Reflections from Alex

After two days of travel, the 2PC youth arrived at the Beth-El Mission, tucked away a few miles outside of a small town in Florida. We were surrounded by eerily beautiful curtains of Spanish moss, lizards scampered from rock to rock, and the scorching morning sun often turned to massive, rolling thunderclouds by late afternoon; a different part of God’s creation than we were accustomed to back in Roanoke. However, as awesome as the land around us was, it was the people and the openness of their hearts that truly struck me as beautiful. From the moment we stepped foot in Beth-EL to the moment we shoved our bags back onto the bus, this trip was as much of a learning experience as it was an opportunity to offer our assistance around Beth-El. And it was thanks to the incredible people in the community that we were able to learn as much as we did. I, personally, felt as though a drape had been removed from a portion of my vision; there was an entire lifestyle- of chance and hope and faith and persistent determination –that the migrant farm workers lived, of which I had never really been made aware. What was most amazing, to me, was the fact that no matter what backgrounds the people of Beth-El came from, and no matter how far away we had traveled to just take a brief step into understanding, everyone welcomed us with open arms and smiling faces. The faith, energy, and capacity for love that these people have are quite astounding!

Each day that we were there, our group took on different work projects, which really made me realize how hard some of the people in this community work out in the fields and how tough it could be, considering we were all absolutely exhausted at the end of only a few days of just general repairs, chores, and assistance. By the end of the week, we had created (assembly line fashion) somewhere between 700 and 1000 care packages to give to people in the community , spent hours working in the food pantry organizing items and helping people bring things to their cars, painted a classroom, opened a second-hand shop to make the necessities cheap and easy to obtain, and drove out to a field to distribute packages to the workers. Looking back, it’s pretty incredible to think about the amount of work we were able to get done in just a matter of days, work that will go forward to do even just a little bit of help to people that really need it. In learning all that we did about the harsh reality of the farm workers’, I sometimes wondered where God could be amidst it all. Where was He in a people who so clearly needed his hand? However, I found God in the smiles that they carried on their faces no matter how tough things could get. I found God in the faith that these people have despite having so little. That even when all else seems to fail, their faith would only strengthen. I saw God in the energy of the people during their worship service, and I felt his powerful presence in the tiny, dingy room that served as the local youth group, where their emotion and connection to God lit up an incredible spark of His company that brought tears to many of our eyes. Returning back home, I take with me not just the knowledge of a culture and people that I knew very little of before, but also the knowledge that even when it seems like God is distant and out of touch, He is always there even in the smallest and most humble of gestures.