Where has this month gone? On Monday, I leave for Richmond where I will spend two weeks planning and prepping for the rest of the summer. Here is my itinerary:
June 8th (Monday) - Arrive in Richmond
June 21st (Saturday) – Depart for first Impact Virginia! week in Wise
June 27th (Saturday) – Depart Wise for Bluefield
July 4th (Saturday) – Return to Richmond
July 5th – 8th – A little break – if you leave Richmond you will need to return by the evening of the 8th.
July 9th – 10th – Prepare for next projects
July 11th – Depart for Impact! in Abingdon
July 18th – Depart for Impact! in Eastern Shore
July 25th – Return to Richmond
July 26th – 30th – Become staff for Impact Metro! project in Richmond
July 31 – August 3rd – Clean up, pack up, debrief, go home!
I'm really excited about everything God has planned for me this Summer. In a very strange way, it feels like Summer hasn't really officially started because I haven't left for Impact yet. Sometimes I get a bit nervous thinking about all the unexpected parts of Impact and the fact that, since I've never done Impact before or even participated in it, what if I am woefully ill-equipped to handle challenges? I don't want to let my fellow staffers down or any of the youth and most importantly, I don't want to disappoint God in this task that He has set before me. I think my best kind of ministry is one-on-one so that is how I'm going to do it; just look for the most down-trodden kid there and make them feel important and loved.
I first learned this strategy from one of my favorite books, Christy, by Catherine Marshall; Christy is a schoolteacher in a rough backwoods mountainous region and one of the young girls, Mountie O'Teale, has a speech impediment. So Christy just does little things for her like sew buttons on her jacket and read to her and give her a red scarf. These tiny bits of attention help her to overcome her speech impediment. Also, I can't help but think of the passage in scripture that instructs us to not give the rich guest any special attention when he enters our house at the expense of the poor guest. We are to honor the poor guest as much, if not more than the rich guest. So, while financial success is not an issue among youth, being rich in talents and appearance can lead to favoritism. Something I refuse to succomb to.
Dear reader, if have time between reading Christy and my blog, please drop me a note this summer! I would love to hear from you, even if it's just a few lines.
My address in Richmond. Of course most of the summer I'll be elsewhere in Virginia but it will get to me!
2828 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, VA 23294
P.S. I also would appreciate prayers for our ministry and for us to focus on others outside ourselves entirely.
2 comments:
Your state of mind right now reminds me of mine last summer right before I headed off to camp. I am positive God will do some incredible stuff through you and to you and all around you. All I can tell you is to keep your focus on what God is doing and not on what you are doing... don't go into anything with certain expectations of yourself and especially don't go in with certain expectations of God (as in presuming what He wills to be done). He tends to throw us for loops when we do that. So yeah, just love everyone up. :)
thanks for the great advice KJo! Reminds me of what happened when Peter Clark went to do missions in Africa and just spent months being sick...well, that story sounds better when he tells it. ;)
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