Grace sends 3 missions teams out to help those in need every year:

1. On April 26-May 3, 2011, Grace sent a medical and dental mission team to Tochimizolco Mexico.  This was their 21st trip to aid in the operation of the only health clinic for hundreds of miles.  Doctors, Dentists, and Pharmacist will provide care to 500 - 1000 patients during their stay in the village.
    

2. This past summer the 9th and 10th graders had the privilege to go work in St. Louis at a place called Kingdom House. Kingdom House is very similar to the Center of Grace where it provides child care; it has a food pantry, and helps anyone with financial needs. We did yard work around Kingdom House like digging flower beds and putting flowers in them, picking vegetables, and picking up trash in the area. While we were there Kingdom House was holding a camp for the children so a couple of the days the GUMY students were able to help run the camp or watch the kids in the nursery while the teachers went to lunch. Ask any student who worked with the kids: they are awesome; all of us have so many memories hanging out with them. We did get one fun day and most of that day was spent at a place called the City Museum which is like a huge jungle gym! The Arch was what topped off our fun day, we got the privilege to go up in the Arch in the dark and see the baseball stadium and the rest of St. Louis lit up in the night. After work each night we ate dinner at the church where we were staying and had worship together, where we heard some of our GUMY students share their amazing musical talents and hear some of our students pour out their hearts into their devotion. Every single one of us had a blast on the trip and grew closer together and with God. Thank you to all the leaders who went, the students that made an impact on the people at Kingdom House, and everyone at Grace for supporting our youth.
   Written by: Jordan Jewett, High School Sophomore

3. When I walk through the door, I'm greeted by a loving family, a warm house, and a place to call my own. Every day it happens, and every day I push it aside, never giving it a second thought. What I take for granted is what people around the world would give anything for. This was revealed to me on the high school mission trip to Guatemala this summer. The youth in 11th and 12th grades went from the comfort of their own homes to bustling Guatemala City. The city was congested and filled with militia riding on the back of trucks, surveying the area, while the outskirts sat neglected and in disarray, crying for the help of the government. Private security guards lined streets to protect businesses while children played in front of them. It was a place completely different from our own; poverty I couldn't have even imagined. On our last day in Guatemala, we went to a place called "The Dump," a place the government had disregarded and a people that virtually didn't exist. Houses were made of crudely placed aluminum sheets. A mountain of trash outlined the community that children sifted through, collecting items to wear, play with, and eat. Their parents could barely find a job, likely doomed to live in "The Dump" for the rest of their lives. Some parents were gone, had simply skipped out on their young children, leaving them with nothing and no one. The stories we heard and the hardships we witnessed brought even the toughest man to tears. This experience has changed my whole outlook on mission work at Grace. Now when I walk through the door to my television, overflowing pantry, and loving home, I thank God that I have the opportunities to give to people less fortunate than I.
   Written by: Makenzie Hrabik, High School Senior
   

              Tochi, Mexico Mission Trip                                          Junior High Team                                              Senior High Team
                       

4. Liberia Mission Trip: Grace Mission Team featured in Advent Newsletter
   "During this cycle, God constantly reminded us that wholeness is most needed where there is brokenness."
   - Missionary Frido N. Kinkolenge