for her. Then we had to go. I hugged that little girl probably ten times. Each time it was harder to hold back my tears. She went off with her mom and in the van, I broke down.

Some people may not see the importance of this trip. The goal was to plant a seed of hope in the kids. We wanted to teach them God's word, and through that give them the hope they deserve just like everyone does. Hopefully what we taught them reached them. There's a possibility that some day years from now they'll have kids, and teach them the word of God. Then their kids will teach their own kids and grandchildren about the word of God. Through that continuous chain, hope is spread in God's name. Doing good things has an affect like in the movie “Pay it Forward” no matter what the deed is. If you do anything that gives somebody the slightest bit of hope, they're likely to try to share and spread that hope. Through this experience I've found that doing good deeds in somewhat addicting. When I do something good for somebody, I always want to do more. It just feels so good to help. I've found out that helping others is the only way you can get that special feeling. Everyone has their own way to help others. I like to help children in need, and my sister likes to help at the animal shelter. It doesn't matter how you help or volunteer. It just matters that you do it.