Yep, the title says it all. We are now into our 5 week of camps (it is hard to believe that I have only been here for a month!) and my daily prayer is that my teaching and love for theses children would not be put into manual, but rather that I would live each day to its fullest and enjoy these last and few precious days with theses children.
Week 4 was here and gone in the blink of and eye, and looking back on it I realize that if I could, I would have changed so much about it. The main thing that the Lord revealed to me was my failure in showing the children love by spending quality time with them. I love it when people spend quality time with me, yet I have not been a good example of showing it to others.
For example, this last week during "movie nights" with the kids, instead of staying and sitting through the movies with them (boring as some of them are) I would leave at the beginning of the movie and go for a walk or go to my dorm room or with my friends to "Seven Eleven" to get a snack, and come back to get my kids at the end of it. However, when I would leave the kids would always ask me to stay and to sit by them and I would decline, making up some excuse that I was going to be busy somewhere. As I would leave I would see the disappointment in their eyes as they turned to watch the movie with an empty seat that they were "saving for Teacher" next to them.
Looking back now, this breaks my heart to see that I was so mean. The Lord has really opened my heart and shown me that, even if I just sleep through the movie, for the kids it is just important to know that the other is present. That is it! Quality time is not always going out for coffee and chatting the whole time. It is just being there for the other person and letting them know that you care about what they care about, even if there is no talking at all! Yes, I did just discover this ;)
Yes, on a lighter note, this is team F from week 4! They were all so awesome! There were 14 little bundles of joy (and big bundles of energy!!), but we all had a great time and we had lots of fun together!
These are my TA's from weeks #3 and #4! Amy (the shorter one) stayed for an extra week (after she was done being my TA) so that she could help out with other kids for the 4th week! Jocelyn (the taller one) was my TA last week. She was a good translater and she will be missed in the upcoming weeks!
And "this one's for the girls!" All of us girls went out one night and bought "matching" shirts so that we could be random for one day! It was great! We all found shirts with buterflies on them and all of the American girls wore them for that weeks BBQ!
What a neat testimony and lesson. I am glad that the children are enjoying you so much! Although, whats not enjoable about you? (well, then again, I am your sister. no comment.) :)
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I can believe it's been a month. Great shirts, matching up is always a lot of fun. I thought I'd mention what I or WE are up to. Nothing much just...Bought a new Van, we're moving into our new house on Tuesday, our old house is closing on the 23rd, I'm finally going to get the laptop I've been saving to get for longer than I remember, and Gina starts school soon. Breath. Well that should do for now.
ReplyDeleteYour (short) buddie Rob