The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Philip H. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Take Action - Serve Your Community
This past school year I had many different opportunities to serve the community with a group of several friends in a local chapter of the Eta Sigma Alpha Homeschool Honor Society. Between October and April we planned at least one service project to do as a group. In addtion to that, each individual also spent additional time volunteering. These group service projects included working in soup kitchens, helping at Youth Haven Ranch, visiting nursing homes, and help with yardwork.
In October, we visited Youth Haven Ranch and spent several hours helping out at their annual fall festival. Youth Haven is a Christian camp where disadvantaged children can attend for free and obtain food and shelter while playing games and learning about God. While we were there, our group primarily helped direct traffic and serve dinner to the campers. This was my favorite service project because we all got to see how thankful these underprivileged children were to be at the camp and have some fun.
In February, our group volunteered at the East Side Soup Kitchen in downtown Saginaw. In the morning we washed and chopped up some vegetables for a later meal; and then packaged some sandwiches to be delivered to a downtown school. After finishing that, we prepared and served lunch.
Later that month we spent some time in a Saginaw nursing home. While there, we played games such as Uno, Sorry, or Euchre, and talked with the residents. In March, we returned to Youth Haven Ranch and helped them for several hours by doing some yardwork on the grounds.
Through all of these service projects, I enjoyed the fellowship with friends while giving back to God some of the time that He has given me in service to His people. I cherish the time I spent serving others, and I look forward to the next chance to "give back to the community" through opportunities that God will provide.
Serving your community is a very important way to get to build relationships with others and show God's love through your service. Every one of us is called to serve the community, whether that is through sacrificing time, money, or using the talents that God has given you. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10 that, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
God has given us all special talents and we should be developing those in a way that shows God's love and grace to others – this can and should be done through community service.
