Reflections

Samantha

When I applied to join the Lutheran Young Adult Corps in December of 2017, I had no idea what I was getting into. I thought I was going to be doing ten months of rebuilding and urban renewal, using my time and power tool skills to serve the people of New Orleans. I was taken aback when I received my placement last April. Not only was I not going to Louisiana, but I also was being asked to do an entirely different kind of ministry from anything I had ever experienced before. I was both excited and apprehensive. It takes a lot to push me out of my comfort zone, but the idea of working with immigrants and refugees (and even children) definitely managed to do that. So it was with a combination of nervousness and excitement that I started working with my first English class on August 11, 2018.

One of the first lessons I learned through working at CFNA was the beauty of relinquishing control. I spent my first several weeks on the job anxiously trying to force things to go according to plan and schedule before I realized that God does so much more through us than we could have ever imagined. Driving people to job interviews was seldom as simple as I expected it to be. But in taking time to share meals and coffee with people in their homes, I was able to show them that I (and God, through me) cared about them personally.

Even more than that, I was astonished by how much people were willing to give in return. Most of the refugees I met are some of the kindest, most giving people I have ever encountered. I came down with pneumonia in October, and during the time I was sick, I was overwhelmed with gifts of tea, shawarma, falafel, soup, and other foods (that I never have been able to identify) from CFNA’s Arabic Muslim community. It was beyond humbling to see how people who have lost everything are so eager to give from whatever they do have.

Serving with the After-School Tutoring program and working with several of the families outside of normal programs was an incredible opportunity that I didn’t know I needed. Dealing with kids has never been my strong suit, but all of those bright and smiling (and sometimes screaming and crying) faces taught me patience, the importance of loosening up, and just what an honor it is to be able to pour into someone else’s life. Seeing the kids improve academically and open up emotionally made every frustrating minute worth it and reminded me that God gives us what we actually need, not what we think we need. We just have to be open to the journey.

Working with refugees and immigrants has taught me more than I ever hoped to learn about kindness, strength, hope, and resilience. Hearing people’s stories of the traumas they have experienced and seeing how they stay so positive both opened my eyes to how much suffering there actually is in the world and reassured me that God is still working in the midst of it. I was expecting to be placed here to serve others, but what I gave could never measure up to what I have received through the experience.

CFNA is a wonderful ministry, and I have seen firsthand how it changes lives. It has been an honor to be a part of that in some small way. As I move on to the next stage of my life, I don’t know exactly what I will be doing, but I pray that God will use the lessons I have learned and the person I have become as a result of my time here to continue to further His kingdom for the rest of my life.

By Samantha Hoyt  Lutheran Young Adult Corps