MIssion Trip Reflections
Anne Ward shared some wonderful reflections from our 2015 mission trip that appeared in the October Sixth Church newsletter.
(You can read more about our trip to Broad Street Ministries here.)
Thank you Anne for sharing your experience.
Here is what she wrote:
What was your favorite part of the trip?
My favorite part of the trip was when we went to volunteer at Books Through Bars. Books Through Bars is an organization that accepts book donations and, sends them to prisoners in over 400 jails. The prisoners write them letters requesting themes for books and BTB packages them up, making sure that they follow the jails guidelines. I liked this organization the most because of the prisoners letters. In the letters they would write about their whole life, before jail, and they would write about how they got to jail and what they were treated like. Many of the stories were of poverty and drugs, but some stories were different. One man wrote a letter explaining his life, but at the end he said that prison is what you make of it. Some people come in hating the whole system, and they can’t learn from it. They come out exactly the same and go back to a life of crime. But some people, like him, learn from prison and they come out wanting to change and start a new successful life. While we were there, I noticed a pattern in the books requested; many asked for a dictionary, so that they could learn more of the English language, they would also ask for books that could teach them hobbies. For example, one man asked for a book about plumbing because he wanted to become a plumber when he got out. Another example is a man who asked for science books so that he could have a head start on going back to school to be a scientist. Seeing these people try to change their life really impacted me.
I loved the people that we met on the trip, not only the people within BSM (Broad Street Ministries) but also the people that we met through volunteering. BSM has meals for people experiencing food insecurity 6 days a week. The last day that we were in Philadelphia, we got the opportunity to serve as waiters at these meals. It was so cool to meet the people there and hear their stories, I was so surprised to see how much they wanted to share about their whole life, including their troubles.
Out of all the places we visited, the one that made the largest impact on me was the books through bars. I think that one had the biggest impact because we learned so much about the people that we were serving.
My favorite part of the trip was our free day. We walked around Philadelphia and it was so much fun, and I really bonded with the other Sixth Church Members on the trip.
My least favorite part of the trip was leaving. The whole trip was so much fun and I would love to do it again.
What surprised you the most?
What surprised me the most was how open the people we served were. They would talk about everything, troubled childhoods, abuse, drugs, everything. I would have thought they would want to keep all this to themselves.
I learned that I love volunteering, when I got back from this trip I immediately looked up all kinds of places to volunteer in Pittsburgh, and I look forward to doing more volunteering in the future.
I didn’t learn anything new, but I understood better how much God loves us all. He has a plan for everyone. What did you learn about the people that we served? I learned that they are just like you and I, they are not letting their situation get in the way of their lives and they are going on to make themselves better.
My favorite part of the trip was when we went to volunteer at Books Through Bars. Books Through Bars is an organization that accepts book donations and, sends them to prisoners in over 400 jails. The prisoners write them letters requesting themes for books and BTB packages them up, making sure that they follow the jails guidelines. I liked this organization the most because of the prisoners letters. In the letters they would write about their whole life, before jail, and they would write about how they got to jail and what they were treated like. Many of the stories were of poverty and drugs, but some stories were different. One man wrote a letter explaining his life, but at the end he said that prison is what you make of it. Some people come in hating the whole system, and they can’t learn from it. They come out exactly the same and go back to a life of crime. But some people, like him, learn from prison and they come out wanting to change and start a new successful life. While we were there, I noticed a pattern in the books requested; many asked for a dictionary, so that they could learn more of the English language, they would also ask for books that could teach them hobbies. For example, one man asked for a book about plumbing because he wanted to become a plumber when he got out. Another example is a man who asked for science books so that he could have a head start on going back to school to be a scientist. Seeing these people try to change their life really impacted me.
What did you like most about the trip?
Of the places that you volunteered,
which one had the most impact on you?
which one had the most impact on you?
Out of all the places we visited, the one that made the largest impact on me was the books through bars. I think that one had the biggest impact because we learned so much about the people that we were serving.
What did you like most about the trip?
What did you like least about the trip?
My least favorite part of the trip was leaving. The whole trip was so much fun and I would love to do it again.
What surprised you the most?
What surprised me the most was how open the people we served were. They would talk about everything, troubled childhoods, abuse, drugs, everything. I would have thought they would want to keep all this to themselves.
Did you learn anything new about yourself on the trip?
I learned that I love volunteering, when I got back from this trip I immediately looked up all kinds of places to volunteer in Pittsburgh, and I look forward to doing more volunteering in the future.
Did you learn anything new about God on the trip?
I didn’t learn anything new, but I understood better how much God loves us all. He has a plan for everyone. What did you learn about the people that we served? I learned that they are just like you and I, they are not letting their situation get in the way of their lives and they are going on to make themselves better.
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