Junior high students, some of them leaving home for the first time, saw the world in a different light after their first mission trip to Johnstown, PA, near Pittsburg.
At home, just a few states away, there are parents to love them, make sure they brushed their teeth and did their homework. On the trip to the thirteenth poorest city in the US, these young participants discovered not every child their age has it as good.
We live in a broken world. The brokenness of it crashes into us all the time: at the store when we see someone counting pennies for just a few items, or when we notice the man holding the cardboard sign at the intersection.
Yet, for some, these sights are all too new. They have always been there, but our awareness is awakened and we begin to see the people our eyes have passed over before. We see the little girl in clothes too small for her and a dirty face in a new way. We see the child who has no clothes which fit, and no mom to notice her hair is unkempt and her face dirty.
Twice on this trip we worked with a group called New Day, a ministry that reaches out to at risk youth and ministers in neighborhoods few voluntarily go. We went into two different Housing Projects and played simple games, like hop scotch and jump rope. We gave out snacks and then we told a Bible story.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep. The message centered around God’s love for each and every child. We played a game of hide and seek to solidify the message in their hearts.
It was awesome, but the real impact was on the kids who came from a few states away. Kids who have enough. Kids who are loved.
We debriefed the ministry time and talked about what they should do now when they see a need and the answers were simply beautiful. Faith, hope, awareness, and life long vision birthed in the hearts and minds of 11-14 year-old-kids. All because they got out into the world with the intention of looking closely for moments to be Jesus.
They will never see the world in the same way again. They went to Western PA to leave a mark and they left forever changed.
