Poverty Can Break Your Heart

 There is no experience in the world like going on a mission trip to a foreign country. Last summer I joined Commissioned by Christ on their mission trip to Piura, Peru and I know I will never forget that week. I realized quickly that Piura was not only a large region but one in great need. The other missionaries and I stayed at Santisimo Parish where we were comfortable and well-fed. The staff at Santisimo run impressive relief efforts. Every day they would give us a list of jobs to choose from.

One day a group of us helped a man and his neighbors build a house for his family. A few months prior Piura had faced severe flooding and many people had lost their homes and possessions. Another day we sat in the bed of a truck as we were driven to different homes where we delivered groceries to help the families that month. Some of the time the entire CBC group would do things together. For example, we had a fun night at an orphanage for girls. After a mass, in which the girls sang beautifully, we played volleyball with them. Before leaving for the night some very talented girls performed a few dances in costumes they had sewn.

All in all each day was a new adventure full of joyful kids, grateful parents, faith-filled Catholics and welcoming Peruvians, but one experience was especially impactful for me. I spent one morning with a few others from my team helping a mother with work around her house, though by American standards it hardly was one. The floor was dirt and uneven, the walls and ceiling were mud and reeds, and their chickens wandered through its three rooms. The woman had six children, the youngest of whom spent the morning playing with the only toy I saw there.

The truth is that on a mission trip the poverty can break your heart but the charity you partake in and the joy it results in can put it back together.

by Mary Grace, CBC Missionary to Peru