Before I get too far into justice I want to give a bit of my background. I personally have been fortunate enough not to be touched by injustice in a grand sense against me. I'm what you'd call an upper-middle class US citizen. But it's been a long time since that's defined me. I don't know why - personally I think it was all the Lord's doing - I've had a heart for missions and helping people since early middle school. I have one memory of a team of highschoolers leaving for Venezuela from the church I was a part of at the time and feeling this huge pang of "I want to go". At the time I couldn't have told you exactly why, but I knew that I wanted to serve God and make an impact.
Then I began to understand what it was that was so wrong in the world. At a 30 Hour Famine I learned about Human Trafficking by watching a video created by International Justice Mission. The images and impressions are burned into my head six years later and I've never been able to escape the call to do something. I have not known what to do and throughout my teenage years there was little I felt empowered to do about trafficking but now I have a better idea of how to begin to engage on a very real level.
I went on my first mission trip happened in 2005 and was to a migrant camp in northern Washington. I loved it even though I didn't really know how to deal with what I saw. Abject poverty an hour and a half from my house, hopelessness, a lack of Jesus. I brought all I had to that trip and I found that I was so much more alive than I'd ever been in my life and it was amazing. Not that the trip wasn't tough. I got hurt several times, was more tired than I'd ever been but I was doing something to reach out at last. We visited the camp once more later that summer, but didn't really have a strong followup. I remember that bothering me. If I'd been older and could have driven I would have gone back again and again until the migrants moved on.
The next year we went to Mexico. The trip was very different. I didn't build bonds with the children, rather I started, as an 8th grader, to build my leadership skills and begin to hone relationships within the group I was serving with. I was hit by the poverty there, and how similar to the migrant camps it was. I practiced endurance and dealing with less than ideal conditions. I remember beginning to hear about gifts of the spirit from people who had seen them. Another group going through the same organization we were working through saw a healing. I wanted to see God work like that.
The following year saw my youth leader step down from his role and another youth leader, who'd been acting as an assistant leader (Suzanne) despite having much more experience, step in and fill the role after a long battle with the leadership of our church. Because Suzanne was a woman and the wife of our pastor the elders felt she wouldn't be a good fit for the group. However, the youth group felt differently and ultimately we won out through prayer and the hard work of Cina, a parent who understood the heart of the youth and Suzanne.
With that battle won Suzanne planned another trip to the migrant camps. This time with a different vision - a plan to build long term relationships. The camp we went to was small and didn't have a lot of kids in it and I have to confess when I found this out I was disappointed and wondered if the months of training and prayer and preparation I'd poured out (along with everyone else) were going to be wasted. Could I ever have been more foolish? I remember praying the Sunday before we rolled down there "Lord, do more than we can ask or imagine" and oh my goodness he did. We got really close to most of the kids and began a relationship with one family that has lasted to the present - four and a half years to date. They came to Christ and as we've gone to other camps they've begun becoming missionaries alongside us to communities they understand. It's amazing to see a girl who was only twelve when we first reached her now in her teens and reaching out as one of us.
Through continuous visits to camps and constant involvement and research into justice I've only had my passion for it grow. This certainly isn't exhaustive, but hopefully my heart is captured.
Then I began to understand what it was that was so wrong in the world. At a 30 Hour Famine I learned about Human Trafficking by watching a video created by International Justice Mission. The images and impressions are burned into my head six years later and I've never been able to escape the call to do something. I have not known what to do and throughout my teenage years there was little I felt empowered to do about trafficking but now I have a better idea of how to begin to engage on a very real level.
I went on my first mission trip happened in 2005 and was to a migrant camp in northern Washington. I loved it even though I didn't really know how to deal with what I saw. Abject poverty an hour and a half from my house, hopelessness, a lack of Jesus. I brought all I had to that trip and I found that I was so much more alive than I'd ever been in my life and it was amazing. Not that the trip wasn't tough. I got hurt several times, was more tired than I'd ever been but I was doing something to reach out at last. We visited the camp once more later that summer, but didn't really have a strong followup. I remember that bothering me. If I'd been older and could have driven I would have gone back again and again until the migrants moved on.
The next year we went to Mexico. The trip was very different. I didn't build bonds with the children, rather I started, as an 8th grader, to build my leadership skills and begin to hone relationships within the group I was serving with. I was hit by the poverty there, and how similar to the migrant camps it was. I practiced endurance and dealing with less than ideal conditions. I remember beginning to hear about gifts of the spirit from people who had seen them. Another group going through the same organization we were working through saw a healing. I wanted to see God work like that.
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| Me in Mexico performing a drama about repenting and turning to Christ. It was very powerful to me personally and God used it to give me a picture into what it really cost Him to die on the cross. |
The following year saw my youth leader step down from his role and another youth leader, who'd been acting as an assistant leader (Suzanne) despite having much more experience, step in and fill the role after a long battle with the leadership of our church. Because Suzanne was a woman and the wife of our pastor the elders felt she wouldn't be a good fit for the group. However, the youth group felt differently and ultimately we won out through prayer and the hard work of Cina, a parent who understood the heart of the youth and Suzanne.
With that battle won Suzanne planned another trip to the migrant camps. This time with a different vision - a plan to build long term relationships. The camp we went to was small and didn't have a lot of kids in it and I have to confess when I found this out I was disappointed and wondered if the months of training and prayer and preparation I'd poured out (along with everyone else) were going to be wasted. Could I ever have been more foolish? I remember praying the Sunday before we rolled down there "Lord, do more than we can ask or imagine" and oh my goodness he did. We got really close to most of the kids and began a relationship with one family that has lasted to the present - four and a half years to date. They came to Christ and as we've gone to other camps they've begun becoming missionaries alongside us to communities they understand. It's amazing to see a girl who was only twelve when we first reached her now in her teens and reaching out as one of us.
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| Me teaching a migrant boy how to use my video camera. I still know him today. |
Through continuous visits to camps and constant involvement and research into justice I've only had my passion for it grow. This certainly isn't exhaustive, but hopefully my heart is captured.
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