Today was the quite an stretching and growing time for the whole group as we started our first day of running an English camp for local kids in the city through a church. We started the day by prepping for all of our different activities we had for the children. A group of us did crafts, another group did writing, and another group did a speech class to help the kids better learn English while also using the Bible.
When all the kids started arriving, we began talking and playing with them and found out that they were much more hyper than we had anticipated. They were jumping and running and hitting a whole lot which I know overwhelmed me. As they got into their classes, they continued this type of behavior which made it a little difficult to get through to them the assignments on top of a language barrier. In the midst of all of this, God was really working on my heart personally. I started out thinking a lot of these kids were not well behaved and was getting frustrated. As time went on, my heart began to break for them. A lot of the kids coming to this camp come from poor families or a bad family environment. There were a few of the kids who were shy and sweet and easy to love on, but a large majority were tough and angry and harder to love. While it's easy to love the sweet kids who behave, it's the unlovable we are called are love and protect. These kids have very little experience with true love and God's love, and that is where we are called to be God's hands and feet and show love to these kids who see love as a foreign language.
I started frustrated and ended brokenhearted, but in the best way possible. These kids need this and need the Lord above all else more than I think any of us will really understand and to be apart of that whether they appreciate it or not is truly a blessing. These kids changed my heart for sure and I can't wait to see their screaming faces running around tomorrow and shower them in love.
So in all, this was pretty awesome I'd say!
Love,
Cristiana
When all the kids started arriving, we began talking and playing with them and found out that they were much more hyper than we had anticipated. They were jumping and running and hitting a whole lot which I know overwhelmed me. As they got into their classes, they continued this type of behavior which made it a little difficult to get through to them the assignments on top of a language barrier. In the midst of all of this, God was really working on my heart personally. I started out thinking a lot of these kids were not well behaved and was getting frustrated. As time went on, my heart began to break for them. A lot of the kids coming to this camp come from poor families or a bad family environment. There were a few of the kids who were shy and sweet and easy to love on, but a large majority were tough and angry and harder to love. While it's easy to love the sweet kids who behave, it's the unlovable we are called are love and protect. These kids have very little experience with true love and God's love, and that is where we are called to be God's hands and feet and show love to these kids who see love as a foreign language.
I started frustrated and ended brokenhearted, but in the best way possible. These kids need this and need the Lord above all else more than I think any of us will really understand and to be apart of that whether they appreciate it or not is truly a blessing. These kids changed my heart for sure and I can't wait to see their screaming faces running around tomorrow and shower them in love.
So in all, this was pretty awesome I'd say!
Love,
Cristiana