Giving Back

Ashley Lyon
Communication Arts
Giving Back In America we are very fortunate, the majority of the population is blessed with food to eat and a roof over their heads and the comforting promise of freedom and protection. Our country is solely based on the income and output of families and large corporations; the wealth of our nation allows most of the population to live comfortably. Being raised in a home where past generation family traditions and values are present; coming together to eat dinner and share in conversation, taking a trip to Brazil the summer of my junior change my perspective on life and the world as a whole. I traveled to Brazil with a group of fifteen young people and five leaders from our church set out on a mission of sharing the good news of Jesus. Stepping off the plane into a crowded and foreign environment was like being thrown onto a whole different planet where I could not understand what was being said and could not even read signs let alone find a bathroom. In our group there were people who spoke Portuguese that took us to our hotel about an hour into the city in Fortaleza, Brazil where more than half the population experiences poverty and hunger. I had the privilege of working with young kids of many different Brazilian communities everyday; our team would come with a variety of different vacation bible school activities. Our team would sit with the kids in a circle for story time with a big picture book that told the story of Jesus’s birth or the miracles of Jesus walking on water or healing the blind. However we were also there to simply love these children, just as Jesus’s would have by spending time with them, providing food for them and playing games together. At night we would spend our time at a youth group with high school aged kids who brought struggles of their past and preconceived ideas of Christianity. Our team would spend time talking to the kids but relating to them was so difficult, in their normal day they