Stephanie Newton Books

I’m married to a pastor, so it’s no big surprise I’ve been on mission trips. I love exploring the differences, from the food (I’ll try just about anything–I even ate curried goat in Jamaica) to the landscape (the banana trees in Ecuador are spectacular) to the culture. Did you know that eating the eyeball of the fish is lucky in China?

We tend to focus on those differences, I think. My husband just returned from a trip to Africa. The men there wanted to know why he didn’t have a stick. When he said that he didn’t carry one, they were very surprised that he was able to keep his wife in line without one. (They should be worried…) Yes, the differences in culture are astounding.

My daughter’s small group just adopted a child through Compassion International–a girl their own age, around 13. She lives in Haiti. I’m so impressed that these girls are reaching a hand across the ocean to grab hold of this other young woman, who is really so much like them. She plays volleyball and likes music. She has dreams and aspirations. She goes to school, does homework, and probably deals with peer pressure. Just like them.

The thing I’ve learned from all these mission trips is not how different we are–it’s how much we are the same. All we have to do is reach out, whether it’s for the tattooed kid with many piercings who carries our groceries to the car, or for the person who lives halfway around the world. Underneath all the differences are the children of God and we have way more in common than not. Don’t you think?

(Find more information on Compassion International here)