So time is flying bye. Everyday we all seem to get a little ansy as we feel the summer is slipping away. I think we all (well for me anyways) get so caught up in ways to not squander our experiences that we miss out on how the Lord is blessing us and what He wants us to gain from our experiences.
Wake up call #1:
So the next few weeks we are working heavily with the community centers, putting on various festivals for the children. I am not going to lie, I don't think I am very good with children (so of course I have needed a little attitude adjustment). I came to this realization while babysitting and constantly wondering when the parents were getting home.....come on we have all had that feeling. Our team has so many dynamics and different talents: some are good with kids, some aren't, some are athletic, some artistic, etc. So, we all met before the festival to designate stations for each person. Austen and Emily were in charge of the stilts/just playing with the kids, Mallory and Rachel face-painting, Thomas and Chelsea balloon-making, and Caroline got stuck at the fish pond.....yes the fish pond. The fish pond was this little blown up baby pool filled half way with water and fake fish with magnets on them. The little kids would spend hours (it seemed like) either figuring out how to catch these things or their hand-eye coordination just wasn't up to par. So as I sit lonely at this park bench (with the language barrier intensifying at every moment), watching kids gouge eachother's eyes out in hopes that they might steal the fishing rod from a fellow festival-goer, my self-pity increased more and more. Frustration built as I continued to attempt to take control of the situation.....Ohee, Ohee (no, no) is the only word I could use and of course I was not heard. As the volcano was about to explode inside me, I just said what the heck.....have at it!!! I gave the kids the nets and fishing rods and let them go to town. Splashing ensued followed by huge grins and laughter. These kids didn't care about organization or whos turn it was. I am not going to say that from there on I had the best night of my life and the Lord just opened up this huge door to build relationships with these kids. But I am going to say that control is a major idol in my life that seaps out into so many different aspects of how I live (i.e. the fish pond). I mean come on, if I can't even give up control at some little kiddie fish pond then I think that is a major conviction......don't know where I am really trying to go with this except that it was a HUGE wake up call and just one of the many things the Lord has brought out of me since I have been here.
Wake up call #2:
So this morning was Nea Zoi (The New Life Ministry). I had been looking forward to this all week (as this is something I want to pour myself into). Our entire team went this morning (usually we split up) so that everyone would possibly have the opportunity to be involved every Wednesday. Well we get there and pray and have our worship time to prepare our hearts for the day and then get split up into groups. Because there was such a large number of us, one group needed to stay back and pray for the teams (because too many people on the streets is not a good thing). Well I was chosen to stay back and pray..........pouting ensued (so silly now that I think about it). I was so upset that I "Me, me, me" only had one opportunity a week to go out and minister to these women, and my one opportunity was dashed as I was "stuck" praying (I know so selfish right). So a few of us who were left behind decided to get our blood flowing and we walked down to where the Nigerian prostitutes are located (because these were the women we wanted to specifically pray for). The more I walked and thought, the more I pouted. On our way back, Brit (one of the interns for Nea Zoi) started talking about how hard it was going to be to reach these Nigerian women and how much hard work and preparation was needed to get this part of the ministry off the ground (as these women work illegally on the streets and not in the brothels). So all in all, more safety measures are needed as well as more thought and prayer because these women are hesitant to talk to strangers for fear of being arrested. The more she talked to worse I felt about how selfish I had been. We headed back to Nea Zoi and split up the prayer requests and it was such a special time. We prayed specifically (by name) for some of the women who had been reached and we prayed for the team while they were on the field as well as other things that the Lord had laid on our hearts. So many times I forget the power of prayer and what a vital role it plays in the Christian faith. Chelsea was also part of the prayer group as well (I think she was a little pouty too) and we both just looked at eachother after our time like "wow, I would not have traded this time for anything else". Wake up call: New Life Ministry was started with prayer and my selfishness def. got the best of me today.
Thank you for your prayers and for reading this,
Caroline
