Apprehensions Turn to Friendship
by Anne Joseph, Summer Missions Program staffPictured: Anne (left) with her service team after a hard day's work.
I was excited to meet all of the youth that were in my small group for the week - to get to know them better and to establish a friendship with them. This was going to be an exciting week, because there were two churches sleeping under the same roof and I was aching to see how they would get along with each other.
Sunday night small group was great. I asked the girls to answer a few questions about themselves and what they expected out of this week. One girl, named Yana, from Hope Community Church spoke about herself. She was a cancer survivor of 11 years, and she was only 15 years old. I was admired by her attitude; she was not bitter or angry, but cheerful and she took pride in her small stature. She was willing to open her mind about what was different about Dorchester compared to her own town, and excited to see how her church would mesh with the other church, which was a Chinese church.
I observed that the first two days the groups segregated themselves. Even when it was time to go to sleep, the girls from each church slept on opposite sides of the room, leaving our staff girls right in the middle. We prayed that God would bring the two churches together, learning how to love one another and to step out of their comfort zones.
Each day, our director match up different youth from both churches at service sites, so that they would get to know one another. On Tuesday, I had the pleasure to have Yana at my site, plus another girl from the Chinese church. I was hesitant on how they would interact with each other, but God took care of the situation and made me take the back seat.
I watched how Yana asked Vicki if she would help her dig. Vicki kindly accepted, and as they talked they got to know each other. Throughout the whole time we were at our service site, they were partners; tackling the weeds on the side of the peace garden and shoveling dirt into the side fence at the community garden. I was so happy to see that they were hitting it off as friends despite the many differences they had.
Ever since that day, our staff saw an increase of bonding from the two churches. They would play the game Ninja with each other, and the girls slept in a circle with all of our heads in the middle. It seemed as if God really answered our prayers, but He was definitely not done with showing us His greatness.
Thursday night, staff member Calvin led the Bible teaching. He asked everyone to write down what they have learned by being here at The Boston Project. The youth quickly went to writing and 15 minutes later, Calvin called everyone back in. He asked of everyone would like to share what they wrote, and Yana volunteered - I was so excited!
She started of saying that God had shown a lot and made her take a different perspective on viewing people. She shared her apprehensions about coming into Boston Project, knowing that she was going to be sleeping with an all Chinese church. She had some stereotypes about it. She wondered of all of them would speak English and be friendly. But what God had shown her throughout that week was to love everyone as God loves her.
She stated that she often judges people based on the way they look, dress, act, and speak, butt by being in Dorchester, a community that is very diverse and different that her own town, it opened her eyes to newer things; to acceptance, to love. She learned not to be judgmental, "not judge a book by its cover".
She understood that everyone is different; But God has called us to love our neighbors. And our neighbors are everyone, no matter the gender, race, class, or religion. Yana confessed her judgments and declared that God had changed her views on people. He had broadened her perspective and has allowed her to love more openly.
I was almost crying when I heard that. I was proud that she was able to share so openly that in front of everyone and be so bold about how God has transformed her to just simply love. The Boston Project week was a great way to experience differences; to acknowledge that things are not the same, but to also embrace them.
And I believe that the greatest lesson that could have came out of this week for the youth was to love other as God loves them. As we serve our neighbors out of love and compassion, we serve Our God in the process. The youth learned this and broadened their understanding of loving the differences that God has created in each and everyone of us in this world.
