As I return home from two weeks off from nannying and waitressing, I begin to
think about the future, especially training camp, which is just over A MONTH away. My first week away was spent at church camp, which I have always looked forward to since I was 9 years old. I love being in God’s creation and spending time with old and new friends. I love worshiping and discussing and studying with my church camp family. I only get to spend one week a year with this group, and I crave the time I get to spend with them. I can only imagine what 36 weeks with my new family group will do while I am on my trip around the world. It excites me to know that not only do I have my biological family and my host family in Spain and my church camp family, but in just one short month I will have another family to love and to be loved by.
After church camp was a week at Shepherd Community Center, where we spent
time with 18 little soon-to-be-third-graders stuck in the cycle of poverty in downtown Indianapolis. I could not have asked for a better week to reflect upon and prepare my heart – even just a little bit – for the relationships that I will make in this next year. I love these relationships with these Shepherd kids, and I am so excited to meet and build relationships like these with kids all around the world.
Child-like faith
This past week was a time that I was able to see true examples of child-like faith in the kids. Their pure joy and excitement for the Lord was amazing to witness. I saw their love for God in their willingness to give up their candy so that the new kid could have some. I saw it in their desire to be a helping hand before they even know what they are helping with. I saw it in the way they strive to collect dollar after dollar for their classroom offering when I know that many of these families are barely able to put food on the table. And I saw it in the way they worship God, arms high and hearts open, giving thanks for their God and trusting in Him with all of their heart. I am in awe of the love that the kids continue to embody every year I am there.
Training camp…
It’s crazy to think that I leave for training camp in just over a month. The prospect of flying by myself scares me, let alone spending 10 days with strangers in a strange place learning about new cultures and facing many new challenges. It is starting to become a little more real as I book my flight for training camp in Georgia and I begin to prepare for the beginning of my journey. So how do I prepare for something this huge? How do I even begin to prepare for something when I have no idea what to expect? Well I need to get my gear, I need to fund-raise, I need to get vaccinated, all of the physical preparations…
But as for the non-tangible preparations… I will never be truly prepared for what lies ahead. And that’s okay! All I can do is let God prepare my heart and mind for what I will experience and be open to everything that I am about to learn.
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