This last week I was on a mission trip in South Bend. This is my 4th year of going in the past 5 years. It's amazing to see how much the town has changed. Last year i didn't go and in that time it seemed to become a meaner harsher town. Of course this could be that my "lenses" had broken as the movie Waltz with Bazir explains. I could have been just seeing the world in my own happy way and not paying attention to the bad things in the world. Anyways, this mission trip has always had a major impact on my life and has shaped me greatly. This time around it broke my heart to think this will be probably the last time I will be there. The last time I will be able to see these kids, some of whom I remember from the first time I went. During the demonstration about hope at the vbs held by prairie camp I came to a realization. The balloons that the kids were releasing really were a true representation of our hopes and dreams. So of those kids will have what they wrote down come true and they will soar high just as their balloons did. Others will get hung up on the first branch in their way what ever it my be (drugs, alcohol, or what ever can destroy their goals). Some of those kids will break free from what is ever blocking them to excel and continue on their way, but even then they could run into something else that prevents them. The point is, our hopes and dreams can be lost and changed very easily. It can hurt to think about all those kids who may seem to have no future, but as prairie camp said, "Hope is knowing that no matter who you are, no matter where you are, God loves you and is with you". I truly feel compassion and love for these kids who it seems their own families don't feel that way about them. All I can do now is pray for them to have a brighter tomorrow and maybe someday I will run into them again.
Good bye and Best of luck Keller Park community and maybe someday our paths will cross again.
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