As we were preparing to leave Peru I began to wonder how my life is going to look differently after seeing the dump. I have only been on this trip for 3 months and have already seen such poverty. People who work in garbage dumps just to make ends meet, children who always seem to be dirty, unemployment rates far worse than the states and houses that make a cardboard box seem strong. I’ve seen these things with my own eyes. I have talked to the people who live these lives. In some instances I have even lived this life with them, no matter how short the time. And I know that I haven’t even seen the worst of it yet.
As I travel to these different countries I have the opportunity to help, to serve and to love all these people while I am with them. I can also take heart in knowing that, in many cases, more groups will be pouring into these locations. However, there are still so many groups and people that haven’t been helped. When I arrive back in the United States how will I live my life differently?
Having seen what I’ve seen there is no way that I can go back to living my life the same way I was living before. I just don’t know what that is going to look like. I know that there many problems in the United States; people in North America that suffer just as much as the people in the places I am ministering to. Maybe my life will be serving those people.
An occupation though, is not a way to change a life style. How am I going to live in a society that is seemingly concerned with always having the best, the most, the cleanest, the nicest and the newest things, foods, houses, cars, clothes, electronics, and goodness knows what else when there is an entire world out here that can barely get their basic needs met?
