Camp Day 10 of 10. The last day of camp. Today was kind of a gloomy day. Many of the students came into camp feeling down, already anticipating some tough goodbyes. The morning continued as all the previous days with games in the morning, lesson times, chapel, small group and lunch. After lunch we got to give each of our students a book and their certificate of completion-it was cool to see how excited some of them were. After that we finished the day off with all their favorite games. When it came time to say goodbye it was definitely harder than I thought it would be. Even though I was tired and hungry it was hard to imagine leaving them and possibly never seeing them again. I felt a kind of aching feeling when I thought about what my ministry has been the last couple weeks and then trying to flip that over to life back home in the U.S. I think this trip was much different than any missions trips I am used to. It was very difficult for me to handle the language barrier. I thank God everyday for the translators. At the beginning of the first week it definitely frustrated me how basic some of the conversations had to be. I was so excited to just share the gospel and have all these deep conversations about Christ that I was kind of taken aback at how little we would talk about Jesus. As the second week rolled by I couldn't believe the change I saw in so many students. Students that I never imagined could hold a conversation with me for more than five minutes were asking me all these questions about my home and my family. The growth change that I saw between day one and today was beyond anything I expected or could have foreseen.
We finished the night off with a delicious dinner with Shaun and Sondi and the translators. It was nice to sit around a meal and share stories of the last two weeks. When it came to say goodbyes I wish I had payed more attention to the traditional Hungarian greeting of a kiss on either cheek. Unfortunately I went to the wrong cheek first and just about got a big wet one smack in the middle. Oops. My bad. That's awkward. But all turned out well and it was a great night relaxing.
I must admit that my initial thought about blogging today, on the last day, was not excitement. At first today seemed like a pretty bummy day to me. I felt like I was just finally getting to the point with the students where I could have those "deep conversations about Christ" and then I was just supposed to walk out of their lives like I was never here. I think I never really understood how long it takes to build that personal relationship and friendship with someone until I realized that I only had two weeks with the students. But I was encouraged this evening after camp ended while we were saying goodbyes. It literally took over an hour! I felt like for the past two weeks I was just planting a bunch of seeds and not seeing any fruit. And that was harder for me to handle than I thought it would be. I prayed and prayed and prayed that the Lord would show me why He wanted me on this trip and who He wanted me to impact. Well... Our God hears our prayers! Today I was blessed with a glimpse of something awesome the Lord is about to do. A couple of girls that had been particularly close to my heart over the weeks started up a conversation with me about Christ this evening!! I was so excited to see the enthusiasm with which they asked questions. Yep, I just got the shivers. I am praying so fervently for the growth of those girls and the awesome follow-up opportunity the Hungarian translators and Kegy will have! Although today was in some ways a sad day it was a very important day the Lord used to speak to and encourage me (and I am pretty sure my fellow teammates as well). The Lord has been teaching me a lot on this trip and I feel a new kind of energy in my step as I continue my walk with Christ. Along with a few lessons the Lord has been teaching me there were a couple people He really used in my life these last few weeks one of them being Tom. I had a kind of bumpy patch partway through the trip with some sickness and shortly after I was feeling weak in my battle against the evil one. In both my physical and spiritual weakness Tom helped me more than He even knows. The Lord has challenged me and blessed me in so many ways these past two weeks. My cup overflows.
From your tired but blessed sister,
-Shealyn :)
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