Working on love - Britney

The start of this trip has definitely had its pro’s and con’s.  Just on the first day, we have worked with people who were uncooperative, which our group can already tell will be a challenge for the week ahead.  On the flip side, I am thankful for having the chance to meet new people as well as get to know some of the people in our youth group better as well.

One of the main focuses of this trip is supposed to be loving everybody equally as Jesus loves us; even for the people who may make that difficult.  When I found out about this theme, I didn’t think there was much to it, until we were faced with a situation that put us with a few individuals who made this difficult.  Our ministry group consisting of several youth from our group were faced with a group of three boys from another church who refused to work.  Today we worked with an organization that paints and repairs homes for low-income seniors, and working with the boys from the other church was extremely difficult due to their minimal work ethic and motivation (one even took a nap on the site).  As the day went on, all I could think about was how hard it would be to get through the week working with them, but later on I got to thinking that this may be God’s way of displaying what the whole point of this mission trip is; loving others the way Jesus loves us.  The point of this would not get through to people if everyone they worked with was caring, compassionate, grateful, and kind; these types of people are easy to love because there’s nothing to not love about them.  After making this realization, I’ve come to find that although the people who are rather difficult to work with are difficult to love, they are still loved unconditionally by Jesus just as we are – and this is how we should love them as well.

As the week progresses, I would like to work more towards loving those who make it more difficult than those who make it easy. 

In addition to meeting people who are difficult, we have also come in contact with some really awesome, kind new people from the other churches that I hope to get to know better this week as I begin new friendships and new relationships with these people.  Please pray for patience for my group as the week goes on. 

Britney