My STEP Project was a service-learning experience through FOCUS Mission Trips. Over spring break, we flew down to Harlingen, Texas to help out at Culture of Life ministries. Culture of Life Ministries is a free clinic that serves the people of Harlingen Texas, offering free medical services and medication to those in need.

It was quite interesting signing up for this trip. I study electrical engineering and this trip was labelled as a ‘Medical’ trip, since we would be working in a clinic. I don’t have a real explanation as to while I signed up for the trip other than I knew a few of my friends were going on this trip as well. I was in for a harsh reality check.

As soon as we got there, I knew we were not in the best of situations. There were a lot of homeless in the area and we were told not to go outside past 10:00 pm. This situation didn’t really set in until we were volunteering in the clinic. I got to see the immense need for care and the human desire to be seen and listened too. This experience helped me grow in compassion, and intentionality behind my actions.

Throughout the week I had the opportunity to volunteer doing different things ranging from hospitality, reception, nursing assistant, and administration. I choose to mainly do administrative work in the Triage room. My role was to call people, get them in the door, organise house visits, and orchestrate patients getting seen by the physicians.

Most of my day was spent calling patients, scheduling them appointments. This was especially amazing because I could hear the joy in their voices. They finally felt seen and loved and knew that they were about to get the care they needed. I had the joy of participating in giving them such great joy.

On the flipside, I got to see the harsh reality of how many people needed help. They have a running excel sheet of everyone who needs help. Each day I would work my way down the list, but we were never able to get to everyone. There were always more people, there just wasn’t enough time. This gave me a harsh realisation that there is a lot of hurt in this community. This sadness was redeemed knowing that I was doing my part to help any every way that I could. One theme throughout the week that Dr. Robinson stressed is that the person is always more important than the work or the number of people we see.

One more fruit from this trip was watching Dr. Robinson. He is the owner of culture of life ministries, and he is amazing. He exudes so much compassion, joy, and patience that I just wanted to spend time around him. Hearing his story, and how he opened the clinic is inspiring. Dr, Robinson is an example of a man I strive to be, and I hope to be the man he is one day.

I think this trip was impactful because it opened my eyes and heart to a lot of pain and hope. I was able to recognise how much hurt can be present and just how needy we are as people. This was redeemed through the clinic. This clinic offered the care that people needed, and it was such a blessing to be a part of it. Moving forward I hope my heart will have this disposition of caring for the person over the work that needs to get done. The person is always more important than the work.