I'll let that be the transition into my first conference: CBCC's first ever military family conference. I was assigned to work with two- and three-year-olds for the weekend. I didn't know what to think when I heard that because as much as I love toddlers, trying to keep 12 of them happy and engaged for 3 hour stretches can prove difficult, especially when working with people that I have only known for a few hours. But I came here this summer to serve others, not myself. I'm sure I will have fun for the most part, regardless of where I'm at, but there will also be times when I'm doing a boring or hard job or working with people that I don't get along with very well. God is so funny when we ask for things. I ask for humility and selflessness, and he says "Okay, I'm going to put you with people that your personality clashes with so that you can learn to put yourself second, and give you opportunities to practice grace and Christlike love." Then I ask for patience and he says "Alright, here are some hard and frustrating situations that you can't handle unless you have patience and trust me!" These lessons are hard to learn (HARD), but God has already molded me and changed me in the past couple years and I can't wait to see what else he does in my life to enable me to serve him and love others better.
Anyway, the weekend conference for us staffers consisted of four sessions with the kids for a total of about 12 hours with 12 two-year-olds. I was very grateful for my years of babysitting and teaching in 2s and 3s at church, to say the least. We had some really great kids and I really enjoyed my time with them. There were a couple little boys that were often very unhappy to be away from their parents, but most of the kids were happy and very cute. One of the little boys, age 3, is arguably one of the cutest children I have ever seen--and I've seen a lot of children. He is super smart and intuitive, and he has the cutest big brown eyes and long eyelashes, and he is just adorable. GAH. I had a lot of fun with the kids--playing with puppets, eating "food" prepared for me, reading stories, doing crafts, flying around in the gym (human airplanes), and just being silly. Oh, and changing diapers. LOTS and lots of diapers. Luckily I don't mind changing poopy diapers because there were times when I would go to the changing table to change one, and there would be another kid waiting in the doorway as soon as I finished. I finished every session smelling like diapers. Yum.
By Sunday, my third full day and the last day of the conference, I felt almost completely acclimated. Part of this was because one of the other staffers working in 2s and 3s got sick and only worked Friday night and Saturday morning, and I stepped up as unofficial leader. I always enjoy leading, and it's a good challenge for me to practice humility and grace! After 3 sessions hanging out with the kids, we were really starting to get to know each other so they were happier and more well-behaved on the last day--some of them were sad to leave us! Aw it literally brings tears to my eyes to think that I'll probably never see any of them again! It was such a blessing to spend my weekend with those sweeties. In addition to the kids, I also feel like I belong as a part of summer staff. It didn't take long, even though the first day had a few hopeless moments. I'm glad I trusted God and toughed it out! This is going to be an awesome summer. There are some really great people on summer staff and I am super excited to see what the next few months hold.
Okay let me just take a second and say THANK YOU GOD FOR AUTO SAVE DRAFTS. I just hit delete a couple times and thought I just lost my entire post. Phew.
Well this post was getting really long and I was going to just make another one to break it up a little bit, but if you've gotten this far we might as well keep going. I just looked at my previous entries and I can't believe I haven't ever mentioned the fact that I'm going to Guatemala this fall for the semester! This is an important detail because it relates to two awesome people that God put in my life this summer. I don't know any Spanish besides basic greetings, counting to ten, "This is a blue line train to Gresham," "Where is the bathroom?" and "I have a friend who loves me and Jesus is his name." So living in Guatemala with a host family and working at a hospital where no one speaks English would be pretty challenging with only those phrases. I'll be taking Spanish there, but I was hoping to learn a little of the language over the summer.
Here's where God blew my mind. I found out a couple weeks ago that two of my three rooomates for the summer are international, from Panama and Costa Rica. NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKERS. Is God good or what?? I wasn't even asking for something like that and he just plopped this amazing thing right in my lap! There are also two guys from Costa Rica but I've only briefly met them. The two girls, Masai and Dayra, arrived this weekend. I haven't had the chance to get to know Dayra yet, but Masai, the Panamanian, is super sweet and excited to teach me Spanish! I can't wait to spend my summer and share my room with these girls, and practice my Spanish! Masai and I are determined to get me fluent by the end haha :)
In Your Arms by Meredith Andrews is one of my favorite songs, as well as my theme song of the weekend. I'll close my incredibly long post with the chorus. God's arms are always open and waiting for us no matter what, and his love never fails!
And I'm in Your arms
Where I belong
There's no other place for me
Than right where You are
Some things just don't change
When I call Your name
You never hesitate to wrap me in endless grace
When I'm in Your arms
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