Barone, Delk, participate in Journey of Faith Church mission trip

By Kelli Saunders

Staff Writer

Over spring break, Mira Costa Sophomores Tera Delk and Claire Barone participated in a mission trip in San Francisco with their youth group at the Journey of Faith church. They served the San Francisco community by providing meals for the homeless and praying for their safety and well-being.

“We were able to meet the needs of people with low incomes,” Delk said. “When we were helping out in the kitchen and serving them meals we were able to see all of the smiles on their faces and the difference we were making.”

Delk and Barone spent time with people going through rehabilitation programs who were there in hopes to turn their lives around. They were able to listen and share stories with the adults and children of the home and hear about their lives.

“The people at this home had to work hard to improve their lives and want to be there in order to stay,” Delk said. “We heard their stories and it was cool to see how God has given them the strength to persevere through these hard times no matter how messed up their lives were previously.”

During the trip, Barone went to a government-funded hospital for people who could not pay for their medical treatments. She was able to meet people with various illnesses and take them to a small zoo at the hospital for the day.

“It was truly amazing to see how much our small acts impacted families,” Barone said. “We were able to see how thankful each person was and it made me think about how grateful I am for all that is provided for me. It was the most rewarding experience.”

Prior to the trip Delk and Barone’s youth group held fundraisers to raise money for the trip and had meetings to discuss what environments they would be exposed to. They prayed and learned about specific rules to be as respectful and accepting of their circumstances as possible.

“We were given a dress code and part of it was to not wear all of one color,” Delk said. “Some of the locations where we were serving had local gangs and certain colors were associated with them so we didn’t want to give anyone that we were serving the wrong message.”

Some of the groups of students in the youth group were given the opportunity to harvest vegetables from a garden and prepare them to give to their families. From the gesture, those families were able to prepare their own healthy meals at home without having to worry about the cost of these groceries.

“The experiences from this trip made me realize how thankful I am for all of the opportunities I get,” Delk said. “I have learned so much on this trip and had push myself to open up which gave me a new perspective on life.”