Patience and Gratefulness
This summer God has led me to serve with TCM. So far it has been an amazing and growing experience! I heard about Tcm through a church friend who had served here before, she encouraged me to apply.
Prior to this internship, I had never worked in a camp before, so everything felt new. This summer throughout the training I was filled with hopeful anticipation. ‘What will it be like?’ It was so exciting to finally get to meet the children and to finally see all the discussions we had as a team come to life! I planned for the first week to be simply a time of observation for me, to see how the children are, and see how the previous staff usually run things. I was patient and did not expect to bond with any campers so soon.
But I was blessed to receive such a warm welcome from many of the campers. Within the first week alone, I had the privilege to bond with many of the younger girls in my small group and on the first day I was already bringing home bracelets and necklaces that they had made for me. The children at KG are so energetic, lively, inquisitive, unique, bold and playful.
Due to this being my first time, I have also had many challenges. When I first arrived, I felt as though everyone else knew what to do, having been returning for the second time, or had worked with the campers in our other programs before, where as for me, not only was I new to the team, but I hadn't worked in a setting like this before in general. Commanding a room in this way was something I never had done before. This brought discouragement and uncertainties on if I was really meant to be there. Do I fit in? Am I doing things correctly? This led to me often hesitating to do things first and taking a step back in times I wanted to step forward. But God has been helping me realize that he promises to lead us and that that is why we are all here to support each other.
My favourite times throughout the day so far are upstairs free time before the day begins in the morning, Worship, or lunch. Most of all, the times when campers share with me questions about the bible, or comments on the bible lesson that day. During this time I get the opportunity to sit down and speak to them and learn more about their interests, hobbies, and personalities, or play games with them. It is so exciting to see what the children enjoy and to get to know them more. Making them laugh and smile is always such a joy and keeps me motivated for the next day despite the challenges. It is also a time when I get to speak to them in a calmer setting before the busyness of the day. Worship time is precious, to see the children dance and sing praising God.
Other challenges have been seeing how the campers treat each other at times. For a lot of the children, losing a game can be received as a great calamity and this can lead to disputes and challenges for the staff. This was something I was not used to, how easily disputes can happen, and how some of them react, it is in these moments I have had to rely on the Lord's patience and strength even more.
Something I have learned about our kids at KG is that they don’t easily open up, it takes time to make them comfortable. Lately, I have been seeing new and newer sides of them. Especially one of our new campers. In the first two weeks, he appeared to be timid, and when conversing with him, I would often receive just two words back. Now, our conversations consist of me sitting patiently while listening to him go on and on about his Pokemon cards, love for animals, Godzilla and appreciating his Kindle attempts to start playing a game with you at any given moment!
The other day I got to hear his story of how his hamster supposedly used his remote to search up for hamster videos on YouTube and play them. “and with perfect spelling too!”, he added.
It seems that will have to be another bible lesson for another day…
In these past few weeks, I believe God has been teaching me more about patience. That sometimes we may not know a seed has even been planted until we see the sprout appear. My desire has been to impact even one child, and in moments where they don’t listen, it’s easy to think nothing has been done. But I am often encouraged and reminded throughout the day hearing the children ask about the bible lesson, or treat each other better, or even tell me that I make them happy God is truly working in them, and also in me.
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete,
not lacking anything. ”