What's my mission?

(Actually written yesterday June 6th)

Los Angeles, California

     We just landed in California for my sister's wedding and I decided today that I am going to start a blog. I feel like that if I keep up with this blog that it will help me achieve my goal of becoming stronger in my faith and live the life God wants me to live.
     I have had a lot on my mind this week, mainly pertaining to maturing in my relationship with God and with other people. I have been looking back on my past and realized that I am not the Christian who I was raised to be. I did things in high school I am not proud of; none of it was illegal but still something that a Christian should not be doing. I honestly feel like there are so many things in my life, even now as a newly reformed Christian that I could change that would make me feel better about how I am living my life.
     Today I got the chance to talk with my Grandma and we got onto the topic of mission work. She was telling me that she wasn't completely happy with her church that she goes to now because they don't have the drive to go out and make quilts or deliver food to worse off areas in the world. So this go me thinking about my mission work and if I feel like I have honestly done my best to preach the word of God to others who need/want to hear it. I can really only recall two times where you could say I did mission work, last spring break (2009) to Gulf Shores, Alabama and in middle school when I went to Montana with the youth group at St. Paul's United Methodist.
    In Gulf Shores, I did Habitat for Humanity work to help with Hurricane Katrina clean up and wildlife area preservation. At first I only went because the golf team was going. I wanted to get this chance to show Coach that I was dedicated to the team after I had a bad semester of grades the fall of my freshmen year. But it eventually turned into a great way to show my Christian faith to not only the golf team, which was hard enough, but also to show my faith to others who needed the help in the Gulf Shores area. The university pastor, Ira De Spain, went with the group and I got to talk with him about my faith and show him that I don't fall to the pressure of under-age drinking. I am not going to name how the individuals are, but some took a great opportunity in Gulf Shores to be able to drink heavily each night. God was able to be there with me to help me not fall under that pressure. He gave me the strength to let my faith shine through those temptations. I thank him everyday for that kind of strength.
    The second mission trip I can think of is the trip to Montana to help out around a Christian day camp, rebuilding cabins and doing other manual labor. I remember it as a time where I really bonded with my fellow group members and was able to show the strength of my faith. Unlike Gulf Shores, I didn't have to worry about the pressures of drinking, so it wasn't as much of a test of my strength but it was still good to be able to work with my friends.
    But after talking about what I did and the test I went through on these mission trips, I feel like one important thing is missing, I didn't directly tell someone about Jesus Christ. I feel like a major part of mission work is going out of our way to help lead someone to Christianity or to help someone renew their faith after it had left them. The group that I am living with at Baker, have talked about doing a mission trip around the Kansas City area. I hope that we will be able to help people find God.

"Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6