What do you think of when you hear Brooklyn, New York?
If you had asked me that question one week ago the only thing I would say is that it’s just another city…
Now if you were going to ask me that I would say, It’s the city that changed my life.
This past week I went on a missions trip to Brooklyn where we ran a Vacation Bible School for the kids of the First E-Free Church of Brooklyn. I seriously do not have the words to describe the experiences that I had there. It was, by far, the best week of my life…
When I hear someone say “Missions Trip” I think of some far off third world country that has just had some huge disaster and they need help rebuilding their lives. After this week I know that isn’t the only place where people can make a difference. Brooklyn was as much a Missions field as any other place in the world. The kids that I met this week really changed my life. They really just wanted someone to show them affection, to listen to them, and just really connect with them. I was really excited to get the chance to love on these kids. The week was amazing and the kids were sooooo adorable! I had the opportunity to serve with some really amazing people and I am so thankful for each and every one of them. I wanted to share what I learned this week that had such a huge impact on my life. I think it really started Tuesday night. We had a devotional time with two of the pastors at the church and what they taught us was that God put us where we are for a purpose. I really needed to hear that because I have the tendency to complain about where I am…alot…I realized there that I needed to change my attitude about my life. I realized that I needed to start looking at things with the question, “Why does God want me here? What is His purpose for me?” I also learned this week that I need to be less self-centered. My job this week was to focus on the kids and to love them and show them Jesus. Doing that causes you to focus on others so much and I really got a chance to see other people more deeply. The less I focused on myself the more I saw others. The theme passage of this week was Philippians 2:1-18. One of the verse in that passage says “Each of you should look not only to your interests, but also to the interests of others”…That verse challenges us to put others before ourselves. That is really what made this trip different from every other conference or retreat that I’ve been to. This trip required humility. This trip was about serving not being served.
This week I really connected with two of the sweetest girls EVER. They had this thirst for knowledge and they really loved Jesus. They were overflowing with affection and energy. They called themselves “Ms. Becky’s superstars”. I really loved working with them. I went on this trip praying that I could show Jesus’ love to these kids and these girls showed ME Jesus’ love. It was a truly humbling experience and I am so grateful that I met them.
God taught me so much this week and I don’t think there are enough words to describe how absolutely amazing this week was. I am so grateful that I got to go.
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