Making a Difference Through Learning and Sharing
By Brianna Smith | Photo by The Rev. Paul Jeffrey
Hello, my name is Brianna Smith and I am 16 years old and going to be a junior in the fall at AC Davis High School. This is my first year attending Mission u (bit.ly/missionu-2016), and I feel blessed that I got the opportunity to come and learn about the involvement of the Church in Latin America. The all-school study this year was taught by the Rev. Paul Jeffrey. He talked to us about his experiences in Latin America and how he witnessed changes, not only due to involvement and interference of other countries, but because of the Bible. I have learned that as a Church we have both damaged cultures, but we have also gone into the towns and helped. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) distributes kits to help those who have lost everything. We also help and build medical centers and send missionaries into the countries to serve.
In the all-school study, we learned about the history of colonization and how the central countries formed into what they are today. Throughout the class we have learned about the culture and the people. We learned what our fellow brothers and sisters in Latin America go through everyday, when compared to us, are experiencing the unimaginable. Paul told us about mothers who are looking for their lost children for years and years, children who are disabled and working with others to participate in daily activities, and people who are trying to learn and teach about God and are being killed.
We watched videos about Latin America – about the those who invaded and what they did – and of locals who are living their lives as happy as possible.
As a first-timer at Mission u, I felt a warm presence and was welcomed with a smile. I have grown in my own personal faith and been reminded what a passion for ministry is and looks like. With this information that I have learned and began to understand, I now want to go out and share it. I am ready to go and share my experiences with my local church and my youth group. By telling our friends and families we can get the word out about how important our fellow brothers and sisters of faith are, and by doing so we can make a difference in the communities in which we live and in the world.
