When you sign up for a mission trip, you never quite know what you’re getting yourself into!
Just ask Karen Julien who spent two weeks in Athens, Greece, after volunteering with Reach Beyond. She was there to serve One Heart, our medical partner dedicated to supporting refugees.
You may have seen Karen on TV. She is part of the decorating team on ‘Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr’ on BBC One. Karen originally thought she’d be wielding a paintbrush, but as it turns out, mission trips don’t always stick to the script!
Instead, she joined an international team that rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into some seriously hard graft.
Their mission? Building a sustainable farming project to help refugees become self-sufficient. It wasn’t glamorous. Imagine digging deep, foot-wide trenches in rock-solid ground armed with nothing but pickaxes and sheer determination. Together, they laid the foundations (quite literally) for what will soon become one of the largest greenhouses Karen has ever seen.
The physical work was intense, but the spiritual lessons ran even deeper. Each evening, the team gathered to pray and reflect, and a powerful theme kept surfacing: foundations. Just as they worked tirelessly to dig proper foundations for the greenhouse, God reminded them of the importance of solid foundations in faith and relationships.
What stood out most to Karen was the extraordinary unity. Thirteen people from different countries, many of whom had never met before, spending ten days working hard together without a single complaint.
“That’s what unity in Christ is meant to be,” she said. “Different backgrounds, one goal—to see Jesus glorified.”
Would you like to use your skills to join a mission trip with Reach Beyond? Click here to find out how.
