Stories

This is something I wrote up for a reflection on my winter break service trip this year. It includes a little bit of a previous post of mine, so if you feel like you've read part of this before, you're not going crazy.
I have many stories that I can tell from that trip that I will always treasure, but here are just a few of them.

A personal goal of mine for the service trip this year was to make authentic connections with the people I worked with and encountered during the week. This gave me a variety of new perspectives and made me think about the fact that though everyone has different backgrounds, different living situations, and different life experiences, deep down we are all children of God with a unique story to tell, that we are truly more alike than we are different, that we all have a value and a purpose.

Stacy, a girl from Tipton, IA, that I met at the community meal we helped with, has XXY syndrome and other mental disabilities. She was not expected to live past age 10—she is now 28 thanks to the grace of God and lots of loving support. Her mom told me that she is her “miracle child.” Stacy loves music and loves to dance, which is why she approached me during the community meal when we were playing background music. I and others in our group danced with her (which was mostly just swaying back and forth), and we brought her over to the djembe to play. She also loves Christian music, particularly “Trading My Sorrows,” so we played that song for her. It was beautiful to see the joy in her singing, drumming, dancing, and smiling. Normally I’m not the most comfortable around people with special needs, but in taking the time to understand Stacy’s story, I saw how important of a person she is, just like anyone else.

Sue is a member of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in St. Ann, MO whose story was a continuation of my own. Two years ago on the service trip, the bridge of my violin broke an hour before we were to play for a worship service at the church. Sue was one of the congregation members who came to my aid and drove a few of us to a violin shop to get a replacement. For me, the story stopped after God had provided a new bridge and the right people, like Sue, to help me continue in my service that week. This year, I found out that soon after Hope Overflow had played at Shepherd of the Hills, Sue was diagnosed with lymphoma and her husband passed away. Because of various treatments, she had not been able to attend church much at all since we had been there last. Just before we came to the church on Sunday, February 27, Sue had finished with chemotherapy; she was healthy enough that she felt able to come to worship that morning. Alex Krumm gave the homily which included the story of God working through my broken bridge; Sue spoke with Alex after the service with such energy and thankfulness, now knowing how important she had been in the events two years ago. I was told by the pastor later that Sue would be starting radiation in the coming weeks, so it was definitely a God sighting that she was able to come to church and hear this particular message. We were able to return the favor that Sue had given me, giving her the hope that God does and will work through the difficult times in our lives.

Louis Haywood is a man with quite a few things to say. I had the pleasure of eating lunch with him at a soup kitchen in East St. Louis, IL, after we had played a show in the adjoining thrift store. He kept insisting that we stay together as a band and complimenting us on how inspirational our message was. We shared with him some of the places we would be visiting the rest of the week and the people we’d be working with. When we mentioned our upcoming work at Wayside Cross Ministries in Chicago, an addiction recovery program for men, Louis talked about his brother’s struggle with addiction. Chatting with Louis gave us an insight into a way of life and a side of society we were unfamiliar with. He told us how important he believes it is to find and know God and about his views on the injustice and racism in the present world. Louis said he’d pray for us, and we offered to pray for him, too.

Even members of our own group have unique stories. I had a great conversation with Trevor, Alex, and Bekah over dinner one evening. It started out as a bit of a debate between political beliefs but ended up as a discussion about diversity and the deeper value of going to Wartburg. As often as we hear the college mission statement and though it may be annoying at times, it lays out some very important points and values that not all institutions have—it makes Wartburg unique. In his search for law schools, Trevor is more seriously considering a school that shares the values of leadership, service, faith, and learning like Wartburg. Alex, as an alumnus, shared how important his Wartburg experiences have been now in the real world.

Payton is a girl I met at the Parent’s Night Out program at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church in Prior Lake, MN. She is probably about nine-years-old, and at the time I met her, she was just standing around, looking a bit bored and disengaged. She said that she couldn’t find anything she really wanted to do, despite the wide variety of games and activities available. I offered some suggestions to her, but nothing sounded all that appealing. Then I saw a ‘Chutes and Ladders’ box on a table; we decided to give it a shot, since neither of us had played in quite a while. Payton and I went from complete strangers to having fun playing together in no time. We also attracted a couple of other kids and some members of Hope Overflow who joined in as well. Though we didn’t talk much or get to know each other well, it was fun to make a simple connection over a board game. Later when we played our show that night for the whole group of children and saw that Payton was having a great time dancing around and playing with her younger sister, I knew that what I and the rest of the band had been doing to help out made a difference.

I have tendinitis and a lot of other chronic pain problems in my arms and back that sometimes prevent me from playing my musical instruments, a major part of the service we provide through Hope Overflow. It's really frustrating when pain stops me from doing what I need to accomplish, and particularly doing what I love and serving others. I wasn’t sure how much I'd actually be able to play viola in the band because of my pain, and I never know in my everyday life what I will and will not be able to do. By going on a service trip this year with Hope Overflow, I've confirmed my belief that some of the biggest impact is made when you listen to people's stories. It’s important to show that you care through doing what you can, even if what you can do doesn't feel like enough. Before our service trip, Pastor Ramona reminded me of the "Body of Christ" passage in 1 Corinthians, and I think she's right: maybe I can't be an arm or a back, but I can be an ear to listen, a voice to comfort, and a heart to care and love, be it with the homeless and hurting in urban areas or with the people around me right here in Waverly.