Mission Trip–Last Day!

Hey all–

Sorry it took me a while to get back to this. I’ve been pretty busy with school, Bible Quizzing, youth group, Narnia auditions, choir, voice lessons, etc, etc, etc. Anywho. Finally, I present to you: Day Five of my Othello Mission Trip.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”

~Matthew 19:14

Once again, we started the morning with a swim (although this time, we didn’t swim ’til 7:00, as opposed to our normal 6:00). We then hung around camp for a while, then headed one last time to “Discovery City”.

We didn’t have a VBS that day, but the kids all came out regardless. For that one short week, we were a big part of their lives–something they could look forward to, someone they could turn to and be sure of being loved.

We played for a long time. I could feel my eyes tearing up occasionally, knowing that all too soon we would have to leave–for good. I tried not to let the kids see the tears in my eyes; I wanted us all to enjoy the time together that we had left.

All too soon, our youth pastor told us that we had to say goodbye. I didn’t start really crying until I said goodbye to one of the girls I had clicked with the most–the most adorable 4-year-old who didn’t know English. Throughout the week, we learned to understand each other pretty well, through Spanglish and lots and lots of gestures. My Spanish-speaking abilities are almost non-existent, although I confess that I learned more Spanish in that one week in Othello than I have in my three weeks in Spanish class so far this year. Anyway, I hugged her and said goodbye, and the tears started falling down my cheeks. She looked at me, an expression of slight puzzlement on her face, and smiled up at me. She seemed to be asking, why are you crying? Kids there are tough–I didn’t see any of them cry except for the little tiny ones. I only wished that I could explain to her, in perfect Spanish, that I had to leave for good, but that I loved her and would miss her sooooo much. But I couldn’t.

I said goodbye to the rest of the kids, and let me tell you, they are so sweet, despite their tough exteriors. Kids I had hardly talked to that week would give me great big hugs goodbye. One of the kids asked our youth pastor if we would come back “every season”, and when he responded that we would think about it, one of the toughest (and biggest) girls there responded threateningly, “You’d better think hard about it.” Just knowing that we impacted their lives so much in that one week made me wonder, if we could have had more time with them, would we have impacted them even more?

Once we got on the bus, one of my friends was crying really hard, and the kids that had gotten close to her that week noticed and actually came into the bus to hug her and comfort her, which of course only made her cry harder. But they cared so much for us, and they knew that we cared about them and loved them for who they were.

But what was more important, that week we taught those kids that Jesus loves them, no matter who they are, what they look like, what they do, and that he loves them enough to die for them. It was so cool to see the positive impact we made on the entire community just by ministering to the children.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 19:14). If we only had the faith and trust that the kids in Othello did in us, our lives would be totally different. We need to believe and trust in God with the faith of a child–a kid sees only the good in someone, and trusts someone they hardly know just based off of how they act around them. We know how wonderful our God is, and yet so many of us, me included, have trouble trusting in God 100%.

Anyway, the half-hour bus ride back to the campsite was…interesting. Most of the girls were crying their eyes out miserably, and the guys were just kind of sitting awkwardly. Once we reached the lake, we sat in a big circle and had a prayer time and devotion time, in which some of us cried even more.

My youth pastor made the point that our separation from these kids may not be forever, that because we taught them about Jesus, we may see them in Heaven someday. And for that, I have been praying ever since. Those kids impacted my life as much as we impacted theirs. Anyway, my youth pastor also said that the separation we were feeling now, only much, much greater, was the sort of separation that God feels when we turn away from Him. The separation he feels with those who are now in Hell, or bound for it.

After devotions; which I only barely skimmed the surface of in this blog, believe me, they were deep and really made you think; we swam for a while, then loaded into the bus for the ride home.

One week. One little week. Five days. In just five days, my life was impacted more than it had been in my fifteen years of life. I will never forget my Othello trip, or the kids, or the culture, or the way that my eyes were opened.

Mission Trip Day 4

Day 4 Verse:

I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. -Philippians 4:13

Well, day 4. The last day of VBS. The day of the ankle injury. The day of the water fight. The day of the exploding lighter. Where do I start?!?

As usual, we started with our refreshing early morning swim. God put so much beauty into our world, and early in the morning the lake looked so calm and peaceful. Anywho…breakfast, devotions, all that good stuff…

We did even more service projects (That’s right! More broken glass!) and played with the kids some, then left for lunch.

Here comes the ankle part. Brace yourselves!!! One of my friends was playing basketball, attempted a slam dunk (and made it) and landed on his ankle. He couldn’t even walk without help! So lunch was really weird that day, because we were all a little bit worried about that ankle…we thought it might be broken…

After lunch, we had a surprise for the kids. WATER FIGHT!!! Do you know how scary it is to be lined up in front of armed kids, defenseless, just knowing that any second you’re going to be attacked with water balloons? It’s terrifying!!! Especially with kids that tough…but cute…

My injured friend manged to get some pictures of the water fight for me (so thanks!) because he had to sit out thanks to his ankle. (I’m telling you, if you hadn’t tried to slam dunk that ball…) Anyway…

The water fight didn’t last long, and the cleanup was kind of tedious, but the kids had a lot of fun with it and I think we all did too. (If someone wasn’t “wet enough” they would receive a hug from someone who was soaked.)

We went back to camp and began to prepare for our very last day of VBS. My “injured friend’s” parents also came to pick him up. (Don’t worry! He sent word to us later; his ankle wasn’t broken, just sprained.)

During our skit(s) that day, the kids absolutely loved our outlaw, Kalamity Kate. You know the deputy and sheriff need a little help if they let an outlaw tie them up! The kids thought that Kalamity Kate and the girl who played her were twins! It was hilarious!

You know, I got to thinking about Kalamity Kate. At the end, she turns herself in, and all because Sadie, the cafe owner, slips a Bible into the bag of money that Kate stole from the bank. She read it, and was changed. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.” So says 2 Corinthians 5:17. Anyway, our skit got me thinking how even the worst of us can be changed for the better by God. I, for one, have been changed by Him drastically. Last summer, I was the farthest from God I have ever been. Not going into details, but it was to the point of defying my parents, crying myself to sleep every night, lying, being places I shouldn’t have…It was almost like, “God doesn’t care about me. So why should I care about Him?” I was so wrong. Eventually, I found my way back to God, but I was totally new. Even in the last six months, I have been maturing and changing for the better, and all because of God. I think all of us at one time or another have that outlaw inside take over them. But you know what? God can change anyone… even a mean outlaw like Kalamity Kate. No one is undeserving of His love. No one. And that is incredibly profound.

The barbeque after VBS went really well. (“Free food?!” one of the kids said in awe. He couldn’t believe it–everyone who goes over there with food is selling it.) I was on the edge of tears by the end, until I discovered that we would be coming back the next day to say goodbye. But I knew that I would really miss those kids, and took advantage of every minute of it.

Later that night, we were sitting at the campfire, just singing worship songs to the accompaniment of my guitar. Everything was peaceful and calm. It was also past quiet hour, so we shouldn’t have really been out in the first place. The pieces of the set burned happily. (I know. All that hard work for some nice firewood…) Then suddenly, there was a loud bang and a burst of flame. If not for the strap on my guitar, I would have dropped it. Well, guys, never put a lighter too close to a fire. Trust me on this. One of my friends had been just about to step past it, then stepped back for a second, and instantly that lighter exploded. Coincidence? I think not. God totally protected her. If she hadn’t taken that one step back, she could have been really badly injured. That gave us all a scare, but we survived and things went back to normal.

Philippians 4:13 doesn’t lie–I can do ALL THINGS through HIM who gives me strength. Without God, none of us would have been able to do any of what we did that week. It is only because of Him that the mission trip worked out the way it did. Without Him, none of it would have happened. There was a visible change in that community. We could not have done that alone. If someone tries to tell me there is no God, how could I ever believe them after what I saw Him do in that week alone?

Mission Trip Day 3

Day 3 Verse:

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. ~Romans 10:17

By the third day, I was super, super, super attached to the Othello kids. And not only did I have stronger bonds with the kids we were ministering to, but I was noticing just how much closer I was to the kids in the youth group (and the other kids on the trip with us). It’s like all of the teamwork really formed bonds between us that are super strong. It was so cool!

We started the morning once again with an early morning swim, then had breakfast and devotions, all that normal “preparation stuff” (including getting my hair French-braided by one of my friends!), and, finally, set off for “Discovery City”. Our work was mainly weeding and picking up glass–and I’ll admit it, my hands were getting sore from weeding and glass-pick-upping was getting pretty tedious.

We had lunch with the same people who provided for us on the first day, and their homemade tacos and fruit salad was a great way to get rejuvenated and ready to prepare our lessons. After preparing, which took a while, we went for an afternoon swim. We played Ninja on the dock–and whoever was “out” had to jump into the lake. The winner got to push the loser into the lake. So the stakes were pretty high

Anywho, while we were at VBS, our youth pastor’s wife got to play nurse to one of the Othello kids. Her toe was really badly cut open, and she was wandering around in sandals! It looked really painful, but this brave 4-year-old didn’t even cry when hydrogen peroxide was put onto the wound.

Things for the most part went pretty well during VBS; although we had a long discussion about gangs during crafts (we were making bandanas). These kids are raised hating the kids from a nearby neighborhood. They say they have to fight to protect themselves. No kid should ever have to deal with that!

My Bible lesson didn’t seem to be starting very well, as half my kids were gone (Bible lesson? Boring! Let’s leave!) and only a quarter of those left were paying attention. However, one kid broke the ice by asking “Did God create the Devil?” and instantly all eyes were on me.

Did God create the Devil? That’s a hard question, kid. (It is always my group that gets the hard questions! When I’m teaching!) I knew the  answer, but as to how to explain it to a group of rowdy kids that English wasn’t even their first language–I was stuck. Thankfully, the guy I was working with (he’s like 2 years older than I am and has dealt with the whole teaching thing longer) jumped in and explained the whole Lucifer-fallen-angel thing to these kids. He explained it waaaaaay better than I could have, and he didn’t even seem fazed by the question! I’ve got a lot to learn…

Anyway, after that, we had less distractions and the kids paid better attention–especially during the actual Gospel part of the lesson. For that, I was really thankful. Coincidence? I think not. God knows what he’s doing.

It made me feel good that even though I struggled through the lesson that day, the kids got something out of it. And you know? I think throughout the trip I learned as much as or more than the kids did. God is just that incredible.

Well, that’s really all that’s important on Day 3. We also went to a Mexican ice cream shop and had smoothies and got really hyper, but that’s kind of beside the point.

I said in my journal that night, “It’s going to be so hard to say goodbye to these kids. It really is. I almost don’t want to leave Othello–I could stay here a long time.”

Mission Trip Day 2

Day Two Verse:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who have been called according to His purpose.” -Romans 8:28

The morning began when one of my friends popped her head into my tent and asked if I was ready to swim. I was awake immediately–I always seem to wake up super early when I’m camping. On this particular day I’d woken up a little bit before 6.

A group of us headed down to the lake. It was cold out, but the water was fairly warm and it was the perfect way to get fully awake and refreshed for the day.

We had breakfast and devotions, and then once again headed to “Discovery City, California”, also known as the neighborhood in which we were working. I found that I could understand bits of Spanish conversation, although I only know a few phrases in Spanish. We worked for a long time outside, pulling weeds and picking up trash, and, just our luck, it was raining. It hardly ever rains over there! Whereas, where I live it rains a lot. Did we bring the rain with us on accident or something?

Anywho, then we worked inside the old church–now just a mostly empty building–sorting clothing into piles for a clothing giveaway. It took a long time, but we finally managed some decent piles.

We had lunch in a nearby Foursquare Church and the food, once again authentic Mexican, was really, really good.

Upon arriving back at camp, we discovered that one of the girls’ tents (thankfully not the one I had been in this time) had been lifted off its pegs by the wind, as well as our camp showers. That was interesting.

After

Before

We got back to “Discovery City” singing songs, only to discover that the set we had worked for hours and hours on and put so much effort into was completely destroyed. When I say destroyed, I mean that it really wasn’t fixable–we wound up using it for firewood.

After getting over the initial shock, we got to work at once clearing it away. According to the kids, the wind had blown it over, and that was probably partially true, but the stakes and sandbags holding it down were gone…

To our surprise, the VBS worked better without the set! The whole VBS had to be done inside, which somehow wound up working better. For one thing, we didn’t bus over the “enemy” kids. The dogs wouldn’t randomly start fighting in the middle of us, and the kids wouldn’t get distracted as easily. Don’t get me wrong, these kids were still mostly squirrel, but things went so, so, SO much better! The troublemakers from the day before were now the kids getting into the songs and having the most fun. It was an amazing change.

Just like our “Verse of the Day” says, all things, even those that may seem bad, work together for good with God.

Day one had felt like a flop, day two felt like a victory.

Mission Trip Day 1

For all of you who don’t know, I recently got back from a mission trip to Othello, WA. Why Othello? you’re probably wondering. Well, you’ll find out.

Each morning, we would head over to the labor camp, which is home to many native Mexican-Indian immigrants, and do service projects (examples: picking up trash and broken glass, weeding…) and play with the kids a bit. The projects were a way of letting the people know that we were there to help them, and to show God’s love to the community. Later, at 6:30 in the evening, we did a VBS for the kids. VBS=Vacation Bible School (for those of you who were wondering). It was a chance for us to help these kids out not only in this life, but in the next. A chance for us to share the Gospel with them.

Each day of the trip, some friends from the youth group and I would choose a “Verse of the Day”. This verse was a Bible verse that applied to all that had happened that day.

Our Day One Verse:

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ~John 16:33

Monday, the first day of the actual missions part of the trip, a lot of things went well. A lot of things, that is, until the VBS itself. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As soon as we arrived in the labor  camp, I froze. I had no idea things were this bad in our own country. The houses–well, tiny apartments–are really run down and small. These families don’t even live in the whole thing! Half of the apartment–an area a little bit bigger than my bedroom, which I always thought was small–is the home to not one but several families. Why? Because they all have to work together to be able to afford the $375 a month rent. It was hot, dry, and dusty. Broken glass, trash, and weeds were everywhere. Mangy dogs were everywhere, just roaming. Most of the kids were wearing old sandals and dusty clothes. Some were barefoot.

After adjusting to the shock, we got to work. Weeding. Picking up trash. Putting up our huge, Old West set. We also had some time to play with the kids. Let me tell you, these kids, so often left to their own devices, were really, really, really happy to see us. They never got tired of spinning around and around in our arms, or having us help them do the monkey bars, or push them on the new swing set that was being installed when we arrived.

The people installing the swing set, we found out later, did not live in the neighborhood. They lived a few blocks over, in a much nicer area (and I mean nice) and weren’t going to use the swing set anymore. So they brought it to the kids who would love it, old as it was. They were so happy to hear that we were there to minister to the migrant community. One of them said that most pe0ple who come to help are from out-of-state, which we were. That really made me think. I think that we put so much focus on helping others in different countries that we are blind to the need here, right in front of us.

Anywho, after knowing us for three hours or so, our new friends  invited us over for lunch, not only for Monday, but for Wednesday and Thursday too. We were all wondering how on earth this nice family of four was going to feed all twenty of us. But we needn’t have worried. We arrived at their house (which was good-sized and really nice) and they had prepared a feast! There was so much, there were leftovers. And let me tell you, their authentic Mexican food was so, so, so  much better than PB&J.

After taking a break to prepare lessons and get refreshed, we went back to the camp. During the VBS, we had some issues. To say the least. The kids that we had bussed over from another neighborhood were pretty much the enemy to the labor camp kids. Turns out that Hispanics and Mexican-Indians don’t like each other. The CD player originally didn’t have batteries, so we were without music until the end. There was a dog fight.  Crafts, snacks, and games were chaotic. There was a group of kids cussing in Spanish. Music would blare from cars and distract all of us. Kids would get up and leave in the middle of Bible lessons. As one of my friends said, these kids were more squirrel than human.

Needless to say, we were all very, very disappointed at the end of the day.

We got back to our campsite, only to discover that the sprinklers had turned on in our absence, getting one of the girls’ tents wet. Including some sleeping backs and other stuff. We moved the tents out of harm’s way, then had a group meeting.

One of our contacts apparently commented that we’d done really well, that this was one of the best VBS’s he’d seen with these kids. That was a crazy thought. With all the chaos, even though we’d stuck to it and tried to stay positive, we were all really disappointed, frustrated, and kind-of numb feeling.We felt like the VBS had been, as another of my friends put it, a flop.

We closed the meeting in prayer, with people chiming in when they thought of something to say. I don’t know about anyone else, but boy was I dreading the next day. After the prayer, I felt a little bit more at peace, even if I couldn’t sleep (even with Melatonin) and woke up several times throughout the night.

The first day was, well…interesting. To say the least.