Take It Home – Mission Trip “The Challenge”

July 28, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Every year the mission trip provides a great shift in perspective and helps you realign your thinking about what is truly important and it inspires you to want to be different when you get home. The hardest part about the mission trip is when it is over everything else in your life hasn’t changed since you left. The only thing different in your life when you get home will be you. The challenge then becomes to live your life differently and with purpose in your everyday life otherwise your experience and exposure slowly becomes just a memory and the fire and inspiration that began on the trip fades away.

Today was my first day back to “life” and it was hard to adjust. I pray all of us will strive to keep the fire burning is some way. Maybe in small ways at first and bigger ways every now and then. Thankfully we are part of an excellent church community that provides support and opportunities to serve. If you ever get the chance to go on a short term mission experience try it…you will be amazed at what you will learn about yourself and others plus it is the best way to light a fire in your soul that may just give you the boost to…”Take Your Faith With You” after all it was after I returned from a mission trip a few years ago that I was inspired to start this blog you are reading today.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip this year and I will post again soon.

May God’s peace be with you today and always.

Soulful

July 26, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Well said!

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It Matters – Mission Trip “Serve Wherever You Are”

July 24, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

It is Thursday of Mission trip week and we are living full throttle for Christ! The message for today can be summed up quite simply…do whatever you can, whenever you can, wherever you are. Your act of service or kindness does matter, even if you don’t have direct interaction with the receiver of your action. We should strive to include acts of service and kindness in our lives daily. If you don’t feel like this is part of your life right now, start small. Change one thing in your routine that is not about you. Start out once a week or whatever you can do.

My service group spent 4 hours today loading a 53′ semi trailer full of medical supplies including beds for transit that will be sent overseas for people with little or no medical facilities so they can get the medical attention they need. The organization that coordinates this effort is run by 20 full-time staff and 15,000 volunteers. The vast majority of the volunteers will never encounter the individuals who benefit from the supplies being available but that doesn’t lessen the impact of their work…it is still necessary. This activity was not on our schedule this week originally but we were asked to do this instead of our planned event after a different group was unable to make it and it turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of the week.

Whatever you are able to do for others is important and it does make a difference…believe it and do something whenever you can…wherever you are.

Peace.

Listening -Mission Trip “Be Present”

July 23, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

One of the most important yet least used character traits tends to be listening. Have you been in one of those conversations where your mind is more on other things and you smile and nod as the person continues with their story? Unfortunately, I think everyone has been in that position at least once in life and if your like me it happens more often than it should. What is truly interesting is that when you do stop day dreaming and mind wandering and just listen to what someone is talking about you may just enjoy the conversation more than you realize.

We spent time today walking the downtown area of the city, we shared an extra bag lunch with a person in need on the street and we talked while we ate. We heard stories about the difficult times our lunch buddy had suffered through and the warmth he felt about his daughter that he hadn’t seen in quite sometime. We were together out on the sidewalk eating and talking for about 30-45 minutes and we learned where he had worked, how long he had been in the city and how long he had been living on the streets. We heard about his broken relationships and the difficult battle with addiction. Really the stories he told were not much different than many other people…yet society has treated him differently than others…why…my guess is society, myself included, has already judged his worth. Don’t misunderstand me, I realize that every person has responsibility for decisions they make and the things they choose to do but I also know that sometimes people may need at least one other person to help them get started on a more positive path.

With free will there always will be bad things happening in the world…we’re human we just can’t help ourselves. However, with free will we all can choose whether or not we are willing to stop…look… and listen to others in the world around us. Every person has value and some people just need a bit more help than others finding their place.

May God’s peace be with you.

The Heart Of It All – Mission Trip “Breaking Down Barriers”

July 22, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Everyday we all want to be doing something that is significant to somebody somewhere in the world. Whether it is volunteer work or our everyday job. Many times we come upon a barrier of some sort that slows us down or may even stop us completely. These barriers can be fear, selfishness, anxiety, worries about what if, etc. It often takes great courage to break down these barriers especially in our everyday life.

As this mission trip week continues I am observing our youth breakdown some barriers that have been difficult to handle in the past. These include interacting with people in need and building relationships with kids that may be living in difficult home situations. I am also observing youth breaking down barriers within our group of mission trip people. The mix of kids is very diverse with many groups of friends that in everyday life may hardly spend anytime together at all. As this week continues new friendships are beginning to form and new connections are being made that may never have existed due to the barriers of everyday life at home.

One of the reasons you get so much out of a mission trip is you get to remove so many barriers of life and just be present with a group of youth and adults that are working together to experience life in a different way. I feel blessed to be part of this opportunity and pray my contribution is making a difference in the lives of others.

Peace to you.

Open My Eyes – Mission Trip “Community Engagement”

July 21, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Today we began to dive into our new surroundings for the week. My group is spending the mornings all week at a Day Camp for middle school kids. We met a wonderful group of local leaders and other volunteers who spend their days with 30-40 youth…playing basketball, talking in small groups and teaching them about preparing healthy foods. Our group did a great job of jumping in and started the process of building relationships with the kids. It is amazing to watch the young people from our church be so willing to get involved in a unfamiliar environment and to share their God given gifts with people they just met today. They are amazing.

The second part of the day is a “Prayer Tour” around several different parts of the city. This is by far the best way to fully understand information about different neighborhoods and the history behind social issues and how things ended up where they are today. This part of the experience provides a clear foundation for the week to help you open your eyes to all the things that are happening in a community. It makes me think about our community at home and how we could help make a difference their once we return.

The opportunity to step back in life and be present where your are is a wonderful and transforming experience. Better yet to watch the youth of our church soak up the information, ask questions and begin to get engulfed in their surroundings is truly a blessing.

I leave you with Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble if its own.

Perspective and Attitude – Mission Trip “The Beginning”

July 20, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

We have ventured out again on a mission trip with senior high youth…this will be my third year of going on this adventure in faith. This year is a new city, a new group of kids and some repeat participants. The starting weekend we spend time “getting started” finalizing and adjusting logistics that can and can’t be controlled to the best of our ability and making our way to our destination. It takes a shift is perspective and attitude to process through some of these issues.

As questions and issues arise you need to be solution oriented and trust that no matter what God will be holding you through it all. As always, the opportunity to get away from the day to day concerns and issues of everyday life and just focus on your relationship with God and others gives me such a sense of peace.

The youth and adult leaders that I am blessed to be with on this trip are amazing individuals and I can’t imagine my life before these trips…I never knew what I was missing. We can look at a situation like a traffic jam, which on an ordinary day would cause frustration and anxiety as we now knew we were going to be arriving late for our schedule but the shift in attitude and perspective the kids took was to make friends with people in the other cars on the road. They were waving and yelling Hi out the window and few people rolled down the window and chatted with us about where we were going.

A positive attitude and a perspective that we are here to help and serve others in the community that is the way we are trying to live and hopefully we can bring that home with us when we return.

Please pray for us and our journey this week!

Peace be with you.

What Comes First?

July 18, 2014 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

In all of our busy lives we typically spend time focusing our energy and effort on what we believe is important. The question then becomes what is important to you and your life?

There are many things that can be on this list and I have found the most peace, joy and contentment in the world comes when I put “follower and believer in Christ” first on that list. The world will not make this easy for you to do but we were never promised easy that was lost as soon as the fruit was eaten from the tree that was off limits. We are promised something and that something is only offered by God…

We are promised his Presence, Forgiveness, Mercy, his Grace, his unconditional Love, an answer to Prayers, comfort when were are stressed and so many more gracious gifts. If only we will choose to put him first in our daily life and spend time reading his Word will learn about and be reminded of all that he offers us. What comes first can make all the difference for everything else in our lives.

May his Peace be with you!