God has prepared you for the journey—He will be with you to the end

Hailey and Shaylin

Reflections by middle school students Hailey Gerdts and Shaylin Murphy from this summer's MS Mission Trip

Lapwai, Idaho. The Land of Butterflies, a small town but large in history. While the capitol of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation is called Lapwai, the residents call themselves Nimiipuu, meaning "the people." This small town was the destination of the middle school mission trip this July.

Hailey Gerdts, Jimmy Countryman, Natalie Munson, Benny Enriquez, Wayne Ettling, Jacob Parish, Shaylin Murphy, Scotty McPherson and Zach Bannon are the youth who went on the trip. With Jessica Potts and Scot Parish as our Adult Leaders, we made the seven-hour drive to Lapwai, Idaho, for a week full of serving the community there.

"It was different than what we were used to," said Zach. Shaylin explains, "Everyone was so welcoming and glad to see you." With only a population of 1,100, Lapwai is a very small town. "Seeing the abandoned building and broken down houses made me want to get on my hands and knees and fix everything. Seeing the differences and similarities between Lapwai and Vancouver was very cool, too," I say."I think it's interesting to see their way of life," continues Zach. "It felt good to serve others in the community, and it felt like God was there the whole time." Going on the Mission Trip definitely changed us. "I felt more connected to God on this Mission Trip. I felt like I could see him moving," says Scotty.

"I'm coming out of this with a whole new perspective," concludes Shaylin.