All around us we see brokenness — but if we look closer, we can find God’s beauty intertwined with it. Our theme for the week was “Broken & Beautiful”, based on Isaiah 54:10, with a special emphasis on the “&”, as the two often exist side by side. Thirteen of us, ten youth and three chaperones, boarded a plane and flew to Toronto, then drove to Woodstock, Ontario, to spend a week worshipping, growing together, and serving the surrounding community.

I’ve never been on a missions trip, and I felt a nudge to go. I’ll be honest, I tried to back out, but my husband and Pastor Ben urged me to go, which was for the better. This was completely out of my comfort zone, and I had no idea what to expect–I am an introvert and there is nothing like my own four walls and my own bed. It was an exhausting week, both mentally and physically, but it was also an incredible week. We worked hard, worshipped with passion and felt Jesus around us. This trip confirmed that investing in our youth is truly worthwhile. The impact was wide-reaching–both on all of us and on those we served.

We served in many ways: helping at a home for single moms and their children; painting hallways in a supportive housing building; engaging with the homeless; doing various landscaping jobs; cutting vegetables to be dehydrated and sent to developing countries; and doing other odd jobs.

Our days started early, with breakfast and then personal devotions before everyone headed out to the various worksites for the day. A quick shower at the end of the workday, then it was back to the church for dinner, a leaders’ meeting, worship with a short message, small group time and then headed to bed, ready to do it all again the next day. It was amazing to see the youth engaged at their jobsites and passionate about doing the job well. One day we were halfway through two large crates of cabbage when our “shift” ended. My five youth insisted on not leaving a job half-done and we stayed an extra 45 minutes after all the other volunteers had left, to complete the bins and wash everything down. Some other groups went to a shelter for single moms and their kids. Being able to show love to these kids who lived in such a broken situation was beautiful. Real connections were made, and hearts were touched. Everyone worked hard to make a difference at every site.

Each evening, we debriefed in our small groups about where we saw the “broken” and where we found the “beautiful”. It made us more aware of how they are not exclusive but actually exist together, and that through it all, God is present. In a world that feels increasingly fractured, this trip reminded us that beauty still exists–often in the most unexpected places – and that God is always at work, even in the midst of brokenness.