Elvin Zhang

My mom randomly asked me one evening if I wanted to go on the YSMP trip this year (2024), I replied yes because I imagined I would learn a lot of things spiritually on this trip, and I was right. On this YSMP trip, I was responsible for basketball camp in the morning and games during VBS. I learned many things that I wouldn’t have learned on my own. I learned how to spread the gospel to complete strangers when we were doing the door-to-door activity. I felt comfortable giving flyers out and inviting them to our VBS because everyone in the neighborhood was very nice.

While I was on the YSMP trip, I felt really happy to be there because I had a good time with other Christians on the trip, and felt like I trusted everyone with everything I have because I got to know each and every one of the youths during the trip. I also made 2 friends that I will always remember from the trip because we all shared the same sense of humor, and we all share an incredible amount of similarities which made us bond, and we called ourselves, “the three musketeers”.

The door-to-door activity has taught me many things. Most of the houses all had wild dogs in their front yard and they looked very aggressive and I didn’t want to step into their yard because the dogs scared me. Then I thought about how other people might also be afraid to give flyers out to them which means that they won’t be able to be introduced to the gospel if we didn’t have the courage to step into their yard with the dogs. I also learned another very valuable lesson during the activity. I learned to be more grateful for everything I have because I felt like kids there weren’t really being treated like children by their parents. They were always playing with their brothers or sisters but never with their father or mother because of the drug abuse problem in the neighborhood.

God has taught me many things on this trip and I will always remember the many things I’ve learned from the YSMP trip. The YSMP trip was a very good experience and I enjoyed going to YSMP with brothers and sisters from our church and from ACBC. I hope to go again next year to learn even more things. Thank the Lord for being with us during the trip, to God be all the glory!