Students find humor in missions

The 94 Alabama Baptist college students who served in summer missions this year encountered a variety of humorous, interesting, and sometimes challenging situations they will never forget.
   
Amy Smith from Jacksonville State University (JSU) served at the Rachel Sims Baptist Mission in New Orleans. She and other summer missionaries were asked to give testimonies during one of the group’s worship services.
   
“It was past midnight by the time I got up to give my testimony,” Smith explained. “I got up there and started telling about how I missed the first deadline for the application (to become a summer missionary) because I was resisting God. … At the end of my testimony, I said, ‘So basically the moral of the story is don’t resist God or He’ll lay the smackdown on you.’”
   
Smith realized what she had said and squeaked, “I can’t believe I just said that!” The entire youth group burst into laughter.
   
Scott Lusk, a student from the University of South Alabama, spent his summer missions time in Toledo, Ohio, working with children and teenagers including a memorable 13-year-old by the name of Moe.
   
“On the first day, he was wild,” Lusk recalled. “He always brought lighters, knives, razor blades, his pet snake and so forth to the Kids Club. He cursed a lot, hit people and tried to start trouble. We constantly had to take him out of the Kids Club and send him home.”
   
But by the end of the summer there was a change, Lusk noted. “He was getting on to other people when they cursed, wasn’t starting any fights and would tell people to quieten down when we were giving the message.”
   
Language differences created a dilemma for Jana Harris of the University of Alabama at Birmingham who served in Wales. Harris asked a local pastor if his pants were new.
   
As it turns out, Harris noted, in Wales the word “pants” means underwear. The pastor laughed and said, “Jana, are you asking me about my underwear?”
   
“That was funny,” said Harris, adding that summer missions “allows you to be taken out of your comfort zone and meet other types of people. It allows you to share Jesus full time.”