Sarah Shin is part of a community of young people who call themselves ‘Hands at Work Youth’. In 2014, this initiative began with the desire to gather the local youth together from the San Francisco Bay area to become more involved in caring for the most vulnerable in Africa. She reflects on the impact of getting more youth involved in the Biblical mandate to care for the orphaned and widowed:
“On Saturday, November 18th, 2017, about 100 people gathered at the Bedford Gallery in the Lesher Centre in Walnut Creek, California, for an evening of music, art and food, to raise money for the orphans that Hands at Work supports in Africa. Both friends and family attended to hear from Hands at Work’s co-founder, George Snyman, and to participate in this significant mission of caring for the millions of orphans and widows over 10,000 miles away.
“With that sort of distance and incomprehensible numbers, it is incredibly easy to not be able to grasp the extent of suffering that happens every second in countries beyond the comforts of the United States. On top of that, as students and teenagers, I think every one of us in Hands at Work Youth was tempted at some point during the process of organising this fundraiser to be side-tracked by our studies and other obligations. I recall that when I came back from my family's six week trip to South Africa in 2011, I promised that I would remember the orphaned every day — that I would not take what God has blessed me with for granted. But six years later, my friends and I were struggling to make this fundraiser a reality. Our priorities were focused on our individual universes that orbited around shallow, temporary things that should not have been guiding our lives.
“Ultimately, the organisation of this event not only pushed us outside the comfort zones of our carefully constructed schedules, but it also reminded us that our mission is not for earthly success or commendation, but for something that is beyond us — the furthering of God's Kingdom. The orphans and widows whom Hands at Work reaches are absolutely precious to God and known by Him. And it is our mission and privilege to care for them, to bless them, and to pray for them just as Jesus has done for us. That is why Hands at Work Youth put on this fundraiser. And that is the message that we hope to further in the Bay Area, especially among young people.”
God is using each of us in different ways to tell His story.
Let Him use you.