Okay, so this week I have been helping at LEAP, my church's annual mission camp/community service week, serving as a small group leader. I just want to start off by THANKING GOD for this week and for my group and co-leader. If you know me personally, then you know that I tend to be pretty quiet, just keeping my thoughts to myself most of the time. (Unless I'm writing/typing. Then I'll just ramble on and on, and you'll have a hard time getting me to stop. Haha.) Well, I'm really thankful for my co-leader Katie because whenever I don't have anything to say (which happens a lot), she does. And she does a great job relating to the students in our group, showing God's love to them, and keeping them engaged in whatever activity we're doing. I can't help but think that maybe I'm not really trying to show God's love, and I know that I should definitely rely on Him more to express that love through me, but I also know that I shouldn't compare myself to others and be envious because "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His purpose" (Philippians 2:13). That comparison is from the enemy, and I know that the Lord is allowing me to serve and show His grace, love, and mercy in other ways specific to who I am. And I'm thankful that Katie is there to serve in the ways that I can't. It's amazing how God can use anyone in any way to serve His purposes.
Anyway, on to my small group. I won't give names, so I'll just give initials (from oldest to youngest): (the guys) A, BK, BP, T, H, (and the girls) K, S, J, MM and MN. They're all great (in their own ways, of course). T, BK, MM, and S seem to be the ones I'm investing in the most out of the group. Not that I'm completely ignoring the others and that they're not important to me; T, BK, MM, and S are just the ones that I talk to/relate to the most, so God has been using me to minister to them, whether it's by listening and talking to MM about school, or exchanging names of various Christian bands with BK, or talking to BK and S about marching band, or just hanging around T and occasionally letting him mess with me. And of course the students are making friends with each other within the group. MM and MN seem to be hanging out a lot, which is a good change from Monday when MN was kind of off by herself a lot. And apparently H has become A's son. They even strike the same poses on command without discussing it beforehand. Haha. And Katie and J became really good friends within the first day, which is awesome because J already seems to have that fire that comes from the Holy Spirit, and having someone to mentor her through the rest of middle school and high school will be very helpful for her. So yeah, it's been really enjoyable so far. I can't believe tomorrow is already the last day of LEAP... I don't want it to be over yet.
Since we've already done so much this week, I'll give a recap of the service we did. And by "so much," I mean, "two days of attempting to find work to do and only one day of a consistent supply of jobs at one location." On Monday my group, the blue team, went to Durham Middle School to move furniture and clean classrooms and offices. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), a group of guys was already there, and most of the work that the school originally had for us was already done. So we finished up with all the cleaning, then headed over to Frey Elementary right next door to join the orange team in doing the same thing. Since the orange team had already been working at Frey, the inside work was almost done by the time we got there, so we all ended up pulling weeds outside. We split up into smaller groups of four or five and turned it into a competition to see who could fill their trash bag with the most weeds. (My team won. Just saying.)
Then yesterday we went to Wellspring Treasures. I was entertained simply by being able to drive the group there in one of the big church vans. Haha. (And I'm looking forward to doing it again on the way to Northstar Church's Dallas campus. Simple pleasures.) Anyway, we all enjoyed working at Wellspring (as far as I know). Cindy, the owner, was very nice and appreciative, and she is also a member of Northstar herself, which is cool. Wellspring Treasures, which is a part of Wellspring Living, is a non-profit Christian organization that mends and sells gently-used clothes, furniture, and accessories that have been donated to them, and they use the money to support a restoration project for girls and women involved in human trafficking. It's definitely worth checking out. Basically what we did was typical volunteer work at the store (you can sign up to volunteer on their website here). They were reorganizing the back of the store, where they do all the mending, so some of us reorganized shelves, some painted, some steamed clothes, some rehung clothes in their proper places, and some did other miscellaneous jobs. And before we left, we got to write some Bible verses on the wall in the back room. Then Cindy prayed with us and sent us on our way with some popcorn and a bag of hotel shampoo/soap/lotion/etc. to give to the church for MUST Ministries. The time went by very smoothly, we got a good amount of work done, and we had a fun time doing it.
Then today we went back to Frey Elementary. Again we found that we didn't have very much to do, which was a little disappointing because not only did we have little to do, but the "Yellow Plus" team had nothing at all to do at Durham, so they ended up joining us like we did on Monday. But it turned out that, even though there weren't many jobs for us to do, the few jobs they had for us took a good amount of time, specifically taking inventory in the book room. Most of us got to pull weeds again before we joined the inventory team, though. (I actually enjoyed taking inventory when I got to it, because apparently I'm a fast writer according to a couple kids in my group, so I sped through my part of material.) While we were pulling weeds, I got to talk to someone from Yellow Plus (initial: D) who was in my brother's small group at LEAP last year. Something about it just filled me with joy and peace. Maybe because she was telling me about how she was a little stressed about starting her college application process this fall, and when I told her not to worry about it too much and to just let God handle it, she said that that was the best advice she had gotten on the topic. That didn't give me joy because of pride; it gave me joy because she understood that dependence on God is the best way to handle any situation. And maybe because she's also visiting UGA this Friday and strongly considering going there. (Go Dawgs!) Haha. Anyway, when we were finished taking inventory, we went to Acworth Beach to pick up trash. We had about half an hour to kill, so we split up into four groups, scoured the beach and the park for trash, then met up at the playground to just hang out until our bus driver came to pick us up. And I also got to talk to the bus driver on the way to the park and on the way back to church, which was cool.
Well, that's what we've done so far. Tomorrow the blue team is heading over to Northstar of Dallas to help set up for their service on Sunday, and we'll be working with Brad Parkhurst, who was the high school pastor at Northstar of Kennesaw my whole time in high school, so that should be fun. And tomorrow night we're having a special baptism service, which is exciting. Nobody from my small group has mentioned wanting to be baptized, but we just have to keep praying for them. And we can still rejoice in knowing that at least someone will be baptized tomorrow. It doesn't matter if that person comes from my group as long as someone comes to know the Lord as their Savior!
So please be praying for all of us: for me, for Katie, for our small group, for all the other leaders and students, and for the praise band and the guest speaker as we prepare for the last day of LEAP. Thanks, and God bless!
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