July 14, 2024
“Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.” ~ Luke 3:11
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
I had the privilege of spending July 1 – July 3, 2024, with 7 youth and 5 adults on a Mission Trip at a Heifer International Global Village at Shepherd’s Springs Camp in Maryland. For three days we were immersed in learning about and experiencing how poverty impacts persons around the world. There were six villages, each with an authentic house from six different regions of the world. None of the villages had electricity or running water and each house was very small and crude when seen through our materially rich eyes.
We were divided into three villages with a chaperone and youth at Thailand and Mozambique, and two other chaperons and me in Guatemala. Our evening assignment was to make dinner in one pot over a fire. We were given a crate that contained everything we needed for the task: an authentic recipe from our country, ingredients, bowls, utensils, hot pads and matches.
But there were four complications:
One person in each village had an “injury” or “illness” that made that person unable to help unless we traded something from our crate for the medical expenses.
Unknown to us, each of our crates were missing one or more items that we would need to barter for with other villages in order to prepare our meal
There was a baby in each village in the form of a water balloon. The baby needed to be in physical touch with a person at all times. If the baby was dropped or put down the baby would die, and we would need to observe a 15-minute time of sitting in silence in grief.
In order for the baby to survive, each village needed a baby “nourishment” card to survive. Our village in Guatemala held two cards for all three villages, so it was a given that one child would die.
What would you have done?
A stranger came to our village and offered to grant our sick villager a cure for a trade. We gave him a tomato and regained a healthy villager. We didn’t have a knife to cut up vegetables and we didn’t have matches to build our fire. When a Thailand villager asked to trade for a baby nourishment card, we bartered to borrow a knife and when we returned it to give us a few matches so we could start our cooking fire. They were happy to make the trades.
Then came the hardest decision. A villager from Mozambique arrived desperate to trade for a nourishment card. With heavy hearts we decided to keep the card so our baby wouldn’t starve. Although this just a simulation, it hurt to say “no” and hurt even more when that person walked away empty handed.
The experience opened our eyes and hearts to the challenges people around the globe face daily. John the Baptizer’s words from Luke 3:11 above took on new meaning.
Grateful for this reality check! ~ Anne
Associate Conference Minister Sheresa Simpson-Rice stirring the pot
Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Sheresa Simpson-Rice stirring our evening meal.
Wayfinding 