My name is Kate Trotter and I am a member of the youth group here at Pulaski Heights. When I look back over the past 5 years I've spent with this youth group, I see that there have been many changes. I have grown from being an awkward middle schooler, wondering how to fit in or how to act about my faith, to an older, more mature woman of Christ. Changes along the road also included my youth directors. There have been four different youth directors in the time I have been in youth group, each one helping me in a different way along my journey. And even though there have been many changes, one thing that has not changed is the heart of our youth group. From the very beginning, we have been all about helping others. With the help of our youth leaders, I have experienced all different aspects of life, all different living conditions. Ways that I never knew people could live.

Last spring, I went with our youth group to Ecuador. While we were there I saw a child at a daycare that wouldn't even speak to me. I'll never forget the sadness I saw in his eyes while he played by himself in the schoolyard. I'll never know what was going on in that child’s life, or how he was treated at home, or what made him seclude himself and not even talk. But I will also never forget how after he walked with us to our bus, I watched him as he walked up the road of the slum and when he was about a block away, he turned and smiled and waved good bye to me. That was the moment I really knew how big of a difference we could make, simply by talking to someone, making them feel special, giving them a smile. That he would open up to me because of the love I showed him- that was the moment I knew that I wanted to continue to do mission my whole life.

God told us to be the hands and feet of Christ, and that is what our youth group is all about. This spring we are traveling to New York City, for an inter-city mission trip, and this summer we are attending the Ozark Mission Project, a local mission opportunity for churches around the state. I invite you to give to our cause of mission. I invite you to help us continue to have these amazing God moments, these amazing breakthroughs with people who may never seen Christ again, except for in us. Missions is not always about how much you do, or how far from home you go, but how much heart you put into it, and how much you let God use you as his hands and feet. To me, mission is not just a trip once a year or a weekend retreat, missions is a way of life, and it is at the heart of our youth group.