Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

So every now and again a moment comes along that totally makes you realize your purpose for being on the race and the effects that you can have on someone’s life- no matter how small. I had a moment like that today. The past couple days had been pretty discouraging for me because I’ve had enormous bug bites covering my legs, so I haven’t been able to go out and do ministry with my team (we are in pretty poor conditions going out into the community each day, so I didn’t want them to get infected etc.), not to mention it has gotten pretty hot here! So that combo combined has made me a little homesick. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being here and I love the people that I get to serve with, but sometimes you just want to feel clean for longer than the 2 seconds after you step out of the shower! ha

 So this morning I started out painting in the Children’s Home up the street- Catherine, David, Charlotte, and I finished a room that had been started. Then after lunch we had a different project to work on. There are several rooms that are being finished in the top story of the church next door for the seminary students to live in, so world racers have been carrying all the necessary supplies up 3 stories to the top to get the floors laid, etc. So, Charlotte and I started out sifting sand that would later be used in the cement. Nothin’ like some good old-fashioned manual labor! 🙂 After we did that for quite awhile, we moved upstairs to help finish painting the border of a room for some students to move back into (in the mean time, we had a little painting spill!).

 

 
 
 
It was then that I met Gilbert.
 
 
He was a boy who didn’t talk much, but it was in the following minutes after meeting him that I began to see that any discouragement I might face while here is worth it all in order to make even the tiniest impact on a life. I had my ipod on my arm and he came over and took the earphones and began to listen

to the music that was playing. Then I sat down to paint and he sat right next to me, he had one earphone in and I had the other. He continued to sit next to me and give me a thumbs up each time I painted a portion of the wall- not ever speaking, just looking at me smiling, giving me a thumbs up to encourage me to keep going.

 After awhile I gave him my ipod to listen to and Charlotte gave hers to his friend and they both stayed in the room with us while we painted- just happy to listen to our ipods and dance around, no matter what song it was. After about 30 minutes they both came up to us and said “Thank you very much!” and laid our ipods down in front of us, so carefully, and bolted away- it was so cute. From then on, each time I saw Gilbert the rest of the day he would come up to me and put my earphones on and just listen away.

 
It was such a reminder for me that even the tiniest, simplest act can make someone’s day. Something that I take for granted is not a luxury in most of the world. The fact that this little boy, who doesn’t even get to go to school because his family can’t afford to send him, would sit next to me and give me a smile and a thumbs up to let me know I was doing a good job, is pretty humbling.

 I am learning more and more from these simple lessons on the race, how fortunate I am and how thankful I am that I get to do this- that I get to serve these children. In reality, they are opening my eyes up to so much more and are having an impact on my life in ways that they will never know or understand. It’s something so simple, but so hard to see at times through the chaos of life.