It is Friday the 29th, the last Friday of the semester. We have two more days of class, exams, and then school is out. Normally I would extremely nervous and anxious right now, thinking about the two papers and four exams I have ahead of me, but instead I feel excited. I know that with the end of the school year comes our mission trip to Naples. I have been looking forward to going on a mission trip this year since we left Malta almost a full year ago.

Talking with the rest of the team, I have found that I am not the only one who feels this way. All of the players who went to Malta last year can’t wait to go on another trip, and the rookies are excited to find out what its like. To prepare ourselves for the trip we have been meeting in small groups to have weekly Bible studies. These have been going very well and I get the sense that this group could be very special.

There were many things about the Mission trip last year that made it a life altering experience for me. It was the first time I had left the country, I got a chance to experience a new culture, and I grew closer with everyone involved in the trip. All of those aspects of the trip made it amazing, but it was something else about the trip that caused it to change my life. Until we had left for Malta last year I had never shared my testimony with anyone before, and I had never talked about my relationship with God with anyone that wasn’t in my Sunday School class or in my family. Explaining to the people of Malta, who ranged from grade schoolers to professional basketball players, about all that it means to have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe was something special. I felt closer to God than I have ever before. I had always felt like God had a plan for my life, but until I shared my testimony with the Maltese men’s national basketball team I had never felt God work through my before. It was an amazing feeling to know that my Lord and Savior was using me as a tool in the lives of those men. So even though my life is hectic right now academically, I find myself thinking back to that feeling last year in Malta, and hoping and praying that God will use me in a similar way this year.

- Brandon Baker