I have only been on one mission trip in my life. Truth be told, I did not really want to go on it. I mean, I had just graduated and I knew all classmates would be leaving soon, so I did not want to miss a single moment. Also if I am going to be completely honest, which is my goal throughout this journey, my faith was in a really difficult place. So going away on a mission trip where people would be expecting me to pour out Christ and be a positive person was not something my heart was ready for.
Even though I fought a lot to not go Bryant, my old youth director, found a way to make me say yes. You see Bryant had a way of just simply saying I was doing something no if's, and's, or but's about it. As a youth it frustrated me…but now I see myself doing the same thing with my students. He saw that I needed to see Christ move around me.
So I had about a week to get my things ready for our week mission trip. We were going to Florida City to a church called Branches United Methodist. Florida City is a rather small city in between Homestead and Key Largo. There is mainly immigrants from Haiti and various Latin countries, poverty is high, and so is crime. A little bit before we were supposed to go the church burnt down, all of it gone. So going there I was not too sure what we would be doing. Would I be building? Would we just be thrown in this craziness? What would happen…
Well when we got there the first night we had a devotional. We were asked what our expectations for this trip were. I truthfully didn’t know…I had all these questions going on in my head about this week and what was to come. All my expectations were about what others would be wanting from me. You see, I like to think I know what people are thinking, which I do not always know. At the end of devo Bryant read a scripture
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3
He wanted us to remember it throughout the week. So in times when we were weak and didn’t want to work or when we were just hitting the wall, we could remember to always “consider it pure joy.”
The week was life changing. Before going there I was broken and pretty much just ready to give up on faith but the love I received was so amazing. There I was, a complete stranger to these people, and they all just poured out so much love. All my expectation were shattered. I thought I would have to be this light for people, but the people in Florida City ended up being a light for me. They helped heal a heart that was so torn and broken…and I will never forget that.
People have come up to me and asked me what I will be expecting to do while on the race, I have none. When all my expectations were wrong during my time in Florida City I began to realize having expectations is not really the way to go about life. I want to leave my heart open and free to let the Lord break it down and fill it up.
