Summer Intern Reflection: Willowtree

By Mark Manansala (Summer Intern at Willowtree)

Sup! This is Mark from Willowtree. This summer I’m with the grades 1-3 boys – for free time and Bible lessons. It’s a blast every day!

Let me be the first to tell you that these guys are straight up hilarious! They also have so much energy that it’s ridiculous. At times I can’t even keep up with them and my cardio isn’t even that bad.

And the awesome thing is that, with them being so young, you get to witness as they learn new things all the time. Such as what happens when you shake a Coke bottle and open it. And that if you don’t waste your money on candy all the time, you can buy cooler stuff! And that you can’t call dibs on every car you see on the street… where will you even have space to park all of them!?

I’m learning a lot of things at this time too, even just as much as they are. Honestly, kids have some really admirable traits that you should pick up on. Especially Willowtree’s kids (maybe I’m a little biased). I’m talking about the crazy toughness and persistence these kids have. Man, these children are soldiers. When it gets physical in sports/games and they fall or get hurt, they don’t start whining, crying – they just get back up and keep playing. And that’s how it should be! They also have some extremely contagious laughs.

This week we learned about promises. It’s really hard to keep promises. Even all the kids eventually realized and admitted that they’ve broken a promise at one point or another! But now we know someone who makes promises but doesn’t break them – God. And I’m really excited to see God works in the lives of these kids – as they grow and see for themselves that God does fulfill all of His promises.