So here’s the dealio:
We all got into two buses and drove to a place in Tennessee called Morristown, which is near Knoxville. We have some fun challenges during stops where we had limited budgets and had to feed our team.
In Morristown, we served the Church Community for GOD there, which is primarily Hispanic. I had my first interactions using translators to communicate with Spanish speaking people. As we were eating together, we joked about my apparent pickiness regarding the pico de gallo that had cactus in it (I vehemently argued that I was all for it, but my denial made it more suspicious), and also shared vulnerable stories about our family’s backgrounds, particularly regarding our stories of grief.
There wasn’t much laborious labor as we served, which I was expecting, but more teaching, and education.
We split into different teams that would talk on one important aspect of a church’s structure that would ensure that their community would continue to thrive. Last year, they received the same talks already, so here our team was kind of “checking in” to see how they’ve been doing, answer questions, and advise them on solving certain issues.
My team made a slide on community prayer. Luckily, everything was running smoothly for the community regarding corporate prayer, aside from a scheduling conflict here and there.
So what’d I learn? Impactful service can extend beyond things that bring instant results, like installing a water fountain, although that can be a very beneficial act of service.