So today. I started with breakfast
and morning devotionals. Honestly, no expectations. God spoke through my
devotionals to me about being selfless. But the word selfless still has the
word self. And I’m still honestly so confused about the whole self-less thing
which should be explanatory. But that’s another thing I admit needs fixing in
my life.
Orientation for the worksite begins and I realized what I was in for.
I looked the previous night for which group I was in and Horseshoe was the
answer. I then searched for where I would be working – with KIDS. Okay. Mixed
feelings. I had previous presuppositions and mixed feelings about children but
I was still excited for the week. Alright, back to the present.
After
orientation, we rode in our groups to the worksite. Horseshoe group rode in a
bus with Mist group. Both groups had a combination of FUMC kids and Becks kids
(from North Carolina). So, I know I should be selfless at this point but the
whole “self” conflict was still obscuring my time. I felt disconnected from the
other church, even though my whole “mission” in my mind was to serve the
children and only the children. Despite that, I continued and it was okay. We
got to the worksite and had the stations and folders handed out to us. I was leading
the Discovery Station with Ryan and Carson. We had to read to the kids and ask
them comprehension questions which seemed like a lot for a group of little
kids. We didn’t have that much time to plan because kids began to flood in the
gym. The first wave of kids was extremely young. I was still obsessed with
trying to be selfless that I can’t get over the “self” part and trying to
fulfill the “experience” that you’re supposed to “feel” which I know isn’t correct.
Anyways, I stood awkwardly in the corner until a brave girl who was running
around the gym came up to me with a huge smile. With a staggered breath, she
gasped, telling me her name and a bunch of useless things about her. Or so I
thought…
As I got to know her (mainly her just telling me her entire story and
me nodding and listening), she was actually diagnosed with Celliac’s disease when
she was younger. But she assured me she was fine now because of her entirely
new health regime she explained in detail to me. Anyways, I was still very
eager to be her buddy of the week but she has a ‘TUDE and drains your energy
like no other. I have this all in my mind but I kind of feel rushed at the
moment because it’s close to bedtime but I promise you it all was amazing. Fast-forward
to the Beck church… we became friends and had quite a few laughs about telling
each other we thought the other had accents and the differences between Indiana
and North Carolina.
Another thing that I want to mention is the Poverty
Simulation we participated in tonight. That was majorly eye-opening. It was
stressful being an 85-year-old arthritic homeless widower man. I had to pay so
many utility bills, pre-paid burial services, food, and rent for my new
dwelling that I bought. It really put into perspective what this “tourist” town
of Niagara Falls and so many other small towns nationwide and worldwide there
are. I participated in a Poverty Simulation in Atlanta two years ago but this
experience was much different with personal interactions prior in the day and
seeing the effect that I impacted the children. The simulation and statistics
(with my math and numbers oriented brain) really push me to motivate me to be
an even greater “buddy” to Freya throughout the week. When hearing and “experiencing”
just one single hour of “poverty,” I legitimately feel so grateful for
everything I have. The poverty that affects students and parents and everything
is just so impactful and perspectival. So many more moments that are like none
other I have ever experienced but anyway. I vlogged (videoed) a little bit of
today and will continue throughout the week.
But I just want to end on a striking
note that I heard in the Gathering session from a video at our YouthWorks site,
explaining God’s Reckless Love and Unfailing Love that pursues us despite our
sins: “Mistakes are bruises, not tattoos.” (Thanks for listening to my TedTalk
and perfectionistic brain of mixed/mangled/jumbled/incomplete thoughts that I
wish I had more time to write about but I feel rushed because I’m honestly
having a genuine amazing time.) –Emma
Today was the
first day on our mission trip to Niagara Falls. So far this has been a good
trip and I have enjoyed the company of our youth group and the others with us.
Today my group went to a Parish and we helped out with a man named Don. Don was
a nice gentlemen who was volunteering helping us maintain the grounds of the
Perish and the cemetery that the Perish had. At one point he showed us the food
pantry that they had run which was smaller in size but similar to our churches
pantry. You could see him talking about the pantry and see him visible getting emotional
talking about helping people in need and giving them some dignity. That was one
part that stuck out to me especially.
Other than that we were working in
the landscaping around the property and talking with our group. And later on in
the day we had a poverty simulation. The thing that struck me about the
simulation is when the administrator mentioned that close to 95% of the school
was living in poverty. The simulation was tough and it just went to show that
we are very lucky to have what we have.
Overall I am glad to have had these
experiences it has been mind-opening. –Jacob
Today was the first day on the Niagara
Falls mission trip. Overall it was a good day, but there were some experiences
that really stuck out to me. First was in the morning after breakfast, and if
you don’t know, the building clean-up crew is an assigned crew to clean bathrooms
and all around the building. Since there not a lot of people assigned today,
Delaney, Noah, and I volunteered to help clean. Noah was sent away to help
another group clean, and Delaney and I were tasked with cleaning the boy’s downstairs
restroom. Now that in and of itself sounds terrible simply because all men are inherently
gross, and it was not fun in all fairness.
After that trying time we went off
to our worksite, and mine was Kids Club. Now I am not a terrible person around
kids, but I’m also not the best and I’m glad I was faced with the challenge of
getting out of my comfort zone to experience new things. Jonah, Mayanna, and I
were in charge of teaching a lesson about our topic, of which was change and
becoming a new person. We taught our lesson by drawing a series of several
different transformations and having the kids sort them out. They completed
their task in no time, and we got to teach them and ask them questions about
how God changes them for the better and how they will continue to become new in
Christ. This was very eye opening to me because I don’t remember being so
educated and involved when I was younger and I loved this opportunity to help
give them hope in a sense. This especially stuck out to me because some of
those kid’s backstories were hard to listen to. One girl in particular mentioned
a stepdad that got in trouble for hurting her mom, and she hasn’t seen him
again. I sat with this girl at lunch and listened to how happy she was despite
being in that situation and it made me realize that even so young God is
teaching them resilience and how to change their own outlooks and
circumstances. I genuinely connected with the message of changing in Christ and
becoming new for believing in his word because of those children who kept on
playing and laughing, despite many of them living in not-so-fortunate conditions.
I also had a lot of fun just hanging out and playing with the kids at Kids
Club. There was one boy whose favorite word was a curse, and he kept on
repeating it throughout the day, sadly making all of us laugh. And another
young boy and girl who were so in love they picked each other every time they
were up for Duck-Duck-Goose. I also had a fun time hanging out with my
crewmates and getting to know the people from my church, and the other church
from North Carolina better. Mayanna and I also learned how to play pool from
Carson and now we are self-proclaimed pool masters.
At the end of the day I had
a great day that far exceed any expectations I had based off of preconceived notions.
I had loads of fun with the kids both from the club and from my group. I am
very excited to go back tomorrow and spread what I know about life (not much),
and God to those fun, bright children. –Lauren
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