I haven’t really gotten to update everyone on exactly what I have been doing here in J-Bay since I got here. It has been hard, but also so much fun. I have become so close with all of my squad mates, and also with my host family as well. We have all made so many memories so far in the two weeks that we have been here.
Our first ministry that my team specifically has done while we were here is construction. We made the foundation for a new classroom building here at Global Leadership Academy. We dug a huge hole with pickaxes and shovels and the laid brick on the outside and filled it with concrete. The other teams on my squad have been helping out around the school, helping babysit the host family’s kids, and helped out with meals for my whole squad.
Now that we are up to date Ill share my experience in camp this past weekend:
This past weekend my squad and I were blessed with the opportunity to be camp counselors at a 5 day long Christian camp for South African middle school and high school kids. I was paired up with another girl from my squad to lead a group of eight high school kids. At first it was a little frightening to me because these kids were not much younger than me at all and they also already knew about Christ. When we first got going I thought I was going to be able to pour a lot of knowledge into them, but that wasn’t the case at all. God spoke through me the whole time at camp. So much so, that five of them accepted Christ into their hearts, God made me feel comfortable in something I really struggled with at first and that is something I can continue to rely on God for for the rest of my journey.
As beneficial and exciting as this past weekend was, it was also one of the hardest few days of my entire life. I was tempted, tried, and really put in uncomfortable positions in many instances. The cabin that I was staying in with two of my teammates was filled with probably 20 middle school boys. These boys were the most messy, loud, and disrespectful kids that I have ever met. You could not tell them to do anything. The room was always filled with food and dirt and the place always smelled so bad. Every night we had to have counselors stand outside their rooms to make sure they would stop talking, and if they did talk they would be taken outside in the cold to do wall squats. And that didn’t even get them to be quiet. It was like no punishment at all would make them listen to us. This took away HOURS of sleep that I needed to have to refuel my body for the next day of camp. I truly wonder how much more I could have poured out to my small group if I wasn’t tired the whole day. Another thing that was pretty uncomfortable for me was this challenge I had to do with my small group kids. We had to go out into the town and share stories about how God has affected our lives and also find people to pray for as well. You think someone on the World Race would be a master at this but this was my first time actually doing it. I had to show my kids that it wasn’t hard to do so that they would go out and do it as well. God made it so easy for me and it really was something that I enjoyed doing! I really think the kids learned a lot from Morgan and I (my other leader/Squad mate). I know that they really enjoyed us and will remember us for a long time. I pray that God helps rid my mind of all the bad things that happened while I was at camp and helps me remember how much of an impact I had on those kids, and that I can do that over and over again for the rest of my race and life!
