The Depth of a Community by Stella

The Depth of a Community by Stella - April 2022 Scholarship Essay

It was July of 2019. I was on my way to Puerto Rico for a mission trip with my youth group. I was nervous for a week away from my family, but excited for what was to come. As the plane touched down, I was overwhelmed by the blues and greens of the ocean and the rainforest. We packed ourselves and our belongings into a van and drove to the church we would be staying at for the night. It was late--we were on Colorado time--so we had a quick orientation and went to bed. Little did I know all that this week had in store for me, and everything I would learn that would completely change the way I view life.
The next morning, I met the three other students in my service group for the week--me and one other from my youth group and two girls from a youth group in Iowa. These were the people I would do life with for the week. On day one, we helped paint the Puerto Rican flag on a set of stairs that was the center of a neighborhood. This specific community was struggling because they couldn’t get people to move in, so we put an effort into beautifying it. The neighborhood welcomed us with open arms, shared their stories, and even helped us paint a bit. The following day we were at the farm. Debris was still strewn about from a hurricane that hit Puerto Rico years ago, to the point where the food couldn’t grow. We worked to clear their fields and make a harvest possible. The owner of the farm, and her cat named “gato,” told us stories about what it was like to take care of a farm in Puerto Rico. Through her stories, we were able to share pride for this farm. We also tried quenepas (a Puerto Rican fruit that you peel and suck on) as the owner smiled at us struggling to figure out how to eat them. I definitely wish I could’ve gone back to the farm another day but our next two days turned out to be just as influential. My group was painting and restoring a school. We pulled weeds, painted walls, and restored gates/railings to make the front of the school look as welcoming as it did when it was built. After two days of working on this school, we held a barbeque so the community could see it. Seeing how people lived was one thing, but experiencing their culture was totally different. Despite the language barrier--we knew little Spanish and they knew little English--we played cards, football, and basketball with the community late into the night. Everything from this trip was incredible, but this barbeque will forever have a place in my heart.
When painting the set of stairs, it dawned on me how important a community is. These stairs were fully functional without a mural, but people in the neighborhood came out to help us anyways. Everyone knew everyone and loved each other like it was one big family that we got welcomed into. This kindness for one another is something I try to reflect in my daily life. I want to be the community towards other people. At the farm, I learned how valuable listening is. We sat for hours listening to the owner share her stories with us. At that point, we held something special about the farm too. Everyone has something to say, we just need to learn to listen to it. This encourages me to listen to what people have to say. I don’t always need to respond, but to understand them. Working at the school and putting on the barbeque taught me that just because people live differently doesn’t mean they have less joy. We were lucky enough to share that joy with the kids in the community. Finding joy in things like playing cards or messing with a football reminded me how caught up I get in my life. I will be a happier person if I take time to enjoy the late night barbeques.
The people in Puerto Rico live different lives than we do in the United States, but the baseline is the same. Everyone loved each other and their community. This is something I believe we could learn from. Everyone has a story and you’ll learn incredible things by giving them a chance to tell it. Essentially, I learned to love people first and no matter what. This is the motto I live my life by and I would never have understood the depth of it without my community in Puerto Rico.