In my last blog, I unpacked the idea of adventure and how its definition has been changing for me. This came from the realization that travelling for the self is not quite fulfilling because travel can be used as part of a greater calling to serve and love others. For me, this calling is unfolding as mission work.
I have not had a lot of experience in mission work (yet), but the most enjoyable part for me so far has been working with children. As an elementary education major, it has been especially impactful. I have found we can learn a lot from children in third world countries, and I would like to share a lesson I learned from a boy named Yandry.
A month into my study abroad program in Ecuador, our group took time off from classes and spent a week serving in Santo Domingo, a poor, indigenous city outside of our “comforts” we were already used to. It was great to transition into a mission trip after we were already immersed and acclimated to the culture.
Working in a dirt-poor neighborhood, we painted churches and dug a huge water cistern, but the most impacting part for me was interacting with the local children that wandered the street. When we first arrived, they ran up and eagerly asked if we were their sponsors.
The connection hit me: these were the children we see on those commercials and ads that need monthly sponsors. It became real when they were seen in person and were more than just pictures on a screen.
During that week, it was impacting to actually get to know them in their context of everyday life. Outside of their dire conditions, they seemed just like the American children I knew and worked with back home. They were still kids who liked to find ways to play and have fun, but were unfortunate to grow up in abject poverty.
I became really attached to a boy named Yandry, who was ten years old. He would always find me when our group was in his neighborhood and we spent a lot of time together, even while I was supposed to be working. He constantly wanted to talk, introduce me to his friends, play soccer, wear my sunglasses, and ride six feet in the air on the back of my gringo neck.
On the day our group was leaving, Yandry was sad but said he had a gift for me. He led me over to the small concrete house where he lived with his grandma and five brothers. There, I was both surprised and confused by the gift: a jar of gel balls. I thanked him awkwardly and asked what they were. It turns out they were plant fresheners that the kids liked to play with. You can use them to grow plants in bad soil, or burst them by throwing them on the ground or at your friends. Growing up poor, you have to improvise to have fun.
In most places outside of the US, gift giving is cultural and shows thoughtfulness and gratitude for relationships. I think that might have been one of the only possessions he had, so that gift meant a lot. I was touched by his way of showing appreciation, by giving up what he had.
Yandry represents a lot of poor children. There are sponsored (and unsponsored) kids like him everywhere who need to see hope. As children, they naturally express hope and joy, but are unfortunate to live in a culture that has trouble doing the same through impoverish hardships. Sadly, their childlike optimism can get polluted by the world and squashed before they reach adulthood.
The same is even true for us growing up in fortunate circumstances. There is still a lot of pollution that brings unnecessary stress and worry in our lives when we lose the simplicity of being childlike.
Jesus was a hard dude to understand sometimes. He spoke in deep paradoxes, with the intention that those who seek to understand them will be blown away. One paradox was using the idea of being childlike to explain the simple hope that can bring excitement and adventure in our lives.
He taught that truth is revealed to those who take on the perspective and wonder of a child (Matthew 11:25) and that we are called to be more like children because their humble position ends up being the greatest to have (Matthew 18:3-4). He even made time for the children who came to see him, at a time when they had low status in society (Matthew 19:13-15).
I think this idea can be hard to understand for adults, but it becomes easier once we realize there is a difference between being childlike and childish. While being “childish” refers to having the immaturity associated with a child, being “childlike” refers to having the good qualities: maintaining the sense of wonder and awe that fills us with a mixture of trust, hope, and faith.
Jesus also said that anyone who welcomes a child welcomes him too (Matthew 18:5). As with “the least of these”, we are welcoming God when we welcome children and encourage their hope. The original word for "welcome" has a deeper meaning in Greek too: it refers to a high level of involvement and interest to openly accept, receive, and welcome.
In a cross-cultural context, children can be welcomed through seeing that American gringos have interest in their lives, which shows they are special and worth spending time with. Hope can be welcomed through a shattered stereotype and a met physical, emotional, or spiritual need, which can plant a seed in someone’s life. Through living out this childlike hope and love, adults are welcomed as well.
Since that time in Santo Domingo, I have spent other time with children abroad, but this story has remained the most powerful because of Yandry’s bighearted gift. I will never know the extent of how I welcomed him, but I know he welcomed a lot in me. If he could be so generous, even with so little to give, then I could learn to be more giving to others, and build on the childlike hope that welcomes others through love and joy.
I still think about him every now and then, and I know he is doing better off with a sponsor, who is welcoming him in ways they might not even realize. Someday, I want to sponsor a child and meet them in person to both welcome and learn from them. In the meantime, I am looking forward to spending time with lots of other children around the world and further learning how to welcome them and learn from their childlike hope.
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PS: If this inspires you to sponsor a child and welcome them, you should totally do it if you have the resources. Food for the Hungry is a charity that partners with the World Race and they support a lot of the children I will be working with next year. They even offer a $50 scholarship for my trip if one of my blog readers sponsors a child.
