James McLaughlin speaks about leading a short-term mission trip for Hands in 6 weeks:
On the 24th of June a team of 12 will be heading to South Africa for 3 weeks. The majority of these individuals are from Sydney (with one being from Queensland), aged from 17 to 70! A significant portion of the team is young students wanting to spend their university break doing something meaningful.
The trip carries with it a significant financial cost. Each person involved in the team firmly believes that this sacrifice will be completely made worth it with the deep personal change that will come as a result of spending time with some of the poorest of the poor in our world. Perspective on what is most important in life is something that money cannot buy. Each member will get the chance to see God working in a very real way as they walk with some of the Hands at Work volunteers and learn their stories.
This trip is not about spending two weeks in poor communities, taking a few pictures and then coming home. This trip is destined to fundamentally alter each volunteer in a way that will create long-term life-change, no matter what context that change may be in. We hope that God will use this time to better focus us all on our relationship with Him whilst simultaneously learning how we can serve some of the most vulnerable people in our world.