I recently had the pleasure of going on a mission trip with my church – First Baptist Moncton – to the grand capitol of the United States of America, or as we call it, ‘Murca.
Washington, D.C. was beautiful; it was exactly as I imagined it. The youth were oohing and ahhing at all the sights. They loved seeing the White House and the National Mall, especially because we don’t have buildings that impressive in our province of New Brunswick, let alone our city.
The youth ran around, shopping for souvenirs and keeping an eye out for Starbucks. However, our group not only got to enjoy Washington D.C, we also got the experience a few things that were outside of our comfort zones. These things taught us a lot.
I could endlessly talk about the friendships we made at the nursing home (more accurately a rehabilitation center for those with either physical or mental disabilities), and the impact Lincoln Heights had on us. We have nothing like either of those sites in our small city of Moncton.
I will mention that one of our youth found great joy in mowing lawns at Lincoln Heights. By the end of our time there she had a huge smile on her face and sweat down her back. She was disappointed she couldn’t go back and do more work.
What I do want to talk a bit about is an event that is definitely out of my comfort zone and was the most impactful moment of the trip for me personally.
On the Wednesday of our trip we made it over to a homeless shelter to give the homeless sandwiches and water. I stood in the background, not quite participating but not completely isolated. These situations usually make me very uncomfortable.
After giving out all of our sandwiches we went around the shelter in groups to talk to some of the homeless and see if we could pray for them. I was very nervous, however, I was fortunate that my group was very chatty and quickly we found some very nice people who were willing to chat with us.
As soon as they heard what we were doing, they opened up to us and even gave us a copy of the newspaper written and printed by the homeless. When we asked to pray for them they grasped our hands and with huge smiles listened to our prayer.
This moment touched me very much. I and the rest of my youth group were so thankful to have had the opportunity to see and hopefully touch the lives of at least a few of the people we talked to, as they have touched ours.
