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The tragic sights and scenes we saw were not at all what we expected to see when considering that Philadelphia is in the US, which is a first world country. We encountered many homelessness, pollution, segregation, and the worst of them all – hopelessness. And yet, we saw God working in the city to bring faith and hope to the people. The volunteer work we did at Philly mostly consisted of either serving or preparing food for the homeless. We went to different volunteering programs where waves of people would come into the cafeteria expecting food. We, as volunteers, would serve food to these people until they were all satisfied. At certain times, I thought that some people were insatiable, based on how many times they returned to the line. We’ve served over 1,100 people throughout the week.

We also went to a summer camp everyday where we assisted the teachers. The kids there lived up in dangerous or unhealthy family situations. They saw their time at this camp as the only way to be away from their homes. We talked with them, played games with them, and supervised their play times. I was blessed to see these kids who grew up in such difficult situations, look up to us. I pray that God would work in these capable young people, to give hope to this city. After a days work of volunteering with various organizations and eating delicious, diverse, ethnic meals, we had some time to ourselves. We talked to each other about our thought on that day. The boys in our group stayed up till 3am one night sharing our biggest struggles we had back at home. I’ve learned more about each person in six days worth of time than I did for the entire duration of our friendship. In this I learned that God is not just working in the city but in us too. We, as a group, learned that many cities are much more deprived of hope than we thought and yet God is working there to bring hope to the people. We, as a group, learned that God is working in nations like the U.S because we need just as much gospel hope as any other countries of the world. And we, as a group, learned that God is working, not just in the homeless and needy, but within our team to bring us closer to each other.

On the day we left for missions I was scared and excited. I didn’t know what would happen at Philly. For me this was like going into deep water because it made me to step out of my comfort zone.

When we arrived at the CSM base it was a lot different than what I expected. The outside looked like a normal apartment that needed some renovation. We went inside and started to unpack and we learned that we weren’t the only ones staying at the base. Another church stayed with us. They were nice, but we didn’t really talk to them.

After unpacking we did to our first activity, the prayer tour. It was a tour of the city and as we went on the tour we prayed things for the city. This tour set the mood for the missions. Our hosts told us statistic about the city and told us what we should pray about during the tour. These stats about the city made me wonder about God’s love for this city, especially because many people here were homeless, many who were just kids. The homeless were caught in a cycle of poverty. This made me question God’s love.

Few things surprised me from that tour. The first was that we prayed with our eyes open. Another thing that surprised me was that the parts we went on tour were absolutely different from what you would expect to be Philadelphia. We saw a lot of art on the side of the wall, but we also saw very broken, run down, and dirty buildings.

Before the second day of missions, even though I knew that was wrong, I thought that God perhaps didn’t love equally. Sure God might be using people to help the city, but it was just hard for me to accept that the God we believe allowed the terrible conditions present in this city.

We served at a ministry called Whosever Gospel. There I met many people dealing with homelessness and other with problems. Yet they were changing and I knew that it was God was changing them because God loves them. Some used the ministry to get out of addiction, to obtain jobs, and even begin to trust in Jesus!

After that day helping out at the thrift shop, we helped out at a soup kitchen called Chosen 300. There, we served around 300 people and I knew God was with us and that he was there with the volunteer/team and the pastor. At the end of the message 2 people were saved to Christ. This made me begin to think that God was there and that he really loves this city.

We also served at a place that was like an after school program. The kids were about 5-14 years old. Some of them were older than me. Thankfully I was placed in the 1-2 graders class. It was difficult for the students to open up to me since I was a stranger. Eventually though, they did open up and began to talk to me. Many times when we were leaving, I felt that I’d done a poor job. Yet a fellow team member encouraged me, saying that as long as I tried my best, that was the good enough.

On Saturday when we finally returned after 5 days of missions and 1 day of debrief, I was glad to be back home. Our team was also thankful that our church van survived the week without any problems.

After that week in Philly, I now realize that God is the same, God is very strong, and very much alive. I learned that God loves everyone, even the broken, hungry, and sinful. I also learned to love others even if it’s someone that you hate or someone that despises you.

I went into the missions field with the wrong mindset. I wanted a project that I could use to glorify myself, something to brag about and say, “I did this, I did that.”

One might think, “Missions in Philadelphia? That’s nothing like going to Mexico or Africa.” And they would be right; it’s totally different, but it’s just as heartbreaking to know that there is so much poverty and so much brokenness just a few miles from a well-off city. In a city where 1.5 million people live, 25% are in poverty and there are dropout rates of 50%.

One night, we stopped under a bridge where a homeless man might sleep. It was cushioned with bags filled with trash, and bricks covered in slime. “How would you feel,” we were asked, “if you had to sleep here?” And I thought back to earlier that day when I complained about our housing at CSM. We had beds, bathrooms, electricity, running water, what could I complain about?

But in the midst of all the hurt and brokenness in the city, God was still there. He brought people like Hubie who created parks where kids could just have fun. The mayor who brought down crime rates and built schools for people who didn’t have anything. Also, God worked in the people and united them through art and murals.

God was with us when we served at the many facilities where we met and helped homeless people and children. We built relationships, not just within the team, but also the people that we helped. Quickly, we realized that we are all the same and the only difference was our life situations. It was heartwarming to see all the people who kept fighting to get back on their feet and the huge amount of people who were willing to help them do that.

In the end, I could say that I played with kids, fed over 1100 people and built relationships with them, but the thing that I want to brag about is the work that God was doing in the streets and in the people of Philadelphia. He did this, He is doing these things, and He will do that.

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