What is your church community like?

It is very fun and open. It’s really easy to talk to everyone there, because everyone is like family. Everyone gets along and respects each other, because we all know that everyone around us is going through just as much as everyone else.

What is your involvement in your church?

I work with the youth group. I help give sermons, and I help with tech equipment set up and take down and anything that I’m needed for. Sometimes during youth group I’ll just go up on stage with my acoustic guitar and sit and play and sing for everyone there.

Is guitar the only instrument that you play?

Oh, no. I also know how to play drums, bass, piano and a little bit of cello and violin. I have always been interested in music since I was a kid, but guitar is what I’m best at.

What inspired you to go on your first mission trip?

I had been going through some really tough times in my life, and my youth pastor had been helping me through a lot of things. Through all of those tough times, and the resolution that finally followed, I had started to feel closer to God, closer than I had ever felt before, and I felt as if I was being called to serve him.

What was your first mission trip like?

Well we went to St. Louis, and we helped this elderly lady rebuild her house. We did so much on her house. We completely redid the basement, painted all of the walls, helped fix the roof and redid her bathroom. It was really fun getting to connect with her and learn about her life.

Tell me about your favorite mission trip memory.

My favorite mission trip memory would be when we had gotten on stage to play some music for the first time in front of thousands of kids, and they were all singing. We had no idea what they were singing, because they were singing in Spanish, but by their facial expressions you could tell that they were so happy. It was amazing to see how happy they were without technology.

What are your feelings towards going on mission trips?

Oh, I absolutely love them. I love the whole idea of them, and the great opportunities that they present. I love going places and helping people even though I don’t know them. It makes me feel like I’m doing a little bit of right in a world full of wrongs, and that is all that I can ever hope to do.

If you could give advice to someone going on his or her first mission trip, what would you say?

Be prepared for the cultural shock. Not for going there, but for coming back home. You’re expecting the place that you’re going to be different, but you’re not ready for the shock of coming back home, and realizing how different things are.

If you could decide where your churches next mission trip would be, where would you pick and why?

I would pick Guatemala. It would be so awesome to be able to go through the towns and jungles and engross myself on how little they have, but yet how happy they are. It would also be amazing to take in their culture.

Do you look at things differently after being on a mission trip?

I’ve gone on a couple of mission trips, and it’s been a very amazing experience. It has opened my eyes to all the blessings that I have been given in life, and that America has been given as a country. It’s a life changing experience that shows what the true definition of poverty is. However, it also teaches you what the true definition of happiness is, because even though foreign countries seem to have so little, they have so much mentally.

Does it bother you to see how unhappy people are in America, when they have so much more than anyone else?

Yes. I think that America is the most emotionally deprived country in the world. Kids in our generation [have] made money their priority, rather than God. Everyone is so focused on getting rich, but that isn’t what life is about, and that is why everyone is so unhappy. I see more happiness in the poorest parts of the world than I see in the richest parts of America.