*No poodles were harmed in the making of this post*
In fact, poodles have very little to do with this post, other than the fact that a cute little child was telling someone that was what cottonballs were made of during craft time at Backyard Bible Club this past week. Haha!
Speaking of this past week … (nice segway, lol) … This past week was spent in Charleston, SC with 17 other individuals from UNC-Asheville and UNC-Charlotte for our joint mission trip. One of the highlights of being an intern for the Baptist Student Union.
This past week we spent the first two mornings/early afternoons painting a chainlink fence with rollers and little paint brushes and some sketchy ladders. *Rewind* Yes we were painting a CHAINLINK fence around 8 tennis courts. Oh and the first morning I was on the *Moss Crew* which was the team that spent the first few hours walking around picking off all the Spanish Moss that decided to play “let’s attach to the fence so the poor college kids have to pick us off” game! That was one of the more tedious tasks I’ve had to do. Back to painting, I am pretty sure I now have all the paint out of my hair from our speed and efficiency method of speed sloshing paint on the fence while the poor little pole painter on the ground (and occasionally the ladder) gets dripped on. Oh and it was BLACK acrylic paint! But praise the Lord it was not KILZ paint … which is never a good thing to intentionally put on your face because you think it’s “fun” … lesson learned at Spring Break 2006. I mean unless you really want to know what it’s like to feel like your skin is disentegrating off your face as you wash it with turpentine. But I would just take my word for it, DON’T DO IT!
The second two mornings/early afternoons were spent working with an organization called Low Country Orphan Relief (LOR). This is an awesome group that provides clothing and toys to children after they have been removed from their homes and have no way of getting any of their stuff that they had before. When we arrived we were only supposed to be there on Wednesday but we prayed for rain so we didn’t have to go paint again and through the Lord’s provision we were able to go to the much more fun missions task. Okay don’t give me that look, you know you’ve been there too … I still would have glady painted but I wasn’t going to complain about the blessing of being back at LOR! The first day at LOR I sorted and organized and matched bathing suits to fit in this super small hall closet space. Literally this place has clothes everywhere! Then on the second day I helped price things for their big blowout sale because they were overstocked, what a blessing to have too much stuff to give away! And then hoisted ginormous trashbags of clothing into a teeny tiny changing room space. You should see these guns now, hahaha! Then at the last few minutes I was actually able to help fill an order, which is basically where you get to go shopping around the building for the child and put all the things that have been requested for them in a bag. I love cute little girl clothes! So fun! You can see our group and find out more about LOR here.
Finally, each afternoon Monday through Thursday we did Tutoring and Backyard Bible Club at a local park where they ran an afterschool program for kids 5-12 years old. (K-5th grade) This BBC had been my baby of sorts, I had been working so hard on planning for this and getting a schedule worked out – there was supposed to be 70 kids there. I felt prepared on Monday but when we got there I knew that the plan would have to be altered. We thought we had 90 minutes for Backyard Bible Club but we only had 60 minutes so the schedule had to be redone. Monday was awful, we didn’t think the kids listened, the kids were being overall disrespectful and we left that day feeling so discouraged. However, these were God’s children despite how we felt about them that night and we did some serious reevaluation and renovation of the plan, and by the time Tuesday came we were slightly dreading it but the kids were leaps and bounds better and the new plan worked great. I don’t know if the kids got much from the week but I felt encouraged as they sang “If You Love Jesus” during craft when we had only done that song on Monday when we felt that they didn’t pay us any mind. These kids though difficult at times were such a blessing. At the end of the week, it was so hard to say goodbye to them.
Overall, both UNC-A and UNC-C worked great together and we were truly able to bond and come together working for a common cause. This week in intentional ministry and mission work has me so pumped for the adventure to come in August, and the adventure that I am already on as I prepare.
I have been 15 days without caffeine now, that’s BIG for me … I will continue pressing on as I seek to reach $6,000 donated and pledged! To contribute to my goal and to help send me around the world, you can click here! A special thank you to my friend Morgana and her church, Cross Roads Baptist Church in Hillsborough, NC for their prayer support and to the church members there who are helping to support my calling financially. Thank you so much!
Finally, I would like you to leave you with what I was inspired to write this past week as I was in Charleston:
Lord, take my heart captive
Sweeping me up in Your loving embrace
Let my heart yearn for You
Just as the sun radiates on my face
Let Your love radiate from me
You loved us, that we may too love others
Be closer to me now than I have ever let You be
Lord, you complete me
In Your love I remain
You will never leave me, nor forsake me
When all else fails, Your love will never falter
Prepare in me a heart that serves in love
FAITH…
HOPE…
LOVE…
But the greatest of these is LOVE!
