I can now say that I side with the belief that happiness is not found in material things; rather, in time with others. Over the winter break, I tagged along on a trip to an orphanage in Matamoros, Mexico with the Baptist Student Ministry of Texas A&M University-Commerce. On the ride down, I honestly expected the worst. In my mind, we were headed to somehow impact the lives of children even though they spoke another language, and I was ready to feel sorry for them for having so little.
I was not so prepared for the life that was most impacted to be my own.
The children were more than willing to teach us Spanish with charades and pictures, and that language barrier I was so worried about was hardly noticeable by the end of the week.
Being run strictly on donations, the orphanage did not have the funding to provide the children with electronics, not even televisions, and our cell phones were practically useless since the rates to make a call or send text messages out of the country were ridiculous. That meant that we had to find ways to have fun together. The children had no trouble with that.
The little girls could sit and play the old-school hand clap games until their hands were numb and loved to draw in my notebook. The boys were a little more creative. Whether it was riding on a Tonka truck down a ditch, pushing a tire and jumping on it only to flip off soon after or “dog-piling” the American boys, they never seemed to get bored. Of course, all the children found most enjoyment in playing soccer and embarrassing we Americans on the field.
Needless to say, I also never got bored and went to bed each night wishing there was more time to play. I also got to refresh on nearly all the Spanish I learned in high school, which I thought was a lost cause, and I did all of that with zero technology.
All too often I see American children getting “bored” even though they have the newest video games and music players. I know I struggle with relying too much on technology here at home. Except for the communication with my family, I did not miss the cell phone service or television in Mexico at all. I was too busy having fun outside getting to know the kids and experiencing true happiness.
I went to Mexico on a mission trip to impact lives. I left feeling jealous of the children and the joy they find in the little things. Instead of feeling sorry for them, I felt sorry for myself for trying to find happiness in materials rather than spending time with others. That is something that I hope to strive for this year—spending more time with others and less time engulfed in things the world tells me will bring satisfaction.