Missions Trip

A few days after returning from Branson, Chad and I left with our church's youth group for a quick missions trip.  This is our second year working with the youth group and each summer, the group goes on a missions trip of some kind.  Last summer, they went to Joplin, MO to help with tornado cleanup.  This year we went to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) in Bartlesville, OK.   VOM helps Christians around the globe who are being persecuted for their faith.  They provide medical assistance, food, clothing, and other forms of aid to these people.  Also, they help inform Christians in the US about the persecution happening abroad and what we can do to help.  Our volunteer work while there wasn't earth shattering by any means (mostly stuffing envelopes, shrink wrapping materials, etc.), but was a great trip, because it opened our eyes to what other Christians in the world have to face and how much we take for granted.  We are posing here in front of a memorial "Wall of Martyrs".  It listed different Christians who have perished and either a brief story about them or a quote from them at the time of their death. 

 This is a Bible that was burned.  It was the pictured girl's Bible.

 If you can read the caption below it explains these objects.  The burned microphone was from a church that was burned to the ground.