Hyatt's Experience
By Hyatt
November 18, 2004
What an amazing experience! Being a team member of an IV mission trip was truly a life-changing experience for me. There is absolutely nothing that I have ever experienced that is more rewarding than serving God by serving other people. After going to Russia, I can't wait to see what other cool ways God is going to use me.
Before leaving, I had visions of traveling to a strange world where I would be feeding orphans and sharing the gospel with attentive people who had never even heard the name of God. But my thinking quickly changed once we arrived in Russia. I discovered that even though many of the customs and traditions were different from ours, the people are essentially the same.
The team worked with college students who were about the same age, and I found that they were actually quite similar to us. They went to class, worked, did homework and tried to find time for a little fun whenever they could…just like me. They had heard of God and some of them went to church occasionally. The difference was that they didn't understand that Jesus had given them an amazing gift and all that they had to do was accept it.
Even though the people we worked with were different than I had expected, it was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. With a relatively small effort and some genuine caring, we were able to change the lives of several people. And not just for this lifetime but forever. What could possible be more rewarding? Even though it wasn't easy to leave my life back here at home for a month, it was truly an amazing experience that changed me for the rest of my life and changed the lives of a few Russian students for eternity.
