Missions Boot Camp

When I was 13, a group of Missionaries to America came to my church. They told about an amazing opportunity for Christian kids to serve God. It was called Teen Missions International. Each of the kids spent a few weeks at the "Boot Camp" in Merritt Island, Florida and then went on their mission. Older kids, ages 14 to 19 or so, would spend three weeks at boot camp and then go over seas. Kids my age, 10-13, did one week of boot camp and then another two weeks of mission in the U.S. Boot camp consisted of sleeping tents (no big deal), bathing only in a bucket, wearing work boots, running an obstacle course and hanging out under a large tent in the heat and humidity of summer Florida. I kind of liked it, but there were kids in my group who would cry every night. Some of them were 10-years-old and away from home for the first time. Some of the kids in the group even tried to steal bikes and run away to the nearest phone to call home. (NO LIE.) On the last night, before many of the kids boarded the buses to go to other parts of the U.S., we gathered in the big top, lit candles and sang "Freely, freely you have received. Freely, freely give." Even at 13, I felt the manipulation. In some ways, it was an experience that I resented. This was a very influential time in my life though. It was the first of probably 10 mission trips that I went on in the subsequent years. It was the beginning of my education on missions, raising support from my home church and even began a string of missions projects that my home church went on.

This all came to my mind today when I saw the headline in Christianity Today "Missions Boot Camp". As the article states it is a fun time. I remember especially enjoying my time once boot camp was over. The discipline that this kind of experience instills does seem important in short-term missions. On the other trips that I went on we always had to deal with complaints from kids like, "I don't like this food," or "Why do we have to do this?" I don't think you would find sentiments like that on a TMI trip. Read the article in CT and check out the TMI wikipedia entry. Looking back, it was a pretty beneficial thing for me, but I certainly would not recommend it for every teenager.