When senior education major Sarah McCormack first traveled to Dundee, Scotland for a mission trip during her senior year of high school, she had no idea just how eye-opening it would be.
“At first, the beauty and adventure of Scotland itself is what intrigued me about the mission trip,” McCormack said. “But then, talking about faith in school was something that was foreign to me because I went to public school.”
For the past five years, McCormack and her mission trip team have traveled to Dundee in effort to build relationships with local teens. She said they spend the majority of their time discussing faith, which is something that is foreign to the locals.
“Being a Christian is not a part of their culture, and is seen as ‘weird,’” McCormack said. “Most of the time, the only time they go to church are on holidays like Easter and Christmas.”
McCormack said that Dundee has high dropout, teen pregnancy and violence rates, which has caused teens to have anxiety about their culture.
“They have a glamorized version of America in their heads; they think if they travel over here, all problems will go away,” she said. “We explain to them that they have talents and a purpose, no matter where they live.”
Participating in this mission trip differs from other ones because it’s not quite as physical.
“Since we are not doing something tangible like building a house or giving out food, sometimes we don’t always get to see the fruits of our work,” she said. “It is more about building relationships.”
McCormack said that one of the most rewarding things she has experienced during the trip was when a boy took the time to apologize to her after acting up with his friends.
“It showed me that they are listening to and absorbing what I have to say,” she said.
Sharing her faith with others has also made McCormack learn that it’s okay to not be an expert about religion and have the world’s problems figured out.
“I’ve learned that you don’t have to have all the answers,” she said. “Sometimes the teens will ask really hard questions like, ‘If your God is a good God, why did the Holocaust happen?’ and it’s okay to have the boldness to say ‘I don’t know.’”
McCormack said that being truthful about Christianity is refreshing to share.
“Life is a journey of ups and downs. Just because I’m a Christian doesn’t mean it will always be easy.”
Photo by Shelby Mick