serve - lauren enright

15th November 2010 by MORE

I'm 16 years old and I attend Albury Corps.

In April 2010 I went to Peru to do volunteer work for a month. When my Dad first suggested the idea of completing mission work, I literally jumped up and down in a circle. I was so excited.

I went and worked in a primary school in a village outside the city of Cusco. I taught the kids English, Art, PE and how to use computers. We also did construction work and painted classrooms.

When I saw the kids at the school they were really happy, super energetic and I'm glad we went there. But I was sad when I went to their houses and saw how dirty they were. You couldn't even keep a dog in there – it was just mud and brick. No electricity, no water, no furniture, no doors or windows. Most of them had experienced violence and abuse in their homes too.

We went and visited one lady who had three kids and a husband. They were a little bit better off than some others – their home was slightly better. When her husband went to work she had to work on the land – but she couldn't because of her chronic illness. Her husband thought it was just an excuse, so he would beat her. Also, because she didn't work they didn't have enough money to feed the kids. So we paid for her to go to clinic. There were lots of stories like that.

I was humbled and challenged to see that they were still so happy even though they had so little. At home I had so much – maybe too much. I didn't know what to do with all my stuff. I can't use it all. They were so thankful for what they did have. They even gave us thank you gifts.

When I came home I thought it would be good to hold a garage sale with some of the stuff I don't need and raise money for the people in Peru. My Dad suggested I hold the garage sale at my school to raise even more money. I'm now in the process of making that happen.

Through this experience, I've seen more of how God works. Although it wasn't a Christian organisation I could feel his presence during the trip and it was a spiritual thing for me – God is glorified when we serve people.

To other young people who are thinking about going on a mission trip, I would say that it changes your life forever and makes you so grateful. It's definitely worth it. I want to do it as many times as I can, as often as I can. It's now my passion.

Comments

Anthony Gott

November 20, 2010 at 10:35pm

that's so awesome to here about
great to here you've come back and are organising a garage sale to raise money for the people in peru
it is really sad to here the stories of the way people live though
Good Luck God Bless
and Praying for you

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Stephen Buchanan

November 29, 2010 at 9:52am

I like the part where you mentioned that God is glorified just by serving other people, even doing this through a secular organisation. Keep the vision and God will continue to work in and through you - and pray that others will follow your example. God Bless!

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Stormey McDougall

June 11, 2011 at 3:35pm

Lauren, this is beyond amazing.
I love to read through these stories and when I read this I was honestly inspired.
To us it seems that these people have so little. But we as you said, need to remember tht they are quite contempt with that they have. They have less then bare essensials and are amazingly happy.
God works in amazing ways, He is working so strongly in the lives of the people you met and in your life.
Im praying for you and the amazing people you met.
Keep up the amazing work.
You're honestly an inspiration :)

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