Hi! I’m Catherine, and I had the opportunity to go to Taiwan with the VGM team this past summer! This is my second time going back to Taiwan, so I had a little time to reflect VGM and its mission. To me, VGM is a week where we go back to create a fun and memorable experience for the kids: we would spend a week leading a summer camp curriculum, and on the last day, we would introduce them to the church. Though we hope that those kids might hold on to the lessons that we taught, and the fun that they had, what we were there to do was to impress God’s love upon them so that they might go looking for more.

Something really amazing about these trips is how willing everyone is to serve. My team (Samuel, Chloe, Jordan, and Ricky) was always there to translate and cover for me, both in and out of the classroom. Though there were a fair number of difficulties throughout the whole trip, whether it be a language barrier, broken equipment, going overtime, a missing towel (!), etc, everyone was in the mindset of “how can I help fix this.” Though all this might sound trivial on paper, the way everyone mindlessly helped each other to the best of their ability was a powerful reminder of how we should serve each other in everyday life.

Even though I was there as a teacher for these kids, I still learned a lot from them. Though they might be uncooperative at times, or even get into fights, it was evident that they were still very willing to help each other and the teachers. One incident in particular that stood out to me was on the last day, during lunch, when we had ordered McDonald’s as a treat to the kids. But as we were passing the food out, the box containing french fries and coke tipped onto the ground. Expecting the kids to complain, we assured them that we would give our portion to them, but the first sentence out of their mouths was, “But what about you?”

During this mission trip, it was very easy to serve and love the kids, with the environment of serving and the good nature of the kids. However, this mission was a good reminder of how I should treat everyday life. Even when facing people who I might not find as easy to love, even during times when I might not feel like it, it is important to remember how much God loves not just children, but every one of us. And as Christians, we need to represent God, because we don’t know when or where God might use us to plant a seed in someone’s heart.