Reflecting on Beach Reach - Vicki

When Patrick first talked to us about Beach Reach (I think it was sometime first semester), my initial reaction was to says no. First of all, I had never been on a missions trip before, so I would have had no idea what to expect. Also, I had been to South Padre Island for Spring Break a few years ago with my family, so I was thinking "Oh, it's just a bunch of drunk college students." Duh, that's why we're doing this.
Then, Patrick mentioned it again in January. This time, I was like, "Maybe, I need to think about it." I kept putting it off and putting it off, not wanting to have to make the decision. I kind of wanted to go, but I also didn't because I didn't know what to expect. I talked my parents about it, and they were like, "If you want to do this, we'll give you the money that you need." I had also promised Patrick that if I did not go this year, I would for certain go next year.
Finally, about a week or so before the final deadline, I told Patrick, "Ok, before I make my final decision, we need to talk." So, we sat down one Monday night after the BCM meal and hashed the whole thing out. Basically, the main reasons I didn't want to go was because a.) I had never gone on a mission trip before, b.) I had never really had a lot of experience with witnessing before, and c.) it was something really out of my comfort zone. There were also reasons for me to go, though. First of all, it would be an opportunity for me to grow; you know, that whole 'get out of your comfort zone' thing. Secondly, I felt that God really wanted me to go. Evenually, some missions trip would have to be my first missions trip, so why not this one? Patrick and I talked for a really long time, and we finally agreed that I should go, so I finally said yes.

That seemed like the easy part. In the weeks leading up to the trip. I totally started freaking myself out. I had no idea what to expect, and all that jazz all over again. Then we finally got there, and I was like, "Why was I freaking myself out so much? This is so much fun!" If you ask my parents, they will tell that I said I felt like an idiot for freaking myself out so much.

Looking back on the week, I had so much fun. Like I said in my other post, the worship services were just awesome; pretty much the best ones I have ever experienced. Wednesday night was probably the best. Those of you who heard Denise talk this morning in church will know what I'm talking about. Near the end, the worship leader said something to the effect of, "Didn't you guys just feel like the roof could have flown off?" I agree with that a lot. There were a couple times during the different worship services throughout the week when I just got so choked up by some of the songs we were singing that I started to tear up a little. It was just awesome.
The street teams/van rides/pancake meals weren't quite what I expected. As I said before, I had never done a whole lot of witnessing before, so I was not really comfortable just walking up to a person and saying something to the effect of, "Want to hear about how much God loves you?" To be perfectly honest, I didn't really do a whole lot of 'witnessing' while we were there. My first night on street teams, we got into a really good discussion with two different pairs of people (the infamous "Salty's guys" and then at the midnight pancake meal), but never really had the actual "Do you want to accept Christ?"-type of discussion.
For the van rides, I worked as navigator. When you're trying to find stuff on a map, it's kind of hard to get into a discussion with the people behind you. I was actually good with that, though, because then that gave other people to have those discussions.
At the pancake breakfasts, I pretty much stood out on the side of the road with the banners trying to get people to come in to the breakfasts. I was also good with that because it was such a high-energy activity, what with all the yelling at the passing cars and random half-discussions with people in passing cars. I helped bring the people into the pancake breakfast so that the people inside could have the discussions with them.

This year, I mostly served as the conduit for other Beach Reachers to have those discussions. Next time (either next year or my senior year), I'll probably go the next step and start to do more of that actual witnessing-type stuff.