New York: Learning from a third-grader

New York is a very special place. I learned a lot about myself and about God. I am grateful God gave me the opportunity to go and serve in that wonderful city.

My last weeks were spent working in Vacation Bible School. It is designed to teach kids the word of God during the summer, when most of the kids don’t have regular school. At home, VBS usually is one week long. The VBS at my church in the Corona neighborhood of Queens was a month long.

Joy Brown learned lessons about service from “sisters” in the church where she served in Queens, New York.My church in New York taught me how wonderful is to serve. There are no excuses. I was blessed to get to know the sisters who helped cook and serve food at VBS. While we were preparing the meals, some of the sisters shared their stories with me. Some event told me their problems, and we prayed together.

Preparing and serving food is one of the things I enjoy the most. We were serving two meals each day to 90 kids, as well as to the mission teams who were there during the week. We had four mission teams, each helping one week.

Kids are so funny and capable of making you think about really profound stuff. During recreation time, I played basketball with some of the third-grade girls. Every week, I helped with a different group of kids, plus serving and preparing food.  One of the girls from third grade, Jennifer, was so sweet. One day, I sat down to eat with her, and she told me about her life and family. She told me she and her family moved to this country two years ago, and that they were always talking about going back to Ecuador. With a big smile, she said, “I am just staying here until we can build a house in Ecuador, and then we move back.”

Another day, Jennifer told me something that a lot of us need to hear. She said many people get angry at God when he is correcting us and disciplining us. Those words fit my life so much right now! If I am able to swim in God’s mercy and love, why then, am I trying to run away from his discipline? I have been reading the book of Isaiah, where it talks a lot about the mercy of God but also about his justice, and Jennifer’s words were powerful.

I pray Jennifer will continue with an open heart to know more about Jesus, she and her family go to one of the church plants that my church has.

VBS is a big event at my church, and it takes a lot of energy. During all these weeks, I prayed, and God put everything in order so I was able to meet more with, Alid, my dear friend who I met at a block party. We met in her house after picking up the ashes of her husband. Alid invited me to her house. One thing that she told me straight up was that it was weird for her to have me as a friend. She look to her daughter and said: “I don’t hang out with church people, because they always try to convert me.” I started to ask myself, “Am I trying to convert her?” Do we simple humans work so hard to “convert” or “save” others? Are we relying in ourselves or on God when we relate to other people? How personal and relational does it get when you just see people as projects of conversion? I ask for mercy from God if we think we can do something—anything—by ourselves.

I started hanging out more and more with Alid and her daughter. One night, we went to eat with their friends—now my friends—who are tattoo artists. Alid is very honest, and the last days that we met, she told me about her experiences in going to church. She asked me about my faith, about church and life. Every time we met, she gave me a gift and made me Mexican food. When we said bye to each other, we cried and prayed we will see each other soon. Please pray for her and her daughter. Please pray for Corona and for all of New York and the wonderful people who are serving there.

Joy Brown, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, served with Go Now Missions this summer as an intern at a church in Queens, New York City, working with Metropolitan New York Baptist Association.