God, help me understand
Help me understand how we can be so joyful while other people are suffering so much. How we can be so fortunate when others are in poverty? Why we are so blessed and there are so many broken and hurting?
This week has been so emotionally heartbreaking, our eyes were opened wide to poverty and will never be shut again. We were scared, shocked, sad, confused, excited, and happy all at once. Our lives were all completely changed during this past week. Starting off we realized what it was like to live the way they do, mostly small apartments, one bathroom, barely any air-conditioning, and little food. The extreme poverty was apparent everywhere we went. It wasn’t really a culture shock, because we understand that there are poor people in the world. But actually being there with those kids and people, living in their area, experiencing what they experience was pretty shocking. As we would hang out with the little kids and listen to their conversations, we were absolutely appalled at what we heard. They would talk about how their dads would smash heads in the wall or how they’d been to jail. And, some of the little girls would talk about how they would get beatings and hit when they went home. Plus most of these kids would wear clothes that were way too small or way too big for them, because that’s all they had to wear, when we stand in our room, looking at closets and drawers full of clothes as we complain that we have nothing to wear. These kids we were around would just cling to us, because we gave them the only love and comfort they will get that day. And it just broke our hearts every time we saw them to think how much these kids are suffering. I mean they’re so little, it’s so hard to get it in your head that they could go through so much pain in such little time.
Other than working with little kids, we got to interact with Cincinnati’s homeless. We went into one of the worst neighborhoods in Cincinnati and gave out water bottles and socks. We had conversations and got to know just the slightest bit about them. One guy asked if we had any shirts, it just made my heart ache and I wanted to give him the shirt off my back. It was so hard to say no to these people, because that’s all they ever hear. They are nice people, just caught up in bad place, and I wish we could help them all.
But through all this, all 27 of us were so happy and content when we were there. We all wanted to stay so much longer and do so much more. When we got home we all pretty much cried for these people. I hope we go again next year.
(by Olivia Romesburg)
This is what I love about Jesus. This is what I love about the homeless feeds that I and some friends have been a part of in downtown Winston. It’s so heartbreaking to see people hurt, but at the same time, it’s so great to be able to show them Jesus though cooking some hotdogs and hanging out with them on a street corner. It’s so eye opening to see the lives that people live that we only think exist in stories or movies, and see how they can be joyful through that, but we complain about not having the right clothes to wear, like you said. It sounds like the mission trip was a great experience. I’m glad you got to go.