Being a Dream Center Missionary

I have learned so much as a Dream Center missionary. I moved here from a small town on the opposite side of the country, and I had to get adjusted to the big city of Los Angeles. I had come several years ago to help out as a Dream Missions (formerly Short Term Missions) missionary for a week. I loved what I experienced so much that I decided to finish college and come back to be a one year volunteer. Now, over two years later, I have gained hands-on experience that is unparalleled to anything that I have encountered.

It’s easy to have sympathy from afar for someone who is struggling with life issues, but the Dream Center puts a story with the faces. During my first year at the Dream Center, I was a child supervisor of the teen girls living in the group home here. These girls came from broken homes and difficult situations, and I had to learn how to not take what they did to heart, but instead love them as Jesus Christ loves them. It was there that I really understood what it meant to be selfless and sacrificial because there were times that I did not want to deal with their attitudes and backtalk, but had to shine the light of Jesus Christ no matter how I was feeling on a given day. God enabled me to love each of them.

During my second year, I have been privileged to use my college writing degree to contribute various newsletters and stories to the Marketing department at the Dream Center. I had previously wanted to write for the Dream Center, but did not know how to go about doing that. Since working in the Marketing department, I have not only written articles, but have also participated in various Dream Center outreaches and have met so many people in the inner cities who have been impacted and helped by the ministries, and had stories to share. I have learned the importance of listening to their stories and sharing them with those who are helping to make a difference in their lives.

Being at the Dream Center has allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and depend on God in a more meaningful way. It is a blessing to be a part of something that is changing the city and changing the world one block at a time the way that the Dream Center is.


-Shameka