Paterson New Jersey Day 1

Praise the Lord!

Today started my second mission trip, third for my church of the summer. I unexpectedly join this mission team because I wanted to help out a brother who was leading that team, but turned out to be more than just helping. The team was heavily understaffed of English speakers, so a fellow small group sister and I joined to go to help out this team. We sent to Paterson, New Jersey about an hour drive from our church. The team practiced only for a few weeks for this mission trip, every Sunday right after our Gloria service finished service. 

We prepared about 300 goody bags packed with personal hygiene items. We practiced a ton of songs that we were going to do for VBS (Vacation Bible Study) for the kids or people who came to the mission center soup kitchen. We “memorized” Spanish and English praise songs. Prepared and prayed for some of our bodies because most of our deaconesses were suffering from aches and or illness. My team leader, Charles, small group member Seran, Pastor Samuel Park, and I were coming back from Haiti two weeks before and for Pastor Park, he came back from Portland Maine on our church’s second mission trip two days before. The younger members of the team wanted to sleep over at New Jersey because some of us had problems waking up at such an early time, come to church for morning prayer, to spend an entire day on the mission field, travel back for debriefing, and go home. Two of our members were coming from extreme sides of Brooklyn and would be extremely hard for them to come every day early, and go home late and rinse and repeat. But for the unity of the team, we have to stay and travel together. Luckily the kind love of our teammates, Seran and her mother, one of them is sleeping over their home, and another deaconess is picking up our other teammate at the other end.  

Praise Him for sending another church team from Jersey. They were heavily packed with instruments and speakers and youth. We were overbooked with another team that also did things for the soup kitchen. Eventually they took over the VBS and songs portion. I may sound like I’m just lazy for saying Praise the Lord for they took over, but that’s actually not why I’m praising the Lord. I was glad to see another church that was also doing God’s ministry in Paterson alongside us. Yes we practiced and yes the time was wasted, but it’s a blessing of the Lord to the other church to be used as another tool for God’s arsenal of Love to use in Paterson. Praise the Lord that I have such brothers and sisters in Christ who have sacrificed their summer time with friends, loved ones and family, to commit their lives to the ministry God has started in Paterson.

Praise the Lord that we had a time of unity amongst our team. We took two vans that separated the teams, one with the younger members and the other with the deaconess. Once we started working Charles and I were grouped with two deaconesses, that were new to my eyes (probably not to others) and we cleaned the sidewalk and backyard of the apartment and mission center. We also painted the first floor of the apartment that the mission organizer was going to use either for business to support the soup kitchen or use it for ministry. We were crammed in a tiny space that probably held maybe four people max but without a complaint we brushed, rolled, and tried to finish the room until the paint ran out. We worked together, sweated, and some of us suffered together as a team rather than complain as individuals. 

We ate lunch, which was bulgogi, which Charles and I dreaded from eating too much in Haiti, but were blessed by the hands who prepared the food. Afterwards we play “Random Game” amongst each other and with two other deaconesses who learned quickly and had a great time.

In the afternoon, we went out evangelizing amongst the homeless and those living in poverty. As one of the four English speakers, I led a party of deaconesses talking to the people and praying amongst them. It was a hard time for all the deaconesses to try to minister to the people because English is not their primary language, but I say the dedication and heart they put into praying and giving salutation was a blessing that God was working through them. I can remember sitting with three people; I was standing up but they happily insisted that I sit next to them. They were friendly and just gave some time listening to the message that I was giving about the Power and Love of God and our Lord Jesus. While most of the teams seem to do theirs quick, I thought my talking went on a lot longer than most of the team. I wanted to create a short relationship with the person I was going to talk about the Gospel to and got friendly with most of them. One person kept remembering us that we just prayed together with her that every time we were in the area, she would give us a friendly wave. Another person, Juan, said it was the best thing that happened to him today that as brothers and sisters of Christ we prayed in different languages to the One God Almighty. We gave the goody bags to the people we talked to as a free gift. 

Going home was tough as most of us were sleeping or near to sleeping. I was suffering through an unexpected lower back pain and had minor threw up a few times as I was going home. I think the dehydration was getting to me but it was my fault for not packing my camelbak to prevent dehydration.

We all gathered and debriefed on the day. Some of the deaconesses were upset that they couldn’t participate in the conversations but our pastor told them that even praying with them in Korean, giving goody bags, placing a candy and holding their hands to show God’s grip on follower, or drawing the Bridge diagram was still doing the work of God. Even though they weren’t talking about the Love of God, their parts still help out the people to understand just how simple but great God’s love is. Even though Paul is known to all of Christianity as the preacher to the Gentiles, he had friends or people who supported his missions and preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. God may not have bless all with the power and gift of speaking but He has blessed us to love others and to show the Love of Jesus to all in our own individual gifted ways. 

Tomorrow starts day 2.